NFL

3 Daily Fantasy Football Players to Avoid in Week 17

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 short list 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. Thanks for reading all 17 weeks.

Drew Brees, QB, New Orleans Saints

FanDuel Price: $8,400
DraftKings Price: $6,100

Currently projected as QB4 on the main slate, should we trust in Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints offense this week?

It feels like points will be scored -- the Saints are pegged for a hefty implied team total of 29.75 points. But it could come with a heavy ground attack, as the Carolina Panthers are the league's worst against the rush. Carolina has allowed a staggering 0.20 Rushing Net Expected Points (NEP) per rush. Yowzas.

Now, fire in Brees's insane home/road splits. Using 2019 as a sample, Brees has played in six home and four road contests, throwing for 332.8 passing yards and 8.3 yards per attempt (YPA) in the Superdome but just 182.3 passing yards and 6.8 YPA on the road. It's been a consistent theme throughout his career.

With so many outstanding quarterback options in smash spots -- led by Aaron Rodgers, Patrick Mahomes, and Matt Ryan -- spending up for Brees doesn't make a whole lot of sense.

Devonta Freeman, RB, Atlanta Falcons

FanDuel Price: $6,700
DraftKings Price: $10,100

There's definitely been some juice in the Atlanta Falcons' engine down the stretch, as they pulled off a stunner of an upset against the San Francisco 49ers, who may just end up as the top overall seed in the NFC.

Part of that reason is because of the passing attack, but that's partially due to Devonta Freeman, too, who's been brilliant recently. Last week alone, Freeman went off for 29 FanDuel points on 22 touches and 127 all-purpose yards.

Despite that, Freeman may not be worth it this week. While the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have given up a lot of points to the passing attack, they rank as the league's stingiest against the run and have not allowed 70 rushing yards in any of the last five weeks.

With guys like Kenyan Drake and Le'Veon Bell potentially providing far more bang for the buck, it's hard rostering a guy like Freeman.

DeVante Parker, WR, Miami Dolphins

FanDuel Price: $6,900
DraftKings Price: $9,300

Prior to the start of the season, if you had the ability to foresee that DeVante Parker would rank as WR11 in fantasy points scored, congrats to you. I sure didn't.

Unfortunately, the ending to the 2019 season may come on a bit of a sour note for Parker and the Miami Dolphins. Regardless of whether he sees shadow coverage from Stephon Gilmore, this New England Patriots defense has been for real in 2019. They rank first overall and first against the pass by numberFire's metrics and have wiped out nearly every passing attack this season. On the year, they've allowed only five teams to break 200 passing yards, and no one has hit 300 passing yards.

Want a pretty disgusting implied team total? Check out the 'Fins 14.50 points. Don't count on a massive scoring day from Parker.



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.