There are always injuries in NFL It’s one of the most brutal sports there is with 200-pound gorillas trying to steamroll each other. The injuries make Daily Fantasy Football an ever-changing landscape. It provides the savvy fantasy player with multiple opportunities to stay in front of the pack and pick the gems before the rest catch up to whom will get all the targets available when the RB1 or WR1 goes down.
The beginning of this season has seen exceptional numbers when it comes to injuries on significant fantasy players. Lets see where the fantasy goodness is to be found.
Minnesota Vikings running back star Adrian Peterson is out, probably for the year. Jerick McKinnon is talented and will get the carries, but Matt Asiata will get the goal line carries ruining both players fantasy value.
Detroit Lions running back Ameer Abdullah has been placed on the injury list reserve. Theo Riddick has looked good, but is not built for a heavy workload. Behind him you have talented Dwayne Washington and Zach Zenner. It sure looks like the dreaded “RB by committee”. Stay away from all of them.
Miami Dolphins running back Arian Foster is also injured, again. Behind him you have an uninspiring Jay Ajayi in team that hasn’t run well either. No thank you.
Another thing to look for in Daily Fantasy Football is for great performances that are not built into the current price yet. Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Stefon Diggs has had a fantastic fantasy start of the season, 17 points week one and 33 points in week two. His value is not yet reflected in the price tag at FanDuel and DraftKings. That makes him almost an auto play in cash games. But it also makes him an almost auto fade in multiplayers tournaments, GPP (Guaranteed Prize Pools). You need to be contrarian to reach the stars in those challenges and Stefon Diggs have a tough matchup away against Carolina Panthers.
The most important position in any sport is the quarter back position in NFL. If a QB goes down it often changes everything; where the touches will go, how much the team will run respectively pass and what tempo they want.
Tom Brady is suspended. Jimmie Garoppolo got injured against Dolphins. Rookie Jacoby Brisset will have to start for New England Patriots. He is not ready for NFL. Since Brady was suspended Garoppolo got a lot of snaps preseason. Brisset hardly got any. Patriots will slow down the tempo and use a vanilla offense. Do not pick any Patriot players against Texans stout defense tonight.
Patriots WR Julian Edelman is a sexy pick for some. The reason is that he played QB in collage and is the backup for Jacoby Brisset. It’s not far fetched that Brisset will be demolished by J.J. Watt and company, but that doesn’t mean that Edelman will throw four touchdowns. His value is as a PPR WR, and for that you want a good QB. He cannot throw to himself, even if he was good.
Chicago Bears QB Jay Cutler also got injured last Sunday. Back up Brian Hoyer is a downgrade, but not by much. He is an experience veteran. Last season he was the starting QB for Texans. WR DeAndre Hopkins was one of the top fantasy producers. There is no reason to think that Hoyer should not be able to connect to WR Alshon Jeffery. There are actually reasons to believe that Hoyer will constantly look for his number one WR, since he hasn’t developed connection with the lesser targets.
The icing on the cake is the “Q” after Alshon Jeffery. He is listed as questionable (that YOU should neglect) and with Cutler out not many of your fantasy opponents will look in Jefferys direction. He will get a lot of targets, and he will score a lot of fantasy points against Dallas Cowboys weak defense.
Chicago Bear lost five starters on defense against Eagles. Cowboys will score and Bears will need to play catch-up by feeding Jeffery all night long.
Alshon Jeffery is not cheap, 7th at both FanDuel ($7 900) and DraftKings ($8 000), but he will not be on many teams. He has a high floor and could very well be your ticket to the jackpott.
Alshon Jeffery is the play of the week, both in cash game and GPP. He should be in every one of your lineups.
