NFL

4 DraftKings Studs to Target in Week 2

Despite an underwhelming Week 1 against the Patriots, should we trust Juju Smith-Schuster on DraftKings this week?

Week 2 is upon us, and it is now time to figure out who we want to trust this week.

There are many different high-priced studs we want to target on DraftKings, so let's see which ones stand out and project to be high-end performers according to our models.

Let's dive in and see who is worth their high price tag.

Lamar Jackson, QB, Baltimore Ravens

DrafKings Price: $6,700

Projected Points: 22.4

Lamar Jackson kicked off 2019 with bang, even recordeding his first 300-passing-yard DraftKings bonus of his career.

Well, it shouldn't stop this week in what should be a fast paced game environment against the Arizona Cardinals. The Baltimore Ravens finished first in plays per game in 2018, and finished last week with the third most. This week's opponent finished with the most plays of Week 1 -- with the help of overtime -- but entered the season with the expectation of playing fast under Kliff Kingsbury.

The more plays ran, the more opportunities for Jackson to rack up fantasy points. Baltimore is a 13-point home favorite and projects for 30.00 points against a defense missing its two starting cornerbacks yet again. This is the same defense that gave up 300-plus passing yards and 3 touchdowns to Matthew Stafford, who finished as the QB4 last week.

Jackson recorded a 1.41 Passing Net Expected Points (NEP) per dropback, which was the highest amongst all starting quarterbacks in Week 1, and with the new weaponry around him, he has the chance to sustain success through the air. Jackson always has his legs in his back pocket, as he demonstrated last season, making his upside uber scary knowing he has the chance to hit both the passing and rushing bonus in the same week. Jackson finds himself as a top three scoring quarterback this week in our projections.

Alvin Kamara, RB, New Orleans Saints

DrafKings Price: $8,200

Projected Points: 23.8

When you look up the definition of efficiency, you might just find a picture of Alvin Kamara.

He has finished first in our Net Expected Points metric in each of his first two seasons and has been particular effect as a receiver, where he finished second in our Receiving NEP per target metric amongst running backs with at least 40 catches in back to back years. Kamara has averaged 6.7 targets per game over his career.

There is a usage note to point out from last week, too, as Kamara played over 75% of the New Orleans Saints offensive snaps, a number he never reached in any game that Mark Ingram was active.

He now gets to take part in the highest game total of the week (53.0 points) against the Los Angeles Rams. These teams squared off twice a season ago and combined for 80 points in the regular season matchup. Karama handled 23 touches in that game, finding the end zone 3 times and finishing the week as DraftKings' top scoring running back.

We can look to last week, where the Rams had a high scoring, close game against the Panthers, and hemorrhaged 45.9 DraftKings points to Christian McCaffrey. This performance by McCaffrey has the Rams' rush defense ranked 24th according to numberFire's power rankings. In a projected high scoring affair, Kamara looks like the stud running back to own this week.

JuJu Smith-Schuster, WR, Pittsburgh Steelers

DraftKings Price: $7,500

Projected Points: 19.0

JuJu Smith-Schuster appears to have avoided any major injury to his toe and should be fine this week's matchup against the Seattle Seahawks.

It doesn't appear that the Pittsburgh Steelers got the memo that the regular season started last week, so it is important to understand it was just a clunker from them, and we should try not to penalize them too much. They are now 4.5-point home favorites with an implied team total of 25.50.

The Steelers have always played much better at home under Ben Roethlisberger and have averaged 29.1 points per game at home since Smith-Schuster entered the league in 2017. In a game where Pittsburgh is projected to put up a decent amount of points, Smith-Schuster seems poised to see opportunities to find the end zone. He has seen 44 red zone targets and has hit paydirt 14 times over the last two seasons.

Facing the Seahawks' defense is not as imposing as it use to be, as we saw last week when they gave up 276 receiving yards to wide receivers, including two touchdowns to John Ross. Smith-Schuster finished sixth amongst all wide receivers last season in NEP, even better than his former teammate Antonio Brown.

Our projections have him seeing 10.5 targets this week with a top-six receiving touchdown output. Everyone was excited about JuJu heading into 2019, so take advantage of recency bias from a tough spot last week. Lock in one of the most secure volume pass-catching roles at Heinz field where the Steelers have historically put up big point totals.

Travis Kelce, TE, Kansas City Chiefs

DraftKings Price: $7,300

Projected Points: 19.5

At only a $200 increase from last week and in a much better matchup without Tyreek Hill, Travis Kelce is one of the top plays on the entire slate. Even with Hill, Kecle has seen 8 or more targets in 9 of the last 10 regular season games.

Without Hill, numberFire's projections peg Kelce for 9.3 targets in a game that the Kansas City Chiefs are expected to score more than four touchdowns. Kelce is also projected with the second-highest point total amongst all wide receivers and tight ends but is priced cheaper than six wide receivers. We can take advantage of that price and the fact that Kansas City's pass catchers are very thin and inexperienced behind Sammy Watkins.

So knowing that the volume will be there for Kelce, let's take a look at the matchup. This is a divisional game, so we have some historical data, and in two games against Oakland last season, Kelce saw 22 targets and averaged 13.5 yards per reception while finding the end zone twice. Oakland allowed the third-most tight end touchdowns a season ago, too.

The Raiders faced a rookie last week, and while Noah Fant didn't have a great output, he did post a 100% success rate on his two receptions. In a game with Kelce expected to see more volume and has a higher touchdown probability (projections have him at 0.67), Kelce's numberFire projection is four points higher than any other tight end this week.


Adam Nessel is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Adam Nessel also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username ANessel01. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his/her personal views, he/she may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his/her personal account. The views expressed in his/her articles are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.