Hey, my name is Chris and I will be bringing you your DFS Football “afternoon delight.” This article will be focusing on the afternoon slates each week during the NFL season. The purpose of this article will be to put you on a successful path for this slate. I will break down each game, as well as giving you my favorite plays from those games. Each week this slate will have 2 to 4 games. This means ownership will be heavily concentrated on select players, which is both good and bad to a certain extent. Most of the time in these slates you will need at least two of those chalk players in order to stay with the competition. The key to winning this slate will be to differentiate yourself in other spots in order to get yourself to the top of those large field gpps.
Chargers Vs Rams
This game is by far the best one on this slate. Let’s kick things off with the Chargers offense. With how good the Rams defense has been this year, on a regular slate most of the players on the Chargers will have low ownership on the main slate. Not so fast though, this is a 3 game slate which means that even though the Rams defense has been one of, if not the best so far this season in the NFL that a few of these players will likely have some high ownership. The player that I expect to have the highest ownership is *Melvin Gordon*. He has been heavily involved in this offense and I would expect this to continue for the rest of the season. I do like Gordon a lot, but it is going to be hard to get him and Gurley in your lineup. Gordon should be able to find a few running lanes to get through and if he can make it past the first tier of defenders he has a shot for a huge gain. His usage inside the 10 has been great this year as he has been involved in the passing game here a lot this year. *Keenan Allen* is the next man up for me on the Chargers. Most of his snaps should come from the slot position, which will avoid Peters and Talib. Keenan Allen and Rivers have a strong connection and he should see plenty of looks in this game. In week 1 against the Chiefs Allen had 11 targets and brought in 8 of them for 108 yards and a td. Even in week 2 against the Bills Allen caught 6/8 balls for 67 yards in a game which was essentially over before halftime. *Philip Rivers* is one of my favorite qbs on this slate, which is not saying much at all because the other games are atrocious. However, with that being said I can see Rivers being the highest scoring qb on this slate by a good margin. He has a lot of weapons on this offense and he has performed well in both of his games so far this season. *Virgil Green* is the last of my main targets from the Chargers. We all saw what Cook did against the Rams week 1 and even Seals-Jones converted 4 of 6 balls thrown his way last week. The best way to attack this Rams defense is via slot wr and te. Green had a decent game last week with 3 catches for 55 yards and 2 catches for 21 yards week 1. With not too many good options at te on this slate Green looks to be a good gpp play at te. The other players on this Chargers offense that I am considering are Mike Williams and Austin Ekeler in MME contest.
Chargers Top Plays: *Melvin Gordon, Keenan Allen, Rivers and Green*
On the Rams side of the ball we once again have *Todd Gurley* who will easily be the highest owned player on this slate. He has been great so far this season and should continue to get as much work as he can handle. With Bosa being sidelined at least until October, the Chargers will have a tough time getting past most teams offensive line. Gurley is my favorite slate and will be in the majority of my lineups. Next man up for me is *Cooper Kupp*, he as been reliable so far this season and is consistently getting a good amount of targets and at his price he is a great value play. He should be one of the higher owned players on this slate because of his price tag and reliability. He is also the main red zone target for the Rams outside of Gurley. *Brandin Cooks* is a great gpp play on this slate and in the main slate as well. He has been doing a lot more than just streaking straight down the field and has been playing great. On sites like Draftkings and FantasyDraft that gives out bonuses for 100 yard games, he is an even better play there because he has that ability to get down the field and catch that 60 yard touchdown. *Jared Goff* is one of the other qbs on this slate that I am most interested in playing. With all of the talent around him it is not hard to imagine him being the top scoring qb on this slate. It really depends on how many touchdowns Gurley runs in. Same can be said for Rivers too, but to me it would be easier for Gurley to run it in than it would be for Gordon. My only other consideration on the Rams would be *Robert Woods*, who leads the team in targets, but has just failed to make anything happen with them.
Rams Top Plays: *Gurley,Kupp,Cook and Goff*
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Cowboys Vs Seahawks
These next two games are going to be short and sweet, because honestly there are not that many plays in each of these games that interest me too much. *Ezekiel Elliot* comes in as the best play on the Cowboys by a mile. He is everything we want from a running back in his price range. Being involved in the passing game increases his floor and he should be able to have a solid day on the ground against the Seahawks who are allowing 116 yards on the ground a game. That does not mean Elliot will get over 100 yards, but I can see him in the range of 85 yards with a couple of catches for 25 yards receiving. A TD would be the icing on the cake. Elliot is more of a pivot off of Gordon because and if things go right it could very easily boost you up in gpps. Personally I like to keep my player pool pretty tight and there really are not any other great options for the Cowboys. If you are mass entering some other players I would consider are Prescott, Beasely, and Thompson.
Cowboys Top Play: *Elliot*
On the Seahawks, I am completely avoiding the running back situation here. *Russell Wilson* comes in as my last QB on this slate. His ownership should be pretty low and whenever I can get Wilson at a low ownership, I always want to be over the field because this guy can not only score through the air, but on the ground as well. This offense will go as far as he can take them. The one big problem I see that is holding me back from going heavy on Wilson in gpps is that the Cowboys love to control the ball and keep the other teams offense off the field. *Tyler Lockett* has been great so far this season and he is a big play threat at any time and can be a difference maker for the Seahawks. He was targeted the most last week out of all the other pass catchers on the team and it would not surprise me if that became a trend. *Will Dissly* will likely be one of the higher owned TE on the slate, if not the highest. He has seen 5 targets in both games this season. The caution I have with him is his ownership in gpp will likely be very high and if it was not for garbage time his numbers would have been a lot worse. With that being said I will have a decent amount of exposure to him because I do not want to let a value te be the reason why I do not take down a gpp on this small slate. *Brandon Marshall* is my last main target here as he leads the team in targets (by 1 over Lockett). I have a gut feeling that Marshall and Lockett will trade off weeks being the top wr on this team and I will make sure I have at least some exposure to Marshall on this slate. The only other player besides the RBs that I would add to my player pool for mass entering on the Seahawks is Jaron Brown.
Seahawks Top Plays: *Wilson, Lockett, Dissly and Marshall*
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Bears Vs Cardinals
This game as an over/under of 38.5. I can not remember the last time I saw a regular season game with a game total this low. I am going to lump both offenses together here, because there is not much to love on either side of the ball. Starting out with the Bears, *Jordan Howard* is my favorite play from this game on the offensive side of the ball. The Bears should win this game easily and the Cardinals are allowing 136 yards per game on the ground. Howard should get plenty of run here and is a great play in all formats for this slate, He has been seeing more targets in the passing game too this year so that boosts his floor and ceiling. *Allen Robinson* is my next favorite play on this Bears offense. The question for me is how much will Peterson be covering him in this game. The volume is there and the price is right. He had 14 targets last week alone, now he should not need near as much this week, but it should be safe to assume anywhere between 6-8 is a likely possibility. *Trey Burton* is my last top play on this offense. His ownership could be way too low with Dissly being cheaper than him. He is a key part to this offense and could easily be overlooked on this slate. *Mitchell Trubisky* is the only other option I would lean to if you are mass entering, his ownership should be extremely low which is great, but I do not see him outscoring Rivers, Goff or Wilson. On the Cardinals there really is not anyone I am considering outside of *David Johnson* and *Larry Fitzgerald*. Both of these options are strictly gpp. This offense looks bad, Maybe *Sam Bradford* needs to get into a rhythm, or they need to call better plays and involve their best players more in the offense. David Johnson is still a top 3 RBs in the NFL to me and maybe one of these weeks he explodes. Fitzgerald is “Mr. Reliable” and his ownership should be low as well. If the Cardinals offense can get it going, he will be heavily involved.
Bears Top Play: *Howard, Robinson and Burton*
Cardinals Top Plays: (GPP) *Johnson and Fitzgerald*
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The Extra Point is Up…
That game finished up our afternoon delight. *My favorite defensive plays are the Bears, Cowboys and Rams in that order*. Whether you are preparing dinner on the east coast or wrapping up lunch in the west coast. Hopefully your main slate lineups are currently crushing and if you played the early slate it would be great to see you guys at the top of those leaderboards. Feel free to hit me up in slack for any questions. I am almost always available to talk to. Football is my passion and I am always willing to help out as much as possible. Cash games are fairly easy in these mini slates. Don’t try to be too cute with your lineups and you will be just fine. In gpp’s you will need to have a couple low owned plays to vault you to the top of the leaderboards along with some of the chalky plays as well.