Draft Kings Strategy Week 6: Best Bargains At Each Position
The best way to cash on weekly fantasy football sites is to load up on as many stars with good matchups as possible. Due to budget restraints, however, fantasy players must sacrifice other positions to nab the stars they want.
Here, you'll find the top bargains at each position on DraftKings that will let you splurge elsewhere. And remember, scoring is IMPORTANT. Here is DraftKings’ scoring system.
Quarterbacks
Kirk Cousins, Vikings ($5,200): Cousins worked out for us last week, and I’m ready to fire him up again after he successfully greased the squeaky wheel that was WR Adam Thielen. Cousins finally topped 300 yards last week vs. the Giants, and he did it incredibly efficiently on just 27 pass attempts. The Eagles will be a greater challenge for the Vikings defense, so Cousins should be able to put up similar numbers even if it takes more attempts. The Eagles’ pass defense is in the bottom third of the league, and they’ve allowed 300+ yards in three of their five games. Meanwhile, they haven’t allowed a 90-yard rusher yet this season, so it could be a rare off week for Dalvin Cook. Cousins is among my favorite plays yet again.
Colt McCoy, Redskins ($4,800): Last week wasn’t pretty for McCoy, but he is a starting QB at the price of a bargain tight end. I wouldn’t be in love with playing him, but he’s going up against the Dolphins, one of the more pathetic teams we’ve seen possibly in NFL history. He probably won’t have a lot of volume, but he could strike for multiple touchdowns, and he’s also an underrated rushing TD threat. The floor is low, but he could deliver a Top 12ish performance against this defense for an incredible price.
Running Backs
Joe Mixon, Bengals ($5,500): It’s been tough sledding for 2018’s AFC rushing champion, but this week is quietly an opportunity for a Mixon blowup game. Baltimore’s got a reputation for stingy defenses, but this season they have been very poor against the run per Football Outsiders. They dominated the Dolphins and Cardinals’ running games, but that was partially due to the offense jumping out to big early leads. In their two losses, they surrendered 140 yards on the ground to the Chiefs, and 193 yards to the Browns. Cincinnati has one of the NFL’s worst offensive lines, but he’s still been able to eclipse 60 rushing yards in three straight games, and he got to 93 last week. Mixon is also involved in the passing game, so 100+ yards from scrimmage is in play.
Chris Thompson, Redskins ($5,000): Thompson gets to feast on the NFL’s worst team, and in particular the worst defense in football vs. RBs in the passing game. Thompson has seen five or more targets in every game this year, and with McCoy under center, there are going to be many, many dump offs to Thompson in the hopes he’ll break a big play. Thompson’s been a high-floor play all year, but this is his chance to have a breakout performance.
James White, Patriots ($5,100): White’s 2019 has been very quiet compared to his breakout last season, but it’s not for lack of volume. White has seen seven or more targets in three of the four games he’s played; it’s simply been harder for him to find the end zone, which isn’t surprising after he scored 12 total TDs last year. Touchdowns will come sooner rather than later, and this week represents a great opportunity vs. a Giants defense that’s full of holes and struggles to contain pass-catching running backs.
Wide Receivers
Emmanuel Sanders, Broncos ($4,800): Sanders turned in a complete dud last week, catching his lone target for nine yards in a plodding win. That’ll probably throw people off his scent, especially against a strong defense like Tennessee’s. What DFS players might not realize, however, is that the Titans are among the worst defenses in football against slot receivers, which is where Sanders does a ton of his damage. Prior to last week’s outlier, Sanders had seen five or more targets in every game and gone over 85 yards in three of them. He’s prone to duds here and there, but with a good matchup to exploit, he’s probably back to being a high-end WR2 this week for a FLEX price.
Mike Williams, Chargers ($4,600): Williams returned with a vengeance from his back injury, catching six passes for 74 yards against a tough Broncos secondary. His 13 targets were very encouraging, and if the Chargers can keep that up he might torch a much softer Steelers defense this week. Pittsburgh has struggled to contain wide receivers in 2019, and Williams is a matchup nightmare. At $4,600, his bust potential is well worth the risk because he has Top 10 upside.
Tight Ends
Austin Hooper, Falcons ($5,000): Every week, the TE facing the Cardinals is a play. This week, Austin Hooper, the current No. 1 TE overall, faces the Cardinals. This is the easiest play of the week. The downside is that many, many many DFS players will use Hooper. The upside is that he’s going to go off.
Jimmy Graham, Packers ($4,000): Graham is an excellent alternative for Hooper if you’re trying to zig where everyone else zags. Graham was disappointing in his first week without Davante Adams – whose status is not clear for this week, so monitor it – but it was an unusually successful day on the ground for Green Bay. Aaron Jones won’t tear up defenses to that extent every week, and Week 6 sees Graham in a primetime matchup with Detroit. The Lions have struggled vs. TEs this season, so even if Adams is playing, Graham is still a solid bet for red zone targets.