Prime Time SNF and MNF Slate
The prime-time slate is a mixture of playing guys in good spots and leveraging the ownership of the field. The larger the GPP that you enter the more you have to focus on ownership and begin to use game theory when crafting your lineups. If it’s a smaller field GPP, say 2,000 entries or less, you can focus mostly on the best player available and try to put together the most optimal lineup that you can using the salary and options. Keep this in mind when using this article and building lineups based on the size of the tournament you are entering.
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QUARTERBACK
Drew Brees is in a nice spot at home against the Washington Redskins who are lacking a consistent pass rush from game to game. A couple things to note for Brees in this spot; first, Mark Ingram returns so we don’t know what type of impact that may or may not have on the flow of this game as far as playcalling goes. We remember that in 2017, the Saints were incredibly run-heavy compared to what they have been over the first four weeks of the season without Mark Ingram. Second, Tedd Ginn Jr. is inactive for the Monday Night Football game which means the supposed deep threat that opens up room underneath is gone. However, I’ll discuss that a bit later because I think his backup is actually pretty talented.
Brees is the optimal play if you are playing in a small field GPP. He can be stacked with Alvin Kamara, Tre’quan Smith, and of course Michael Thomas. What I like about any of the Brees’ stacks that you might use is that you can easily “run it back” with Chris Thompson because the Saints are so bad against pass-catching running backs out of the backfield.
Deshaun Watson is actually my favorite quarterback on the entire slate. He will go under-owned just due to the name power of Drew Brees. Watson has a strong floor and ceiling combination and I don’t care that this is a “pace down” spot for the Texans. Watson is my favorite quarterback for two reasons, first off – he’s cheaper and allows you to jam in some high profile players. Second, it’s so easy to stack him with DeAndre Hopkins and/or Will Fuller because he funnels all of his production to those two guys. His running ability makes up for any turnovers he might have and his scrambling ability opens up big plays down the field.
RUNNING BACK
Alfred Blue is a guy we’ve seen spot start in the past and receive 20 touches right out of the gate. He is a hammer between the tackles and at his price tag has a good chance of being a staple of my PT builds. It’s half past six right now and I can’t find anything on Lamar Miller which means the team isn’t currently warming up yet to test him out. If Miller plays, I am fading him. If Miller is out, I am plugging in Alfred Blue.
Ezekiel Elliot is my preferred running back option over Alvin Kamara for the PT slate. I am concerned about the ceiling of Kamara with Ingram there. I think at the very least they’ll either rotate in Mark Ingram every 3rd series to take the drive outright, or they will sit Kamara when they are inside the 10-yard line and allow Ingram to bulldoze for touchdowns. If Kamara’s ceiling is going to be suppressed I just don’t want to pay for him there. On top of that, we saw Zeke put up a monster “I am everything to this team” stats in Week 4 and he’ll need to do the same to keep pace with Watson.
Chris Thompson couldn’t be in a better spot against the Saints in a role where he can play “come back hero” and receive a dozen plus dump offs in the hopes that the Redskins can close the gap in what should be a substantial deficit early in the game. They just don’t have the aggressiveness to keep pace at this point in time.
WIDE RECEIVER
DeAndre Hopkins is my favorite player on the entire slate. He’s scored double-digit points on both FanDuel and DraftKings in 17 of his last 18 games played and is one of those studs who will never sink the ship. He’s my preferred stacking option with Watson because I think a lot of people will struggle to be able to afford the two RBs, Brees, and Michael Thomas – which means I think DFS players will just drop down and grab Will Fuller due to his history of success (10 TDs in 7 games) with Watson.
Will Fuller is my second favorite option on the slate and I’ll be stacking both Fuller and Hopkins with Watson and running it back with Ezekiel Elliot for my single entry GPPs. He has been a red zone monster this season even though he was drafted to stretch the field. We are seeing Fuller develop into an all-around superb starting WR.
Tre’quan Smith is an extremely talented “backup” for Tedd Ginn Jr. who should be getting the start tonight. He out-snapped Carr last week (26 snaps) and should be the starting outside WR opposite of Michael Thomas. He’s an absolute burner and is incredibly cheap across the industry. Similar to Ginn Jr., he just needs a couple catches to return significant value and I love him no matter who my starting quarterback is.
Michael Thomas is someone I really only want to play tonight if I am either using Alex Smith stacks and running it back with Thomas or using Drew Brees and using Thomas while fading the Saints running game. I think the return of Ingram lowers Thomas’ ceiling back to 2017 levels which was excellent but not worth what he’s priced at right now. He’s a fine option for the “hybrid” approach to building and entering contests.
Paul Richardson is the only other wide receiver I’ll be targeting for my MME pool due to his role as the deep threat in this offense. He was receiving 5/6 targets per game until Week 4 when he only received a few but did haul in a 46-yard touchdown pass on a diving effort. He’s only a guy I would play in Saints and Redskins game stacks – he’s not a one-off like I think Tre’Quan Smith can be.
Tight End
Geoff Swaim is my favorite tight end on the slate due to my need to save money and to stack up the Texans and Cowboys game. Swaim is running the majority of the snaps at tight end and has 7 and 5 targets over the past two weeks, accumulating 8 REC 86 YDS and 1 TD.
Jordan Reed is, of course, a viable option but man is his price tag high for this prime-time slate. By dropping down to Swaim or Benjamin Watson we have the chance to pay up from Cole Beasley or Paul Richardson to Will Fuller. For this reason, I am only using Reed in MME.
Defense
Houston Texans are the only defense I am using tonight due to their matchup and renewed pass rush. Dak Prescott has had trouble holding onto the football this season and even if he isn’t getting sacked it hasn’t been pretty behind the line of scrimmage. Zeke bailed him out on a few catches including the long gainer to set up the win down the right sideline in Week 4. Without Zeke being Superman, Prescott would have turned in another horrendous performance this season. Texans are my best bet to score a touchdown.
If you are going to MME, the next best defense to use would be the New Orleans Saints at home as big favorites. We always want to target defenses who have large spreads due to the theory that the underdog will have to throw to catch up.
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Fortune favors the bold, go make your own luck!
-Donuts
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