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Well, the chances were pretty great that Week 14 would be a letdown after our near perfect Week 13. I wish it hadn't been as awful as it was, but that's all we're going to say about that. There are three weeks left in the NFL season, that's three more weeks to make money. Let's just straight to the Bargain Buys. Once again we're using the projections of David Dodds for our Value Play selection and my personal research for the Bargain Buys. You clearly don't want to fill out a roster full of these guys, but once you've selected the studs you want, fill your roster with a couple of these players for profit.
Quarterback
Value Play
Derek Anderson ($5000) vs. Tampa Bay- Anderson gets the spot start against Tampa Bay after Cam Newton's scary car accident. Oddly enough, Anderson's only other start of the year also came against the Buccaneers. In that game he threw for 230 yards and 2 scores, which is more than enough to meet value at this price. The only concern with Anderson is that the Panthers run the ball 40+ times with a lead.
FanDuel Bargain Buy
Johnny Manziel ($6700) vs. Cincinnati- Manziel is probably overpriced considering he's a rookie starting his first game. But if you look a little deeper you'll see a Bengals defense that has been hot and cold and a talented young gunslinger with plenty of weapons. I expect a big game from both Manziel and Josh Gordon as the Browns fight to keep their playoff hopes alive.
Running Back
Value Play
Fred Jackson ($6600) vs. Green Bay- This may well be Jackson's swan song as a running back in the NFL but I can't imagine him going down without a fight. Last week Jackson 16 PPR fantasy points due to an astonishing 14 targets. You have to think they'll see a similar game script against the Packers with the caveat that Jackson may be slightly more likely to get into the end zone.
FanDuel Bargain Buy
Terrance West ($5200) vs. Cincinnati- I detailed in the DraftKings article why I like West so much this week. Essentially, I'll take the cheaper of West or Crowell most every week until the Browns get a little more consistent with the touch distribution. As I said above with Johnny Manziel, I do expect the Browns to move the ball against Cincinnati, and I wouldn't be surprised at all to see a long run by West as part of the equation.
Wide Receiver
Value Play
Marquess Wilson ($4500) vs. New Orleans- Wilson is another carryover from the DraftKings article. He's going to be highly owned, but this is one of those situations where you just don't care. At this basement price with the opportunity he figures to see, in a game that should be a shootout, Wilson is as close to a must own as there is.
FanDuel Bargain Buy
Kenny Stills ($6100) vs. Chicago- On the other side of this shootout is Kenny Stills, who was a major disappointment last week. I think that performance will drive his ownership numbers down and provide a really nice opportunity for those of us that stick with him. Stills should see a bunch of targets against a Bears secondary that is not very good. Do not jump off the bandwagon now.
Tight End
Value Play
Larry Donnell ($5200) vs. Washington- Donnell gets a matchup that he absolutely torched in Week 4 vs. Washington. There's no reason to expect a repeat performance, but there are a lot of positive indicators. (1) The Giants figure to be in the red zone a lot, (2) Donnell has success in the red zone, and (3) this team is not good at stopping tight ends in the red zone. That's plenty of evidence to start Donnell at this price.
FanDuel Bargain Buy
Ryan Griffin ($4600) vs. Indianapolis- The Colts have been awful against tight ends for most of the year and the Texans are going to have to throw the ball a lot to stay in this one. Griffin will get the start with Garrett Graham being out and there's a good chance that Griffin is actually the more talented player any way. I like Griffin in GPPs but he's too risky to play in cash games.
Kicker
Cairo Santos ($4500) vs. Oakland- Santos is a product of thinking that the Chiefs have revenge on their minds and should come out and roll the Raiders. If that line of thinking is correct, Santos should get 5-6 kicks in this game, you just have to hope that half of them are field goals.
Defense
Carolina ($4800) vs. Tampa Bay- As bad as the Panthers defense has been, this is too good of a match up to pass up. Also, it's encouraging the performance this defense put together last week against a much better offense. Don't get cute with defense this week, stick with Carolina.
