NFL

5 NFL FanDuel Value Plays to Target in Week 4

Studs with sizable salaries are frequently an integral part of winning money in daily fantasy football at FanDuel. However, to fit them under the salary cap, it's imperative to locate underpriced players who over-deliver.

A good place to start when attempting to unearth undervalued players is our projections tool. The tool offers a value option for sorting, showcasing who offers the most bang for your buck. In addition to matchups impacting projections, injuries do as well. On that note, players replacing injured starters are often among the top values. So, staying abreast of injury news and inactives until the start of games is a must with that in mind.

With the tone set for this piece, let's move on. The following quintet of players is among my favorite cap-friendly options in Week 4.

Odell Beckham Jr., WR, Cleveland Browns ($6,600)

Odell Beckham returned to the field last week for a Cleveland Browns squad that desperately needed receiving help in the wake of Jarvis Landry's Week 2 injury. OBJ answered the bell and immediately stepped into a prominent role. According to Pro Football Focus, he set team-highs for passing snaps (35) and routes (34). Further, he paced the team in targets (nine), receptions (five), and receiving yards (77), adding a 10-yard rush for good measure.

According to Sports Info Solutions, Beckham accounted for a gaudy 31.0 percent target share. Also, he was used in a fantasy-friendly fashion, sporting an average depth of target of 16.3 yards downfield. OBJ's combination of hearty volume and deep-ball usage is tantalizing. Further, it should play well against the Minnesota Vikings. Per Sharp Football Stats, Minnesota's permitted the eighth-highest average explosive pass rate (12 percent) thus far in 2021.

Finally, I love OBJ's attachment to a high implied total. According to the Heat Map, Cleveland's implied total of 26.75 points is the sixth-highest total on FanDuel's main slate this week. I'm delighted to use Beckham in cash games and GPPs alike.

Jonathan Taylor, RB, Indianapolis Colts ($6,600)

Unfortunately, Jonathan Taylor's heavy inclusion in the Indianapolis Colts' passing attack hasn't carried over from Week 1 through Week 2 and Week 3. Therefore, he's game-script dependent and a better option in GPPs than cash games. However, thankfully, the Colts are only 1.5-point underdogs, so the game script shouldn't get away from Taylor and the Colts.

In addition, head coach and play-caller Frank Reich should have incentives to lean on Taylor this week. First, Carson Wentz is banged up and playing poorly. Second, the matchup is more favorable for the running game. The Miami Dolphins rank in the middle of the pack in our power rankings in pass defense. However, they're the ninth-worst run defense.

Also, they're coming off of a contest in which they allowed journeyman, veteran-plodder Peyton Barber to steamroll them for 111 yards and a touchdown on 23 carries. Thus, I'm daydreaming about what the far more electric Taylor is capable of if he's force-fed the ball. I'm enamored with Taylor's upside, and our projections also like him, awarding him the ninth-highest value mark among running backs this week.

Chuba Hubbard, RB, Carolina Panthers ($6,300)

Speaking of the projections above, Chuba Hubbard sits atop the heap among flex options in value score at 2.31 -- a measure of points per $1,000 of salary. The rookie running back owned the Carolina Panthers' backfield workload after Christian McCaffrey was hurt against the Houston Texans.

Hubbard carried the ball 11 times for 52 yards, adding three receptions for 27 yards on five targets. Comparatively, Royce Freeman toted the rock only five times and reeled in his lone target. The discrepancy also shows up in playing time, as our snap counts credit Hubbard with playing 54.79 percent of snaps in Week 3 compared to only 15.07 percent of snaps for Freeman. Pro Football Focus also showed a sizable discrepancy in routes between the two, as Hubbard ran 19 on 21 passing snaps and Freeman ran only 5 on 6 passing snaps.

Hubbard's bell-cow usage creates a high floor that's highly appealing in cash games. Thus, he's one of the best cash games options. However, hefty use also makes a high ceiling necessary for GPPs, so don't dismiss him in those contests, either.

Jaylen Waddle, WR, Miami Dolphins ($5,400)

Using a piece of a Jacoby Brissett-led Miami Dolphins offense probably doesn't elicit excitement. Still, Jaylen Waddle has established himself as arguably Brissett's favorite option in the passing game. The veteran game-manager quarterback has attempted 89 passes, and he's directed a team-high 19 to Waddle. Many of those passes have been low-volatility, short passes, evidenced by his modest 58 air yards on his voluminous target volume, resulting in 17 catches.

According to Sports Info Solutions, Waddle sports an average depth of target of only 4.3 yards downfield. Among tight ends and receivers targeted at last 10 times this year, Waddle's average depth of target is the eighth-shortest. As a result, he's asked to use his dynamism after the catch. Thankfully, that usage could mesh perfectly with how the Colts defend. The following tweet from Underdog Fantasy's Hayden Winks illustrates a higher percentage of passes thrown short against Cover-2 zone defense, a coverage type the Colts led the NFL in playing in 2020, per WInks. Also, Joel A. Erickson of the Indianapolis Star noted the defensive scheme's struggles and shortcomings discussing Indianapolis's Week 1 loss to the Seattle Seahawks. Now, let's get to the promised tweet from Winks.


Waddle blends a high volume of targets with a seemingly schematically ideal matchup this week. Also, putting aside the defensive scheme, the Colts rank poorly defending the pass in general. They are the eighth-worst pass defense in the power rankings. Waddle's yet another of my favorite value plays that I'm happy to use in all game types.

Quez Watkins, WR, Philadelphia Eagles ($5,200)

Let me start by qualifying that Quez Watkins is strictly a GPP dart throw. The second-year speedster is a boom-or-bust player due to his modest usage. According to Pro Football Focus, his 66 routes are tied for the fourth-most on the Philadelphia Eagles, far short of DeVonta Smith's 111 and Jalen Reagor's 93, and just short of Zach Ertz's 69. Though, Watkins' 32 routes in Week 3 set a new season-high.

Thankfully, Watkins is an explosive athlete built for home-run plays. According to Player Profiler, his 4.35-second 40-yard dash time at the NFL Draft Combine makes him a 97th percentile athlete in that measure. Of course, straight-line speed doesn't always translate on the field. However, it has for Watkins this year, resulting in an NFL-high 26.6 yards per reception and a 91-yard grab. He's hauled in all seven of his targets for 186 yards, and his 2.82 yards per route run is the 11th-highest mark among pass-catchers targeted at least seven times.

Finally, you don't have to jump through many hoops to project Watkins producing a big play or two this weekend. The Kansas City Chiefs rank as the 10th-worst pass defense in the power rankings, and they've coughed up the third-highest average explosive pass rate allowed (13 percent). Watkins is tailor-made to exploit Kansas City's susceptibility to getting torched by big passing plays. Thus, I'm willing to fire some bullets on Watkins in GPPs.


Joshua Shepardson is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Joshua Shepardson also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username bchad50. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his/her personal views, he/she may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his/her personal account. The views expressed in his/her articles are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.