FanDuel NFL Lineups: Week 13
By Matt Rogers
Welcome back for the Week 13 edition of FanDuel NFL lineups. We’re a Daily Fantasy Football column focused on top picks and best value for your weekly FanDuel NFL lineups. We arm you with information for a big FanDuel NFL payday each week.
With the Redskins/Cowboys rivalry already out of the way, after Thursday night’s game, we have 15 games to consider Sunday through Monday night. The bye-week part of the season is over, and the playoff race is in full swing. Even better, we’ve yet to approach the point where dominating teams begin to rest there players, so most of the top NFL players are on the board for lineup picks this week.
There are some great match ups developing some potential trap-plays, but also some potential steals. Carson Wentz continues to be one of the most dominating quarterbacks in fantasy football, but he and his Eagles are traveling to Seattle to play a tough defense, even with injuries, in a very difficult environment.
Russell Wilson will also be on the field in Seattle, defending his nearly 24 FanDuel NHL point average. Without a running game all season and a poor offensive line, Wilson initially stumbled out the gate, to start the season. But after the first two weeks, Russell only had one disappointing game, below 19 FanDuel NHL points. Which one will be the QB to pick this week? We’ll investigate.
With almost every NFL team playing over the next couple of days, FanDuel provides a plethora of slates. There are three slates starting at 1pm ET, three after 4pm, and two slates starting with the Sunday night game. For the Mon-Thu slate, we are only covering the Monday options, focused solely on week 13 games.
Now, let’s get start on your NFL DFS optimal lineup with the Quarterbacks…
FanDuel NFL Lineups: Week 13 – Quarterbacks
Top Picks
With an over 21 FanDuel NFL point-per-game average and a consistently dominate performance throughout his Hall of Fame career, Tom Brady ($9,300) is always a lock for top pick each week, regardless of his defensive match up. Over the last three games, Brady has 10 touchdowns, three or more in each game. The Bills defense has been terrible over the last month, and Tom and crew should have a great Sunday afternoon.
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Philip Rivers ($8,000) has quietly provided around 17 FanDuel NFL points-per-game over the 2017 season. Rivers has always been a solid fantasy football quarterback, throughout his career. This season, the Chargers have finally had healthy wide receivers throughout the season, further improving Rivers results over the second half of the season.
In his last three games, Philip has seven touchdowns and threw for over 250 yards in three of those games. The Browns had had a tough run defense, but they struggle more defending the passing game. This is a great opportunity to own Rivers and grab over 20 FanDuel NFL points on a reasonable salary.
Other Top Option
Over the last seven games, Carson Wentz ($8,000) has 20 or more FanDuel Nfl points in six of them. And when he fell short of 20 points, he still had over 18 points. Carson hasn’t had a game with less than two touchdowns since October 1st against a solid Chargers secondary. Yes, Wentz will be playing in a tough environment. But the Seahawks injuries have decimated their secondary, and they’re going to need to lean on their run defense and pass rush to rattle Wentz. There’s risk with the Wentz pick, but there’s also tremendous upside.
Fades
Drew Brees ($8,100) – The Saints have developed one of the most potent offensive running games in the NFL. However, while the Saints run game has emerged, Brees seems to have forgotten how to throw an effective passing game. In his last nine games, Drew only threw over 300 yards, twice. Also, in his last six games, Brees only has six touchdowns, throwing for more than one touchdown only twice. For a top four salary, there’s too much risk with Brees.
Alex Smith ($7,500) – It’s tempting to fall for the narrative where Smith fights the benching rumors and has an enormous bounce-back game this week. But Alex hasn’t looked good since the October 30th match up against the Broncos, and the Jets secondary is much better than their run defense.
Russell Wilson ($8,200) – I get it. Wilson is consistently putting up tremendous fantasy football points and the Eagles secondary has historically been terrible. They’re also playing in Seattle. But if you’ve been watching the Eagles defense each week, you know they’re consistently improving with their pass defense.
Their dominating run defense is allowing their defense backs to ‘cheat’ more and they’re picking off and knocking down more balls as a result. The Seahawks have a lot riding on Wilson, but if this Eagles defense continues to not allow touchdowns, he’s in for a rough rsults.
FanDuel NFL Lineups: Week 13 – Running Backs
Top Picks
Le’Veon Bell ($9,400) is easily the best consistent running back over the last several weeks, but boy is he expensive this week. The Steelers were able to run well against the Bengals in Pittsburgh on October 22nd, likely inflating Bell’s salary. he had 35 rushing attempts for over 130 yards in that game, but never saw the end zone. However, he also had three receptions for 58 yards.
Bell is a great pick, but we prefer Todd Gurley ($8,800) over Bell, saving $600 salary and likely yielding the same result. Gurley is actually averaging more FanDuel NFL points-per-game than Bell, now nearly 20 per game. While Todd isn’t getting as many rushing carries as Bell, he’s getting around four receptions per game, and 40-50 receiving yards. Gurley also has four touchdowns in his last five games.
Other Top Options
Our top options might seem obvious, here’s another one. Alvin Kamara ($8,500) was the most dominate FanDuel NFL running back in the month of November, averaging over 26 FanDuel NFL points-per-game in the last four weeks.
Since Adrian Peterson‘s trade to the Cardinals, Kamara’s snap count increased to around 40%, and continues to grow. Also, Alvin appears to be completely comfortable in the passing game and is becoming one of Brees’ top targets each week. In November, Kamara had around seven targets per game for six receptions and 70 yards per game, and a total of three touchdowns. Against any defense, Kamara is dangerous.
With the injury to rookie D’onta Foreman, Lamar Miller ($6,600) is getting around 20+ carries per game, versus an average of around 12-15 before Foreman’s injury. Miller has quietly been a consistent performer for FanDuel NFL in the early part of this season, but his value increases significantly through the rest of the year.
There are two great value picks in the $5,900 salary range, Rex Burkhead or Alex Collins. Burkhead is more of a gamble because his involvement will depend on the game plan against the Bills. But it’s likely Rex will see around ten carries and see several targets, opening the door for another touchdown.
Collins is a bigger impact. He’s been struggling this week with a calf injury. But if he’s on the field Sunday, Alex is a sneaky great pick with this salary. Collins should see around 20 carries and two to four receptions. He also has a touchdown per game in each of the last two games, and it’s possible that streak continues against the Lions this week.
Fades
Leonard Fournette ($8,700) – We’ve been in the minority on fading Fournette, but we’ve recommended fading Leonard several times this season and it often pans out. Leonard is very injury prone, and has battled some maturity issues as a rookie as well. This looks like a great match up, but the Colts are actually in the middle of the NFL defending the running game, and Fournette has been very unimpressive over the last three weeks.
Melvin Gordon ($7,900) – We’ve heard several fantasy football experts, this week, tout Gordon as a great pick this week against the Browns. I wonder if they have amnesia. The Browns have been consistently solid against the run game, and the Chargers are likely going to lean on the passing game in Los Angeles this week. Which is another reason to like our Rivers QB pick.
FanDuel NFL Lineups: Week 13 – Wide Receivers
Top Picks
Well, we really like Rivers this, and his top wide receiver is target machine Keenan Allen ($8,100). While Allen has been relatively quiet this season, he’s consistently seen over seen targets per game, often ten or more.
Over the last two games, against the Bills and Cowboys, Keenan has a total of 27 targets and 23 receptions. Allen had 159 yards and two touchdowns against the Bills and 172 yards and a touchdown against the Cowboys. At some point, Allen is going to cool off again, but likely not at home against the Browns.
The Falcons secondary is re-emerging this season, after a rough start. So at first glance, Adam Thielen ($7,800) seems like a risky pick. But the Falcons secondary is banged up, and we may not see top corner Desmond Trufant on the field Sunday. Also, even against a good passing defense, the Vikings are throwing Thielen’s way often, further improving his odds this week.
With #Falcons CB Desmond Trufant in the concussion protocol, important to note rising CB Brian Poole’s back injury is minor. He’s OK.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) November 27, 2017
Other Top Picks
Another target machine is Jarvis Landry ($6,900) who appears to be severely underrated against the Broncos in Miami this week. Jarvis has under ten targets in only three games this year, and you wouldn’t know the Dolphins are struggling at the quarterback position looking at his consistent receptions and touchdowns over the last six weeks. Even against the Broncos defense, we love Landry this week. A cheaper Kenny Stills ($5,400) is also very undervalued this week.
Looking for value, we’re stacking Tyrell Williams ($5,200) with Keenan Allen and Philip Rivers. In the last four games, Tyrell has 15 targets for six receptions and around 40 yards per game. Also, against the Cowboys Williams was able to register his first touchdown since he scored one in early October against the Eagles.
Fades
Julio Jones ($8,600) – Everyone will be tempted to play Jones after his insane 12 receptions, 253 yards, and two touchdown performance against the Buccaneers last week. But Jones and the Falcons passing game has struggle this season, and the match up last week benefited Jones significantly. This week, the Falcons host a Vikings defense who recently stifled the Rams top offense. This is a trap-pick.
A.J. Green ($7,900) – While Green only had five receptions for 66 yards against the Browns, he has a touchdown in each of his four games prior to playing the Browns, and a 100+ receiving yard against against the Titans. So it’s tempting to keep riding Green. But the Steelers defense is top-ten in almost every category, making this a risky play, even for only $7.9K.
FanDuel NFL Lineups: Week 13 – Tight End / Kicker / Defense
The tight end position this season sounds like a broken record. Gronkowski ($8,100), Zach Ertz ($7,500), and Travis Kelce ($7,000) are all dominating performers this year. And it remains to be seen how the benching of Eli Manning will impact his performance, but Evan Engram ($6,900) emerged and flirted with a Gronk/Ertz/Kelce type status by mid-season.
Meanwhile, Delanie Walker ($6,400) has been lurking the background, consistently providing around eight to ten FanDuel NFL points-per-game this year. We’ve played Delanie a few times this season, but his lack of touchdown production is cause for pause.
So many DFS NFL players took notice when Walker finally got a touchdown last week in Indianapolis. The Texans have struggled against the passing game, and tight ends, this season, and this is another good match up for Walker.
Closing out the DFS NFL optimal lineup, we focus on kicker and defense with some fairly obvious picks. Wil Lutz ($5,000) has benefited from the Saints great offense all season. And now with a robust run game, Lutz is averaging over 11 FanDuel NFL points-per-game, top three among the kickers on the board this Sunday.
The Jacksonville Jaguars ($5,600) have been a dominating defense all season, except against the running game. But over the last couple of weeks, we’ve even seen the Jags slow their opponents run game down. And the Colts have one of the worst overall offenses in the NFL right now, setting up the Jags to be a lock for top DFS FanDuel NFL defense this weekend.
So after reviewing all the options, we put together our favorite lineup for the day. Here’s a look at our Final FanDuel NFL for Week 13 of the 2017 Season:
QB – Rivers (LAC $8,000)
RB – Gurley II (LAR $8,000)
RB – Burkhead (NE $5,900)
WR – Allen (LAC $8,100)
WR – Landry (MIA $6,900)
WR – Williams (LAC $5,200)
TE – Walker (TEN $6,400)
K – Lutz (NO $5,000)
D – Jacksonville Jaguars ($5,600)
This leaves us with $100 left, maximizing our picks using value in two receiver positions, defense, and kicker and loading up on some big point potential at quarterback, running back, and receiver.
Note: This is a recommended lineup after discussing our top options for the week. You should use this as a guide, and provide your own input when building FanDuel NFL lineups. We are not telling you, or selling you, to use this lineup.
Good luck with your FanDuel NFL plays on Thanksgiving day, and stay tuned to Fantasy CPR on Twitter for all the late breaking lineup news and roster updates!