FanDuel NFL: Wide Receivers Week 4
By Matt Rogers
FanDuel NFL: Wide Receivers Week 4 is a column highlighting the best player, most affordable, and best value options for your FanDuel NFL lineups focusing on salary versus expected points. The intention of this article is to help you build your FanDuel NFL lineup for the most likely big payday each week.
I like to lean on FantasyPros for weekly point projections, the information is a result of consensus from many fantasy football experts. I check the point projection results, which update daily, with the salary set by FanDuel for players each week. Entering week 4, we’ll continue to see salaries settle into a more reasonable point spread for players. However, some players may still be over/under valued based on their week 3 results.
To help you optimize your FanDuel NFL lineups each week, we’re focusing on the Most Points, Best Affordable, and Most Value options. This article will focus on the Wide Receiver position. Here’s a brief description of each category:
- Most Projected Points – Evaluation of top projected point options from FantasyPros
- Best Affordable – Your most affordable, best player, options leaving you with enough money for good players in other positions
- Most Value – Identify the cheapest players with the highest upside
Now, let’s take a look at the players everyone’s targeting:
Next: Most Projected Points - WR
Most Projected Points – WR
Antonio Brown ($9,400 / 18.4) is a weekly favorite at wide receiver. Brown is once again projected the top FanDuel NFL point score at the WR position. While Antonio didn’t find the end zone last week against the Philadelphia Eagles defense, he still had 12 catches for 140 yards. That’s a decent 14 point FanDuel NFL day. However, paying over $9,000 is a little pricey for 14 points. The Eagles defense appears ‘real’ in 2016, now 8th in passing defense in the NFL. This week, the Steelers face the Kansas City Chiefs, who are also doing well against the passing game, 11th in the NFL. While the Eagles have yet to give up a passing touchdown, the Chiefs have given up only two this year. Like week 3, Brown seems to be too expensive in week 4.
Julio Jones ($8,500 / 16.3) is also up against a punishing pass defense, the Carolina Panthers. Julio has the 2nd most projected points, but I would stay away from the Falcons passing game this week, even though Matt Ryan has been on fire.
A.J. Green ($8,100 / 15.9) is probably the best value of the top five, and has the best odds of being top five in FanDuel NFL points for wide receivers this week. The Bengals will try to bounce back this week against a mediocre Miami Dolphins passing defense, 18th in the NFL in total passing yards allow per game.
Allen Robinson ($8,300 / 15.5) and DeAndre Hopkins ($8,600 / 15.3) round out the top five. Hopkins is matching up against a tough Tennessee Titans pass defense. The Titans have only given up two passing touchdowns so far this year, and they’re 12th in the NFL in yards given up per game. Hopkins has been consistently solid this year, although held out of the end zone last week by the Patriots. But I don’t like paying $8,600 for someone who will likely only get me 10-15 points as a ceiling.
Robinson, however, has a better matchup. The Jags face the an Indianapolis Colts team who continues to cough the football up, seven turnovers already, and are 27th in passing yards per game allowed. While they’ve only given up one passing touchdown per game, the QB passer rating against the Colts averages over 100. So Bortles could have a solid day against the Colts and Robinson should be the likely winner.
Next: Best Affordable - WR
Best Affordable – WR
Kelvin Benjamin ($7,700 / 13.3) had a rough day against the Minnesota Vikings, held to zero FanDuel NFL points. After being targeted over ten times per game in the first two weeks, Kelvin was only targeted once last week. However, even with the goose-egg result last week, Benjamin is still 11th among all wide receivers in FanDuel NFL points per game. His first two weeks were that good. Kelvin is a big bounce-back candidate for week 4. The Carolina Panthers are facing a the Atlanta Falcons. So far this year, the Falcons passing defense has been terrible. Quarterbacks who face Atlanta are averaging a 110 QB rating, the 2nd highest among all NFL teams. The Falcons also have already given up 10 passing touchdowns, in just three games, and are 29th in yards/game. This should be a big bounce-back week for Cam Newton and Kelvin Benjamin.
Speaking of defenses making quarterback’s look good, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are playing the Broncos this weekend. Even though the Bucs are 20th in passing yards defended, which isn’t too bad. However, as we talked about in the FanDuel NFL Quarterbacks Week 4 article Tampa Bay has coughed up the football eight times in three games. They’ve also given up seven passing touchdowns in three games, likely as a result of the turnovers and great starting field position for their opponents. And in week 3, Trevor Siemian and Demaryius Thomas ($7,900 / 12.6) were able to roll on the Bengals. I expect that’ll continue and Thomas could have another big day. A Benjamin/Thomas combo looks great this week.
Next: Most Value - WR
Most Value – WR
Jeremy Maclin ($6,900 / 12.4) had decent games against the San Diego Chargers (12 points) and Houston Texans (6 points), but was disappointing against a Jets defense who is surprisingly bad this year. However, the Kansas City Chiefs face a Pittsburgh Steelers team who has struggled against the pass as well through three weeks of the 2016 season. Last week, the Steelers gave up over 300 yards to Rookie Carson Wentz and Jordan Matthews found the end zone early in the game. Andy Reid, the former boss to Doug Pederson, the current Eagles head coach, likely has a similar game plan ready for the Steelers. Maclin should be a big part of the game plan. At $6,900, Jeremy is a good value play against Pittsburgh this week and Alex Smith should have a good day.
Like Demaryius Thomas, Emmanuel Sanders ($6,900 / 11.1) had a great week 3 thanks to a fantastic passing game from Trevor Siemian against a tough Cincinnati Bengals defense. Sanders had nine receptions on 13 targets, 117 yards and two TD’s. We already addressed the Buccaneers struggles with the passing game and ball control, Sanders should also have a great day on a much cheaper salary.
Wrapping up, my favorite combination for wide receivers in week 4 includes Kelvin Benjamin and Demaryius Thomas. Each receiver could have a big day, and they’re affordable options allowing you to plug-in a big salary receiver or load up on a quarterback like Cam Newton.