4 DraftKings Studs to Target in Week 15

Cam Newton, QB, Carolina Panthers

DraftKings Price: $6,400
Projected Points: 22.2

There are a lot of reasons to pay up for Tom Brady this week, including (but not limited to) the fact that the Pittsburgh Steelers have allowed an average of 277.5 yards and 8.29 yards per attempt to an unflattering crop of passers (Marcus Mariota, Brett Hundley, Andy Dalton, Joe Flacco) without starting cornerback Joe Haden available the last four games.

But Brady is also likely to garner the highest ownership among the quarterbacks on DraftKings' main slate, which would immediately put your lineup in an uphill battle. Instead, it makes sense to pivot to another stud who has comparable upside and likely half the ownership that comes along with Brady.

Cam Newton is that stud. We project him to score 3.2 fewer points than Brady this week, but Newton provides a rushing floor that seemingly no other quarterback in the league provides. Since Week 6, the Carolina Panthers' star quarterback has averaged 8.9 rushing attempts per game and ranks 14th overall in the NFL with 495 yards rushing over that stretch. In that span he's averaged 8.4 DraftKings points from his rushing totals alone.

The return of Aaron Rodgers this weekend might overshadow what is a dream matchup for Newton on the other side of the ball, as the Green Bay Packers have the 26th overall passing defense according to our metrics. And it's an easy call who to stack along with him, since Devin Funchess has averaged a 28.7% target share since Kelvin Benjamin was traded and now faces a Packers unit allowing the ninth-highest percentage of its fantasy points allowed to the opposition (40%) to the wide receiver position. (Damiere Byrd makes for another potential stack with Newton, after he quietly averaged a 20% target share last week.)