Week 3 DraftKings lineup

QB: Matt Stafford @Arizona DraftKings salary: 6,500

RB: Leonard Fournette vs. Green Bay DraftKings salary: 6,500

RB: Raheem Mostert vs. Buffalo DraftKings salary: 4,500

WR: Tee Higgins @New York (Jets) DraftKings salary: 6,100

WR: Garrett Wilson vs. Cincinnati DraftKings salary: 5,400

WR: Cooper Kupp @Arizona DraftKings salary: 9,900

TE: Zach Ertz vs. Los Angeles (Rams) DraftKings salary: 4,500

FLEX: Ben Skowronek @Arizona DraftKings salary: 3,400

DST: Ravens Def @Patriots DraftKings salary: 3,000

Reasoning: The top offenses all offer some sort of barrier to building stacks this week. Going Stafford-Kupp is pretty self explanatory but Tyler Higbee will be popular this week and the primary run back of Marquise Brown starts to take up a little more salary for my liking with cheap value not yet being revealed on this slate. Shout out to Awesemo for the Skowronek call on a recent show as a cheap guy who is playing a lot of snaps. The high end upside is questionable to say the least but he’s cheap, fits the team stack and will be contrarian. Ertz gives us a pivot on the more popular Higbee within the same game and his volume is among the most secure at the position…that only rises if Stafford goes off.

Stacking the Bengals will be another priority of mine so i like getting the mini Tee Higgins-Garrett Wilson play in here. I had Elijah Moore in this spot to begin with for a contrarian spin, I’ll end up playing variations of both but Wilson clearly looks to be gaining more steam at the moment and has the better matchup in the slot.

At RB I love Fournette this week, even though the game environment gives me a tiny bit of pause. His usage is *chef’s kiss* and if the Bucs can field enough weapons to keep the offense on solid footing he has a shot at multiple TDs.

The Mostert play is admittingly cute but I think it has some tangible angles to it. Much will be made out of the secondary injuries and what they mean for the Dolphins passing game. They’ll also be without DT’s Jordan Phillips and Ed Oliver. While they do have as good of depth as their is along their defensive line as anybody in the league, you don’t take 2 guys like that out of the middle of your defense and not feel it.

Mostert acts as leverage on all the Bills/Dolphins passing game stacks and even if the game goes in that direction, he out targeted Chase Edmonds last week. At such a cheap price point I think it’s worth the gamble.

On defense i’m attacking the duo of Matt Patricia and Joe Judge yet again. In reality the Ravens played one extremely poor quarter of football on defense and it cost them dearly but they are 6th in the league in QB pressures and are 8th in rushing yards per game. The Patriots offense looked more functional in week 2 but still only put up 17 points, lack juice in the passing game and will get a Ravens defense that will be keyed in on containing their run game. Based on 1 quarter of football nobody is gonna play the Ravens defense…i won’t be one of those people.

Week 2 DraftKings lineup

QB: Kyler Murray at Las Vegas DraftKings salary: 7,500

RB: Leonard Fournette at New Orleans DraftKings salary: 6,700

RB: Najee Harris vs. New England DraftKings salary: 6,200

WR: Davante Adams vs. Arizona DraftKings salary: 8,600

WR: Ashton Dulin at Jacksonville DraftKings salary: 3,200

WR: Chris Olave vs. Tampa Bay DraftKings salary: 4,500

TE: Zach Ertz at Las Vegas DraftKings salary: 4,500

FLEX: Marquise Brown at Las Vegas DraftKings salary: 6,200

DST: Lions Def vs. Commanders DraftKings salary: 2,600

Reasoning: Based on rostership projections and their team totals, it sounds like people think the Arizona Cardinals are more of the new normal so I’ll gladly zig in a high total game. Thought about going Greg Dortch in the stack but he feels like a volume play that’s more liable to hit if the Cardinals don’t do well. Plus he’s the only true popular piece for the Cardinals so fading him allows us to differentiate from other Arizona stacks. Davante Adams is the obvious run back.

Fournette is one of the top plays of the week and I love correlating him Olave as a player who’ll fly under the radar but ran the most routes on the team, has game breaking potential versus a pass funnel defense.

Went with Najee Harris as a lower rostered play who potentially checks a lot of boxes. Injury concerns will scare people off but with the Patriots offense ongoing identity crisis the Steelers could control this game. He’s playing at home with a 3 down role.

I expect Detroit/Washington to get stacked a lot and all I’ve heard is how bad the Detroit defense is. As home favorites I’m taking my shot at lower rostership that they either play from ahead or we get a full fledged shootout, which could bare fruit with mistake prone Carson Wentz at the controls.

Plugged in Ashton Dulin as a cheap one off way to tie the lineup together. He had 6 targets last week and the Colts will be out Alec Pierce this week. It’s a dart throw that has some relative upside if the Jaguars don’t get steamrolled by JT.

Week 1 DraftKings lineup

QB: Aaron Rodgers @Minnesota

I am not very high on Aaron Rodgers this year, as evidence by his QB15 standing on my tier rankings…rankings you can find on this blog as well (shameless plug). The Packers situation screams slow, run heavy offense from every angle but if there were any week for that to change it’s this week.

Last year Rodgers had a season high 45 pass attempts in his week 12 matchup versus the Rams. Sean McVay disciple Kevin O’Connell will bring over his fast-paced approach to the Vikings and has plenty of skill position talent to force the Packers out of their shell.

Two of his three 300 yard passing games came against the Rams in that week 12 game and against this Vikings defense in week 11.

Talent and efficiency have never been an issue for A-Rod. Davante Adams being gone certainly hurts but if placed in a game script to cut loose, I like taking a shot at lower rostership.

DraftKings salary: 7,000

RB: Joe Mixon vs. Pittsburgh

Armed with an improved O-Line and weapons to keep boxes light, Mixon finds himself in a plus week 1 spot. Only the Texans gave up more rushing yards than the Steelers last year. Pittsburgh allowed a healthy 4.7 yards per carry to RBs.

With QB and OL questions to answer, this game could get away from Pittsburgh quick…and set Mixon up for over 100 yards and a multi TD game. Milestones he hit the last time these 2 teams faced off

DraftKings salary: 7,100

RB: Chase Edmonds vs. New England

This play is about not being overtaken by the fear of the unknown. Everything on paper seems to be setting up for Edmonds to get a majority of the high value touches. He fits the scheme, he’s comfortable in the passing game, and he doesn’t have a bruising goal line back on the depth chart as an obvious goal line vulture.

As a home favorite versus an offense in identity crisis mode, 20 + touches are on the table. Just gotta be willing to take the risk.

DraftKings salary: 5,200

WR: AJ Brown @Detroit

Brown is a player I’ve advised people to take a stand on. The Eagles look destined for at the very least a balanced offensive approach with the chance that they are just flat out pass heavy. We’ve seen AJB destroy defenses on those run heavy Titans teams so flirting with double digit targets versus a Lions defense that gave up the 9th most yards to the position last season sounds like a party to me.

DraftKings salary: 6,400

WR: Randall Cobb @Minnesota

We get our first stacking partner for Rodgers here. It’s uncertain how things will shake out on the outside at WR for Green Bay. Sammy Watkins, Romeo Doubs and Christian Watson could form a bit of a committee but Randall Cobb should be a full-time player in the slot. With presumed #1 WR Allen Lazard out, I like Cobb’s chances at of leading the Packers in targets this week. He was also 2nd on the team in red zone targets last season.

DraftKings salary: 3,400

WR: Diontae Johnson @Cincinnati

In correlation with our Mixon play I’m going to a player who probably won’t be rostered much but carries upside at his price. In their last meeting, in which Mixon went over 100 yards and scored 2 TDs, Diontae had a 9 for 95 line on 14 targets. Now I know with Ben Roethlisberger gone, those gaudy target games won’t be as frequent but I’m projecting a negative script with a talented target earner whose downfield opportunities will inherently increase. #DownfieldDiontae

 DraftKings salary: 6,000

TE: Robert Tonyan @Minnesota

Closing out my Packers double stack with another player with potential TD equity. Tonyan missed half of last season with a torn ACL but in 2020 he scored 11 TDs, 7 of them coming in the red zone.

I won’t lie, this play scares me…it’s his first game since the ACL injury and while he carries no injury designation coming in I’m sure there will be some sort of pitch count here.

At the end of the day I expect the production to get spread out on in the Green Bay passing game so I’m chasing the TDs.

DraftKings salary: 3,900

Flex: Justin Jefferson vs. Green Bay

I gotta give my Packers stack a push and what better way to do so? Jefferson has gotten so much buzz this offseason as he’s ticketed to play the “Cooper Kupp” role in this Vikings offense but as soon as week 1 hits it’s crickets on the DFS front?

With the field seemingly less likely to pay up at WR I like the opportunity this game stack afforded us to get different. Kills two contrarian birds with one stone.

DraftKings salary: 7,800

DST: Dolphins Def vs. New England

The Patriots reportedly took the bizarre offensive coaching approach they did to simplify things. A few months later and they seem as confused as everyone else. Are they now going back to their original scheme? Idk

The Dolphins changed head coaches but kept a lot of their defensive staff intact. They created pressure at one of the higher rates in the league last year, have ascending young players and added vets Melvin Ingram and Trey Flowers to the mix. They’ve also beaten the Patriots 3 out of the last 4.

With Chase Edmonds already in the lineup we put another stacking cherry on top to close it out.

DraftKings salary: 2,600