NFL

4 NFL FanDuel Value Plays to Target in Week 1

Identifying key value plays are of paramount importance when it comes to Daily Fantasy Football. Luckily for you, our NFL projections are ready to roll, and our value category is brimming with potential slate-winning targets. If you're needing a salary saving option, consider plugging in one of these options into your lineup.

Lamar Jackson, QB, Baltimore Ravens ($7,400)

The Baltimore Ravens are traveling to face the Miami Dolphins and are currently 7.0-point favorites with a 22.75-point implied team total. Our projections have Lamar Jackson accumulating 54.05 rushing yards on 10.66 rushing attempts. While we know he won't be racking up fractional carries or yards, he has plenty of upside to rack up a ton of fractional fantasy points.

While that was kind of a lame joke, Jackson does inherently have a superb floor due to his rushing ability. In the final seven games of the 2018 season, Lamar averaged 17 rushes and 79 rushing yards per game. That is good for 7.9 FanDuel points in just his rushing stats -- and we aren't even taking into account his five rushing touchdowns during that span of games.

Currently, Jackson has the highest value rating (2.82 points per $1,000) on the entire slate. While I doubt he totes the rock as frequently this season as he did in his rookie campaign, he clearly has a phenomenal scoring floor due to his rushing ability.

Chris Carson, RB, Seattle Seahawks ($6,600)

The Seahawks are currently 10.0-point home favorites and have an implied team total of 27.25 points. Anytime we have an opportunity to choose a running back who has that type of favorable spread and playing in front of the home crowd, we need to consider it. What makes things even easier is the fact that Chris Carson is our fourth-highest value running back (2.26) on the entire main slate.

He is facing a Cincinnati Bengals defense that gave up the fourth-most rushing attempts per game (29.1) to opposing running backs last season. On top of that, the Seahawks had the second-highest average of carries per game (32.8). I believe that Carson is going to be fed the rock early and often. On seven occasions last season, Carson was given 19 or more carries in a game. In all but one of those games, he cleared 100 rushing yards. The outlier performance was a measly 90 yards.

Carson has a shot at 20-plus carries in a great matchup, and he owns a history of success when garnering that many carries. Sign me up at his juicy price tag.

Tyler Lockett, WR, Seattle Seahawks ($6,800)

The Seahawks are very affordable in Week 1, and that's a good thing for those who are reading this article. Tyler Lockett has our highest-projected value rating (1.84) at the wide receiver position. He also has a healthy projection of 12.5 FanDuel points, as well.

There is a lot to like here. Doug Baldwin is no longer suiting up for the 'Hawks, and the wide receiving corps is riddled with injuries. Lockett has a clear path to plenty of targets against the Bengals. While I am not entirely positive Seattle will need to chuck the ball up and down the field to win this football game, I believe his potential target share is what makes him so solid.

If you are creating a cash-game lineup, I would decide on using either Carson or Lockett. I think one of them will eat and the other potentially will fall short due to the efficiency of either the passing game or rushing game. However, in tournaments, you could look to stack both of them with Russell Wilson and hope the trio gobbles up five or six touchdowns.

George Kittle, TE, San Francisco 49ers ($7,300)

This one is a bit harder to plug in there because he is the second-highest priced tight end on the entire slate. However, George Kittle's 1.92 value score is second to none at the position, per our models. The Vegas total for this one sits at a healthy 50.5-point over/under, and the San Francisco 49ers are actually 1.0-point road favorites.

The 49ers potentially are going to find themselves in a shootout against the host Tampa Bay Buccaneers. For Kittle, that means he will likely receive plenty of targets as the number-one option for Jimmy Garoppolo. After hauling in over 100 yards receiving on four separate occasions in 2018, George has solidified himself as a premier tight end option with a massive scoring ceiling.

When receiving double-digit targets in 2018, Kittle churned out FanDuel scores of 25.4, 10.9, 30.5, 8.8, and 12.8 points. He has a combination of a very strong scoring floor along with a nice ceiling. I also like that he's wedged between Travis Kelce ($7,800) and Zach Ertz ($7,100) in pricing. This may lead to DFS players either going up to Kelce or down to Ertz in their lineups, allowing you to reap the rewards of Kittle at a possibly suppressed ownership rate.



Mitch Carl is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Mitch Carl also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username fcurev. 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.