Top-ranked daily fantasy sports pro Jason Mezrahi, founder and CEO of WinDailySports.com, breaks down his favorite DFS plays at various salary ranges for Week 2 of the NFL season.
These are some of the players Jason will be locking in his lineups on DraftKings and FanDuel for this weekend’s slate.
QUARTERBACKS
DAK PRESCOTT, DAL
$6,800 DRAFTKINGS, $8,300 FANDUEL
Coming off a tough loss and heading back to Dallas to face off against a bad Atlanta defense is what Dak needs to right the ship. The matchup wasn’t ideal in Week 1, but his weapons are at full strength. The addition of CeeDee Lamb gives him three above-average receivers and the threat of Ezekiel Elliot should torment this Atlanta defense. Russell Wilson picked apart the Falcons secondary and I see the same thing happening when Dak gets under center. Add some rushing upside and Dak will present a nice floor for cash games and high upside for your tournaments.
TOM BRADY, TBB
$6,500 DRAFTKINGS, $7,600 FANDUEL
It didn’t work out so well last week against a tough defense in New Orleans, but I am ready to double down on Tom Brady. In a bad game by his standards, Brady still threw for 2 touchdowns and ran one in. Tom Brady the dual-threat quarterback! While I am not in the business of predicting Brady’s next rushing touchdown, I can tell you that the matchup versus Carolina is great. Their defense is one of the worst in the league and the discount you get with Brady on FanDuel is too much to pass on. This a spot to price enforce and secure a nice floor at the quarterback position.
RUNNING BACKS
EZEKIEL ELLIOTT, DAL
$8,200 DRAFTKINGS, $8,600 FANDUEL
I could settle this in one sentence: He is a bell cow running back going against one of the worst defenses in the league. But lets look a little deeper. Ezekiel Elliott is a stud worth paying up for in both cash games and tournaments. Just like Chris Carson in Week 1, this matchup versus the Falcons has shootout written all over it. I have Elliott as the top running back on the slate with a equal rating to Christian McCaffrey. This could easily be a 2-3 touchdown game for Elliott, and I am playing it safe and paying up for this stud in Week 2.
DERRICK HENRY, TEN
$7,900 DRAFTKINGS, $8,300 FANDUEL
The story is the same with Derrick Henry, he is workhouse going against a weak defense. The Indianapolis combination of Mack, Hines and Taylor gashed the Jaguars all day and my assumption is that all those fantasy points that were split between the Colts backs will all gravitate toward Henry in Week 2. Henry was handed the ball 31 times in a tough matchup versus Denver and with that same workload versus the Jaguars defensive line we can see 150+ rushing yards and two-plus touchdowns in Week 2. A lot of the field will look to value running backs like they did in Week 1 and I will be trying to avoid that by locking in Henry and Elliott this week.
WIDE RECEIVERS
DAVANTE ADAMS, GBP
$8,100 DRAFTKINGS, $8,600 FANDUEL
If we look back at least week’s article this is how I started to breakdown the wide receiver position:
“Lets keep this one simple. Who is else will Aaron Rodgers throw the ball to?”
I hope everyone listened because I went overweight on Adams and it led me to a $25,000 payday on DraftKings. If I got .5 more points (yes, just 5 yards) it would of been worth $50,000. Adams is, and will be, the main guy in Green Bay for the rest of this year and, unlike other wide receivers, he shouldn’t be competing for target shares. Both sites raised his price slightly but at what price can we fade Adams? Similar to Michael Thomas last year, I will be hitting the lock button on Adams moving forward.
MARVIN JONES JR., DET
$5,700 DRAFTKINGS, $6,400 FANDUEL
With Kenny Golladay still questionable and hobbled, I will look to Marvin Jones Jr. against the Green Bay Packers. Coming off a terrible loss to the Bears, the Lions will have to put up points to keep pace with the Packers. I see this game going over the 49 point total Vegas has predicted with the Lions trailing for most of the game. If I am right that means a lot of garbage time and soft coverage for Jones Jr. to rack up points. The discount provided should allow Jones Jr. to exceed value.
TIGHT ENDS
JACK DOYLE, IND
$3,600 DRAFTKINGS, $5,300 FANDUEL
I always try my best to find the safe value plays at the tight end position in order to pay up elsewhere, and Jack Doyle fits that mold. He is more of a DraftKings only play for me but I don’t mind the play on FanDuel as well. On FanDuel I would probably lean on the upside of Tyler Higbee, Eric Ebron or T.J. Hockenson. Philip Rivers loves to target the tight end and I think in each week moving forward you will see him rely more and more on Doyle. Coming off a 3 reception week for 49 yards, I expect a repeat performance and 7-8 DraftKings points to be his average production. If he sneaks in a touchdown this week we can smash value at his $3,600 price tag.
T.J. HOCKENSON, DET
$5,200 DRAFTKINGS, $5,600 FANDUEL
Opposite to Jack Doyle, Hockenson provides greater value on FanDuel than he does on DraftKings. He hauled in five of five targets and scored a touchdown in Week 1; he is rolling into Week 2 with a better matchup in what could be a higher scoring game. As stated above, Golladay may sit another game out and the Lions could be playing from behind most of the game, which should mean more receptions for Hockenson. Hockenson has thrived whenever Stafford has been on the field so feel confident rolling him versus the Packers in Week 2.
DEFENSES
ARIZONA CARDINALS
$3,000 DRAFTKINGS, $3,600 FANDUEL
We will see a pattern in my articles of targeting the weaker offenses and streaming defenses against teams like the Washington Football Team, the New York Jets, and any team that Vegas projects to be the lowest scoring teams on the slate. The Cardinals are coming off an impressive win in Week 1 versus the 49ers, where they held them to only 20 points. Now they get a home matchup versus a young quarterback surrounded with minimal weapons. Arizona provides a safe floor with upside against a weak offense at a very fair price on both sites.
SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS $4,000 DRAFTKINGS, $5,00 FANDUEL
If you have the salary, pay up for the 49ers. The Jets are a very, very, very bad offense. We saw the Bills dismantle the Jets and the same thing will occur when the Niners enter town. The 49ers should have a chip on their shoulder after coming off a tough loss to Cardinals and the Jets will see a very motivated team. I expect the 49ers to come out of the gate strong and bring the pressure to Sam Darnold and the Jets.
Jason Mezrahi has been a professional, top-ranked Daily Fantasy Player on FanDuel and DraftKings for more than eight years. He has won FanDuel’s $155,555 King of the Diamond competition and placed second in DraftKings’ Fantasy Basketball World Championship, earning him $300,000. He owns and operates WinDailySports.com, which supports the DFS and Sports Betting community with resources such as tools, projection models, expert chat, in-depth written analysis and podcasts, plus much more.
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