NFL

5 DraftKings Bargains for Week 15

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Lamar Jackson, QB, Baltimore Ravens

DraftKings Price: $5,900

Projected Points: 21.8

Projected Value (points per $1,000): 3.70

It's officially an end of an era in Baltimore, as the Ravens have announced Lamar Jackson as their starter for Sunday. Jackson has been a dependable fantasy quarterback, averaging 19.8 DraftKings points over his four starts. He’s getting a cushy matchup against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as a 7.5-point home favorite, too.

Jackson’s high floor is buoyed by his rushing ability, which is well known by now in the fantasy industry. He’s had a minimum of 70 rush yards in every start, which would be unheard of for the quarterback position if it wasn’t for his rookie counterpart, Josh Allen, going toe-to-toe with Jackson. Long gone are the days of him running over 20 attempts in a game, but eclipsing double-digits wouldn’t be a surprise. He should be able to continue his success as the Buccaneers are in the bottom third in rushing defense, per our metrics.

There are few quarterbacks in the league that will account for more of their team’s red zone plays than Jackson. 63% of the Ravens’ plays have involved Jackson as either a passer or rusher. He’s accounted for 48% of the team’s rushing attempts as well. Few running backs see that type of market share, and he’s being rostered as a quarterback.

The knock on the rookie is his passing ability. Jackson hasn’t passed for over 200 yards in any of his games. His success as a passer hasn’t been nearly as good as his abilities as a runner, but his ceiling shouldn’t be discounted because of that. The Buccaneers are a soft passing defense and have been a consistent DFS target all season long because of it; quarterbacks have averaged 23 points per game against this secondary. Our model places Tampa Bay as a bottom five pass defense unit in numberFire’s rankings.

Jackson has a multitude of avenues to gain fantasy points, which is unique given that most quarterbacks accrue a majority of their points via the air. With ability to get rushing and passing touchdowns, he could score one of each in conjunction with his consistent rushing floor. Any points gained via passing yardage is just the cherry on top at that point.