FanDuel NFL picks, Week 16: Best DFS fantasy football lineup
FanDuel NFL picks and lineup advice for Week 16 DFS fantasy football.
It’s time for your FanDuel NFL DFS advice that we bring to you every week. Week 15 was an extremely interesting week that rewarded those who were swapping their lineups up until lock. With the late news that Ezekiel Elliott would not be playing, many managers quickly swapped Tony Pollard into their lineups last second.
Those who were not keeping up to date missed out on the RB1 on the week at only $4,700. Even though this was an extremely rare instance, it was still a reminder that if you want to consistently make money in DFS fantasy football, you need to keep an eye on the news until lock.
Week 16 is an extremely challenging slate, as powerhouse offenses like the Packers, Titans, Saints, Vikings, Cardinals, and Bills are all not on the main slate. With a game on Friday and three games on Saturday, your options are much more limited than normal when it comes to the main slate. Luckily, this allows you to narrow your focus on specific games and a lower chance to get buried by players like Dalvin Cook and Derrick Henry if they are not in your lineup.
When talking about players I will reference the salaries and salary cap of a typical FanDuel tournament. I will also show a complete lineup, which consists of nine positions: QB, RB, RB, WR, WR, WR, TE, FLEX, DEF. The players referenced will all be from the main Sunday game slate. Note that your individual strategy should change based on the type of formats you enter, and I will reference strong plays in cash and tournament formats.
Without further ado, here are my FanDuel NFL DFS picks for the Week 16 main slate!
FanDuel NFL Week 16 Picks and Advice: Quarterback
As mentioned above, multiple high powered offenses are not on the main slate. This leaves three out of the four main positions dominated by Kansas City Chiefs players. At quarterback, Patrick Mahomes ($9,400) is the clear top option and has a legitimate chance to put up the best week of any quarterback this season with a decimated backfield and Atlanta’s league worst pass defense.
If you can not fit Mahomes into your lineup due to his salary, Justin Herbert ($8,200) and Jalen Hurts ($8,200) are both extremely strong options. Hurts will likely be the most owned quarterback on the slate, so I like Herbert if you want to get different in a tournament, but Hurts’ rushing upside makes him hard to pass on in cash formats. While I would not recommend going much lower than this in cash formats, there are a few interesting punt options you could build a tournament lineup around.
Mitchell Trubisky ($7,200) has been playing good football and gets an extremely favorable matchup against a Jacksonville team content with their draft position. Drew Lock ($6,800) has flashed his potential at times this year and could have to air it out to keep up with Herbert. Luckily, the Los Angeles secondary has been extremely generous to opposing quarterbacks this year. I do not mind stacking Lock with one of his receiving options so you can pay up at other positions.
As for quarterbacks I am avoiding, Russell Wilson ($7,900) has only cracked 16 fantasy points twice in the past six games and now has to deal with the best pass defense in the NFL. In their first matchup, Wilson did not find the end zone and finished with 11.9 fantasy points.
I also do not like Jared Goff ($7,400) on the other side of the ball, as I think there is not nearly enough upside with his limited talent in a likely low scoring affair and I would rather pay up for Mayfield or save with Trubisky.