FanDuel DFS NFL picks and advice for Week 16 of the 2021 NFL season to help you build the perfect DFS fantasy football lineup.
Welcome back to another week of FanDuel DFS advice, this time for Week 16 of the NFL season. Week 15 was one of the craziest weeks of the year, all of which cumulated in one of the worst weeks of fantasy football in quite some time.
Week 16 is shaping up to be more of the same from a COVID standpoint, though we get a lot of the high-powered offenses back on this slate that we were missing in the Week 15 main slate. As always, you have to keep up with the COVID news if you want to have success in DFS, and I would also recommend waiting until late Saturday or early Sunday to make your lineups, especially with how the COVID testing protocols have changed.
In Week 16, players from the San Fransisco 49ers, Tennessee Titans, Green Bay Packers, Cleveland Browns, Arizona Cardinals, Indianapolis Colts, Washington Football Team, Dallas Cowboys, Miami Dolphins, and New Orleans Saints will all be unavailable.
When talking about players I will reference the salaries and salary cap of a typical FanDuel tournament. I will also show a complete sample lineup, which consists of nine positions: QB, RB, RB, WR, WR, WR, TE, FLEX, and DEF.
Note that your individual strategy should change based on the type of contests you enter, though I will reference different strategies for both cash and tournament formats.
Without further ado, here are picks and FanDuel DFS advice for every position for Week 16 of the NFL season!
FanDuel DFS NFL Week 16 picks and lineup advice: Quarterback
As opposed to a couple of previous weeks, most of the more talented quarterbacks are actually available on the main slate. However, many of them certainly carry question marks whether it is COVID related or not.
Justin Herbert ($8400) will be one of the more popular quarterbacks on the slate, and for good reason. He is the QB2 on the year and gets a great matchup against a poor Houston team that is currently ravaged with COVID. The Chargers have some COVID issues of their own, all of which play right into a big game for Herbert. With Ekeler and some key defensive players likely to miss, Herbert could be in for a monster game if the Texans can keep it close.
In tournaments, I think Tom Brady ($8400) is my favorite expensive option, as while many will be afraid to play him after he had one of the worst games of his career in primetime and will likely be without his top two wideouts, he is still Tom Brady and should get Antonio Brown back against a Panthers team that has nothing left to play for.
Another very safe play is Matthew Stafford ($7900), who has been about as consistent as they come and gets a matchup with Minnesota who boasts one of the NFL’s worst secondaries.
Jalen Hurts ($7700) is dealing with an injury but is also in a great spot as he looks to lead his team to a wild card spot against a Giants team that falls apart more every week. Hurts did struggle in his first appearance against the Giants, and while I would rather play a Herbert or Stafford in cash formats, I think Hurts has a higher ceiling due to his rushing ability for tournaments.
I will also mention Tyler Huntley ($7500) who is coming off a career game against the Packers. I think the Ravens keep their season alive in this one, and it will likely be due to their offense. With his rushing ability, I think Huntley is a very strong play if Lamar Jackson sits this week out.
As for some cheaper options, there are actually quite a few that I like this week. Joe Burrow ($7100) is pretty cheap and has a fantastic matchup against the Ravens that he torched for 416 yards and three touchdowns in their first matchup.
This next play hurts since it is a quarterback that has not thrown for multiple touchdowns in a single game since Week 1, but no one will be playing Trevor Lawrence ($6500) and I think he goes for at least 250 yards and two touchdowns against a Jets defense that has been decimated by COVID and was already bad to begin with.