Fanduel NFL Week 4 2018 Strategy, Picks & Lineup Advice

It’s been nearly 1 month since the start of the NFL season and we’ve learned a lot about which offenses and defenses to target.

One of the most interesting trends has been the emergency of young players in the WR#2 as aging veterans receive the majority of the attention from opposing secondaries.

Young WRs Making a Splash

Falcons WR Calvin Ridley

As Julio Jones continues to receive an incredible amount of attention from opposing defenses, Calvin Ridley has provided a much needed spark to the Falcons offense. Until Week 2, The Falcons Offensive Steve Sarkisian crafted an offensive strategy of “Chuck it to Julio”. Of course, we all know opposing teams will make adjustments and Juli has been held to just 10 catches for 160 yards after his Week 1 outburst of 10-169.

Ridley is another Alabama product with quickness and explosive downfield speed as he exhibited on his 75 yards TD catch.

As long as the Falcons are playing at home, I think Ridley deserves a spot in your Fanduel rosters at a rock bottom price.

Steelers WR juju Smith-Schuster

The Young WR has gone over 100 yards receiving in 3 straight games with his only TD coming at home. The Steelers are falling apart right now as Le’veon Bell is requesting to be traded away due to fearing he will be run into the ground and released at the end of the season.

James Conner is a reliable back but he doesn’t scare defensives like Bell does so the Steelers are throwing a lot more this season. He is a nice pivot for cash games and provides some GPP appeal especially if he is playing at home.

Tyler Boyd $5,800

The Bengals offense has bounced back in a huge way in 2018 and the Bengals are ranked 6th in the NFL in scoring. A.J. Green is questionable for Week 4 and Boyd has scored in b2b games with at least 15 FDP in both contests. This game has the potential for another shootout and I like Boyd in both cash games and GPPs as an excellent option to produce against a shaky Falcons defense.

Week 4 QB Analysis

Matt Ryan $8,200

Ryan is coming off B2b 30+ FDP performances after being involved in 2 shootout vs CAR and NO. Now, He faces a Bengals Defense that allows 394 passing yards per game.

Eli Manning $7,100

Manning has increased his output in 3 straight weeks and gets a juicy home matchup vs Saints defense that allowed 5 passing Tds to Matt Ryan. We all know Drew Brees can put up points in a hurry so it’s possible that the Giants will be playing from behind. I love the Eli Manning – Odell Beckham stack in tournaments.

Other Plays: Andrew Luck, Philipp Rivers, Drew Brees

Week 4 RB Analysis

After a disappoint Week 3 where my value picks of Corey Clement and Latavius Murray did nothing, I am changing my perspective on RBs. We should look to pay up whenever possible for RBs because we need to get at least 20+ touches to make value on most gamedays.

The problem is the NFL is transitioning away from a traditional RB to more of a pass catching role so 2 down backs are becoming much less valuable these days. Let’s take a look at total targets from top 5 Week 3 for NFL running backs (Data from FantasyPros.com):

  • Alvin Kamara: 20
  • Giovani Bernard: 9
  • Ezekiel Elliott: 8
  • T.J. Yeldon: 7
  • Latavius Murray: 7

Alvin Kamara $9,300

Due to his huge workload, Alvin Kamara always stands out as a prime target and I’m going to own 100% of him in this matchup. First off, Mark Ingram plans to return Week 5 so this will be the last game we see Kamara with such high usage.

He leads all running backs in FDP and I want to differeniate myself in the WR and flex position. If you lay an egg on RB, it’s hard to put up a high score on Fanduel.

New Orleans offense is explosive and my guess is Kamara receives a lot of work in the 2nd half while the Giants are playing from Behind. This should bode well for my Kamara-Manning-Beckham stack in a high scoring game with a 50 point vegas total.

Giovani Bernard $6,300

If Joe Mixon doesn’t play, then I’m going to play a lot of Bernard to take advantage of this stackable game in Atlanta. Kamara had a huge workload and put up 26 FDP without scoring a TD but I think Bernard gets in the endzone for the 2nd straight week.

He’s only $6,400 and opens up a lot of possibility to get some quality WRs if you spend down a little bit at the position.

Other Plays: Melvin Gordon, Saquon Barkely, Tevin Coleman

Week 4 WR Analysis

Odell Beckham $8,700

Odell is my favorite play on the entire slate in what should be an epic matchup against a terrible Saints Defense that got shredded for 5 TDs against the Falcons. The Saints have been awful against the pass for 2 seasons now and I’m stacking Manning-Odell in the majority of my lineups. I love the matchup here against Drew Brees who just earned the All-Time NFL completions record so expect some points here.

Allen Robinson $6,500

He’s at home and going against the leading offense in the NFL, Tampa Bay Bucs. I prefer to play A Rob at home and I think he has some success against this terrible Bucs secondary. If Jordan Howard doesn’t get it going, the Bears have no choice but to feed A Rob with targets. He’s extremely safe for cash games and has some GPP upside as well.

Other Plays: Tyler Boyd, Sterling Sherperd, Mike Williams, Geronimo Allison, Ryan Grant

Week 4 TE Analysis

Gronk $8,100

If you can afford Gronk, then he’s at home in a decent matchup vs the Dolphins. Tom Brady should come back firing after a disappointing performance against the Lions

Jared Cook $5,400

The Cleveland Browns have improved immensely on defense but I really like Cook’s upside in this matchup. He went for 180+ in his last home game and I don’t think any other TD has his upside at this price point.

Week 4 Flex Analysis

The Flex position replaced the Kicker so you can take two approaches to this change: either play a cheap punt play with some upside around a kicker’s salary or go balanced across the board on your lineup.

Tyler Boyd was the ultimate flex play last week at $4,700 and he deserves another mention even with the price jump to $5,800.

Week 4 DEF Analysis

Colts DEF

Colts Defense is back home against a struggling Deshaun Watson.

Chargers Def

It looks like the 49ers just lost starting QB Jimmy G to a season ending knee injury and CJ Bethard will be name the starter. In 5 career starts, Bethard has 4 TDs and 6 INTs for a passing rating of 69.2. Even though the Chargers defense has struggled in the last 3 weeks, they are a sneaky GPP play with massive upside!

 

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Juke

Juke is an avid daily fantasy sports player who competes in NFL, NBA, EPL & UCL. He's been playing DFS for 5 years and shares his successes & failures on RotoJuke. You can track his DFS gameplay by checking out his RotoGrinders.com profile: jukebox9988. Follow Juke on Twitter.

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