This article is part of our FanDuel Fantasy Football series.
Quarterbacks
It seems silly to mention him given that he's a great option weekly, but Patrick Mahomes ($9,400) has a great matchup this week. He'll take on the Atlanta Falcons, who rank dead last against the position. If you chose to select Mahomes keep your fingers crossed Atlanta can keep this a close game so he's still throwing in the fourth quarter.
Looking at the mid-tier players, Baker Mayfield ($7,600) is a good option. He's looked excellent as of late scoring 20.98, 31.02 and 28.96 fantasy points in his last three contests. The New York Jets rank 30th against quarterbacks seasons and are 10-point underdogs at home. The Browns' expected point total is around 29 points, so it's reasonable to expect Baker to have a hand in a few of those scores.
My favorite GPP play of the week is the Seahawks' Russell Wilson ($7,900). He has the worst matchup of the week with the Rams dominating opposing quarters so far this season. This will make him an unpopular pick and he might have his lowest ownership levels of the season. Wilson is the perfect pick for a single-entry tournament given his upside with the receivers he has at his disposal.
Running Backs
The chalk at running back will probably be Le'Veon Bell ($6,400) who inherits the starter's role with Clyde Edwards-Helaire sidelined. I don't mind using him with Mahomes given his price, and with the Chiefs having the highest expected point total, this builds a solid floor for cash games. The other player with the same cost is Melvin Gordon ($6,400). If you believe in the revenge factor, he'll have that working for him and he should see an increased workload. Phillip Lindsay has already been ruled out for this game and leaves behind the 14 touches he has last week. Royce Freeman ($5,000, questionable) should see an uptick in work but we should see Gordon get around 20 touches against his former team.
A month and a half again there's no way I thought I'd be writing this but David Montgomery ($7,800) might be the best option among the elite running backs this week. Montgomery has 22.8, 25.1, 23 and 28.7 fantasy points over his last four contests and has an excellent matchup against the 30th ranked Jaguars. Another stat working in Montgomery's favor is that he finally got heavy volume last week with 32 carries against the Minnesota Vikings.
Austin Ekeler ($7,000) has a weird good game/bad game over his last four with 18.4, 8.8, 19.1 and 9.9 fantasy points so he should have a good game this week. Obviously that's a joke, but what isn't is that since he's returned from injury he's had 16, 9, 9, and 4 targets in the passing attack. Those four targets happened last week so the law of averages suggests that he should get more this week. The Broncos have allowed the 22nd most fantasy points to running backs.
Wide Receivers
Here's a good spot to save salary cap space as all of the top options have some type of red flag. Tyreek Hill ($9,400), Keenan Allen ($8,000) and Allen Robinson ($7,500) are all dealing with hamstring issues while Calvin Ridley ($8,700) and DK Metcalf ($7,700) both have really bad matchups. Looking down the list, both Robert Woods ($7,300) and Cooper Kupp ($6,800) are worth considering in their matchup with the Seahawks. Seattle has allowed the 31st most fantasy points to the position. Amari Cooper ($6,600) will largely be ignored after last week's 1.3-point dud but should easily rebound this week. Cooper had at least 10 fantasy points in his previous five games and averaged six targets during the stretch.
Terry McLaurin has basically been ruled out this week giving the opportunity for someone to step up for the Football Team. That player should be one of the Sims - Cam Sims ($5,000) or Steven Sims ($4,600). My money is on the former and I think it would be better for his fantasy prospects if it's Dwayne Haskins starting over Alex Smith.
Tight Ends
Travis Kelce ($8,800) has one of the highest salaries I can remember for a tight end but he's been worth it. He's scored 18.8 fantasy points in six of his last seven games and the discrepancy between him and the other players at the position has been significant. Again, a great matchup for him and he could be counted on a bit more if Tyreek Hill is limited.
Noah Fant ($6,200) is a good mid-range option who has an excellent matchup against the Chargers (24th against tight ends). Fant has seen 18 targets over the last two weeks and Albert Okwuegbunam (ACL) isn't around to get targets from Drew Lock.
If you need to punt here, consider using the Chargers' Donald Parham ($4,200) who will fill in for Hunter Henry. He's at a very economical price dollar for dollar if he gets to double digit fantasy points he could be one of the best values of the week at any position.
Defense
There's nothing wrong with spending up here this week using either the Ravens ($5,000) or Browns ($4,900) both of whom are big favorites against struggling offenses.
Another defense to consider is the Houston Texans ($4,600) at home against the Bengals. Both Joe Mixon and Tyler Boyd are out for this game and even if Brandon Allen returns, you can expect him to be a little rusty at less than 100 percent. .
