This article is part of our FanDuel Fantasy Football series.
Heading into Week 5 a couple teams have byes (Miami, Detroit) and the Bears play the Raiders in England. There's a healthy 12 games on the main slate, though it's an uneven divide with 10 early and only two late. Let's look at some picks for the week.
QUARTERBACK
The Ravens' Lamar Jackson ($8,300) comes in as the highest-priced player at his position, and while it took garbage time last week, he's hit at least 21 fantasy points in every game, averaging 28.04 overall. It's a good matchup against a Pittsburgh defense ranks 19th against the pass. Looking at the mid-range prices, Andy Dalton ($7,500) is one of the better options facing the Cardinals at home. Arizona allows 24.3 fantasy points to quarterbacks, the third most in the league (Miami is No. 1). Stacking Dalton with Tyler Boyd ($6,700) and Tyler Eifert ($4,600) could be part of a lineup to take down a big GPP. After two slow weeks to start the season, Jameis Winston ($7,600) has picked up the fantasy production and has 30.3 and 26.5 fantasy points in his last two games. This matchup with the Saints has a healthy over/under of 47 and the Saints have allowed the second-most fantasy points (25.2 per game) to quarterbacks. The long shot, cheap, contrarian play of the week has to be the Jets' Sam Darnold ($6,700). No one will want to use him in his first game back since being sick and at first glance the Eagles on the road doesn't appear to be a good matchup. However, the Eagles have allowed the fifth-most fantasy points to quarterbacks and Darnold has two good playmakers in Robby Anderson ($5,500) and Jamison Crowder ($5,700). Using a stack of those three will free up a lot of cap space for the other positions to use in a tournament.
RUNNING BACK
At this point it's awfully tough to get away from Christian McCaffrey ($9,100) in cash no matter who the Panthers are playing. There's enough value this week at wide receiver and tight end that upper-tier running backs can be used. Dalvin Cook ($8,200) is another high-priced option to target against the Giants. He has scored at least 16 fantasy points in every game this season, and New York only ranks 19th against the run. The Cardinals' David Johnson ($6,800) seems a bit underpriced given his matchup with the Bengals and has 15.5, 17.9 and 22.7 fantasy points in three of his first four games. He also has had a huge role in the passing game with 20 targets in his last two games and already has two receiving touchdowns through four games. Finally, the Bears David Montgomery ($5,700) is in a spot to have a breakout game in England against the Raiders. He had a season-high 24 touches last week, and the Bears could lean more heavily on the running game with starter Mitchell Trubisky sidelined.
WIDE RECEIVER
There's a lot of opportunity for value at wide receiver this week. As mentioned, Robby Anderson is only $5,500 and playing against a bad pass defense. He should get six-to-eight targets in this game and only has to connect on one long pass play to make value. Jacksonville's D.J. Chark ($5,800) has at least 15 fantasy points in three of his first four games and averages 6.5 targets per game. While the Patriots' Josh Gordon ($6,300) is banged up he has a great matchup against the Redskins and this could be the week he breaks 100 receiving yards and finds the end zone. Looking at the higher-priced options, there's no reason not to go back to Julio Jones ($8,200) or DeAndre Hopkins ($8,500). In fact, it makes sense to stack this game using each quarterback plus both studs and hope for a shootout. Neither defense has played good this season and the game is indoors.
TIGHT END
Tyler Eifert ($4,600) has a dream matchup against the Cardinals and narrowly missed a touchdown against the Steelers. He's only $600 more than the minimum and should be very chalky in cash game this week. After the Cardinals, it's the Buccaneers who are the next worst team against the tight end in the NFL. That means this could be a good week to consider Jared Cook ($5,300) in tournaments. This might be a good week to pivot off Zach Ertz ($6,600) and Austin Hooper ($6,700) as the Jets and Texans have been top-3 defenses against the position. Instead target monsters Darren Waller ($6,400) or Evan Engram ($6,300) might be better choices.
DEFENSE
This seems like a good week to pay up and use the Patriots ($5,500) even though they'll be on the road. They're 15.5-point favorites in a game with an over/under of only 42.5, suggesting a low scoring game for the Redskins. They have at least one interception in every game this season and have 10 total overall. They also have 18 sacks and three defensive/special teams touchdowns, as they have dominated the opposition. The Jets ($3,100) are a bit interesting this week at such a low price. They've scored 16 and 18 fantasy points in two of their first three games and would be a good value making it to just 8-10.
