Daily Fantasy Football: Some Week 12 Bargains in FanDuel Leagues

If you play daily fantasy football (and who doesn’t these days?), you realize the key to your success is uncovering salary-cap values.

As you identify and save with bargains, it allows you to then afford and load up with studs, such as Peyton Manning, Matt Forte or Calvin Johnson, as examples, at other spots as you fill out your roster.

Here are some bargains in FanDuel leagues for Week 12 (sorted by position and then salary, lowest to highest):

QB – Josh McCown, Chicago Bears (at STL), $5,500:

With such a low salary, McCown really gives you the opportunity to load up elsewhere. One of the best things about McCown, who has a 5-to-0 TD-to-INT ratio so far this season, is that the Bears are loaded with weapons with Brandon Marshall, Alshon Jeffery and Forte as a receiver out of the backfield.

QB – Eli Manning, New York Giants (vs. DAL), $6,300 salary:

It’s been a disappointing season for Eli, but if you remember back to the season opener, he threw for 450 yards and four touchdowns … against the Cowboys. Next up on the schedule is none other than the division-rival Cowboys again. While he may not rack up 28 fantasy points like he did in Week 1, no team has allowed more 400-yard passers (four) or fantasy points to opposing QBs this season than America’s Team.

RB – Chris Ogbonnaya, Cleveland Browns (vs. PIT), $4,600:

Just shy of 100 yards from scrimmage last week, Ogbonnaya saw a bump in his workload, as expected, as he carried the ball eight times for 69 yards and had six receptions for 30 yards. With daily fantasy football leagues awarding a half-point per reception, the fact that Ogbonnaya has at least five receptions in back-to-back games and in three of his past five games enhances his value.

In addition, Ogbonnaya has a favorable matchup as the Steelers have allowed the ninth-most fantasy points to opposing running backs this season.

RB – Ryan Mathews, San Diego Chargers (at KC), $6,200:

Against the Dolphins last week, Mathews rushed for 127 yards on 19 carries. It was the third time in five weeks that Mathews rushed for at least 100 yards. The matchup isn’t great this week, but I could see the Chargers giving Mathews a heavy workload in an attempt to neutralize the Chiefs’ pass rush, which is probably the team’s biggest strength.

RB – Ben Tate, Houston Texans (vs. JAC), $6,500:

Averaging nearly 19 carries per game over the past three weeks, Tate should get a heavy workload against a Jaguars defense that allows a league-high 139.1 rushing yards per game. In addition, the Jags have allowed a total of eight touchdowns to running backs in their past five games.

RB – Eddie Lacy, Green Bay Packers (vs. MIN), $6,600:

Ending a six-game streak of at least 22 carries last week, Lacy could be in store for another healthy workload against the Vikings. In his first matchup against the Vikings, Lacy carried the ball a career-high 29 times for 94 yards and a score.

The Vikings have allowed the sixth-most fantasy points to opposing running backs this season, but they have also struggled against the pass as well (third-most fantasy points to opposing quarterbacks), which may keep them from stacking the box.

RB – Rashad Jennings, Oakland Raiders (vs. TEN), $6,600:

Since Darren McFadden aggravated his hamstring injury three weeks ago, no player has more yards from scrimmage than Jennings. During that stretch, Jennings has 57 carries for 340 yards and two touchdowns plus 11 receptions for 91 yards.

While it’s extremely difficult to pass on the Titans, the opposite is true when it comes to running the ball. Not only have the Titans allowed the fifth-most fantasy points to opposing running backs, but they have surrended multiple touchdowns to running backs in five consecutive games.

RB – Frank Gore, San Francisco 49ers (at WAS), $6,800:

For the first time in a long time, Gore struggled to run the ball as the Saints bottled him up for 48 yards on 13 carries. Before last week, the previous time that Gore had less than 70 rushing yards was Week 2. While Gore hasn’t been very involved in the passing game, he has seven (of his 12) receptions in his past four games.

Only the Cowboys have allowed more fantasy points to opposing running backs this season than the Redskins.

Recommended: FanDuel’s King of the Gridiron Contest: Top prize is $150,000 and a trip for six to Super Bowl XLVIII.

WR – Rishard Matthews, Miami Dolphins (vs. CAR), $4,500:

At the position minimum salary, Matthews has his two best games of the season in his past two games. In those two games, he has 15 receptions (on 19 targets) for 172 yards and two touchdowns.

WR – Cecil Shorts, Jacksonville Jaguars (at HOU), $5,300:

Shorts was right that it was “f—ing dumb” that Shorts did not see his second target until there was seven minutes to go in last week’s game. In many cases, we have seen one a team’s better skill players complain about not getting the ball that he gets the ball the following week. Comparing my ranking of Shorts (21st-ranked WR in half-PPR formats) to his FanDuel salary (33rd-highest among WRs), Shorts is an excellent value.

WR – Kendall Wright, Tennessee Titans (at OAK), $5,400:

Although he is $100 more expensive against the cap (than Shorts), Wright is a bigger value with a +14 differential between rank (16th) and cost (30th). Wright has received a ton of targets and has at least 69 receiving yards in five consecutive games, but he has only one touchdown this season. Wright should be a lock for double-digit points (six-plus catches, 70-plus yards).

WR – Eric Decker, Denver Broncos (at NE), $5,800:

While Decker may be the team’s third option among wide receivers, he’s also the cheapest, by far, at $5,800. (Demaryius Thomas and Wes Welker have salaries of $9,200 and $7,400, respectively.) In fact, he’s priced just below Anquan Boldin, Jerricho Cotchery and Tavon Austin, who all carry a $5,900 price tag.

It appears that Welker, who suffered a concussion in Week 11, will play against his former team, but if he doesn’t, then Decker becomes an even bigger bargain. Decker is currently on pace for a stat line of 86/1,267/5 this season.

WR – Alshon Jeffery, Chicago Bears (at STL), $6,500:

Here’s the list of receivers that have more yards from scrimmage than Jeffery since Week 4: Calvin Johnson. That’s it. No más.

Three running backs also have more YFS than Jeffery during that span, but he’s been one of the league’s best receivers/players since that point. Jeffery has 41 receptions for 714 yards and three touchdowns plus 10 carries for 81 yards since Week 4.

WR – Victor Cruz, New York Giants (vs. DAL), $6,800:

In the first game of the season against the Cowboys, it was like a Celia Cruz concert for Victor as he scored three touchdowns on his five receptions. He finished the game with five receptions for 118 yards as well.

For the first time since Week 4, Cruz had a 100-yard game last week against the Packers. Perhaps for the first time since Week 4, Cruz finds the end zone this weekend against the Cowboys.

TE – Heath Miller, Pittsburgh Steelers (at CLE), $4,900:

With Antonio Brown drawing coverage from Joe Haden this week, it’s possible that Big Ben looks elsewhere to distribute the football in the passing game. One of the beneficiaries of that might be Miller, who had eight receptions for 67 yards last week.

TE – Coby Fleener, Indianapolis Colts (at ARI), $5,400:

Fleener was one of two tight ends to have 100-plus yards last week and although he has been generally inconsistent this season, he has been more productive over his past four games. During that span, Fleener has 20 receptions for 242 yards and a touchdown.

Even better for Fleener, he faces the Cardinals this week. No team has allowed more fantasy points to opposing tight ends this year.
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TE – Delanie Walker, Tennessee Titans (at OAK), $5,600:

Walker has had a nice run over the past four weeks as well and finished with 10 receptions for 91 yards, both of which are season highs, and a touchdown last week. In his past four games, Walker has scored a touchdown and finished with double-digit fantasy points three times.

For a sortable grid of FanDuel values, check out our salary-cap analysis for all players.

More salary-cap analysis: DraftStreet Week 12 leagues – DraftKings Week 12 leagues

Week 12 Fantasy Football Rankings:

• Week 12 Fantasy Football QB Rankings
• Week 12 Fantasy Football RB Rankings
• Week 12 Fantasy Football WR Rankings
• Week 12 Fantasy Football TE Rankings

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