Greetings Canary Crew! We’re on to Week 11 and I’m going to share my lineups for the week with a brief synopsis of why these players made the cut. Unfortunately last week didn’t go our way for two big reasons: First, our RB strategy of paying down didn’t work out as expected. Secondly, Drew Brees had a big time letdown game. Those two things, combined with massive ownership of Lamar Jackson (40-50% in cash) and Christian Kirk (60-80% in cash), who both blew up for huge games, put us behind the pay line.
But like I always say, DFS is great because we just reload this week and can win it all back! I’m available via Twitter @FlashlightDFS if you have questions about building your lineups on DFS or general fantasy football questions.
I’ll just cut right to the chase and give you my best FREE NFL Week 8 Lineups for FanDuel and DraftKings.
CORE PLAYS: Josh Jacobs, Brian Hill, Michael Thomas, DJ Moore, Ross Dwelley.
FanDuel
Deshaun Watson – While I’d love to play Lamar Jackson I can’t make his salary work so Watson is the next best thing. This game should be high scoring and the Houston offense runs through Watson. Watson is a dual threat both passing and running which helps to keep his floor above the levels we need for cash.
Zeke Elliott – It’s been a while since I went back to Zeke but I love him this week vs. a Lions defense who rank out as a bottom 5 run defense. Last year Zeke had a huge game against the Lions going 25/152/1 rushing and 4/88/1 as a receiver. The Lions D has only gotten worse and the Cowboys really need to lock down the win here to keep in the playoff race.
Josh Jacobs – The Bengals are a disgrace defensively. Jacobs is now a certified bell cow back. Over his last 5 games he’s averaged 21.2 carries for 100.8 yards and 1 TD on the ground PLUS 2.2 catches for 15 yards (2.5 FD pts & 3.5 DK pts). Jacobs best games have come against terrible opponents and the Bears when the Raiders got out to a lead and pounded them in to the ground with Jacobs. I think Gruden’s game plan will be similar and the Bengals will get a big dose of Big Josh and won’t be able to handle him.
Brian Hill – With Davonta Freeman and Ito Smith out, it’s the Brian Hill show. Hill isn’t the player Freeman is but he doesn’t need to be at this price. Last week he got all the work once Freeman left with a foot injury and he’ll get the benefit of 4 quarters of work this week. Carolina bleeds points to RB this year, they’re a bottom 3 rush D and have given up the 4th most fantasy points to RB this season. Low price, high work load, TD potential? Sign me up.
Michael Thomas – He’s on a record setting pace and reports came out this week that the Saints want to get him to 2000 yards receiving this season. He gets Tampa Bay, a bottom 5 pass D and will run wild in the secondary. Thomas is in 100% of my lineups this week.
DJ Moore – He’ll be highly owned due to the low price and the favorable match up with Atlanta. He’s been very busy over the last few weeks, his average game over the last 4 is 7/82/0 which gives us a nice baseline of 11.7 FD points and 15.2 DK points. Get him in the box and he’s smashing value but the good news is he doesn’t have to score to pay off.
John Brown – The Dolphins stink and Brown has been the main event in the Buffalo passing game. He’s actually getting 25% target share which is really good. He chewed up these Dolphins in Week 6 for 5/83/1 and will be looking to do the same today.
Ross Dwelley – Who? George Kittle is out and Arizona is still the worst team in the NFL vs. the TE. He’s not a total punt either, Dwelley saw 7 targets last week in relief of Kittle. Bargain price, great matchup and good volume potential.
Carolina Panthers DEF – I don’t love the idea of playing a defense against a RB but I’m chasing sacks and turnovers with this one so I think there’s a path to success for both Brian Hill and the Panthers D. The Panthers are 1st in the league in sacks and average 2 turnovers per game. Atlanta is 5th worst in turnovers this season.
DraftKings
Drew Brees – Yeah I’m going right back to him after he let us down last week. This matchup is too good to pass up and combinde with Michael Thomas I’m confident Brees will bounce back. As mentioned with Thomas, Tampa Bay has a bottom 5 pass D and has been carved up by nearly every opponenet they face. Paired up with their top ranked rush D, Brees will throw it A LOT today and we’ll take those points as he stacks them up.
Josh Jacobs – See above.
Brian Hill – See above.
Miles Sanders – Jordan Howard will miss so Sanders will be the main show today. Sure, the Eagles signed Jay Ajayi off the street on Friday but Sanders will get the bulk of the work today. While it doesn’t seem like a great match up the Pats have been run on recently and Sanders is also the pass catching back in Philly. He’s a bargain price and will see lots of touches. Let’s ride!
Michael Thomas – See above.
DJ Moore – See above.
Tyler Boyd – Oakland can’t stop the pass and Cinci will likely be trailing for much of this game. Boyd is still the main receiver in Cinci averaging 10.11 targets per game, good for 3rd in the NFL. His yards and TDs haven’t been there which has kept his price down, but on DK all we need for this price to pay off is 15.6 points. Over his last two he’s averaged 12.5 DK points per game and this is a seriously favorable match up.
Ross Dwelley – See above.
New Orleans Saints DEF – Nobody has thrown more interceptions than Jameis Winston and he gets sacked a lot too. The Saints D is a legit top-10 defense in most statistical categories so there’s potential for a multiple turnover/multiple sack game here.
That’s it for the week, good luck Canary Crew!
For game time updates, questions with your DFS or seasonal lineups or to see my smattering of Tweets follow me @FlashlightDFS.
Have a great Sunday!
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