FanDuel NFL: Picks and Pivots for Week 4

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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Looking over the Week 4 slate, I recommend you start your roster constructing by digging through the key positions to understand the salary structure at each position before you simply start building your lineup. The reason I say this is that their appears to be incredible value at running back and wide receiver this week which will allow us the ability to pay up for an elite quarterback.

Cam Newton ($9,300) may be expensive but with the value we have at other positions, this makes for a great spot to pay up for Cam in a top-notch match up. The Panthers head to Atlanta to take on a Falcons defense that has given up at LEAST three passing touchdowns per game to opposing quarterbacks this season.

The Falcons have given up 30.3 points per game this season and are ranked 31st as a defense against opposing QB’s. This game has a projected total of 53.5 points which is one of the highest on the board and you are going to want as much exposure to these offenses as possible.

In addition to the match up in the air, one of the most valuable aspects of Newton’s fantasy game is his usage in the running game. So far this season Newton has run the ball 24 times or 8 times per game and has two rushing touchdowns to show for it.

Remember in the FanDuel scoring, rushing touchdowns are worth 6 points versus 4 points for a passing touchdown which provides a built-in advantage for Cam’s game!

With so much value on the board and many others looking to save money by dropping down at QB and targeting the Saints/Chargers game, Cam may actually have a lower ownership than this spot warrants so I am happy to lock him in as the top play at QB and build my rosters around him!

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He’s bacccccck! Le’Veon Bell ($8,300) returns to the Steelers this weekend after serving his three game suspension and becomes an immediate plug and play option as one of the most dynamic players in the NFL.

Everyone is aware of the skill-set that Bell has and he is rightfully projected as one of the top running back plays of the week however there is some strategy to why this is the best week to load him into your lineups.

This may be the lowest ownership percentage we are able to snag Bell at as people will be hesitant to plug Bell back into their lineups as they take a “wait and see” approach against a tough Kansas City defense and their remains uncertainty around the role DeAngelo Williams will play. Secondly, I LOVE having that Sunday Night play in your lineups that allows you make a late push in your DFS games.

Jordan Howard ($5,600): I mentioned the value we have at the skill positions and Howard presents one of the best values as the starting running back for the Bears in Week 4. With the injury to Jeremy Langford, Howard enters the week as the unquestioned lead back and after racking up 9 rushes and 6 targets after Langford exited in Week 3 should see “three-down” work for the Bears as one of the focal points of their offense.

The Lions have given up 150 total yards to DeMarco Murray and over 100 rushing yards to Eddy Lacy in the last two weeks so the match up here is favorable and with Howard’s involvement in the passing game he should be able to counteract any game flow concerns if/when the Lions put points on the board.

I expect Howard will be the mega chalk value play and may end up the highest owned running back play on Sunday. In large field tournaments I can see the strategic fade here and one value play I expect will be highly overlooked is Tampa’s RB Charles Sims.

If you missed it, Matt Rogers broke down the sneaky upside Sims as this week in his FanDuel Running Back Preview and it opened by eyes to the upside Sims provides at what I expect will be a single digit ownership percentage. If you are looking for a top pivot away from Howard, read Matt’s take and lock in Sims!

The $7k range is absolutely loaded with high upside value plays on this slate and you can easily build your roster at this price point which will allow you to pay up at QB/RB this week.

Terrelle Pryor Sr. ($7,000): Anyone who had the guts to play Pryor in Week 3 was surely happy they did after his 27.9 FanDuel performance. To be honest, I went into this week thinking that I would likely play the fade as folks flocked to him in DFS but the price point is entirely too valuable for me to be contrarian here.

Pryor is THE offense for the Browns right now, as he has 31 targets so far this season which is the 7th most of any NFL wide receiver however Pryor is the 15th highest priced WR on the slate.

Pryor not only is a target machine but as we witnessed last week the Browns are utilizing him in the rushing attack (4 carries) and as a passer (3 for 5 as a QB). I will be interested to see how people treat Pryor after last week but the buzz this week has not been what I have expected and if people continue to play the wait and see game here we can nab Pryor again at a reasonable ownership percentage.

Kelvin Benjamin ($7,700): One of the trends I have noticed this week as people have talked about the Carolina/Atlanta game is that people are looking to stack Cam Newton with Greg Olson but for me, I will be looking to heavily invest in a bounce back game from Benjamin.

Benjamin put up an absolute dud last week with 0 catches on 1 target and the buzz all week from Carolina is they are going to right that wrong and feed Benjamin this week. Kelvin will face off with CB Desmond Trufant who he roasted last year for a 9 catch 109 yard 1 TD performance and I will look to be stack Newton and Benjamin here as I expect the Panthers will make a point to get him involved early and often!

Marvin Jones Jr. ($7,600): Another Week 3 stud who remains in a great match up that we should look to go back to is Lions WR Marvin Jones who has taken over as Matthew Stafford‘s clear top target.

As Ty Wrage pointed out in his DraftKings Week 4 Preview “The Bears just placed their CB1, Kyle Fuller, on the IR, so corners like Tracy Porter and Jacoby Glenn will be on Jones the whole game. Despite the injuries, the Bears made solid improvements to their front seven, and this is a team that will likely funnel opponents into passing more than normal.”

Jones is averaging just under 10 targets per game so far this season and is one of the safest plays on the board which allows you to build a solid cash game lineup while pivoting at other spots to differentiate yourself in large tournaments.

Each week when I build my lineups I actually start by slotting in my defense/kicker/tight end first as I look for the best value plays so I can understand how much salary I have left per player when building my skill positions.