7 FanDuel Bargains for Week 8

Alex Smith ($6,600)

There's not much exciting about Alex Smith, but $6,600 is the cheapest you can get at quarterback unless Zach Mettenberger or Landry Jones start, and Smith offers a lot of value.

Smith has attempted at least 30 passes in all but one game this year, and his 267 drop backs rank 11th in the league. He has only shown middling efficiency on the year, with a 0.09 Passing Net Expected Points (NEP) per drop back that ranks 15th among the 32 quarterbacks with at least 100 drop backs, but with his volume, that efficiency is solid enough for a bargain quarterback play, especially against the Detroit Lions defense.

The Lions have the worst pass defense in the league, ranking dead last with a 0.32 Adjusted Defensive Passing NEP per play. That's a historically bad number, and no team in our database (going back to 2000) has ever finished the season with a score of 0.30 or worse.

What has really hampered Smith this year has been his touchdown production. He's only thrown seven on the season and hasn't thrown multiple touchdowns in a game since Week 1.

There's reason to believe these numbers improve though, and it's a good spot to take advantage of a discounted price that won't stick once they do. Smith has attempted the eighth most red zone passes in the league this season. So far he's only converted 14% of these attempts into touchdowns, but that's where he stands to improve. Through his first two seasons in Kansas City he posted a 23% red zone touchdown rate, and a return to even that modest rate will be a big boost for his value.