NFL

6 DraftKings Bargains for Week 9

Use your ← → (arrow) keys to browse the slideshow

Ryan Fitzpatrick, QB, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

DraftKings Price: $5,600

Projected Points: 20.01

Projected Value (points per $1,000): 3.64

It's evident that DraftKings was unsure whether Jameis Winston would be relegated to clipboard holding this week after his four interception performance this past week, pricing him $100 less than his backup Ryan Fitzpatrick. But the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have confirmed that they will stick with Fitzpatrick for this week in their game against the Carolina Panthers.

The Bucs have been fantasy friendly to whomever has been the signal caller, averaging 25 DraftKings points per game. Outside of the passing statistics, both quarterbacks have also shown a tendency to accumulate rush attempts, averaging 4.4 DraftKings points per game for the position. The dual-threat ability is desirable for both cash games and tournaments.

The difference between the Tampa Bay quarterbacks has been the drop-off in QB play. Patrick Mahomes is second to none other than Fitzpatrick in Passing Net Expected Points (NEP) per drop back (0.45) even though he has nearly half the drop backs. To put it simply, the passing game is a well-tuned machine with Fitzpatrick at the helm.

Tampa might be able to resolve their quarterback issues by changing one player, but they will not be able to replace an entire passing defense that is the worst according to numberFire's rankings, likely putting Fitzpatrick in a pass-heavy game script. This game has the second-highest total on the slate, indicating that we should see fireworks yet again.