The Perfect Lineup: Week 10's Fantasy Score Team
Struggling to find players to start while your stars are on bye in your season long fantasy football league? Well, at FantasyScore.com, you don't have to fight the waiver wire to find value -- you just pick your favorite players every week while playing weekly fantasy football for cash prizes.
If you've never played before and aren't sure who to pick, our fancy algorithms have you covered for Week 7. Take a look at this week's FantasyScore Perfect Lineup.
Quarterback
Kirk Cousins, Washington Redskins
Cousins has been somewhat matchup dependent through his first eight games of the season. Last week, he didn't perform well against the Patriots -- although much of that had to do with New England completely dominating time of possession -- but, in his last game before that, the Redskins' quarterback threw for 317 yards and 3 touchdowns in a comeback win in a great matchup against Tampa Bay. This week, Cousins gets the pleasure of facing off against a Saints' secondary that has allowed the most fantasy points per game to opposing quarterbacks on the season, ranking dead last in our schedule-adjusted defensive passing Net Expected Points (NEP) metric. In fact, the Saints have been so bad against the pass that their 106.94 defensive passing NEP is a whopping 27.17 worse than the Lions, who are second worst. With his price tag at just a minuscule $4,900, Cousins gives you low risk with very high upside.
Running Back
Darren McFadden, Dallas Cowboys
With Joseph Randle cut from Dallas, many people expected opportunity to present itself to Christine Michael. However, over the past three weeks since Randle has been inactive, it's been McFadden dominating the Cowboys' workload. Over that span, McFadden has carried the ball 76 times for 333 yards and a touchdown while adding 9 catches for 64 yards. Last week, McFadden was a true every-down back, while Michael didn't play a single snap. Although the Buccaneers are a much stronger rush defense than pass defense, the new Cowboys' workhorse should see more than enough volume on the ground to reach value at his $6,300 price tag, not to mention he has already has proven the ability to catch out of the backfield with 21 receptions on the year which could go a long way in PPR scoring. He makes a strong play in all formats this week.
Jeremy Langford, Chicago Bears
I wrote about Langford in this column last week, and boy did he ever deliver. The Bears' backup running back looked spectacular, carrying the ball 18 times for 72 yards and a touchdown while contributing 3 catches for 70 yards in the passing game as well. Matt Forte is not expected to return to action this week, which means Langford should be in store for another big workload once again this week. While his matchup against St. Louis is not nearly as juicy as it was this week against San Diego, much like McFadden, Langford should see more than enough action to reach value at his diminished price of just $5,000.
Wide Receiver
Antonio Brown, Pittsburgh Steelers
Brown put on a show like we've never seen before last week. He piled up a ridiculous 17 catches for 284 yards, while adding two rushes for 22 yards. Although most of his receptions came before Ben Roethlisberger went down with his foot injury, Brown caught a 57-yard catch from Jarvis Landry with less than a minute to go to set up the game-winning field goal. Brown now ranks inside of the top five in the NFL in Reception NEP (78.98) and Reception NEP per play (.78) while ranking sixth in Target NEP (39.82). He will continue to be an elite wide receiver regardless of who is throwing him the ball and should absolutely dominate a Browns' defense that ranks 20th in schedule-adjusted Defensive Pass NEP on the year.
Julian Edelman, New England Patriots
Speaking of wide receivers that should absolutely dominate terrible pass defenses, Edelman draws a matchup against the Giants this week. Two weeks ago, Drew Brees torched the New York secondary for 505 yards and 7 touchdowns. In that game, the Saints' top two wide receivers -- Brandin Cooks and Willie Snead -- combined to haul in 12 catches for 158 yards and 4 touchdowns, while Marques Colston added a cool 8 receptions for 114 yards and a touchdown of his own from the slot. Edelman may be more talented than any of those three wide receivers, and he has the MVP favorite Tom Brady throwing him the ball. New York ranks 25th in schedule-adjusted Defensive Passing NEP, and will have their hands full with a dominant Patriots' passing attack in what is expected to be the highest scoring game on the schedule this week. Edelman makes a tremendous play in both tournaments and cash games.
Kamar Aiken, Baltimore Ravens
With Steve Smith out for the year, Aiken will step into the number one wide receiver role for the Ravens for the foreseeable future. When Smith missed Week 5 against Cleveland, Aiken filled in to grab four balls for 78 yards. The week before that, the Ravens' fourth-year receiver caught five balls for 77 yards and a touchdown. Similarly, in the Ravens' most recent game, he grabbed all six of his targets for 62 yards. Reports out of Baltimore are that Aiken has dominated first team reps, and will more than likely be the most targeted Ravens' wide receiver by a wide margin for the remainder of the season. With a matchup against a Jaguars defense that ranks just 29th in schedule-adjusted Defensive Passing NEP, Aiken should provide tremendous value at just $5,100.
Tight End
Benjamin Watson, New Orleans Saints
Watson has been outstanding over the past month, and he's been a major factor in why the Saints' offense has turned their season around. Over the past five weeks, Watson has accumulated 32 catches for 429 yards and three touchdowns. He now ranks second in the league in Target NEP (points added on all targets, 41.10), behind only Rob Gronkowski. Despite his outstanding recent play, Watson's price tag remains at a very reasonable $4,600. The Saints' tight end should provide excellent cap relief to allow you to pay up for guys like Brown and Edelman.
Flex
Travis Benjamin, Cleveland Browns
After a scorching hot start, Benjamin has somewhat come down to earth over the past few weeks. Much of his recent struggles can be attributed to the uncertain status of the Browns' quarterback position with Josh McCown banged up, but a matchup with the Steelers should be just what the doctor ordered. Pittsburgh has given up the fifth most fantasy points per game to opposing wide receivers on the year, and with McCown expected to be back at the helm for the Browns' offense, Benjamin should be in store for a bounce back performance this week. He provides great value at just $4,500 this week.
Defense
The Eagles' offense has not been nearly as good as many anticipated this season, but their defense has been rock solid. The Philadelphia defense ranks third in overall schedule-adjusted Defensive NEP at -17.97, one spot ahead of the vaunted Seahawks defense. They're also tied for the league lead with 20 total takeaways. The Eagles are 6.5-point favorites at home against an inconsistent Miami offense, and can be had for just $2,600. They are dollar for dollar my favorite defensive play on the board this week.
