3 Daily Fantasy Football Players to Avoid in Week 10

We have loads of pieces on numberFire dedicated to helping you figure out which plays you should target in your daily fantasy football contests on FanDuel and DraftKings. And you should definitely check them all out!

But an underrated aspect of the DFS process is figuring out who you shouldn't play. Narrowing down your shortlist of potential plays by avoiding those who are overpriced and/or in tough matchups goes a long way towards ensuring that you create optimal lineups.

Let's go through three guys to consider fading on this week's DFS main slates.

Aaron Rodgers, QB, Green Bay Packers

FanDuel Price: $8,000
DraftKings Price: $6,600

After a rough outing in Week 9, Aaron Rodgers is looking for a bounce-back performance. But Rodgers will have to do it against a very adept defense in the Carolina Panthers, one that clocks in ninth overall and third against the pass, per our schedule-adjusted metrics.

In addition, the shaky Green Bay offensive line, which sits 11th in adjusted sack rate, will surely be tested by the Panthers, who lead the league with 34 sacks and are third in adjusted sack rate.

From an efficiency perspective, Rodgers have been solid this season with a mark of 0.24 Passing Net Expected Points (NEP) per drop back. It is important to note, though, that Rodgers has already been sacked 20 times, and two of his four lowest outings by Passing NEP per drop back have come in the last four games.

With so many good quarterback options on the main slate -- spearheaded by Drew Brees, Lamar Jackson, Jameis Winston and Kyler Murray -- Rodgers isn't worth the risk this week.

Saquon Barkley, RB, New York Giants

FanDuel Price: $8,600
DraftKings Price: $8,800

There are not many weeks when fading Saquon Barkley is a good idea. This might be one of them.

While the New York Giants are projected to win against their crosstown rivals, the New York Jets, Barkley will have his hands full against the third-ranked run defense, per our schedule-adjusted metrics.

As talented as Barkley is, he has been held under 16 FanDuel points in two of his last three games. In fact, he's topped 21 fantasy points just once this year, when he totaled 24.3 FanDuel points at the Detroit Lions in Week 8. His workload is solid -- at least 20 touches in each of his last four full games -- but he'll likely have to do most of his work through the air this week against Gang Green.

Plus, there are a lot of enticing mid-priced backs this week, including David Montgomery ($6,400 on FanDuel), Marlon Mack ($7,400) and Le'Veon Bell ($6,900). Barkley still warrants a look in tournaments -- as he does every time out -- but this is a rare week when we can feel decent about spending down a bit at running back in cash games. Oh, and using Barkley makes it a lot tougher to jam in the massive salary of Christian McCaffrey ($10,500), which you may be interested in doing.

Kenny Golladay, WR, Detroit Lions

FanDuel Price: $7,700
DraftKings Price: $7,000

I'll keep it simple -- rostering Kenny Golladay this week is an exercise in futility.

While the Chicago Bears have been scuffling lately, that doesn't mean their defense has been bad. The Bears' D ranks fourth overall and eighth against the pass, per our numbers, racking up 23 sacks this season.

Golladay can certainly win deep, shown by his back-to-back efforts of 20-plus FanDuel points, but this game environment doesn't look very fantasy friendly. The over/under sits at only 41.5 points, and Detroit's 19.5-point implied team total isn't anything to get excited about.

It's not the week to use Golladay.

Matt Kupferle is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Matt Kupferle also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username MKupferle. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in his articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.