Week 9 NFL FanDuel Salary Movers
Things can change quickly in fantasy football. To quote Ferris Bueller -- "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."
We're here to "look around" and make sure we don't miss any week-to-week salary changes that could pay dividends on FanDuel.
Perhaps a player had an outlier performance and saw their salary rise too high, making them a sub-optimal play. Or, maybe a player saw an increase in their role but played on Monday night after salaries for the following week's slate already came out, and therefore they haven't been priced accordingly.
This week's article will take a look at which players' salaries have changed the most from Week 8 to Week 9.
Now that you're ready, let's get to it!
Quarterback
Derek Carr, Oakland Raiders
Week 8 Salary: $6,900
Week 9 Salary: $7,300
As we head into the back-half of the NFL regular season, daily salaries at the quarterback position should remain mostly flat outside of injury situations. This week, Derek Carr tops the list of movers at quarterback despite just a $400 adjustment from Week 8. After a lowly Week 5 outing against the Chicago Bears in which he scored just 7.96 FanDuel points, Carr has bounced back nicely since the Raiders bye in Week 6. On the road the past two weeks, Carr has completed 40 of 58 passes for 578 yards and 5 touchdowns. Sunday marked his first game of the year over 20 FanDuel points (23.4) thanks to three passing touchdowns and no interceptions.
Carr's recent play warrants a salary increase along with a nice matchup against the Detroit Lions. The Lions give up the sixth-most FanDuel points per game (21.04) to quarterbacks. Carr's projection of 17.3 falls just short of that mark, but at $7,300, it still allows for plenty of room for roster construction needs. It doesn't hurt that the Raiders have the second-highest implied team total on the main slate at 26.25 points, and this looks like a game you can stack with an over/under above 50 points.
Other Big Movers:
Aaron Rodgers, Green Bay Packers: $8,400 | $8,100
Matthew Stafford, Detroit Lions: $7,700 | $7,900
Mitchell Trubisky, Chicago Bears: $6,700 | $6,500
Running Back
David Montgomery, Chicago Bears
Week 8 Salary: $5,700
Week 9 Salary: $6,600
Rookie David Montgomery had his breakout game against the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday afternoon, rushing 27 times for 135 yards and a touchdown, while adding another 12 yards through the air on 4 catches. His 22.7 FanDuel points were more than his prior three games combined and easily eclipsed his Week 2 best of 13.3. The 27 rushing attempts were also a season-high and came one week after receiving just two carries in a blowout loss to the New Orleans Saints. Montgomery's performance was so good that he was one of the 20 best offensive players from Week 8.
Whether head coach Matt Nagy will keep Montgomery in a bell-cow role remains to be seen. The usage was encouraging, but the matchup against the Philadelphia Eagles stout run defense is not. The Eagles success rate allowed to opposing running backs on the ground is just 33.3%, fifth-best in the league. The way to beat the Eagles is through the air, where they rank in the back-half for success rate allowed to all positions. Nagy mentioned running the ball more, but this is shaping up to be more of a Tarik Cohen game.
Other Big Movers:
Nick Chubb, Cleveland Browns: $7,700 | $8,100
Aaron Jones, Green Bay Packers: $8,000 | $7,700
Devin Singletary, Buffalo Bills: $5,400 | $6,100
Wide Receiver
Kenny Golladay, Detroit Lions
Week 8 Salary: $6,700
Week 9 Salary: $7,600
On the opposite side of the previously mentioned Raiders and Lions game is Kenny Golladay. Coming off a two-target game against the Minnesota Vikings, Golladay enjoyed a nice bounce-back performance versus the New York Giants. The third-year pro tied for the team led with 8 targets, securing 6 for 123 yards and 2 touchdowns -- totaling 25.3 FanDuel points in the Lions win. Golladay has now eclipsed 20 FanDuel points three times this season and could do so again with the Raiders on tap.
On a slate without the likes of Julio Jones, DeAndre Hopkins, and Michael Thomas, Golladay moves from the bottom of the top-tier up $900 to the sixth-highest salary at the position. Despite the increased cost, he should once again be a popular play versus the Raiders 27th-ranked defense in a game with the second-highest over/under. Golladay also carries the sixth-best projection of 12.7 FanDuel points.
Other Big Movers:
Mike Evans, Tampa Bay Buccaneers: $7,400 | $8,100
Odell Beckham, Cleveland Browns: $7,400 | $7,000
Terry McLaurin, Washington: $6,300 | $5,700
Tight End
Ryan Griffin, New York Jets
Week 8 Salary: $4,000
Week 9 Salary: $5,000
Like the quarterback position, there's not a lot of movement along the salary scale at tight end this week outside of Ryan Griffin. Griffin remains the starter while Chris Herndon recovers from a hamstring injury. He easily had his best game as a Jet in Week 8. Griffin caught all 4 of his targets for 66 yards, 2 touchdowns, and a two-point conversion, posting 22.6 FanDuel points in their loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars. If you stashed Herndon in seasonal leagues, you're still waiting on his return. However, the impact may not be as big as you hoped. Griffin has just 16 targets on the season but has found the end zone three times.
Herndon was limited in every practice last week, is limited today, and will likely remain out of game action until he participates fully. That means Griffin will continue as the lead tight end and gets the Miami Dolphins next. The Jets are three-point road favorites with an implied team total of 22 points. If you sprinkle in Griffin to tournament lineups you're banking on the Jets high red zone passing rate to continue.
Other Big Movers:
Zach Ertz, Philadelphia Eagles: $6,300 | $6,000
Jonnu Smith, Tennessee Titans: $4,900 | $5,500
T.J. Hockenson, Detroit Lions: $5,300 | $5,000
