The Big Lead's Weekly Fantasy Lineup Week 7: Riding With Andrew Luck and DeMarco Murray

[FantasyScore is a daily fantasy football website where you can get a 50% match on your deposit by using the promo code TBL50. This week, for TBL readers only, there is also a 50/50 “FreeRoll” where you can enter a team without deposit required, for first 50 entries, and win $5 if in the top half of the pool.]

We’ll be putting our FantasyScore selections in on a weekly basis, and also be writing a weekly analysis/picks article using the salary cap figures and identifying the strategy behind the selections. For salary cap games, the salary cap is $50,000 for the selection of 9 positions: QB, 2 RB, 2 WR, 1 Flex, 1 TE, 1 K and 1 D/ST.

Last week, our selections–despite some eggs laid by Eli Manning and Percy Harvin–finished in the top 15% in all contests entered and in the money on all, thanks to huge games from Mohamed Sanu and Branden Oliver as well as a monster game by Matt Forte.

There are a few things we should note about our strategy, and how other entries were made:

Plenty of entries do not use the full 9 slots, choosing to spend their money on a few big names. There are always weekly values, and this is a poor strategy. Tactically, use up the 9 slots.
Again, we are looking for two things–cheap guys who project as starter worthy fantasy guys this week and can provide bang for the buck; and
Star players with excellent matchups (see Matt Forte last week) who still provide value despite a high price.

WEEK 6 POTENTIAL VALUE PLAYS

QUARTERBACK: Russell Wilson ($6,900) is the 16th most expensive QB. He is 6th in average points this year. I know he had a bad week last week, but that seems like an overreaction to find value. Derek Carr ($5,100) and Brian Hoyer ($4,100) are your cheap value plays based on matchups, if you decide to spend your money elsewhere.

RUNNING BACK: We played against the Falcons last week. They are allowing 190 yards from scrimmage and nearly 2 TDs a game to opposing backs. Justin Forsett is currently priced as the 23rd most expensive RB, but should provide top 12 numbers. In a similar matchup play, Ben Tate goes against Jacksonville, who are allowing 165 yards from scrimmage. If you want to go cheaper in the same matchup, Isaiah Crowell provides value as the 36th most expensive RB.

WIDE RECEIVER: We highlighted Andre Holmes in the waiver wire and he has a fantastic matchup, has been on fire, and comes in at 41st most expensive WR, but will be in my top 24 this week. Last week, we highlighted Mohamed Sanu as the value play, and he did not disappoint. While his price has gone up this week, he’s still only WR26. A.J. Green did not practice yesterday, and is going to again be questionable. Let’s ride Sanu.

FINAL PICKS

The Fantasy Lineup Generator allows you to put together an optimal lineup, using their projections, so you can check that out as well. We don’t want to go straight chalk because we are competing in a large pool. Here is the final submission for this week.

I’ll spend at QB, and Luck has the best outlook of the top tier quarterbacks. The value at RB and WR is enough to then also spend for the top rated RB in Murray, because of the purchases of Tate, Holmes, Sanu and Forsett. Jordan Cameron has a pretty good matchup against the Jags and finally looked healthy last week, and we round out with the Browns defense against Jacksonville, and have to go cheap at kicker with the little money remaining, adding Prater at home against the Saints.

QB- Andrew Luck ($8000)
RB- DeMarco Murray ($7900)
RB- Ben Tate ($5900)
WR- Andre Holmes ($4800)
WR- Mohamed Sanu ($5900)
TE- Jordan Cameron ($5900)
FLEX- Justin Forsett ($5800)
K- Matt Prater ($2300)
DEF- Cleveland Browns ($2500)

TOTAL – $50,000