FanDuel NFL picks, Week 17: Best DFS fantasy football lineup
FanDuel NFL picks and lineup advice for Week 17 DFS fantasy football.
FanDuel NFL DFS advice is back for the final week of the regular season. Week 16 was another prime example of why you need to keep up to date on news as a DFS player, as the whole Browns receiving corps was ruled out due to COVID over the weekend.
While it was certainly disappointing that we did not get to utilize those Browns receivers in a smash spot against the Jets, if you were able to pivot with the news to Austin Hooper, Kareem Hunt or the Jets D/ST, you probably did alright.
Week 17 is always a notoriously difficult slate for DFS. Teams with their playoff seeding locked in may be subject to bench all their starters while others may play them on a limited snap count. Luckily, this year the NFL has scheduled games so that teams will be playing at the same time as those who affect their playoff seeding.
This means that we will see more competitive games but also the possibility of scoreboard watching and mid-game adjustments. So far, only the Kansas City Chiefs and the Pittsburgh Steelers have committed to resting their starters, with the Buffalo Bills acknowledging the possibility but not committing either way. This all needs to be taken into account on both sides of the ball when making your DFS lineups.
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 17 main slate!
FanDuel NFL Week 17 Picks and Advice: Quarterback
Lamar Jackson ($9,000) is in a tier of his own as the QB1 on this slate. He has been on fire as of late, a trend that looks to continue against a below-average Cincinnati secondary. His tremendous rushing upside and the fact the Bengals have been moving the ball gives Jackson a good chance at a monster game with the Ravens playoff hopes on the line.
Tom Brady ($8,400) and Aaron Rodgers ($8,500) are two quarterbacks who will be playing the whole game, as the Bucs will want to keep the No. 5 seed to play an NFC East team in the first round and the Packers need to beat the Bears in order to secure the first-round bye. I do not think you can go wrong with either, though I slightly favor Rodgers as the Bears secondary has been exposed as of late and he could lock up an MVP season with a strong performance.
My favorite play on the slate is Kirk Cousins ($7,700), who is likely going to have to throw more than usual with Dalvin Cook out. He gets a matchup against Detroit, who could be without coaches and allowed a QB1 performance to Tom Brady in one half last week. Justin Herbert ($7,600) is also a strong play against a backup Kansas City secondary as he looks to finish his rookie of the year campaign.
If you want to go super deep, you could do worse than Drew Lock ($6,800) against a terrible Las Vegas secondary. Even though Lock has looked bad most of the year, including a five turnover game against this same Vegas team, he has also shown his ability to have a big game, something you can not get a lot of from quarterbacks priced this low.
As for quarterbacks I am avoiding, Josh Allen ($8,200) could very well have some value at this price if he is the starter for the whole game, but I doubt the Bills leave him in if it is clear that the Browns are beating the Steelers. I am also avoiding Kyler Murray ($7,800) who is involved in a game with a 40 point over-under. He gets a matchup with the best pass defense in the league and turned the ball over three times in their first meeting.