As we get up this Saturday morning, it’s the ultimate Saturday of football for months. No NFL, no college, no football.
Well, not less than not “real” football. I don’t even know what days of the week has games for whatever spring league is in operation this season. But in the event that they do play on Saturdays, they don’t count.
And with the ebbing variety of games comes shorter and shorter fantasy slates. In actual fact, next week is the last week that won’t be a one-game format affair until September. So enjoy it.
After all, the very best method to enjoy it’s to win some coin. But with shorter slates come fewer selections, and with fewer selections comes fewer opportunities to “unique-ify your rosters. There are only 4 games, and not one of the major contests at either at primary DFS sites features all 4 games, because … well, we don’t know. It doesn’t make sense to us either.
Nevertheless, we’re tracking down a four-game slate, and we are able to find some smaller contests at FanDuel, though none at DraftKings. So to FanDuel we go.
Last week, we unfolded our roster a bit, but our primary stack the Rams-Lions game, expecting a shootout. That didn’t materialize, however it hasn’t spoiled our affinity for the Lions. We expect they might boat race the Buccaneers, and we would like some exposure to what we expect to be a rout.
The issue is, we are able to’t afford too many Lions on the identical roster. So we’re going to suit as many as we are able to, but we’re going to suit them around Christian McCaffrey, who doesn’t come low-cost ($10,000).
If we’re going to stack Lions, we’ve got to begin with Jared Goff ($7,600), and we would like to pair him together with his favorite goal, Amon-Ra St. Brown ($9,200). We counter on the opposite side with Mike Evans ($7,600).
All of those players underperformed last week (or for CMC, the last time he played). That’s one reason we like them — good players don’t underperform commonly, so we like their probabilities to bounce back. We also hope it sours another DFS players from using them, lowering their usage rates a tad.
But make no mistake, all these guys will probably be popular picks. But in brief slates, you might have to seek out some low-cost options to fill out the roster, so we’ll search for our unique-ification there.
The Ravens’ backfield is a multitude, a lot so newly added Dalvin Cook to the 53-man roster. At $4,500, we’ll take that low-cost option hoping for an affordable touchdown.
We’ll go for the most cost effective defense. Uh-oh, that’s the Packers against the 49ers. Never mind. We’ll go next-cheapest, the Texans ($3,400), with visions of nasty weather and a continuation of Lamar Jackson’s postseason struggles.
We wish a good end who not less than plays, so we go along with Luke Musgrave ($5,100). That leaves us enough room to squeeze in one other Lion, David Montgomery ($7,000) at Flex with enough leftover for a deep Houston WR option, Xavier Hutchinson ($4,800), who has some upside with Noah Brown injured.
So we have now what we expect is a solid Lions stack and enough other legitimate options filling out the roster that we are able to enter the divisional round with dollar signs in our eyes.
Divisional Do’s & Don’ts
Key picks it is best to consider for this weekend’s FanDuel and DraftKings contests:
Josh Allen QB, Bills, vs. Chiefs (FD $9,400/DK $8,000)
In the event you eschew the cheaper QB options, it is difficult to go fallacious with Allen. He averages around 25 fantasy points per game, greater than every other QB option. And he has posted good numbers against the Chiefs previously, including earlier this season.
Baker Mayfield QB, Buccaneers, at Lions (FD $7,300/DK $6,000)
Sure, the Lions are an awesome matchup on paper, but that is going to be an incredibly hostile environment for an overachieving Bucs team. We wish a greater discount. In Mayfield’s price range, we prefer Jordan Love or C.J. Stroud.
Betting on the NFL?
Aaron Jones RB, Packers, at 49ers (FD $7,400/DK $6,700)
Was great last week, however the 49ers likely will put up more resistance than the half-hearted Cowboys within the wild-card round. It is simpler to get on the San Francisco defense through the air.
Gus Edwards RB, Ravens, vs. Texans (FD $6,900/DK N/A)
Never a fun option, because if he doesn’t rating, it’s a wasted pick. But like his probabilities for a TD in what is predicted to be brisk and somewhat windy conditions. Also an excellent fade-up option for those frightened of the useage rates of newly acquired Dalvin Cook.
Mike Evans WR, Buccaneers, at Lions (FD $7,600/DK $7,200)
Ho-hum game last week, and he doesn’t normally have back-to-back ho-hum games. He has routinely posted monster numbers with no need Mayfield to even have an enormous fantasy day.
Insanity’s Every day Dose
Every day fantasy league lineup suggestion by Drew Loftis:
Team FanDuel
Type: Tourney
Salary: $60K
Fee: $9
Slate: Sat.-Mon.
Top Prize: $10K
Tot. pot: $100K
QB: Jared Goff $7,600
RB: Christian McCaffrey $10,000
RB: Dalvin Cook $4,500
WR: Amon-Ra St. Brown $9,200
WR: Mike Evans $7,600
WR: Xavier Hutchinson $4,800
TE: Luke Musgrave $5,100
Flex: David Montgomery $7,000
DEF: Texans $3,400
For late roster changes, follow @NYPost_Loftis on X, formerly Twitter
Season risked: $189.44
Season winnings: $106