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.
We have big winners weekly, here at the DFS Army.
Raiders V Cardinals
Let’s start things off with the Raiders side of the ball. Just like last weekend, I am not going to spotlight anyone on this team for the same reasons as last week. This team is in total rebuild mode and they have no interest in winning for the rest of the season. They are simply looking to the future and their only concern is getting the best draft pick that they can get. The only player that I spotlighted last week is still in play for Draftkings only, and that is Jalen Richard. His ppr upside is always great to have and he is a solid, but not necessary salary saving option on this slate for FD, but I like him a lot on DK.
As for the Cardinals, David Johnson is finally producing and getting the workload that he should have been getting this entire season. He is in a smash spot against a Raiders team that seems to have completely given up on their season. DJ should see a lot of ownership, but this is definitely good chalk to eat this weekend. The only other player that I am interested in this game is Ricky Seals-Jones. His connection with Rosen seems to be growing stronger and stronger each week and the matchup is good once again this week. He is not my favorite option at TE on this slate, but he is definitely a top 3 option. For gpps, I am suggesting taking a double TE approach in a small percentage of your lineups. In order to get a clear cut first place win, you are going to need to get a little funky with your lineup and not many people use the double TE approach.
Raiders Top Gpp Plays: Richard
Cardinals Top Gpp Plays: David Johnson and Ricky Seals-Jones
I’ll be using information found on the Research Station that xBenJamminx and CeeGee developed which can be found here for all VIP Members.
Broncos V Chargers
On the Broncos side of the ball, it is hard for me to really like anyone on this offense in this game. The Chargers are a top defensive unit when it comes to defending TE and slot WR. Vance Joeseph, who is the Broncos head coach came out this week saying that he will be using the hot hand approach when it comes to his backfield. I have never been a fan of committees in the backfield, so that also makes for some hard decisions. Sutton is my favorite option on the Broncos this weekend. He was held in check in the first game he played without DT, but I highly doubt Heuerman sees 11 targets again, especially in this matchup. Sutton should be in line for more targets this game and is a great salary saving option. Heuerman is still a solid and affordable option even though he is going up against a defense that covers the TE position well. We have only had that one game sample size without DT, but if he can continue to see just 6-8 targets a game and at his price point he is still very much in play. Other Gpp considerations go out to Sanders because he is still going to see a lot of targets, I just do not believe he will put up the points needed to get you to take down a gpp, but he is still very much in play. As for the running backs, I prefer Lindsey on DK and Freeman on FD, but I think there are better options on this slate.
Broncos Top Gpp Plays: Sutton and Heuerman
The Chargers side of the ball is a different scenario. Melvin Gordon is one of the best plays not only on this slate but on the main slate as well. He is going to get his touches, he is going to get a lot of usage, especially in the red zone. Gordon will be heavily owned, but this is another situation where the chalk is good and you are going to need to have exposure to him on this slate. Keenan Allen is in a solid spot this week and I prefer to use him on DK than FD because he is not a touchdown guy. However, on DK he is a great play because of ppr and he is a safe bet to get anywhere between 12-15 points at least. Tyrell Williams is always a good salary saving gpp option because he is the red zone WR on this team. He has been consistently getting around 8-12 points a week this season and he is one of those players that can catch 2 touchdowns and break a slate. Realistically there are only 2 options at QB on this slate and neither of those players is Philip Rivers, but if you were mass entering lineups, it would not hurt to have a small exposure to him just in case Rivers has a fantastic day.
Chargers Top Gpp Plays: Gordon, Allen and T. Williams
Another big winner, congratulations to dramos77 on his gpp takedown
Make sure you sign up using this link https://wp.dfsarmy.com/ref/65/ I promise you will not regret it.
Eagles V Saints
There seems to always be one game in this slate that has shootout potential every week and it is this one right here. By now we know how to attack these teams, so picking players from this game will be pretty easy. The biggest questions we face this week is how many players is too much to have from this game and how do we use the Eagles WR’s this week. So let’s start out with the Eagles, overall the top option is by far Zach Ertz. Ertz is the best option at TE on this slate by a mile. He is expensive, but he is definitely worth the price. Ertz saw 16 targets last week, even with Tate being on the field. In fact, out of the 9 games, the Eagles have played, only 2 of them were games where Ertz did not see 10 or more targets. The numbers he has put up this year are phenomenal and is on track to blow past Tony Gonzalez’s best single season of 102 catches, 1258 yards, and 7 touchdowns. He has been the best TE this season and is without a doubt Wentz’s favorite option to throw the ball to. Wentz is my favorite option at QB this week. With no real threat to score touchdowns from the RB spot and the fact the Saints have been one of the best teams against the run this season, Wentz should carry this team on his shoulders this weekend. The Saints pass defense has been awful this entire season and with so many good options to throw the ball too, there is almost nothing the Saints are going to be able to do to stop this Eagles team from marching down the field. Jeffery is the most talented WR of the bunch and if I am correct on the Eagles having a heavy passing approach, which is how they should attack this Saints defense. Jeffery should see plenty of targets against this suspect defense. Tate/Agholor are both going to be solid options. However, I prefer Tate for two reasons, 1. is he had another full week to get himself acclimated with the playbook and Wentz. 2. He should be at a much lower ownership because of his performance last week. That is what makes him the better gpp play. Now if the Eagles still want to use Agholor in their game plan, he should have a decent game due to matchup alone.
Eagles Top Gpp Plays: Ertz, Wentz, Jeffery, Tate, and Agholor
The Saints side of the ball is really easy. Their offense has been pretty predictable throughout the entire season. The two best players are Thomas and Kamara. These guys see the majority of the passing down work and Kamara is my preferred running back in this game. Thomas should have a field day in this game and he will be targeted early and often in this game. He should be a core piece in your lineup construction, not only on this slate but the main slate as well. Smith is another salary saving option at Wr this week and he should see tons of targets in a game that should be a shootout. He is a gpp player without a doubt, so do not go overboard with him. He is the type of player that will get you 5 points or 25 points and not much in between. Since his explosion week, he has been fairly quiet, but he is in a good spot and should see a good amount of targets. On DK Ingram is severely underpriced almost to the point where whoever set up the algorithms for the player salaries should find a new job. $4,700 on DK is criminal and will most likely be the highest owned player on the slate because of that. Now in gpp there is merit to go underweight on him, especially against an above average run defense on a 3 game slate. When I say underweight, I mean if I am projecting him to be 75% owned, I will most likely have around 60% exposure to him. This really what puts Jalen Richard into play for me on this slate as a great sleeper and salary saver. However, with that being said even if Ingram gets 12-15 touches, he should easily hit value at his price. Let’s not forget about Drew Brees, he is my 2nd favorite option at QB on this slate. As of right now, I am planning on attacking this slate with a 65-30-5% approach from Wentz-Brees-Rivers. There is a much higher chance for either Kamara or Ingram to run in a touchdown than any of the Eagles RB’s this week and that is why I prefer Wentz over Brees. With that being said, Brees should still have a great game this week and is definitely a top option at QB on this slate.
Saints Top Gpp Plays: Thomas, Kamara, Brees, Ingram and Smith
The Extra Point is Up…
That game finished up our afternoon delight. *My favorite defensive plays are the Chargers, Cardinals, and Raiders, In that order. Whether you are preparing dinner on the east coast or wrapping up lunch on 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 channels 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 gpps’ 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.