This article is part of our FanDuel Fantasy Football series.
Quarterback
Kirk Cousins, WAS vs NYG ($7,900) – This week, it's easy to pay up at quarterback given how much value there is at the other positions (as you'll soon read/see). Therefore, there's nothing wrong with paying up for Aaron Rodgers ($8,800) or my personal cash game favorite, Matt Ryan ($8,700). Cousins is a nice pivot from those two and has established a nice floor for himself. He's averaging over 308 passing yards per game and has at least 17.84 in ten games this season, one of which was against these Giants. There's upside with him as well with four rushing touchdowns on the season and he's had four games of at least 25 fantasy points.
Running Back
DeAngelo Williams, PIT vs CLE ($4,500) – This is going to be the chalkiest play this weekend with the Steelers resting their starters, including Le'Veon Bell. As a result, Williams should get the lion's share of touches out of the backfield and has a fantastic matchup at home against the Browns. Cleveland is giving up 23.69 fantasy points to opposing running backs on the season (second most in the league), and remember that Williams had 21.2 and 32.1 fantasy points in the first two games of the season -- illustrating his upside.
Alex Collins, SEA at SF ($5,800) – This should be an easy game for the Seahawks against a 49ers team that is a nine-point underdog at home. There is no reason for Seattle to risk the health
Quarterback
Kirk Cousins, WAS vs NYG ($7,900) – This week, it's easy to pay up at quarterback given how much value there is at the other positions (as you'll soon read/see). Therefore, there's nothing wrong with paying up for Aaron Rodgers ($8,800) or my personal cash game favorite, Matt Ryan ($8,700). Cousins is a nice pivot from those two and has established a nice floor for himself. He's averaging over 308 passing yards per game and has at least 17.84 in ten games this season, one of which was against these Giants. There's upside with him as well with four rushing touchdowns on the season and he's had four games of at least 25 fantasy points.
Running Back
DeAngelo Williams, PIT vs CLE ($4,500) – This is going to be the chalkiest play this weekend with the Steelers resting their starters, including Le'Veon Bell. As a result, Williams should get the lion's share of touches out of the backfield and has a fantastic matchup at home against the Browns. Cleveland is giving up 23.69 fantasy points to opposing running backs on the season (second most in the league), and remember that Williams had 21.2 and 32.1 fantasy points in the first two games of the season -- illustrating his upside.
Alex Collins, SEA at SF ($5,800) – This should be an easy game for the Seahawks against a 49ers team that is a nine-point underdog at home. There is no reason for Seattle to risk the health of Thomas Rawls in this one, and conducting open auditions for running back suggests Collins will be in for a big workload this week. It's been easy to point and pick on the Browns this season but San Francisco has taken "stopping the run" to a new level of incompetence. Look for Collins to get double-digit touches in this one, likely gaining over 100 yards from scrimmage and finding the end zone.
Wide Receiver
Cameron Meredith, CHI at MIN ($5,800) – It's always fun times in Minnesota, where the defensive backs can go rogue on their coaches who in turn do nothing about it. Meredith has been a favorite of Matt Barkley since he took over and has been targeted 33 times over his last three games. Those contests have resulted in 16.2, 14.9 and 24 fantasy points, making him an excellent value given his price. The Vikings defense has been much worse since their first five games, giving up the fifth most fantasy points to opposing wide receivers over their last two.
Stefon Diggs, MIN vs CHI ($6,000) – Diggs is one of my favorite GPP plays this weekend since I expect everyone to catch a case of recency bias and gravitate to his teammate Adam Thielen. For whatever reason, Sam Bradford seems to key in on a single receiver and repeatedly target them in a game. Earlier this season it was Diggs and lately it's been Thielen. That could easily change back this week to Diggs, who caught a touchdown pass Sunday and has a good matchup. The Bears have given up big games to both the Green Bay and Washington receivers over the last two weeks, which bodes well for Diggs.
Tight End
Charles Clay, BUF at NYJ ($5,600) – Clay appeared in this column two weeks ago and likely helped a lot of fantasy owners to the finals then and to a championship last week. He's in play again this week even with E.J. Manuel under center against a Jets team that's given up the most fantasy points to opposing tight ends on the season. Again, there's a narrow receiving tree in Buffalo with Sammy Watkins and Clay getting the bulk of the target, and Manuel will likely look for the safe throws over the middle to Clay rather than risk downfield throws.
Kicker
Wil Lutz, NO at ATL ($4,800) – Lutz is only $300 more than the minimum and is playing in a dome in the game the sports the highest over/under of the week (56.5). Lutz is perfect over his last four games and has at least 10 fantasy points in each of his last three.
Defense
Philadelphia Eagles vs Dallas ($4,300) – This game means nothing to the Cowboys since they've locked up the No.1 seed, so they'll be playing a lot of backups while their top dogs rest. That includes Mark Sanchez, who will get the nod over Tony Romo as the Cowboys don't want to risk his health either. The Eagles have been much better at home this season, as well, with outings of 11, 17, 24, 10 and 13 fantasy points.
