4 NFL FanDuel Studs to Target in Week 7
Spending your available salary on a stud can make or break your DFS lineup. These high salary players will take up the majority of your budget, so it’s critical to carefully consider which ones you’ll want for each slate. Whether it’s trying to capture a safe floor in a cash game or chasing a huge game to help you win a tournament, nailing the expensive players is one of the keys to making winning NFL lineups on FanDuel.
Week 7 has more star players on it than the Week 6 main slate did, which gives us a lot of options to consider this week. So let's parse through the choices and see which ones make the best plays.
Russell Wilson, QB, Seattle Seahawks
FanDuel Salary: $8,700
Projected Points: 23.8
Russell Wilson has finally become the elite fantasy quarterback that many believed he could be if given enough opportunities. He has thrown the ball at least 30 times in four of his five games this season, and in the one he didn't, he managed to throw five touchdowns. The increased volume has led to better fantasy production, as Wilson currently ranks as the QB1 this season in points per game. This week, he'll have a great chance to do his thing and keep up his fantastic season.
The Seattle Seahawks will take on the Arizona Cardinals in a divisional matchup that could be a shootout. Looking at the daily fantasy matchup heat map, we see that the game has a massive total of 56.5 points. Seattle alone has an implied team total of 30 points, which is the second-highest on the slate.
Arizona's defense is right in the middle of the pack against the pass, ranking 14th in numberFire's schedule-adjusted pass defense metric. However, most of that came with their best pass rusher, Chandler Jones, who has been lost for the rest of the season. Arizona also plays very fast, as they are sixth in seconds per play and second in situation-neutral pace, according to Football Outsiders. All of these factors only help Russ' outlook for this game.
Wilson should be able to continue his dominance this season in this matchup. He is currently projected for the most points out of anyone on the slate and has upside in this matchup that other quarterbacks can't match.
Alvin Kamara, RB, New Orleans Saints
FanDuel Salary: $9,300
Projected Points: 19.2
Alvin Kamara has been the driving force for the New Orleans Saints offense this season. He leads the team in both rushing yards and receiving yards. All of this has added up to him being the number one running back in fantasy football. In FanDuel's half-PPR scoring, Kamara's 25.7 points per game are over four points more than any running back playing this week. The matchup he'll see gives him a great chance to have another big game.
The Saints will be at home in the Superdome to face the Carolina Panthers. This is another game with a high over/under, currently sitting at 51.5. New Orleans' team total is just a tick below 30 points at 29.25, tied for the third-highest on the slate. The matchup with the Panthers perfectly suits Kamara's skill set. They've allowed the most receptions to running backs this season, and the fourth-most FanDuel points overall to the position, according to Pro Football Reference. This is nothing new for Carolina, as they were the worst team against running backs last season.
Michael Thomas' potential return would help Kamara and the rest of the offense, as they have struggled to move the ball at times this season. Thomas would be able to extend drives and get Kamara into better scoring positions on the field. Kamara is third in our projections this week but offers the safe pass-catching floor that we seek in cash game lineups.
Davante Adams, WR, Green Bay Packers
FanDuel Salary: $8,900
Projected Points: 16.7
Davante Adams has been out of the fantasy spotlight after his huge performance in Week 1. His Week 2 injury kept him out until last week, and in that game, he faced a tough matchup. He still saw 10 targets in the game, reinforcing why we like him so much in fantasy this season. Those 10 targets were good for a 28.5% target share, and Adams has a 29% share overall this season. That's good for fifth in the league, according to airyards.com. This week, the matchup sets up well for Adams to turn his opportunity into more fantasy points.
The Green Bay Packers are traveling to face the Houston Texans in Week 7. Despite being on the road, the Packers have this week's highest implied team total, at 30.5 points.
The Texans' schedule-adjusted pass defense is 20th in the league and just got torched by Ryan Tannehill and the Tennessee Titans to the tune of 364 yards and 4 touchdowns. A.J. Brown hauled in two of those touchdowns on just seven targets, which is probably on the bottom of Adams' range of targets in this matchup. With this game being a close spread of just 3.5 and having a high total of 57.5, this sets up well for a back and forth game. If Green Bay needs to drive down the field to score points, Adams will be the number one option in the passing game.
Adams is one of the safest plays at wide receiver because of how much Aaron Rodgers likes to throw to him. In our wide receiver projections for the week, Adams is leading for projected targets and is second in points, so he makes a ton of sense in cash game lineups.
Travis Kelce, TE, Kansas City Chiefs
FanDuel Salary: $7,900
Projected Points: 12.9
The top of the tight end position can be hit or miss depending on which teams are on the main slate. Last week, we saw only Mark Andrews at the top, but this time we have the top two back available for us.
Travis Kelce is a reliable option we can count on every time he is on the slate. It helps that Kelce has a 25% target share from the best quarterback in football, which leads the Kansas City Chiefs. The most interesting usage of Kelce might be in the red zone. He leads all players in red zone targets with 12, and has turned 5 of those into touchdowns.
The Chiefs are playing the Denver Broncos and are 9.5-point favorites. They should be able to exploit a defense that has lost Von Miller, Jurrell Casey and A.J. Bouye this season. The Broncos' pass defense has performed reasonably well, but the last two games have seen them face numberFire's 29th- and 32nd-ranked pass offenses. This week, they will face the number one pass offense, so those injuries could really catch up to them.
Kelce is second in our tight end projections this week. He offers a safe floor that is very hard to find at the position, as he has seen at least seven targets in his last five games. When you combine that with his ability to score touchdowns, it makes him worth spending up to get into your lineups in any format you play this week.
Nicholas Vazquez is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Nicholas Vazquez also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username hbyanksman. 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.
