Week 5 DFS: Try a Lesser Known Site

Greetings from Columbus, where I'm surrounded by scarlet and gray on this football Saturday. I'm headed back home to my family and have a post for you this morning from Jen for those of you playing daily fantasy sports.

Before we get into daily fantasy talk let me just say how thrilled I am to be contributing to the Fantasy Football Librarian this week. You may remember me from last year when I gave you start/sit links, my sleepers of the week, injury recaps, and crucial Twitter follows. It has been a crazy year since last season and I’ve been trying to write anywhere anyone will let me. I am eternally grateful to our Boss Lady Sara and all the doors her site has opened for me. I hope to contribute more regularly, but for this week I’m subbing in for my good pal Mike. He’s the DFS expert; I’m just the DFS junkie, so let’s get to it!

I’m sure you have seen the drama and controversy surrounding Draft Kings and Fan Duel this week and it saddens me. I hate the negativity, accusations, and black cloud it is putting over this game that we all love. I saw this as an opportunity to consider the lesser known sites for this week. If you haven’t heard of fantasydraft.com you should definitely check it out. Drew Brees is an investor, you can earn (small amounts of) money by referring friends, and there is a decent amount of overlay. You can even use my referral link if you want! Pricing is different and line ups lock when the contest starts, NOT when the player’s game starts so keep that in mind. If you want to get flex frisky you still have to do that over at Draft Kings. 

Here are a few players with decent value on Fantasy Draft this week:

Quarterback

Eli Manning - $13,100 – New York Giants vs. San Francisco 49ers

Manning is the 9th highest priced quarter back, a full $2,300 less than top priced Tom Brady. Manning is at home against a 49ers defense that has looked like a below average JV squad to start the season. Ben McAdoo’s offense has started to come into its own this season and Manning is thriving in it. The home matchup is juicy for Manning who has just one interception on the season.

Alex Smith - $10,700 – Kansas City Chiefs vs. Chicago Bears

The Bears are tied with the Bills with ten touchdowns through the air this season, the 2nd most in the league. Smith’s quarterback numbers can fluctuate but at his cost you should absolutely play him with confidence this week. You just have to hope that Andy Reid will get Travis Kelce more involved. The bonus with playing Smith this week will be the yards he can get for you on the ground and the red zone opportunities this offense should have against this below average defense.

Jay Cutler - $10,800 – Chicago Bears @ Kansas City Chiefs

Yes, Jay Cutler, now stop laughing at me! If you want to pay the extra hundred dollars you could roll out Cutler against the defense that has given up the most receiving touchdowns this season (11). Cutler is healthy, his team’s success begins and ends with him, and he just might get stud receiver Alshon Jeffery back this week. 

Wide Receiver

Julian Edelman - $13,700 – New England Patriots @ Dallas Cowboys

The Cowboys will focus so much of their attention on Rob Gronkowski it is inevitable that the Edelmonster will have a huge game. There are flaws that have been exposed against this defense during the second half in all of their games. They do have a pass rush returning this week with Greg Hardy and Rolando McClain coming back from suspension. That opens up the underneath passes in the middle of the field where Edelman thrives.

Larry Fitzgerald - $13,300 – Arizona Cardinals @ Detroit Lions

There is not much time left before Fitzgerald supplants himself as a top five priced receiver. This w he faces a winless team that is crumbling at the seams. Carson Palmer targets him often and Fitzgerald’s targets translate to points. He scores on 13.5% of his targets – a league leading five touchdowns on 37 targets. Get him while he’s hot!

Kamar Aiken - $7,500 – Baltimore Ravens vs. Cleveland Browns

Steve Smith, Sr. and Crockett Gilmore are questionable for this game. Joe Flacco does not have many targets and when he does he tends to zone in on them. Aiken could be and should be that guy this week. Cleveland’s once notorious secondary is giving up an average of 277 yards receiving per game.

Running Back

Danny Woodhead - $9,300 – San Diego Chargers vs. Pittsburgh Steelers 

As long as Woodhead is priced under $10k I’m considering him a value (and playing him). Woodhead is heavily featured in passing downs, during the two-minute drill, and in the red zone. How could you go wrong?

TJ Yeldon - $8,400 – Jacksonville Jaguars @ Tampa Bay Buccaneers

When Yeldon gets double digit carries he gets double digit points. The Jaguars gave him work horse carries last week and he went for over 100 yards. All he is missing is his first touchdown, which he has a great chance at getting this week. Tampa Bay has given up three scores on the ground to running backs.

Darren Sproles - $8,300 – Philadelphia Eagles vs. New Orleans Saints

DeMarco Murray costs $11,900 this week on Fantasy Draft. Why overpay for the supposed RB1 when you can get Sproles at this price? He is the pass catching back in a game that could easily be a shootout. Besides, who can resist a revenge game?

Tight End

Larry Donnell - $6,600 – New York Giants vs. San Francisco 49ers​

Donnell has no current competition with the loss of Daniel Fells and faces a 49ers defense that is giving up an average of 11 points to tight ends per game. With no Cruz in sight Donnell very well could be Eli Manning’s 2nd option behind Odell Beckham, Jr., especially in the red zone.

Owen Daniels - $6,300 – Denver Broncos @ Oakland Raiders

No team gives up more points to tight ends than the Oakland Raiders. Let’s see if Gary Kubiak finally features his tight end this week.

Defense

New York Giants - $5,900 – vs. San Francisco 49ers

The 49ers best offensive skill player at this time is Carlos Hyde. The Giants are the top defense against the run. Need I say more?

Jacksonville Jaguars - $5,500 - @ Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Last season it was always a good play to pay for whatever defense was facing the Jaguars. Fast forward a year and they are quietly a solid unit and they get rookie Jameis Winston who is tied with Andrew Luck (I know, crazy) for a league high seven interceptions.

Don’t just take my advice when it comes to matters of money. Make sure you read up and do your research! Here are some links for your DFS prep for this week on the big sites like Draft Kings and Fan Duel as well as the smaller sites such as Fantasy Draft and Own the Play.

FFLockerroom's Free Week 5 Own The Play Line Up: If you are trying Own the Play for the first time here is a great sample line up to take a look at. Feel free to use my promo code “FFDEJENERATE” to turn a $1.00 deposit into $25.00 instantly. Taylor Christianson is a smart DFS mind who is responsible for this freebie and is also an excellent resource on Twitter. Give him a follow – I can assure you he will answer any questions you may have. 

DraftKings Playbook Season Long to Daily: This is a great resource for those of you who are more familiar with season long fantasy and are interested in DFS. Armando Marsal of DraftKings playbook, the Fantasy Goodfellas Podcast, and too many other sites to list has great DFS insight. He’s a heavy hitter in this format and is well worth a Twitter follow as well. 

FanDuel Lineup Advice: 10 Value Plays Week Five: Gridiron Expert’s resident DFS expert Brian Jester has 10 value plays for you. These are FanDuel specific but it could translate for you across all daily sites. 

Fantasy Draft Week 5 NFL DFS Picks: This link comes courtesy of Ian Johns of cardplayer.com. I’ve read time and again that poker strategy applies to daily fantasy sports so I try to incorporate any research from a poker player that I can find.

There are your links for Week 5 DFS. I hope to be back on here soon with more of my fantasy football ramblings for you. Feel free to hit me up anytime to talk all things fantasy @FFdeJENerate!