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.
Before we get started, big congrats to DFS Army Member kngof9ex on his $7,000+ Wins in the Sunday-Monday 2 game slate with $18 in play, shipping multiple GPPs thanks to the DFSArmy being all over Tre-Quan Smith!
Rams V Broncos
There are two huge factors that will impact this game and how its played drastically. One is the weather, as of writing this the forecast in Denver says that there could be a potential for snow. This would have a lot of impact on how the game is played due to how slippery the field can possibly get. The sheer cold is enough to affect how the players play, especially in October where it usually does not get cold enough to snow. The 2nd problem is the injury status of Cook and Kupp, which I will discuss here shortly. Todd Gurley is far and above the best play on this slate. On Fanduel, you can fire him up and your only worry is that he busts. However, on Draftkings, he is priced so high that in this spot he will need to have a huge game along with all the other value plays going off as well. His price makes this slate very hard and if Kupp and Cook play, I will fade Gurley completely on DK because in tournaments I am going for first place and the rest of the options are not that good when you use Gurley in your lineup. However, if Cook and Kupp do play, I will have a good amount of Gurley on this slate. He is a far better play on FD than DK this week. Goff is my next target on the Rams. While the weather will definitely affect the game, there are possible scenarios in which the weather could actually help the offense. If a defender slips and leaves a WR open, this will allow for huge plays to occur. After the disastrous events that took place last week for the Broncos, I am sure they will do everything that they can to stop the run this week, which should benefit Goff. Woods is in a great spot no matter what this week, but if Kupp and Cook are both out he becomes an instant best WR option on this team. He should get the vast majority of targets from Goff if the receivers are out. In the scenario where Kupp and Cook are out, Reynolds becomes an instant value play on this slate and on the main slate, I do caution that he could be a potential trap, but we saw last Monday what a young WR can do when the opportunity comes. If Cook and Kupp play (Which it looks like they will), I prefer Kupp because he is the go-to red zone receiver and short intermediate routes will be key in this game if the weather is bad.
Rams Top Plays: Gurley, Woods, Goff, and Kupp/Reynold
On the Broncos side of the ball, my top play is Emmanuel Sanders. Sanders playing out of the slot position has been key to his success so far this season. He is averaging just under 9 targets per game and I expect the Broncos to be losing for the majority of this game. He should have no problem racking up 6-8 catches in this game. Marcus Peters has been atrocious this year and has let up a lot of big plays over the past couple of games. With that being said Thomas is in an excellent spot and I will like all of these plays a lot more if the snow avoids this game. Thomas has had an on and off season thus far and with that he makes a great gpp play this week. I like his matchup and game flow should be in his favor. Keenum is in a good spot again and since I like both of his starting WR in it, you almost have to love the QB. The loss of Talib has dramatically affected how well the Rams defense plays and in a large field tournament, we can look at Keenum as a possible option. Lastly, Lindsay is a great option due to game flow. He is their passing-down back and has shown signs of explosiveness this season. He is cheap and brings in a lot of value to your lineup.
Broncos Top Plays: Sanders, Keenum, Thomas, and Lindsay
I’ll be using information found on the Research Station that xBenJamminx and CeeGee developed which can be found here for all VIP Members.
Ravens V Titans
This game is probably the least desirable game of the whole day. The Titans have no players that I would be willing to target in this game. Their offense has been awful and the Ravens defense is very good. In fact, the Ravens are my favorite play at defense and one of my top defenses to use on the main slate. You can find out my other favorite plays this weekend by joining the Army and contacting me in one of our various chat rooms. As for the Ravens, John Brown is my favorite play on this team. While he has not been able to pull down most of his targets, he is a great deep threat against this weak Titans secondary. He is seeing just about 9 targets per game and if can catch a few more of his targets than he normally does, he will be an even better play. His deep threat ability alone makes him a great gpp play. Crabtree is another fantastic play. The narrative for greasing the squeaky wheel is in play here. After last weeks game, a lot of people were upset after Crabtree kept on dropping passes left and right. Flacco stood behind his number 1 WR. Speaking of Flacco he has not had a game yet this year where he has not thrown the ball under 40 times yet this season. Against this weak secondary and the number of times Flacco has been throwing the ball, this makes a great recipe for a lot of fantasy points. Flacco should easily be one of the lower owned QB’s on this slate and could be the key to having a very successful lineup especially when you stack him with one of his starting WR. Other considerations go out to Snead and Buck Allen.
Ravens Top Plays: Brown, Crabtree, and Flacco
Titans Top Plays: NONE
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Jaguars V Cowboys
This game should play slow, meaning both teams will look to control the ball and keep the other teams’ offense off of the field. For the most part, I like to stay away from Cowboys games because of this. The slow pace of play does not help us in daily fantasy sports. However, there are a few plays from both teams that we should keep our eye on. To start out with the Jaguars, T.J Yeldon will once again have the backfield to himself and even though the pace of play will be slow Yeldon will get a lot of work in both the running and passing game. Yeldon should be a safe play here with tons of upside to be had. I generally prefer to skip out on QB’s against the Cowboys, besides the studs or players with an extremely high floor/ceiling, but on this slate, Blake Bortles deserves a look. On a slate where there is potential snow in the Denver game and inconsistent play in the Titans game, Bortles could be the best play on the slate. He has been averaging just about 33 yards rushing per game, which is something we need to look for on a small slate where every .10 point can make a huge difference from finishing top 10 or top 200. I have no clear favorite WR on the Jaguars, all three of them basically take turns each week being the lead guy. However, if I had to pick one it would be Westbrook, this is because he has been the most consistent receiver this season on this team. Anyone of the Jaguars receivers could be the guy this week, so if you are making multiple lineups, I would definitely get exposure to all three of these guys. Niles Paul makes for an interesting play this weekend. Austin Seferian-Jenkins is out and Paul saw 8 targets last week. He most likely will not see that many targets again, but 4-6 targets is not out of the possible realm. The Cowboys have not been good or bad against TE’s, but he is another option for Bortles across the middle of the field. As for the Cowboys, there is not much going on here. Ezekiel Elliot is in play like most weeks. The Jaguars have a stout pass defense, but they can be attacked in the ground game. Elliot is the entire offense and their success depends on how well Elliot plays. Elliot could come at low ownership due to the fact that most people will play Gurley in their lineup. You simply cannot make a great lineup with both Elliot and Gurley together and especially if Cook and Kupp play, it makes fading Gurley on DK a lot easier. Fanduel is a different story where it is pretty easy to make a great lineup with both of those players in your lineup. Swaim is my last target on the Cowboys. I do not want to play any WR against this defense and Swaim should see several targets this game while being a safety valve for Dak.
Jaguars Top Plays: Yeldon, Bortles, Westbrook, and Paul
Cowboys Top Plays: Elliot and Swaim
The Extra Point is Up…
That game finished up our afternoon delight. *My favorite defensive plays are the Ravens, Jaguars and Rams and the Broncos 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 our NFL chat room 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 large field tournaments, you will need to have a couple low owned plays to vault yourself to the top of the leaderboards, along with some of the chalky plays as well.
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