Victiv Fantasy Football: 6 Players to Watch in Week 4
If you're looking for a new, unique daily fantasy football experience, it's time to check out Victiv.
Why play on Victiv over the competition? It starts with the in-game experience. The real-time dashboards on Victiv have live animations that effectively alert users to changes with their players and contests on a rolling basis. And this often happens before the TV stations are able to beam the images to your television.
It's not just the in-game experience that sets Victiv apart, either. Victiv brings an innovative perspective to daily fantasy contests from start to finish. Having trouble deciding who to start and who to fade? Just turn to the Victron for help. The Victron is a roster creation assistant that lets you plug in your statistical preferences by using a series of sliders which then builds a customized lineup based on those preferences while staying within the allotted salary cap.
Speaking of the salary cap, Victiv provides the most predictive player salaries in the industry, which means lower minimum salaries, deeper values and the ability to pair stars with your sleepers like no other.
Before turning to the Victron for help, we here at numberFire thought we should give you some advice of our own. We took a look at the Victiv predictive player salaries, compared them with our projections and found you some studs, some duds and a few deep value plays.
Worth The Price
Jimmy Graham – Although he's the most expensive tight end on the site at $5,600, Graham is ridiculously appealing at that price. The Saints' star has the same price tag as Rob Gronkowski, and there's only a $2,000 drop off between them and Antonio Gates, the 12th-most expensive tight end. With the Saints squaring off with the Cowboys, not only is Graham the number-one tight end option on the board this week - as he is most weeks - but he's one of the elite plays at any position.
Dallas is giving up more fantasy points to opposing tight ends than any other team in football this season, including 23 tight end receptions over the last two weeks. Our algorithms predict 14.34 points from the Saints' tight end this week - more than any other tight end and 12th overall among non-quarterbacks - yet there are 16 wide receivers and 14 running backs priced higher than he is. Graham is an absolute seal at $5,600.
Aaron Rodgers – After a shockingly poor performance last week against the Lions, Rodgers' price has fallen all the way to $8,900. That's good for 11th most expensive among quarterbacks. Yes, the Packers' offense looked out of sync last week, but we shouldn't expect that trend to continue this week against the Bears and neither do our algorithms. The Packers' signal-caller will be staring down a Bears' defense that ranked 26th in the league in Adjusted Defensive Net Expected Points (NEP) last season and has yet to be tested by a top-tier quarterback so far in this one. Our projections have Rodgers slated for the third-highest point total among quarterbacks this week at 20.84.
Not Worth Paying For
Ryan Fitzpatrick – So far this season, Fitzpatrick has thrown for 211.3 yards per game with 4 touchdowns and 3 interceptions, while adding 44 rushing yards and a rushing touchdown. Fitz is coming off of a three-interception performance against the Giants, and is getting ready to face off with an underrated Bills' secondary that ranks ninth in the league against the pass according to our metrics, and just got back star corner Stephon Gilmore. Our algorithms predict that the Texans' quarterback will be the 20th highest scoring passer of the week, but he's priced inside the top 10. I know we all love some Fitz-magic every once in a while, but this won't be the week.
Ahmad Bradshaw – Bradshaw has been one of the best running backs in fantasy over the first three weeks, but it's important to keep who he's matched up against in perspective. Through the first three weeks of the season, the Colts have played the Broncos, Eagles and Jaguars. All three of those squads rank in the top 10 in terms of most fantasy points allowed to opposing running backs this season.
What scares me most about Bradshaw is that he simply lacks the volume to remain an elite fantasy performer. Although the Colts' running back has been incredibly efficient on a per-touch basis, he has yet to receive more than 13 carries in a single game, and only totaled more than 11 touches in Week 2. At $7,100, Bradshaw is the fourth-most expensive running back on the board this week. The Titans' are certainly not an elite run defense, but they're more capable than any other the Colts' have faced this season. Our algorithms predict 8.31 fantasy points for Bradshaw on just 9 touches this week. Unless he sees a massive increase in volume, it's hard to expect he'll return value at such a high price.
Worth a Shot
Khiry Robinson – When Mark Ingram went down with a hand injury, New Orleans' unpredictable, three-headed backfield monster became a much more manageable two-headed beast. Although Pierre Thomas was still featured as the passing-down back, Robinson saw a massive increase in carries to a career-high 18 last week.
With the Saints' going to visit the Cowboys and their abysmal defense this week, Robinson could convert that workload into fantasy value. Despite only allowing the fifth-least fantasy points to opposing running backs through the first three weeks of the season, the Cowboys are still a defense to target. They allowed the most fantasy points to opposing running backs last season, ranked 26th in Adjusted Defensive Rushing NEP and have already lost their defensive MVP - Sean Lee - for the season.
Our projections have Robinson ranked one spot ahead of Bradshaw, scoring 8.72 fantasy points. At just $3,700, Robinson's high volume should provide you with a nice floor at the position without breaking the bank.
Antonio Gates – Gates gets the Jaguars this week, who have given up the second-most points in the league to opposing tight ends this year. With that matchup in mind, our algorithms project Gates to score the fourth most fantasy points among tight ends this week at 9.99, yet he's just the 12th-most expensive tight end on the board. I know I already recommended that you start Graham at tight end this week, but given the fact that Victiv's roster construction features two flex spots, you can start both Graham and Gates. At just $3,600, Gates makes an outstanding high-floor value play that could make the difference between an average roster and a winning one.
