3 Daily Fantasy Football Players to Avoid in Week 7
We have a lot of pieces on numberFire geared toward helping you figure out which players you should roster in your DFS contests on FanDuel, but an important aspect of the DFS process is figuring out who you shouldn't play.
Narrowing down your list of potential plays by avoiding those who are destined to underwhelm can go a long way toward helping you create winning lineups.
Inevitably, some of the players I feature in this article will blow up and pop for a big game, but that comes with the territory of doing a piece like this one -- unless I'm going to tell you to avoid playing dudes who aren't on anyone's radar. I'm trying to avoid that. I want this piece to be useful.
Here are some players I'm fading this week.
Derek Carr, QB, Raiders
FanDuel Salary: $7,600
Three of the best dual-threat quarterbacks -- Josh Allen, Jalen Hurts and Kyler Murray -- are off the main slate. That makes signal-callers who don't run a lot more appealing this week than they usually are, but I'm still going to be off Derek Carr despite his value salary and the Las Vegas Raiders' nice matchup.
Carr is at home against the Houston Texans. Vegas boasts an appealing 26.25-point implied total as a 7.0-point favorite, so the offense is clearly in a good spot. But it might not be the passing game that goes off. Houston has actually given up the eighth-fewest FanDuel points per game to quarterbacks (13.7). The Texans have conceded the most FanDuel points per game to running backs (27.6). Hello, Josh Jacobs.
On top of that, Carr hasn't shown much of a ceiling this year, topping out at 20.82 FanDuel points. While Carr is capable of more if he gets some touchdown luck this week, I much prefer to get my Raiders exposure via Jacobs. And if I want to save coin at quarterback, Dak Prescott ($7,500) profiles as an excellent play in a dreamy matchup with the Detroit Lions, and Tom Brady ($7,400) could nuke the Carolina Panthers.
Our model projects Carr for 17.9 FanDuel points. Among the seven highest-salaried quarterbacks, he rates out as the worst point-per-dollar option.
Chris Godwin, WR, Buccaneers
FanDuel Salary: $7,000
Chris Godwin has some things working against him this week despite a fantastic matchup versus Carolina.
Over the last three games (since he returned from injury), Godwin has had a nice role, but it's a role that leads more to steady production than spike games. In that time, Godwin has amassed a team-leading 23% target share but has just a 7.4-yard average depth of target. Mike Evans, on the other hand, has a 16% target share in that split but an average depth of target of 11.0 yards. Evans is the big-play piece in the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' passing game.
In Godwin's salary range, I have more interest in Tee Higgins ($7,100). I'll likely limit my Godwin exposure to Bucs stacks, and even then, I would rather pair Tom Brady with Evans.
Greg Dulcich, TE, Broncos
FanDuel Salary: $4,000
I typically like to save salary at tight end, so Greg Dulcich is someone on my radar for this week. I'm just struggling to get there, though.
Dulcich debuted last week and played well, going for 44 yards and a score. But he was targeted just three times, and nearly all of his production came on a 39-yard touchdown from a busted coverage. Plus, he's tied to Russell Wilson, a guy playing like one of the worst quarterbacks in the NFL right now in a game with a 38.5-point total.
There's every chance Dulcich's role grows as the season progresses, and if he wasn't expected to be fairly popular, I'd be more for using him. But with draft percentage projections around the industry forecasting Dulcich to be one of the most popular tight ends, I'm leaning toward a fade.
