This article is part of our FanDuel Fantasy Football series.
Welcome to Johnny Football Week; get your popcorn ready. This week, I will provide the Week 15 point spreads, game and team totals and explain how we can use this information when selecting players on FanDuel. Also, I will guess at the highest owned players this week and provide some picks for the week.
Over/Under – Game Totals
Utilizing game total information is pretty simple; target games with high totals. Vegas believes these games will have a lot of points; the more points, the more fantasy potential. Fantasy gold is realized when high totals meet low spreads to create shootout games. I have identified some games below with high totals. Three games specifically appealing are Dallas at Philadelphia (55 points), Pittsburgh at Atlanta (54.5 points) and New Orleans at Chicago (54 points). I would load up on players in these three games.
Point Spreads
Below, I included all of the point spreads for Week 15. These are the point spreads for the home team. In general, I prefer to target players in games with low spreads. Blowouts can be problematic, as selecting a player on a team that dominates their competition could lead to starters sitting out after the third quarter, like the Packers have done a couple of times this season. However, most NFL games are very close, so point spreads do not have as much impact on my selections as other daily fantasy sports like College Football or NBA. Blowouts can be advantageous for players on the team getting blown out; especially for quarterbacks and receivers. Those players can rack up stats in garbage time against backup players and prevent defenses. Jacksonville and Oakland should get their share of garbage time stats this week. You should take a quick look at the point spreads; however, the team and game totals provide more valuable information for a daily fantasy player.
Team Totals
By using the game totals and spreads, we can calculate the team totals or projected points for each team. To calculate this, take the game total, divide it by 2, then subtract the spread (if +), or add it (if -). This is very valuable information. Target players on teams with high team totals.
Week 15 Projected Highest Owned Players
QB – Johnny Manziel ($6,700)
RB – Justin Forsett ($7,700), Le'Veon Bell ($9,600)*Highest Owned in Week 15
WR – Odell Beckham Jr. ($8,500), T.Y. Hilton ($8,800), Antonio Brown ($9,100)
TE – Martellus Bennett ($6,200)
K – Cairo Santos ($4,500)
D – Baltimore Ravens ($5,300)
Week 15 GPP Plays – Low Ownership Players
QB – Drew Brees ($9,200)
RB – Alfred Morris ($7,000), Arian Foster ($8,900)
WR – Keenan Allen ($7,400), Pierre Garcon ($6,000), Jeremy Maclin ($8,000)
TE – Jason Witten ($5,300)
K – Justin Tucker ($5,000)
D – Cincinnati Bengals ($4,800)
Week 15 Value Play of the Week
Marquess Wilson, WR, CHI ($4,500) – Wilson steps in for the injured Brandon Marshall (broken ribs, collapsed lung). Wilson is a huge target (6-4, 207) and should get plenty of action around the end zone in a very high scoring game. There is a decent amount of risk when you play a guy that has only five receptions for 40 yards on the season, so tread lightly. He should be pretty popular this week as a trendy minimum price sleeper pick.
Week 15 Stud of the Week
Arian Foster, RB, HOU ($8,900) – The weekly ritual of the Arian Foster health watch continues this week, so make sure to monitor his health before rostering him. Foster gets a pretty good match up this week against the Colts. I prefer Foster in GPP's more than cash or 50/50 contests because everyone will be on Le'Veon Bell, Matt Forte or Justin Forsett this week and Foster should be around five percent owned. If Foster can go off and those guys have less than steller performances, you will have a leg up on the rest of the field.
