Daily Fantasy Football Roundtable: Week 8 DraftKings Must-Starts

Each Friday, our contributors tackle the $1 Million question (DraftKings’ Millionaire Maker contest) and give their one must-start player that they like in DraftKings contests.

Here are our Week 8 DraftKings must-starts:

Brendan Donahue — Jeremy Maclin, WR, Philadelphia Eagles ($5,500)

Coming off a bye, Maclin and the Eagles travel to Arizona who have given up the third-most fantasy points to opposing receivers this year. If you take out the Giants game where the Eagles dominated and didn’t need to throw the ball in the 2nd half, Maclin has been targeted at least 10 times in every game. In what should be a shootout, I expect at least 10 targets for Maclin again and a great chance of producing well above his $5,500 price tag.

Sean Beazley — Jerick McKinnon, RB, Minnesota Vikings ($4,900)

One player I love this week is Vikings RB Jerrick McKinnon ($4,900). McKinnon is my sixth-ranked RB this week. McKinnon had a 19/103 line last week and should continue to get the bulk of the carries for Minnesota. He faces the Bucs, who rank 25th vs. the run this year and allow a league-worst 34 points per game. I think McKinnon could break out this week in a big way.

Ryan Watterson — Jerick McKinnon, RB, Minnesota Vikings ($4,900)

McKinnon gets a top matchup against the lowly Bucs this week. Tampa has given up the fourth-most fantasy points to RBs this season. McKinnon has solidified himself as the lead back in Minnesota and has become the focal point of this offense. At $4,900, it will be hard to find a better value than McKinnon.

Dan Yanotchko — Shane Vereen, RB, New England Patriots ($6,200)

I am targeting Shane Vereen of the Patriots this week, as he is made especially for the Draft Kings full-point PPR format. Since losing Stevan Ridley for the year, Vereen is now the workhorse for the Pats and had an impressive stat line against one of the best rush defenses in the Jets. Vereen last week ran for 43 yards, but he had five receptions on eight targets for 71 yards and two touchdowns. I like the matchup of Vereen coming out of the backfield against the Bears, who allow 21.8 fantasy points per game to opposing RBs in PPR formats.

Kevin Hanson — Matt Forte, RB, Chicago Bears ($8,800)

Without a doubt, finding underpriced values is imperative, but starting high-priced studs that actually produce like studs is important as well. In other words, if you spend the money, you better get production and that’s exactly what Forte has delivered. The top-scoring fantasy running back in PPR formats (DeMarco Murray is second), Forte leads running backs in catches (52), but he also leads the entire NFL. (Pittsburgh’s Antonio Brown is second with 50 and Forte is on pace for 119 catches.) In PPR formats, Forte has finished the past four weeks as the RB5, RB2, RB1, RB1 — and he had an RB3 performance in Week 1 as well. The Pats have allowed the eighth-most fantasy points to opposing running backs in PPR formats and Forte is about as safe as it gets and worth the salary.

-> Turn $27 into $1 Million in this week’s Millionaire Maker contest

More Week 8 content:

• DraftKings Cheat Sheet
• FanDuel Cheat Sheet
• Week 8 Fantasy Football Rankings

Good luck in Week 8!