Happy Sunday Canary Crew! Thanks for checking out my best FREE NFL Week 17 DFS Lineups for FanDuel and DraftKings. They say all good things must come to an end, and this my friends, is the end of the NFL regular season. But don’t despair! We’ve still got this week to take home some cash!
Last week was a prime example of why it’s wise to spread your play across both sites. I used the same 7 players on both sites, my only variance on either was QB and FLEX. We had very different results. DraftKings was a clean sweep victory for us with 184.04 points! FanDuel only cashed 16.7% of cash games with 145.32 points. Essentially it was Jacob Hollister (8.9 points) on FanDuel that stopped us from cashing. On DK we went with Andy Dalton and DeAndre Washington who both had big days.
As for THE FLASHLIGHT’S CORE, it was a solid performance across the board scoring 106.6 on FD and 126.6 on DK. Considering there wasn’t a QB in the CORE I’m very happy with those scores. Our target each week is to score about 130 FD points and 150 DK points, so both of those cores allowed us to succeed in that goal. Unfortunately it was a high scoring week on FD and we just missed the cash lines in most contests. Oh well, on to Week 17.
****DISCLAIMER****
Week 17 is notoriously volatile considering there are teams who are resting players for various reasons. You’ll have backups playing bigger roles, unknown work loads for starters and the possibility of teams packing things in once they can’t change their playoff status. Due to this, I play light in Week 17 and usually take shots on some more GPPs. I’ll play about half of my normal cash game volume this week and increase my GPP entries by about 25%. Nothing crazy but to be honest some of these game will look a lot like preseason Week 3.
Because of that, I’m going to give a more brief reasoning for my CORE plays and lineup plays, but I’ll include some guys that I’m interested in getting in to my GPP lineups that just didn’t work with my cash builds today.
So, crack a fresh beer (or several) and sit down to enjoy the last full week of NFL action this season.
THE FLASHLIGHT’S CORE
These are “my guys” this week who I’m using on both sites and a little analysis of why I’m on them.
QUARTERBACK
Carson Wentz – The Eagles are in a win and in situation, but to be honest I’m very concerned about their game today. The Giants have put up some points recently and will be even more powerful through the air with Daniel Jones throwing the ball. Three weeks ago Wentz threw it 50 times for 325/2 vs. the Giants and I think he’ll need to exceed that today to win.
RUNNING BACK
Joe Mixon – Mixon sucked last week (he was sick) but still got 21 carries and 2 targets. Don’t forget that just 3 weeks ago Mixon torched the Browns for 23/146/1 rushing and 3/40 receiving. I’m quite sure the Browns didn’t get any better over the last 3 weeks.
WIDE RECEIVER
DaeSean Hamilton – Am I chasing his 6/65/1 game form last week? Maybe a little. But he’s dirt cheap on both sites, has seen 15 targets over his last 2 games and plays the Raiders who can’t stop the pass for shit. We need value and here we have a guy who will see 7+ targets vs. a bad pass defense.
Greg Ward – Wentz has to throw it somewhere. I’m selecting Ward due to his low price. Dallas Godert is the other option. I like him too but he’s more expensive.
TIGHT END
Tyler Higbee – Higbee has been dominant after getting the lead TE role around Thanksgiving. I’m a big narrative guy in Week 17 for teams who are out of it, so get this: Higbee can set an ALL TIME NFL RECORD today if he goes over 100 yards receiving. No TE in LEAGUE HISTORY has had 5 consecutive 100-yard games, but Higbee can do just that with a 100-yard game. Oh yeah, and he’s playing Arizona who are breaking league records for inability to cover the TE. C’mon.
DEFENSE
New York Jets – The Jets face Buffalo. The Bills can’t change their playoff position so I don’t expect them to play their starters for any significant amount of time. The Jets D has been good lately and any team that has Jamal Adams patrolling the secondary is one I can get behind.
FANDUEL
THE FLASHLIGHT’S CORE PLUS:
RB – Aaron Jones – The Packers can still get the top seed in the NFC with a win and 49ers loss, so they’ll be fighting for this one. Jamaal Williams is out leaving all the work vs. the hapless Lions for Jones.
WR – Julio Jones – Falcons vs. Bucs could have an over/under for 80 and people would bet the over. Jones has dominated Matt Ryan’s attention the last two weeks, getting 35 targets in just two games! Tampa funnels action to opposing WR.
FLEX – Marlon Mack – Mack did well for us last week and should do the same this week against the Jags who are just going through the motions. They’re the worst run D over the last few weeks and Mack should feast again.
DRAFTKINGS
THE FLASHLIGHT’S CORE PLUS:
RB – Alvin Kamara – Kamara finally found the end zone last week (twice, actually) and now get gets the Panthers who struggle to stop the run. He’ll get his catches too which make him perfect for DK’s full point PPR.
WR – DJ Chark – Chark’s best game of the year was on Nov 17 against these same Colts when he went 8/104/2. He’s been hobbled a bit in December but is healthy again and should be the primary target when Gardiner Minshew is slinging it.
FLEX – Austin Ekeler – Another guy facing a team he beat up on earlier in the season. Ekeler got past the Chiefs for 8/108 receiving and 5/24 on the ground in mid November. He’ll see enough touches this week to score plenty of points.
OTHER GUYS I LIKE
These are some more guys I like but didn’t fit in to my lineup builds. I’ll be working to get pieces of all of these guys in various GPP lineups. I listed them in loose order taking in to account price, production target and ownership but I’ll work on getting a piece of everyone. Mix and match as you see fit.
QB – Daniel Jones, Drew Lock, Ryan Tannehill, Jameis Winston, Matt Ryan
RB – CMC (DK more than FD), Derrick Henry (FD more than DK), Zeke Elliott, Adrian Peterson, Justice Hill, Jaylon Samuels or Benny Snell
WR – Michael Thomas, Breshad Perriman, AJ Brown, Amari Cooper, Giants WRs (Tate/Shepard/Slayton), Courtland Sutton, Chris Conley
TE – Travis Kelce, Hunter Henry, Jonnu Smith, Baltimore TE (Boyle or Hurst)
DEF – Patriots, Bears (DK price is crazy low), Pittsburgh
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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