DraftKings NFL Week 7: Picks, Sleepers and Strategy

Here at Roto Street Journal, we fancy ourselves as fantasy addicts. Fantasy football has evolved into something much more than your standard league draft. With the opportunity to enter new lineups every week through Daily Fantasy Sports, the RSJ will be giving you the best plays for your lineups, in order to win you some cash. From the high-priced superstars, to the penny stock sleepers, we have you covered to piece together the optimal lineup week by week.

Note:

  • Standard DraftKings salaries are used when creating these lineups.
  • The Thursday Night, London and Monday Night Football games are excluded from tournament play

Quarterbacks

  • Top Shelf

    • Tom Brady ($7,900) – The greatest quarterback of all time has been on fire since he returned two weeks ago. Two 30 point performance in a row, and he’s a great bet for a trifecta against a Steelers defense he’s historically carved up.
    • Matt Ryan ($7,200) – Ryan is in a great spot to potentially score the most points at QB this week. At home he draws a plus matchup against the Chargers who have lost a bunch of players on defense to injury, most notably top corner Jason Verrett.
  • Retail Price

    • Philip Rivers ($6,500) – Rivers will be on the opposing side of Ryan and if the Falcons do what we expect them to do, Rivers will need to throw a lot. Atlanta poses one of the best defenses for fantasy quarterbacks to play against.
    • Blake Bortles ($6,200) – Bortles has really struggled this year, but if there’s a week to use him and expect solid results it’s now. The Raiders secondary is very porous and playing at home should give him a boost to get back on track.
  • Bang For Your Buck

    • Andy Dalton ($6,000) – This matchup is just too good and Dalton has had great success against Cleveland in the past. He should be able to throw all day with AJ Green, and with a lack of a running game there’s nothing stopping him from throwing for 300+ with a couple scores.
  • My Pick

    • Marcus Mariota ($6,000) – If it ain’t broke don’t fix it, right?. Mariota has the ultimate cake schedule coming up and Indianapolis is just another notch in the belt. The Colts stink and allowed Brock Osweiler to have a good game against them, so a hot Mariota should have no problem doing damage once again. His legs obviously provide a huge advantage after running for over 60 yards in back to back games. So much for going against Cleveland for six straight weeks.

Running Backs

  • Top Shelf

    • LeSean McCoy ($7,600) – Last week McCoy exploded for 140 yards and 3 touchdowns against the worst run defense of San Francisco. Now McCoy gets the second worst run defense with Miami. Not much more to say here. *UPDATE* – With a hamstring injury coming into play, I’m very hesitant to include McCoy in my lineups. If he gets fully cleared, then I’m all in.
    • DeMarco Murray ($7,200) – I love Murray against the Colts this week who have given up over 100 rushing yards in five of six games. They are also susceptible to allowing RBs to catch passes which boosts Murray’s stock even more.
  • Retail Price

    • Melvin Gordon ($6,400) – Gordon will continue to see a large bulk of carries and should capitalize on his chances in Atlanta. His lower point total against Denver could scare away some potential owners.
  • Bang For Your Buck

    • James White ($4,600) – As mentioned in the recap piece, I was very upset I didn’t play White. He flourishes with Tom Brady and should continue to do so in Dion Lewis’ absence. He’s a great low priced RB to allow you the flexibility to spend up on top guys.
    • Jacquizz Rodgers ($4,300) – With Doug Martin out on Sunday, Rodgers will get the lion’s share of the carries against the worst ranked run defense in the 49ers. He exploded for 20 points last game after receiving 30 carries.
    • Matt Jones ($4,200) – Matt Jones has been sneaky good this year and finds a solid matchup against the Lions on the road. For the amount of work that he’s gotten paired with his low price tag, he also offers great flexibility.
  • My Pick

    • Devonta Freeman ($5,900) – First off, just look at how awesome those throwbacks look. Look good, play good. Once you look past the fire flames jerseys, you see an equally hot matchup for Freeman. San Diego has given up the second most fantasy points to RBs and give up frequent passes to running backs. His three weeks prior to Seattle were lights out, including Denver. Here’s to hoping Tevin Coleman isn’t such a vulture.

Wide Receivers

  • Top Shelf

    • Julio Jones ($9,200) – This has the potential to be nuclear. At home, depleted Chargers secondary, it’s almost too good. Jones has the highest ceiling of them all, but is so expensive that you have to do some serious roster tinkering to work him in there.
    • AJ Green ($8,900) – Green is atop the WR ranks in some places and should have no problem dusting Cleveland’s secondary. His super high target volume makes him a good play nearly every week, but his nice matchup makes him even more intriguing.
    • Amari Cooper ($7,900) – Cooper has been on fire lately with 25 targets for a 16-267-1 stat line over his last two games. Now facing a very bad Jacksonville team, he should have similar success against a struggling secondary.
    • Allen Robinson ($7,300) – Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice though, and you will have serious shit to pay Robinson. He’s much better at home and has averaged more targets and receptions in Jacksonville (11 targets 6 catches 61 yards vs 5 targets 3 catches 34 yards). The Raiders are the ultimate setup for him, so if there’s a game to break out of his funk it’s now.
  • Retail Price

    • Michael Crabtree ($6,600) – Crabtree provides a cheaper version of Cooper, who has actually produced on par with him so far this season. He had a rough week after being covered by skilled corner/rival Marcus Peters and a Chiefs defense that is pretty good. Now he’s rewarded with the Jaguars in a plus matchup.
    • Allen Hurns ($5,000) – On the flip side here, we’ve got Hurns taking on the Raiders. The Raiders have the leagues WORST passing defense and Hurns comes in at a sneaky 5k. After Hurns outplayed Allen Robinson last week, he could be a sneaky good play alongside Bortles.
  • Bang For Your Buck

    • Golden Tate ($4,900) – Tate finally came alive last week after being rated so high going into the 2016 season. The Lions had come out and said they were going to rework Tate in the offense, to which they both delivered. Now playing Washington at home, he can easily build off last week’s success.
    • Mohamed Sanu ($4,400) – If you can’t get or don’t want Jones worked into your lineup, Sanu represents a great cheap option. The second receiver in Atlanta came out strong in Week 1 before going quiet. He hopped back on the radar last week with 10 targets and a touchdown. The Falcons-Chargers game has the highest over/under total this week meaning there’s plenty of fantasy points to go around.
    • Pierre Garcon ($3 ,700)– Garcon is second in Redskins targets, receptions and yards this season. Despite a low price tag, he’s still being used quite well in the offense and has had multiple double digit games so far. The Lions are a great plus matchup to exploit, especially with Jordan Reed battling with concussions.
  • My Pick

    • Mike Evans ($7,800) – Why is nobody talking about Mike Evans? Guy has had four straight games of double digit targets and has scored in every game except one. He is the apple to QB Jameis Winston’s eye and is peppered with targets week in and week out. With the Bucs struggling to run the ball, the only other option is through the air. Evans has such a high fantasy floor.

Tight Ends

  • Top Play

    • Rob Gronkowski ($7,200) – Gronk gonna Gronk and boy did he Gronk last week against the Bengals. He set a career high in yards and goes to Pittsburgh this week. His is undoubtedly Brady’s top target and can impose his will on defenses whenever he pleases.
  • Bargain Plays

    • Delanie Walker ($4,900) – After a SHIT performance last week that left me very angry, Walker gets the chance to redeem himself against another bad defense with Indianapolis. His usage rate should be pretty low after last week’s stinker.
    • Hunter Henry ($3,600) – Henry has burst onto the scene in San Diego and has become one of Philip Rivers‘ top targets. He’s caught touchdowns in three straight games while posting over 15 fantasy points in each one. A shootout in Atlanta will help continue that trend.

Defenses

  • Top Play

    • Cincinnati Bengals ($3,600) – The Bengals at home against the Cody Kessler led Browns. Cincy actually showed a great pass rush against the Patriots last Sunday, giving Brady fits early on. They could make it a long day for Cleveland offensively with that kind of pressure.
  • Bargain Plays

    • Philadelphia Eagles ($3,100) – The Eagles just find a way to put up points fantasy wise, which is great in our case. Playing at home against Minnesota isn’t the best matchup on paper, but Minnesota doesn’t have the strongest offense out there. It could be a low scoring affair.
    • New England Patriots ($2,900) – New England has been sneaky good on defense. They’ve given up the second fewest points in the whole NFL, and now go to Pittsburgh to face the turnover prone Landry Jones in the wake of Ben Roethlisberger’s injury.

Author

  • THE Inaugural 2016 RSJ Fantasy Football League Champion. Owner of a #bigbrain, and lover of football, baseball and college hoops. When not grinding for the RSJ, can be found captaining his beer league softball team.

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