Week 16 NFL FanDuel Salary Movers
Things can change quickly in fantasy football. To quote Ferris Bueller, "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."
We're here to "look around" and make sure we don't miss any week-to-week salary changes that could pay dividends on FanDuel.
Maybe a player had an outlier performance and saw their salary rise too high, making them a sub-optimal play. Perhaps a player saw an increase in their role but played on Monday night after salaries for the following week's slate already came out, and therefore they haven't been priced accordingly.
This week's article will take a look at which players salaries have changed the most from Week 15 to Week 16 and dig into why those moves happened.
Now that you're ready, let's get to it!
Ryan Tannehill, QB, Miami Dolphins
Week 15 Salary: $7,100
Week 16 Salary: $6,800
Outside of running back this week, we don't have a lot of movement up or down the salary scale. Ryan Tannehill is the biggest mover at quarterback this week, with his salary dropping by $300. He's coming off a paltry 4.42 point performance on the road against a tough Minnesota Vikings defense and the matchup this week isn't looking much better.
At best, Tannehill has been a contrarian tournament-only play when the matchup is in his favor. He's cleared 20 FanDuel points just twice this year - in September against the Raiders and two weeks ago versus the Patriots - both at home. This week he's on the road to face the Jacksonville Jaguars in another avoid spot against numberFire's sixth-ranked passing defense.
Other Big Movers:
Deshaun Watson, Houston Texans: $7,800 | $8,000
Kirk Cousins, Minnesota Vikings: $7,800 | $7,600
Sam Darnold, New York Jets: $6,500 | $6,700
Jaylen Samuels, RB, Pittsburgh Steelers
Week 15 Salary: $5,500
Week 16 Salary: $6,700
Rookie Jaylen Samuels makes the list again as the biggest mover of the week at running and overall. Samuels has assumed the primary running back role in Pittsburgh with James Conner missing the previous two weeks. In his place, Samuels has been a popular value play at his depressed price. Against the Oakland Raiders in Week 14, he rushed 11 times for just 28 yards. His fantasy day was saved with 64 yards receiving on seven targets for 12.7 FanDuel points. Week 15 provided another good matchup for Samuels as he piled up 142 rushing yards on 19 attempts versus New England's 25th-ranked rushing defense while adding 30 through the air for 18.2 points.
Conner has yet to practice this week and is trending towards remaining inactive with just two games remaining in the regular season. Samuels has 49 touches in his two games without Conner and should continue to see heavy usage this week against the New Orleans Saints. In a game with the slate's highest over/under at 53.5 points, it's a game script to target and Samuels should be in your player pool despite facing numberFire's sixth-ranked rushing defense.
Other Big Movers:
Leonard Fournette, Jacksonville Jaguars: $8,200 | $7,300
Dalvin Cook, Minnesota Vikings: $6,200 | $7,100
Jamaal Williams, Green Bay Packers: $4,700 | $5,800
Chris Hogan, WR, New England Patriots
Week 15 Salary: $4,700
Week 16 Salary: $5,300
The big news out of New England this week was Josh Gordon's announcement that he would be "stepping away from the football field for a bit to focus on my mental health." Shortly thereafter, the NFL suspended Gordon. He had a 17 percent target market share during his time with the Patriots and his departure will free up targets for the rest of the wide receiver group, including Chris Hogan.
Hogan had just his second game all season above 10 FanDuel points against the Pittsburgh Steelers last Sunday. He caught only two passes on three targets, but one was a 63-yard touchdown. This week the Pats get a Buffalo Bills defense that has surrendered the fewest yards to wide receivers in the league. In three games this year without Gordon, Hogan's target market share was 13 percent, compared to just eight percent with, and that was also without Julian Edelman. His salary increase is warranted if he receives a bigger role, but this week likely isn't the week to use him.
Other Big Movers:
DeAndre Hopkins, Houston Texans: $8,600 | $8,900
Amari Cooper, Dallas Cowboys: $6,600 | $7,000
Robert Foster, Buffalo Bills: $5,400 | $6,000
Evan Engram, TE, New York Giants
Week 15 Salary: $5,200
Week 16 Salary: $5,700
With Odell Beckham nursing an injured quad, Sterling Shepard was a popular DFS value play last week and saw nine targets. He caught only two of those for 37 yards while Evan Engram led the Giants in targets with 12, which he converted into eight receptions and 75 receiving yards. Engram eclipsed double-digits for only the third time all year, scoring 11.5 FanDuel points.
While the salary increase of $500 isn't much coming off a strong game, the matchup for Engram is about as perfect as it can get this week. With Beckham's availability still up in the air, the Giants will face the Indianapolis Colts as 10-point underdogs on the road. The Colts have allowed the most receiving yards to tight ends in the league and give up over 11 FanDuel points per game to the position. After Zach Ertz and George Kittle at the top, there's not much separating the rest of the tight ends as it relates to salaries this week.
Other Big Movers:
Rob Gronkowski, New England Patriots: $6,900 | $6,600
Eric Ebron, Indianapolis Colts: $6,500 | $6,100
Trey Burton, Chicago Bears: $5,500 | $5,900
Ryan Bobbitt is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Ryan Bobbitt also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username Drummerinabox. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his/her personal views, he/she may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his/her personal account. The views expressed in his/her articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.
