4 FanDuel NFL Studs to Target in Week 17

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.

We only have two weeks left in the regular season, which means fantasy championship weeks in most season-long leagues. For the rest of us, we'll have to stick to playing daily fantasy. Let's see which star players can help us win on FanDuel this week.

Josh Allen, QB, Buffalo Bills

FanDuel Salary: $8,800
Projected Points: 25.0

Last season, Josh Allen had many doubters and silenced many of them with the leap forward he took. Not only was he able to lead the Buffalo Bills to the AFC Championship game, but he finished as the QB1 overall. This season, he has a chance to do something similar.

Allen has the Bills in position to win the AFC East again. He did this by having a great game against the New England Patriots last week. He threw for 314 yards and 3 touchdowns, and he also ran for 64 yards. It was his third game above 30 FanDuel points this season.

It hasn't been Allen's most productive fantasy season on the ground, but he does have at least 40 yards or a touchdown in 10 of 15 games this year. While there are other dual-threat quarterbacks in the league, no one can match the over 4,000 passing yards and 34 passing touchdowns while remaining productive on the ground.

The Bills get a great matchup against the Atlanta Falcons this week. The Falcons rank 31st in schedule-adjusted pass defense, according to numberFire's metrics. From a fantasy perspective, they are even worse, as they are dead last in adjusted fantasy points allowed per drop back.

Buffalo is at home and has the highest implied team total. That's always good news for Allen, as he has accounted for 38 of the Bills' 49 touchdowns this season.

Allen is popping hard in our projections, with his 25 points nearly four more than any other quarterback on the slate. This makes him an option in all formats.

Jonathan Taylor, RB, Indianapolis Colts

FanDuel Salary: $10,000
Projected Points: 21.1

Last week, something in the NFL happened that hadn't occurred since Week 3. Jonathan Taylor failed to score a touchdown. He still managed over 100 yards rushing, though, to give himself a salvageable fantasy performance. He'll have a good chance of finding the end zone this week.

Taylor is running away with the rushing title, with nearly 500 yards more than any other back. He's also been running away with the RB1 crown since Derrick Henry got injured. He's averaging 21.6 half-PPR points per game, with Austin Ekeler's 18.8 per game not really coming all that close.

The Indianapolis Colts will play the Las Vegas Raiders in a good spot for Taylor this week. The Raiders are 23rd in adjusted fantasy points per carry allowed to running backs. The Colts already lean on the run and might do that even more so this week with Carson Wentz currently on the COVID list. If Sam Ehlinger is the quarterback, the Colts likely would scheme to get their best offensive player even more touches this week.

The Colts still have an implied team total of a healthy 25.50 points despite the uncertainty at quarterback. Taylor will get to play on the fast track indoors at Lucas Oil Stadium, where his speed can be utilized even more. He's projected for five more points than any other running back this week.

The high salary might keep his popularity down, but Taylor should not go overlooked in tournaments.

Antonio Brown, WR, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

FanDuel Salary: $8,500
Projected Points: 13.0

Of course, Cooper Kupp is a fantastic play at the top of wide receiver like he is every week. But we're going to talk about someone else, and that's Antonio Brown. It's been a few years since we've been able to call Brown a stud, but his performance and potential opportunity have warranted it.

Brown returned for his first game since Week 6 and stepped into a ton of volume. He saw 15 targets and caught 10 of them for 101 yards. Brown was actually very productive before the injury/suspension, as he ranks as the WR5 in half-PPR scoring on a per-game basis.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers will play the New York Jets this week. The Jets are 29th in adjusted fantasy points per target allowed to wide receivers this season and last in schedule-adjusted pass defense. Tampa Bay should face little resistance from the opposition this week.

With Chris Godwin out for the season and Mike Evans now on the COVID List and also nursing an injury, Brown is the only game in town. Tom Brady has loved throwing to Brown even back when the duo had one game together on the Patriots. This season, he's seen 46 targets in his last four games.

The salary leap may shock a few people, but the matchup, opportunity, and talent make Brown a viable option this week and one that could really explode.

Travis Kelce, TE, Kansas City Chiefs

FanDuel Salary: $8,200
Projected Points 14.6

We saw Travis Kelce's best game ever in Week 15. He had 10 catches for 191 yards and 2 touchdowns, including a walk-off winner in overtime. Then, because it's 2021, he went on the COVID list. But he's on track to return this week and should be able to dominate again.

It looks like Kelce's streak of being the TE1 in fantasy for five straight seasons will come to an end this year. However, that doesn't mean he hasn't been good this season. He has already eclipsed 1,000 yards and has scored 7 touchdowns. He sees a nearly 22% target share on his team. This is elite for any tight end and especially one that has Patrick Mahomes throwing him the ball.

The Kansas City Chiefs will play the Cincinnati Bengals in one of Week 17's best games. It has the second-highest total on the main slate at 49.5 points. The Bengals are 25th in adjusted fantasy points per target allowed to the tight end position, as well, so this is a great spot for Kelce to see a lot of targets and score fantasy points.

Kelce is the highest-projected tight end on the slate. He may go a bit overlooked with how dominant Mark Andrews has been of late, who costs $500 more this week. Some have thought that Kelce's production may have fallen off due to age, so the week off may actually be good for him.

No matter how you interpret it, Kelce is a great high-end tight end option this week.

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.