Each week, this article will shine the spotlight on players outside the top-12 at their respective position on DraftKings and FanDuel to help you win your contests in daily fantasy. This advice should help you avoid having a lineup full of players on many of the competition’s rosters. Therefore, giving you a chance to win big each week.
New Orleans and Seattle are on their bye weeks while Kansas City and Buffalo play on Monday. This situation leaves daily players without a lot of their regular building blocks. Still, there is no need to worry as there is plenty of value found on DraftKings and FanDuel. The Detroit Lions and Jacksonville Jaguars matchup should produce its fair share of fantasy points, as should the Minnesota Vikings and Atlanta Falcons contest. Hopefully, that game remains in the clear and gets the go-ahead because Alexander Mattison will be a trendy play this week. He stays inside the top-12 on DraftKings and doesn’t qualify for this article, but don’t be afraid to start him because of his presumed popularity. Sometimes the obvious play is the smart play.
Covid-19 is going to throw some wrenches into the daily fantasy machine this year. Make sure always to check your lineups before they lock, and feel free to reach out on Twitter with questions. Good luck in Week 6.
Quarterbacks
Joe Burrow, CIN at IND ($5,400 DK | $7,100 FD)
On paper, the Indianapolis Colts looks like an extremely tough matchup for Burrow on Sunday. However, a closer look at the competition gives daily players signs of hope for the rookie in Week 6. The Colts have allowed seven passing touchdowns this season while intercepting the opposing quarterback on nine occasions through five games. Most of that damage came in a two-game stretch where Kirk Cousins seemingly lost his mind, and Sam Darnold may have been seeing ghosts again. That same secondary allowed Gardner Minshew and Baker Mayfield to throw three and two passing touchdowns against them, respectively.
Burrow has dropped back at least 30 times in every game this season despite being sacked 22 times in his first five games. The Bengals are letting their No. 1 pick sling the ball as much as he wants this year. The Colts are favored by a touchdown tomorrow, and it will give Burrow plenty of opportunities to rack up some fantasy points for his managers.
Running Backs
Ronald Jones II, TB vs GB ($6,000 DK | $5,800 FD)
Jones enters Week 6, coming off his first back-to-back 100-yard performances in his three-year career. Although Leonard Fournette remains a real threat to his workload, it looks like the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are beginning to trust Jones as a feature back. If the coaching staff can resist the temptation to split the touches for one more week, it could be the Jones show for the rest of 2020.
That’s because the Bucs and Jones face off against the Packers and the second-worst defense versus running backs in the league. Dalvin Cook, Alvin Kamara, and Todd Gurley all found the endzone multiples times versus the Packers. The key was that all those backs touched the ball at least 13 times. Jones has reached that mark in four of his five games this season. It will take some guts, but Jones could pay off in a massive way for the managers that slide him onto their roster this weekend.
David Montgomery, CHI at CAR ($5,800 | $5,900 FD)
In daily fantasy, players have to take leaps of faith if they want to strike oil in a tournament. One of the easier ways to get there is to find access to the volume. Montgomery has an acceptable price versus the Carolina Panthers this week and makes him a worthy roster addition for daily managers.
In Weeks 1-3, Montgomery saw nine total targets before Tarik Cohen went down with a season-ending injury. In his next two games, the second-year back saw 14 targets and caught 10 of them as he took on the pass-catching role in Cohen’s absence. The touches, the price, and now the matchup should all come together in Week 6. The Bears travel to Carolina and will have Montgomery running against a defense that has allowed nine touchdowns to running backs in their five games this season.
Wide Receivers
Laviska Shenault, JAC vs DET ($5,200 DK | $5,800 FD)
DJ Chark is questionable for tomorrow’s game versus the Detroit Lions, and that could be all that Shenault needs to show his full repertoire of skills. The rookie is finding his role in the Jacksonville Jaguars offense increase every week. He’s received at least six targets and caught five passes in each of his last three games. He rewarded fantasy managers in Week 5 with his second-straight game with over 75 yards.
Even if Chark plays, Shenault will be a desirable option against a toothless Lions secondary. They have allowed seven wide receivers to catch at least four passes or a touchdown against them this season. Shenault caught a touchdown in Week 1 but hasn’t returned to the endzone since his debut. His increasing workload and favorable matchup give him an excellent opportunity to celebrate for the second time in 2020.
Chase Claypool, PIT vs CLE ($5,200 DK | $5,500 FD)
Chasing the big game is always a dangerous strategy in fantasy football. It doesn’t matter whether it’s daily or season-long formats. Still, what Claypool did last week was an astounding breakout party. In Week 5 against the Philadelphia Eagles, the rookie caught seven of his 11 targets for 110 yards and three touchdowns and ran another touchdown into the end zone.
Diontae Johnson is already out for this weekend’s matchup with the Cleveland Browns, and it should give Claypool another opportunity for a tournament-winning performance. The Browns allowed 203.2 yards per game to wide receivers and gave up eight touchdowns through the first four weeks before shutting the Colts receivers down in Week 5. Claypool can take the reigns as the alpha in the Pittsburgh passing game with another big performance, and it may be wise to leap a week early.
Tight Ends
Eric Ebron, PIT vs CLE ($4,100 DK | $5,200 FD)
If fantasy managers thought the Browns are bad versus wide receivers, then they should check the numbers opposing tight ends are putting up this season. They rank inside the bottom-10 in targets, receptions, yards, and touchdowns. Ebron is no slouch at tight end and only finds himself outside the top-12 at the position on both sites because of an unfortunate fumble last Sunday.
The seventh-year tight end is tied for the team lead in targets since Week 2. Also, Ebron should be more involved in the passing game with Johnson declared out for Week 6. The 27-year-old has found the end zone once this year, but a game against a Browns team that allows big game after big game gives the former first-round pick a chance to win DFS players a lot of contests tomorrow.
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