FanDuel NFL: Picks and Pivots for Week 3 Monday -Thursday

FanDuel NFL: Picks and Pivots for Week 3 (Monday Night – Thursday Night)

Welcome to the NFL edition of Picks and Pivots, a fantasy football column focused on helping you find the best FanDuel NFL lineup! The purpose of this column is to first identify key building blocks that can be used for any roster construction and then identify pivot points to help differentiate your lineup in hopes of a big payday!

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In Week 3, FanDuel has changed the game for us as we can no longer get exposure to the Monday night game through the Main Sunday slate but that does not mean we cannot play this game.

Fellow Fantasy CPR Expert, Matt Rogers introduced me to this Monday Night- Thursday Night two game slate last week and it is quickly becoming a favorite play for me.

Typically playing the Monday/Thursday night games became more of a strategic decision in how to weight ownership as the nationally televised games tended to be more heavily owned. As a result these became strategic fades for me most times, but by isolating these two games into one slate we get to enjoy these games and get some added fantasy football time!

So let’s get started on this two game slate and dig into the Falcons-Saints and Dolphins-Bengals!

Matt Ryan ($8,500):

To me if you are playing this slate, your Quarterback decision comes down to which Monday Night Football Quarterback you want to target – Drew Brees or Matt Ryan.

Rather than look at the decision in isolation, on a slate this small I want to be strategic in how this choice will impact the rest of my roster. On a two game slate, I intend to aggressively stack my favorite spot and look to double up on points when my quarterback links up with any of his offensive targets. On Sunday morning, Matt and I were guests on the Boy Meets Sports podcast and we discussed this strategy as a popular and successful one on larger slates. My preference on a smaller slate is to go even heavier on this approach and I want to select the quarterback that works best with my RB/WR/TE selections.

So this brings me back to my quarterback selection. Looking over the totality of this slate it seems clear to me that the top WR and top TE targets are Julio Jones and Jacob Tamme. Both players continue to be highly targeted and the Saints defense is already down its top two corner backs which should lead to big time fantasy days for the Falcons pass catchers.

Ultimately this brings me to selecting Matt Ryan ($8,500) as my top quarterback play as the ability to stack the Falcons passing attack is my preferred strategy. Ryan even as a stand-alone play may be the better choice as he is not only averaging more points per game than Brees (26.6 through the first two weeks) but we are also getting a $500 savings in dropping down to Ryan which is critical as the lack of “value” on a two game slate means we need to save cap space wherever we can.

The running back spot is a bit tricky to navigate across these two games as the Miami backfield is entirely too muddy to lock in anyone this early in the week which leaves us three teams to choose our running backs from.

Tevin Coleman ($6,400) is a great value play and a nice addition to a full on Falcons stack as Coleman has put up 27 touches through the first two games of the NFL season, essentially in a time share with the much more expensive Devonta Freeman.

Coleman has become the preferred receiving target out of the backfield for Atlanta and with this game expected to be a shoot-out, Coleman is one of the best value plays at the RB position.

Mark Ingram ($6,900) may not be the sexiest pick at running back but after watching the Falcons give up 155 yards on the ground to the Raiders in Week 2, the Saints may look to pound the rock with Ingram.

Ingram’s price point is very reasonable and by dropping down to these “value” picks we can easily afford to pay up for the top Wide Receivers on this slate which is absolutely not a place we want to fade the top end guys!

Sep 18, 2016; Oakland, CA, USA; Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Julio Jones (11) reacts after the Falcons scored a touchdown against the Oakland Raiders in the third quarter at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum. The Falcons defeated the Raiders 35-28. Mandatory Credit: Cary Edmondson-USA TODAY Sports /

As I alluded to in my quarterback section, Julio Jones ($9,300) is the absolute top play for me at any position as his talent level and match up against a depleted Saints secondary make him the highest upside play on the board.

If you intend to “fade” Drew Brees, then I will happily take his top target in WR Brandin Cooks ($8,100) to give me exposure to the Saints passing game. Cooks has been targeted 9 times in both games this season and has always performed well at home in his career, putting up 81.8 yards at home versus 53.9 yards on the road.

DeVante Parker ($6,200) will round out my WR trio on FanDuel as the Dolphins continue to ride their passing game and Parker has 19 targets in the last two weeks. With a questionable running attack, I expect the Bengals to force the Dolphins to throw and Parker has tremendous upside at this price point as one of the biggest play threats the Dolphins have.

Aug 11, 2016; Atlanta, GA, USA; Atlanta Falcons tight end Jacob Tamme (83) is introduced before a game against the Washington Redskins at the Georgia Dome. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports /

Jacob Tamme ($5,500) is the clear top option at tight end and although he may be chalky, I am happy to lock him in as part of my Falcons stack and move on. Tamme has eight targets in each of his first two games and is the best bet for points at a difficult position to fill on this slate.