Daily Fantasy: NFL FanDuel Week 1 Early Values

August has been an exciting month for all DFS fans. First off, welcome back New York! Daily fantasy sports has been legalized in New York with some state regulations being put into place, and will hopefully pave the way for some of the other states to do the same. Second, DraftKings puts up it’s NFL preseason contests to cater to those of us that can’t wait till the regular season. And finally, FanDuel put up it’s Week 1 contests a month before the season starts, which will lead to some great value by the time we reach the opening kickoffs. I’m going to touch on some of the early value I see already, but I’m sure there will be more as we progress through the preseason.

Quarterbacks

Eli Manning (NYG) @ DAL $7,200

Last year was not a good year for Manning when playing against the Cowboys. He threw for a combined 363 yards and no TDs in two games. But, historically speaking, Manning is a certified Cowboy killer. Looking at 2014 he had 586 yards and 6 TDs in their two meetings, and he was even better in 2013 with 624 yards and 6 TDs. Last year was an anomaly and the Cowboys did very little to improve a very bad defense from last year. Eli might throw for three or four TDs in this one.

Matthew Stafford (DET) @ IND $7,400

The Colts figure to be a better team in 2016 simply because everyone expects Andrew Luck to return to being, well, Andrew Luck. The Colts made a few moves this offseason, but nothing that is going to dramatically improve upon the seventh worst defense in the league. Stafford and company will be coming into Indy minus one of the best wide receivers to play the game in Calvin Johnson, but they still have enough weapons to put up some points in what figures to be a shoot-out. Look for Stafford to have a muli-touchdown game in this one. I’ll put the over/under at 2.5 and bet the over.

Tyrod Taylor (BUF) @ BAL $7,200

Taylor was a perfect example of what can happen during the preseason that could create insane value on FanDuel. Taylor, when FanDuel prices were released last year, was expected to be the third-string QB for the Bills behind both E.J. Manuel and Matt Cassel. FanDuel priced him as such at  $5,000. Taylor ended up winning the starting job in Buffalo and while his Week 1 FanDuel score wasn’t spectacular, his cheap price allowed you to stack a bunch of studs in your lineup.

He isn’t quite the value he was last year, but a QB that gets decent yardage running the ball will always have a high floor, and while his ceiling may not be as high as some other QBs, he still offers very good upside at a paltry $7,200.

Jameis Winston (TB) @ ATL $7,500

The Falcons defense was average at best last year, finishing middle of the pack in just about every category, but Winston offers a very high floor because of his running ability. Winston isn’t considered a “running QB” as he only had 54 attempts for a measly 213 yards, but it’s the six rushing TDs that I like — two of which came against the Falcons. It’s hard to count on rushing TDs from a QB, but I expect him to make strides in the passing game as well. In fact, I expect big years from both Winston and his favorite target, Mike Evans. I can see those two guys being a popular stack in Week 1.

Running Backs

Giovani Bernard (CIN) @ NYJ $5,600

Bernard is the ultimate third-down back in the NFL. With Jeremy Hill getting a lot of the early down work, Bernard is in the game in all passing situations and gets a good amount of red-zone carries as well. At $5,600, Bernard only needs 11 points to hit value — a number he should easily reach.

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Duke Johnson Jr. (CLE) vs PHI $5,600

Like Bernard, Johnson is a great passing down back and should rack up catches and yards. He had nearly 150 touches in his rookie season last year, but was dramatically underused in some games, something I don’t think will happen this year. New head coach Hue Jackson knows how to use a guy like Johnson as he was the offensive coordinator for the Bengals and had a guy by the name of Giovani Bernard in the backfield. I’m expecting Johnson to get between 12-15 touches a game, both on the ground and through the air, in Week 1, and that is enough for him to make a big impact for both the Browns and for your FanDuel team.

Wide Receivers

Sammie Coates (PIT) @ WAS $5,200

Currently listed as the No. 3 receiver in this offense, I expect him to overtake Markus Wheaton by the time we get to Week 1. Even if he doesn’t supplant Wheaton, the No. 3 spot on the Steelers is basically a starting position anyway as they run so many three-wide sets. Coates is a playmaker in the mold of Martavis Bryant and is all the talk of Steelers camp. With Bryant gone for the year and Le’Veon Bell gone for the first four games, Coates will be the second biggest offensive threat on the field for the Steelers and is an absolute steal at $5,200.

Marvin Jones (DET) @ IND $5,500

The word coming out of camp is that Jones is the No. 1 receiver in this offense — not Golden Tate — and while I don’t buy that for one second, it goes to show you how good of a camp he is having. He seems to already have chemistry with Matthew Stafford and plays in an offense that lacks weapons outside of Golden Tate. Jones will be peppered with targets in Week 1, and at $5,500 he is a value that you just can’t pass up.

Tight Ends

Cameron Brate (TB) @ ATL $4,600

Brate is a TD dependent tight end, but could make for a good GPP play in Week 1. He has already surpassed Austin Seferian-Jenkins on the preseason depth chart, but even if he goes into the season as the No. 2 tight end, he could still be used in red-zone packages.

Martellus Bennett (NE) @ ARI $5,100

The Patriots know what they are doing, make no mistake about it. A lot of people wondered why they would want Bennett when they already had the best TE in the league in Rob Gronkowski? Well, I’m here to give you the answer…

“The red-zone.”

Gronk is the biggest red-zone threat the Patriots have, and he may be the biggest red-zone threat in the entire NFL, but he was also their only threat until they got Bennett. Julian Edelman and Dion Lewis aren’t exactly the biggest of guys and aren’t really built to be red-zone threats.

Now the Patriots can put 6-7″ 250lb Bennett and 6-6″ 265lb Gronkowski on the field at the same time in the red zone and create huge mismatches. All Tom Brady (or Jimmy Garoppolo in the first four weeks) has to do is throw it up in the air, no DB in this league can compete with those two. In years past, eams would double and sometimes triple team Gronk in the red zone, especially inside the 10-yard line, but with Bennett on the other side, they won’t be able to do that as much — if at all. Bennett could have 2 catches for 12 yards and two TDs in Week 1, and you will take that from a guy costing you only $5,100.

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Geoff Lambert

Geoff has been playing fantasy football since 1996 and covering it professionally since 2015. In addition to being the founder of GoingFor2.com and The Armchair Fantasy Show, Geoff has contributed to FantasyPros, FantasyLife, and the now-defunct RotoWriters, while also appearing on a multitude of fantasy podcasts. Geoff's favorite professional teams are the 49ers, the Pelicans and the Nationals.

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