We all love daily fantasy football, mostly because we love to envision jamming a ton of fantasy football superstars into our lineups. Unfortunately, that doesn’t always work, since we have to deal with that pesky little salary cap when making our decisions. Never fear, as we here at Football Absurdity scour the pricing charts for FanDuel, our official daily fantasy football partner, to help you find the bargain basement cheap guys to help you fit Christian McCaffrey and Michael Thomas into your lineups for week one.
FanDuel Dumpster Dive (sub-$7k) Quarterback: Ryan Fitzpatrick ($6,700) vs. New England
Ryan Fitzpatrick heads up this list of cheap quarterbacks, but you have to promise to not watch any of him actually playing on Sunday. Fitzpatrick will be the King of Garbage Time, just like he was at the end of last season. Starting with the Thanksgiving week game (Fitzmagic’s 37th birthday!), he averaged 335 total yards and 2.3 touchdowns per game, while throwing five picks in six contests. He capped this off with exactly 335 yards and two scores in week seventeen against these very Patriots. Could Bill Belichick have something up his sleeve to stop Ryan Fitzpatrick? Absolutely, but you can’t stop the Fitzmagic, you can only hope to contain him.
Additional Options: Teddy Bridgewater vs. Las Vegas ($6,800), Gardner Minshew vs. Indianapolis, Mitchell Trubisky at Detroit ($6,900)
FanDuel Dumpster Dive (sub-$5k) Running Back: Zack Moss ($4,700) vs N.Y. Jets
I love Zack Moss, and he is probably my favorite value at rookie running back this season. I can’t say that he will be the best, because we’ve already seen what Clyde Edwards-Helaire can do. The Bills want to get Zack Moss the “Frank Gore role” in this offense, which came out to about fourteen touches per game last season before Gore proved that those touches would do far better with Devin Singletary. This week, they get the Jets, who stink out loud. I expect the Bills to boat race the Jets, and to turn to Moss to salt the game away in the second half. He’s only $200 more than the absolute minimum price on FanDuel, and represents a great daily fantasy football value.
[09/12 UPDATE: Miles Sanders is out for Sunday. Fire up Boston Scott ($4,800) instead of Zack Moss.]
Additional Options: Boston Scott at Washington ($4,800), Antonio Gibson vs. Philadelphia ($4,600), Joshua Kelley at Cincinnati ($4,500), James Robinson vs. Indianapolis ($4,500)
FanDuel Dumpster Dive (sub-$5k) Wide Receiver: Bryan Edwards at Carolina
It’s literally impossible to fill this roster spot with fewer dollars than Bryan Edwards, presenting him as the best possible value no matter how you slice it. The rookie wide receiver will likely see lots of targets against a defense that will mostly be rookies or guys who didn’t start for the Panthers in 2019. The Raiders lost Tyrell Williams, and are likely to turn to Edwards and fellow rookie Henry Ruggs III to get the majority of the wide receiver work in this one. The Raiders scored the fourth-fewest fantasy points to wide receivers last season, but that’s sure to change this year.
Additional Option: Laviska Shenault vs. Indianapolis ($4,600)
FanDuel Dumpster Dive (min-$5k) Tight End: Jordan Reed vs. Arizona
Considering that we last saw Jordan Reed in the regular season in 2018, this one is best served as a GPP punt play at tight end. While this may be rank homerism, there is a logical progression here. On Friday, Kyle Shanahan said that it’s more likely that Brandon Aiyuk plays than Deebo Samuel, but it’s looking less likely by the day that either of the receivers will play.
Here’s the thought process: the Cardinals stunk out loud against tight ends last year, allowing 260 fantasy points to the position last year. Only one team has come close to that number in the last decade (the 2013 Cardinals). They were historically terrible against tight ends. They tried to address this by drafting phenom LB Isaiah Simmons this year, but that takes care of just George Kittle. As good as he is, Simmons can’t defend two TEs. Shanahan likely deploys Jordan Reed for more targets than we would expect, letting Kittle be the Simmons decoy. Stranger things have happened.
Additional Option: Dawson Knox versus N.Y. Jets ($4,700)
FanDuel Dumpster Dive (sub-$4k) Defense: Indianapolis Colt vs. Jacksonville ($3,700)
Do I expect the Jaguars to score lots of points? Kind of. Do I expect them to do it mostly in garbage time after the Colts defense has run roughshod all over them? Absolutely. The Jags were middle-of-the-pack as a defensive matchup last year while the front office was putting them in a position to win. This week, they’re starting an undrafted free agent by default, after cutting Leonard Fournette. It should be a blood bath.
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