Fantasy Football: FanDuel NFL DFS Picks for Week Ten – Cash Games
By Rob Wilson
FanDuel NFL DFS Picks for Week Ten – Cash Games
This week is the beginning of the home stretch for most fantasy leagues and it’s really the time you should be setting yourself up for a FanDuel NFL playoff run. The key to this depends on what type of playoff performance you’re capable of based on your roster.
If you’re someone hovering in the middle of the league it might be time to make a big upside trade to give yourself a chance at the title (Keenan Allen makes a great buy low).
On the other end of the spectrum, if you’re someone who’s destined to have a top seed in the playoffs, it might be time to start doing the little things that will help you win the big weeks.
One of the best pieces of advice for season long players at this point is to take a look at your team and check out the playoff schedules for your match-up dependent guys.
Players like Nick Chubb, Kerryon Johnson and Aaron Jones are very matchup dependent, so it may be a good idea to make a big trade with this in mind (hint: Kerryon’s playoff schedule is gorgeous).
An even sneakier play is to take a look at the D/ST match-ups for weeks 13-16 and prepare accordingly if you have a standard bench.
The Broncos and Redskins both have great schedules for fantasy playoffs, and something that small may be the difference between a championship and going into next year thinking about what could have been. Grab one of those two teams right now, I promise you it will pay off if you get there.
As far as FanDuel goes this week, it’s another tough week without a lot of obvious plays. Last week was an easy cash since Fitz, Kareem Hunt and OJ Howard performed up to par. Adam Thielen had his first tough week this year but it’s definitely forgivable considering all he’s done for us this season. Let’s take a look at the optimal lineup for week ten:
FanDuel NFL Cash Game Lineup – Week Ten
FanDuel NFL Quarterback: Ryan Fitzpatrick– $7,600
Let’s venture on back to the well, as they say. The Bucs signal callers have been on this list more times than I can count, and although they haven’t been too impressive on the actual gridiron; the fantasy output has been strong.
Fitz has produced at least 24 fantasy points in three of his five starts this season, and he hovered right around 20 points in another. He’s really only had the one bad week, and the Redskins secondary ranks in the bottom ten against opposing quarterbacks for fantasy purposes.
Fitz is a high volume, high floor play once again this week and should produce another 20 point outing with ease.
FanDuel NFL Running Back: Melvin Gordon-$8,900
This paragraph could write itself. All season long Melvin Gordon has been a dare I say…. Cash Cow? He’s obliterated his value so many times that it’s been hard to ignore him if he’s on the slate. This week he takes on a tanking Raiders team that gives up a whopping 24.8 points per game on the ground to opposing running backs.
The Chargers should control this one from the get go and will likely turn to Melvin to close out an easy win. He’s been entirely game script proof this season due to his involvement in the passing game, and Todd Gurley stands as his only competition for the most reliable player in all of fantasy. Lock him in and don’t look back.
FanDuel NFL Running Back: Tevin Coleman – $7,300
Coleman had a breakout performance last week against a stout Redskins rushing defense primarily because he excelled in the passing game. He hauled in five of his seven targets for sixty-eight yards and two touchdowns while rushing for eighty-eight yards between the tackles.
Atlanta has relied on him in the wake of Devonta Freeman‘s injury and it’s been fairly successful but week nine may have been the performance they needed to truly feature him on an every down basis.
This week he squares off against a Browns team that ranks in the bottom five against opposing running backs so Coleman should have plenty of room to run and I’d expect him to remain a focal point of the offense during passing situations.
His price doesn’t reflect his explosion last week so we may not see him this cheap again. Coleman should help you starve off everyone rolling out Kareem Hunt and you can make it up at the receiver position.
FanDuel NFL Wide Receiver: Tyler Boyd– $7,800
Bring on the chalk! Boyd will be nearly 100% owned this week since AJ Green is sidelined and the Saints get torched by anyone with two legs and a pair of receiving gloves.
He was already seeing a 22% target share going into this game and a huge chunk of the vacated targets should go his way.
Boyd has turned into an every week play and he’s one of the top waiver pickups of the year so he’s an absolute must start in season long leagues and he’s worth the price in DFS.
He should perform as a WR1 this week but he’s priced in the WR2 range. You won’t be the only one playing him, but you’d rather slot him in than deal with the consequences.
FanDuel NFL Wide Receiver: Marquez Valdes-Scantling – $5,400
This week we have two pieces of chalk in the lineup and the second one comes in the form of MVS. Valdes-Scantling was a hot waiver pickup after the news of Geronimo Allison‘s IR designation hit the Twitter-sphere and he’s been a monster ever since.
He’s priced like someone who’s third on his team in target share but he will be an easy second option for Rodgers this week behind only Devante Adams. Randall Cobb is questionable (shocker), and Valdes-Scantling looks like a budding star on an offense piloted by one of the best to ever do it.
He’s a 6′ 4 physical specimen with 4.3 speed and a route running ability that shows major potential. He draws a positive CB match-up in Torry McTyer since Xavien Howard will be shadowing Adams. Aaron Rodgers has no issue throwing to the open guy as opposed to force feeding his top dog, so MVS should have a field day.
He hit double digit FanDuel points in each of the last two weeks, and this week is an even better situation for the whole offense.
FanDuel NFL Wide Receiver: Calvin Ridley – $6,600
Ridley has been featured in this column multiple times and we’ve only been burned once due to injury. There’s a guarantee that either him or Julio Jones goes off this week and Ridley is the more likely one due to match-ups on the back-end of the secondary.
The Browns are riddled with injuries and have allowed a whopping 183 yards per game against opposing pass catchers this season. Ridley is a talented young prospect who has a nose for the end zone and the ability to explode at any given time.
This week should be one of those times. Ridley can win you the week but he’s also featured enough in the Atlanta game plan to give you a high floor as well.
FanDuel NFL TE: OJ Howard- $6,500
Another week, another copy and paste of the tight end position until this guy burns us. He’s quietly a top five tight end on the season and he’s produced 14 or more fantasy points in half of the games he’s been healthy, and only put up one bad week when he was on the injury report leading up to the game.
In games with Fitzpatrick at the helm he’s averaged 13.25 fantasy points per game and he’s been the top end zone target for the Bucs offense during the Fitzmagic era. Howard is an easy pick at a position that’s difficult to predict, so don’t think this one through too much.
FanDuel NFL FLEX: Dion Lewis– $5,800
Dion has averaged 21 touches per game over the last two weeks and it’s clear that the coaching staff in Tennessee has had enough of the Derrick Henry experiment. Lewis has acted as the clear lead back and the Titans have been better for it, so I don’t see them going backwards any time soon.
The Patriots have a bend not break philosophy and allow a lot of work underneath to running backs on a weekly basis since Brady and his boys can keep up with anyone if they need to. Lewis has been acting as a three down back as of late, and his pricing this week is shockingly low. He may be the forgotten man this week so you should get a lot of return on your investment.
FanDuel NFL D/ST: Colts -$4,000
The Colts are at home this week squaring off with a Jaguars team that allows the third most points to opposing fantasy defenses and is quarterbacked by the most confusing starter in history.
The Jaguars offensive line has a lot of injury concerns right now and they’ve been pretty susceptible to the pass as well.
The Colts don’t have too much talent on this side of the ball so it’s more of a match-up play than an upside one. The Jags simply don’t have the explosive play-makers they need to keep up with Andrew Luck, so the Colts should have lots of opportunities to make plays and get to the quarterback.
I’ll continue to do these week by week, but in the mean time throw me a follow on Twitter @TheFFGator and don’t hesitate to reach out with any tough lineup decisions you may have. Good luck!