4 NFL FanDuel Tournament Pivots for Week 9

Quarterback

Chalk

With the Los Angeles Rams taking on the New Orleans Saints in the Superdome on Sunday's main slate, a massive under/over total of 58.5 points is sure to lend itself towards some high ownership.

In peeping our heat map, that leaves some juicy totals for both teams, which means Jared Goff and Drew Brees should see extremely high rates of ownership. And, our projections reflect that -- we have Goff projected for 24.8 FanDuel points, and Brees for a crisp 23.8 FanDuel points.

Not to be outdone, Cam Newton ($8,600) is projected for 26.1 FanDuel points, tops on the main slate. Facing a very porous Tampa Bay Buccaneers defense, who rank third-worst against the pass per our metrics, Newton could be in line for a monster afternoon.

Pivot

Ryan Fitzpatrick, Tampa Bay Buccaneers: $7,100 (at Carolina Panthers)

It's been a topsy-turvy ride for Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterbacks in 2018. With Jameis Winston out on suspension, Ryan Fitzpatrick led the team to a 2-1 start before getting blown out by the Chicago Bears.

After a rough week in which he was benched, Winston will give the reigns back to Fitzpatrick, who's been pretty solid:

The "Tampa Bay QB" weekly fantasy finishes this season (includes combined* games from Winston and Fitzpatrick):

Week 1 - QB1
Week 2 - QB6
Week 3 - QB4
Week 4 - QB23*
Week 6 - QB1
Week 7 - QB6
Week 8 - QB1*
— Graham Barfield (@GrahamBarfield) October 30, 2018

In diving deeper on Fitzpatrick, he leads the NFL in Average Intended Air Yards (IAY), which shows the average Air Yards a passer throws on all attempts, at 10.9 IAY. He also leads all quarterbacks with 150 or more drop backs with a Passing NEP per drop back mark of 0.52, and he faces a Panthers defense that ranks 18th against the pass.

As six-point underdogs, a potentially negative game script could lead to high passing volume for the Bucs QB, so pivot down to save some cash.