Steezy A’s Week 7 Bargain Bin (DFS)
Let’s just say last week didn’t go as planned… but blame it on Geno Smith, James Cook, K.J. Osborn, and Logan Thomas - or blame it on me if you want.
You know what? There’s enough blame pie for everybody, blame it on all of us!
I’m not entirely sure what my hit rate is this season as far as my ‘bargain bin’ plays for you guys, but I’m thinking I’ve missed more shots than I’ve made at this point. But hey - shooters gon shoot and that’s the world of fantasy for ya.
Nevertheless, I’m back and feeling better than ever, bring it on Week 7! (all salaries are courtesy of DraftKings)
QB: Brock Purdy, San Francisco 49ers ($5,500, QB17 at cost)
I found this purdy interesting (pun intended), but on DraftKings, there’s only three QB’s with an ownership percentage north of 10 percent.
You have your usual suspects in Patrick Mahomes and Lamar Jackson, and then you have Brock Purdy!
Perhaps DraftKings is doubtful about the status of San Fran’s injured stars in Christian McCaffrey (oblique/hip), Trent Williams (ankle), and Deebo Samuel (shoulder) and whether or not they all actually play on ‘Monday Night Football’ on the road against the Minnesota Vikings, but are we going to act like Brandon Aiyuk, George Kittle, and Kyle Shanahan don’t exist???? Oh, and Jordan Mason and Elijah Mitchell make for great depth and would make a lot of teams envious given the plethora of running back injuries across the league.
Yes, the Niners are coming off a tough loss in Cleveland to the Browns, but the Vikings defense is in another stratosphere in comparison to the Browns defense, and I mean that in a bad way.
Purdy was in the top 5 in a lot of people’s MVP ballots and after one bad week against arguably a top 3 defense in the NFL in inclement weather, all of the naysayers are quick to slander his name?
At QB17 as far as cost, I don’t think you can find any more value at the QB position in Week 7 than Purdy, who should easily finish as a top 10 QB this week (especially when you take into account the fact that six teams are on bye).
And did I forget to mention that the Vikings allow the 9th most fantasy points to opposing QB’s?
Fire up the Purdy train!
RB: Jordan Mason, San Francisco 49ers ($5,300, RB23 at cost)
As a guy who was raised in the Seattle area all my life, it’s essentially taboo to heap praise or even speak of the San Francisco 49ers in a positive light, and yet here I am recommending two straight 49ers players.
Forgive me 12s, I’m just trying to do my job!
Whether or not Christian McCaffrey ultimately plays, Mason is still an intriguing start in DFS.
While he’s listed behind Elijah Mitchell on the depth chart, he’s vastly outperformed his counterpart, has scored in two straight games, is averaging almost double the yards per carry Mitchell is on the season, and is averaging just south of 6 yards per carry.
Given all of the injuries at RB across the league, the pickings are going to be slim this week, especially when you also consider the fact that they’re six teams on bye.
Given SF’s propensity to turn RB’s into stars within their system, Mason is a good bet to keep that train going.
WR: Tyler Lockett, Seattle Seahawks ($6,000, WR21 at cost)
17.7, 3.7, 26.8, 15.5, 21.7, and 53.
Those are the amount of fantasy points that Tyler Lockett has scored in his last six meetings with the Arizona Cardinals.
WOW.
If anything, the Cardinals defense has only regressed since the last time Lockett played against this team, and it doesn’t help that they’re giving up the 7th-most fantasy points (on average) to opposing wide receivers this season.
Coming off a tough loss to the Bengals in which the offense was only able to muster a measly 13 points, the Seahawks offense is due and the Arizona Cardinals are in line to pay that bill.
Not to mention, the Cardinals have been a punching bag this season for teams looking to bounce back, just ask the Bengals.
WR: Rashee Rice, Kansas City Chiefs ($4,700, WR38 at cost)
I’m going to do something I’ve never done before, and that's to include the same player in the same article two weeks in a row.
If you were paying attention to last week’s column, I did however have Rashee Rice penciled in as my ‘flex’ player of the week, meaning he’s eligible for this week’s article as one of my designated WR’s.
Logistics over his placement aside, there were reports earlier today from ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler that “Rice's profile could continue to grow in the Chiefs' offense coming out of Thursday's night's win over Denver.”
Rice went from being outside of the top 50 at WR last week to now being penciled in as a top-40 play at his position, but I still view him as underrated and an absolute bargain in DFS given the matchup, his rapidly developing trust from Patrick Mahomes, and the potential for a shootout.
How about this for a stat:
Entering Week 7, the Chargers are allowing opposing wide receivers to score an average of 45.3 fantasy points…
Do with that what you will.
TE: Jonnu Smith, Atlanta Falcons ($3,600, TE16 at cost)
Talk about a revelation at the tight end position!
Jonnu Smith hasn’t been fantasy-relevant since 2020 when he was with the Titans, and fast forward three years later - who would have known that he’d currently be a top 10 tight end in ALL OF FANTASY.
The familiarity with HC Arthur Smith and his system helps tremendously, but it also helps that Smith has uber-talented pass catchers alongside of him in Kyle Pitts and Drake London to take attention away from Smith, who hasn’t scored under 8 fantasy points since Week 1.
Not only does Smith have a steady floor, he’s also seen six or more targets in 4 of 6 games so far this season.
Statistically, the matchup isn’t there for Smith, as the Buccaneers allow an average of just under 10 fantasy points to opposing tight ends, good for 11th in the league as far as least amount allowed.
However, no one outside of the Falcons saw this sort of season coming, so who's to say he can’t continue to defy expectations?
FLEX: Curtis Samuel, Washington Commanders ($4,000, WR47 at cost)
Going into the season, the consensus was that second-year WR Jahan Dotson was going to be the clear-cut No. 2 receiving option behind Terry McLaurin in Washington given the potential he flashed in his rookie season.
Entering Week 7, that couldn’t be further from the truth.
Enter Curtis Samuel, who is not only the clear-cut No. 2 in D.C, but he also happens to be sitting at WR25 (standard PPR scoring) and is a top 75 player in fantasy right now (No. 66 overall).
Having scored 14+ fantasy points in each of the last three weeks, Samuel also only has 1 game this season with under 40 receiving yards. Talk about consistency!
In addition, the Giants give up the 13th most fantasy points to opposing wide receivers and they still have to stop Terry McLaurin.
I absolutely LOVE Samuel this week, particularly in DFS as the value is too crazy to pass up. Barely inside the top 50 when he’s a top 70 player in ALL OF FANTASY at this point of the season?
The disrespect.
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