3 Daily Fantasy Football Players to Avoid in Week 2
We have loads of pieces on numberFire dedicated to helping you figure out which plays you should target in your daily fantasy football contests on FanDuel and DraftKings. And you should definitely check them all out!
But an underrated aspect of the DFS process is figuring out who you shouldn't play. Narrowing down your short list of potential plays by avoiding those who are overpriced and/or in tough matchups goes a long way towards ensuring that you create optimal lineups.
Let's go through three guys to consider fading on this week's DFS main slates.
Drew Brees, QB, New Orleans Saints
FanDuel Price: $8,000
DraftKings Price: $6,200
With a juicy total of 52.0 points, it seems reasonable to target the New Orleans Saints and Los Angeles Rams in a Week 2 showdown. But despite being the fourth-most expensive quarterback on FanDuel, Drew Brees may be a bit of a trap.
The obvious things here is Brees' home/road splits. In 2018, Brees averaged only 217.6 passing yards in road contests while amassing just 11 scores and four picks. Those are a far cry from his home numbers of 321.6 passing yards per game with 21 touchdowns and one pick.
Also, the Rams currently rank fourth against the pass this season, and they were aggressive in getting after the passer in Week 1, racking up three sacks. Yes, it's just one week, but the Rams are giving up the fewest fantasy points to signal callers this season, and they also fared decently well in this category a year ago, limiting quarterbacks to 17.8 FanDuel points per game, the 13th-fewest.
If this game was in the Superdome, we'd be singing a different tune. As is, we project Brees as the QB10 on this slate, so while you want to get a piece of this game, Brees isn't the best route to take.
David Johnson, RB, Arizona Cardinals
FanDuel Price: $7,300
DraftKings Price: $7,100
While the Air Raid offense finally opened up in the fourth quarter and overtime of the Arizona Cardinals' opening-week game, David Johnson was held in check on the ground. For him to be a huge factor fantasy-wise, it looks like he will need to be involved in the passing game, because the ground attack certainly has issues.
The Cardinals clearly will play at a fast pace -- they led the league with a mark of 21.36 seconds per play -- but it was the way in which they played that was a bit more interesting. While they were down significantly for a good chunk of Week 1, their 2.57 pass-to-run ratio opens some eyes, and when they did run, it wasn't that effective. Among the 34 rushers with 10 or more carries in Week 1, Johnson clocked in only 19th in Rushing Net Expected Points (NEP) per carry (-0.02). In terms of Rushing Success Rate -- or the rate at which Johnson's carries generated a positive NEP -- he fared even worse, checking in 22nd (38.89%).
Against the Baltimore Ravens, who boast a stout D and are a heavy favorite (-700), Johnson will likely run in to a lot of the same ground-game issues he saw in Week 1, though he should be busy in the passing game once again.
Adam Thielen, WR, Minnesota Vikings
FanDuel Price: $7,300
DraftKings Price: $7,100
The Minnesota Vikings clash this week with the Green Bay Packers in an NFC North showdown, and this could be a game where points are hard to come by.
Peeking at the projected point totals for the week, this game sports one of the lowest totals (43.50 points) in Week 2, and the Vikings' pace is a big reason for that. They currently rank last in the league with an average of 36.64 seconds per play. Sure, it's just one game, but Minnesota coach Mike Zimmer wants to be a slow, run-based team, which he talked about often over the summer.
In their demolition of the Atlanta Falcons, the Vikings dropped back to pass only 11 times, and that's likely to change in Week 2. However, the Packers showcased a very stout passing defense in their win over the Chicago Bears, and we rank that pass defense third-best so far.
Green Bay currently sits seventh in Adjusted Sack Rate (10.1%), so expect it to be a tough passing day for Kirk Cousins and the entire Vikes' offense.
Matt Kupferle is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Matt Kupferle also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username MKupferle. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in his articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.
