4 FanDuel NFL Studs to Target in Week 7

Spending your available salary in any DFS lineup on a stud can make or break your lineup. These high-salaried players will take up the majority of your budget, so it’s critical to carefully consider which ones you’ll want for each slate. Whether it’s trying to capture a safe floor in a cash game or chasing a huge game to help you win a tournament, nailing the expensive players is one of the keys to making winning NFL lineups on FanDuel.

Week 7 has several teams on a bye but also has some studs in great spots. Let’s look at one stud from each of the offensive positions.

Kyler Murray, QB, Arizona Cardinals

FanDuel Salary: $8,700
Projected Points: 26.1

Kyler Murray is doing a lot to prove his doubters wrong.

He's led the Arizona Cardinals to a 6-0 record, so he's not just producing in fantasy or as a runner. Murray has been one of the most efficient passers in the league to start the season. He ranks third among starting quarterbacks in Passing Net Expected Points per drop back. We haven't seen him truly erupt in fantasy since Week 2, but that can be explained by tough matchups. That won't be a concern this week.

Murray and the Cardinals welcome the Houston Texans to the desert in Arizona. The Texans were expected to be the worst team in the NFL, and that's mostly held true since their surprise Week 1. They present a great matchup for Kyler this week, as they are 28th in numberFire's schedule-adjusted pass defense metric. More specifically for fantasy purposes, they are 29th in adjusted fantasy points per drop back allowed to quarterbacks this season.

Kyler hasn't rushed for a touchdown since Week 3, but that could change this week. Arizona has an implied team total of 32.5 points, the second highest on the main slate. They should be able to get in the red zone often, which is where Murray is nearly impossible to stop from scoring on the ground. If he is able to score more than once on the ground, he could produce a tournament-winning outcome.

Some daily fantasy players have been shying away from Murray of late because they don't know who to stack him with. In a spot as good as this, you can take shots with a few different players if you're playing multiple lineups. But the important thing is to get some exposure to Kyler this week because he could have one of his best games of the season.

Our projections have him slightly behind Patrick Mahomes for fantasy scoring this week, but it would come as no shock if he was the number one quarterback this week.

Derrick Henry, RB, Tennessee Titans

FanDuel Salary: $11,000
Projected Points: 18.7

It's nice to mix things up and talk about different players to target, but when Derrick Henry is doing what he has been doing, you have to talk about him.

He stands out ahead of all other running backs, especially with Christian McCaffrey on the injured reserve. The Big Dog is lapping the field in running back fantasy scoring this season. Henry is averaging 27 half-PPR points per game so far this season, nearly 8 more than Austin Ekeler in second place. That's a bigger gap than McCaffrey over the next running back in his historic 2019 season, in which he scored 25.8 half-PPR points a game to Dalvin Cook's 19.0.

There were always some knocks against Henry's fantasy value, and they were pretty legitimate. He was not involved in the passing game enough compared to the other elite fantasy backs. This season, he's seeing more targets, with at least three in four out of six games. It's not a huge target share, but when you are as efficient on the ground as he is, a few points via the pass goes a long way.

The other knock was that Henry could get game-scripted out if the Tennessee Titans got behind big. That wasn't the case in Week 2 against the Seattle Seahawks, when Henry led a comeback win with three touchdowns. Henry also had a huge game on Monday night in a back-and-forth affair against the Buffalo Bills, and another huge game in a dominant win over the Jacksonville Jaguars. With the way the Titans utilize him, he will be relevant no matter how the games go.

Tennessee's Week 7 matchup with the Kansas City Chiefs profiles as one with shootout potential. It has a total of 57.5, one of the highest we've seen this season. The Chiefs' defensive struggles have been well documented, and they rank dead last in schedule-adjusted rush defense. Henry should be able to eat in this game like has done for most of this season.

Cooper Kupp, WR, Los Angeles Rams

FanDuel Salary: $8,800
Projected Points: 17.6

Cooper Kupp has taken his game to a level that many did not think was possible for him.

Kupp leads all wide receivers in half-PPR points, averaging two points per game more than Tyreek Hill. He got a quarterback upgrade going from Jared Goff to Matthew Stafford and is seeing more of the ball than ever. He leads the league with 11.3 targets per game, which is good for a 34% share on the Los Angeles Rams' offense. Kupp has been breaking slates all season, with three games over 25 FanDuel points, and he has the potential to do the same this week.

The Rams take on the Detroit Lions at home in a beautiful spot. LA is ranked number one in schedule-adjusted pass offense, and they face Detroit's 31st-ranked pass defense. The Lions are also 26th in adjusted fantasy points per target to wide receivers, so if Kupp sees the same volume he has over the course of the season, he should rack up the points once again.

The Rams' team total is 33 points, the highest on the Week 7 main slate. The passing offense is concentrated enough that a blowout wouldn't be a concern for Kupp, as we saw him have a great game against the New York Giants in a blowout win.

Kupp has been one of the most reliable wide receivers this season, and given the matchup this week, there's little reason to expect that to change.

Travis Kelce, TE, Kansas City Chiefs

FanDuel Salary: $8,200
Projected Points: 16.4

Travis Kelce may feel like he is having a down season. If you compare it to last year, that is the case, as his FanDuel points per game are down from 17.4 to 15.0. That doesn't mean he isn't still the best tight end in fantasy football, though, and he has a chance to shine this week.

Even if his season is worse than last, he's still seeing the kind of target volume that most tight ends don't. No one at the position has more than his 53 targets this season. Kelce also has at least six catches in all but one game this year. He's tied for second among tight ends in red zone touchdowns, so he'll get the ball in the money area that can give us fantasy points.

As we discussed with Derrick Henry, you are going to want exposure to this Chiefs-Titans game, as it has a total seven points higher than any other game on the main slate. The Titans have not had a strong pass defense this season, being ranked 23rd according to numberFire's metric. Josh Allen was the QB1 in Week 6 against Tennessee, and there's no reason why they'll be able to slow down Mahomes this week. With Kelce seeing a 23% target share from Mahomes, he can easily shred this defense.

With this game being obviously the best one for fantasy, playing Kelce and Henry in the same lineup makes a ton of sense if you can fit them in. This is similar to their 2019 regular season matchup, which was a great game to stack in fantasy. Kelce had 7 catches for 75 yards and a touchdown in that game, while Henry ran for 188 yards and 2 touchdowns. Stacking these two together and hoping this game goes off again is a great tournament strategy.

Nicholas Vazquez is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Nicholas Vazquez also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username hbyanksman. 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.