Week 14 of NFL DFS is littered with some great matchups for both fantasy and real life. Determining which matchups are the most underrated and overrated this week is a great way to attack the ownership discrepancies on the slate.
Quarterback
This slate does not have elite QB options that I love and I think that I will be rotating a lot of quarterbacks throughout. While I do not mind players like Lamar Jackson, due to his upside, I am not looking to heavily expose myself to any quarterback this week.
I am focusing on getting ownership advantages and attacking spots that others may not. One of my favorite spots to look at is the Saints at home, where they have always been one of the best offenses in the NFL under Sean Payton and Drew Brees. Brees is cheap on most sites and even though he faces an elite pass rush, he can always explode in this spot.
Running Back
If you can play Christian McCaffrey, go for it. McCaffrey gets to play in a dome against a very strange Atlanta defense that has shown flashes of being very good in recent weeks while also being horrible. The best thing about McCaffrey is that he proved that even when they cannot move the ball against the Falcons, he still accounted for 33 PPR points in their last matchup where the offense scored 3 points.
Last week, we saw usage out of James White that we rarely see and I think this is a great spot to take a shot on White again in a game that projects to be close. White benefits from the Patriots being in a close game and this is a great spot for White to see increased usage.
While we cannot know what the Dolphins plan to do at running back this week, we can be pretty confident that Patrick Laird is very much in the gameplan moving forward. Laird is a converted wide receiver and he is a great pass-catcher out of the backfield. Laird was also a capable runner in college and I expect him to see most of the passing down work and a decent amount of carries.
Wide Receiver
My favorite GPP play on the slate is Michael Thomas because of his ownership compared to other guys around him in salary. Thomas is on a different level than the other receivers in the NFL right now and his consistency and upside combination is unmatched. Thomas gets a tough matchup, but it isn’t something that should scare people away.
I love Tyler Boyd on PPR sites due to his target share in this offense in a game where they are expected to trail for most of the game. Boyd should not draw shadow coverage from Denzel Ward, which should only increase his impact on the offense.
Tight End
Darren Waller is my favorite play on the entire slate this week against the Titans defense. Last week, the Titans allowed over 300 passing yards to Jacoby Brissett and the very injured Colts last week. I expect a lot of production from Derek Carr and this offense in this spot.
Waller broke onto the scene in a huge way, but he then fell off in the middle of the season, struggling to find consistent targets. Most of this regression came alongside of Hunter Renfrow’s emergence in the offense. With Renfrow out last week, Waller saw 9 targets and I think that this trend should continue moving forward. I expect 6-10 targets a week for Waller and I’ll take that all day vs. this Titans pass defense.