Week 9 DraftKings Fantasy Roundtable

This week's discussion focused on replacement running backs, budget quarterbacks, defense/special teams plays, and off-script games. It was a great session with the DraftKings staff and should give our readers plenty of insight heading into their Week 9 contests.

Some excerpts are below, and the full article is here.

Williams a Lock?
This topic discussed DeAngelo Williams and if he represents a good value play at his $5,500 price tag.

Chris Feery: I agree with everyone so far. Williams is far from a lock this week and will probably be very highly-owned. Also, as the others have mentioned, the better approach to attacking the Raiders would be through the air, making Roethlisberger and company an appealing target. Will just mentioned a great alternative in Jeremy Langford at $4,000, and there are few others we can look at in the same price range as Williams. A little to the north on the salary scale, we have Doug Martin at $5,700. Martin was underwhelming last week, but prior to that he had scored 23+ points for three consecutive weeks. As a cheaper alternative, consider Danny Woodhead at $4,800. Woodhead is another player coming off of a down game, but could see a nice bump in opportunities as the Chargers sort through their injury issues. 

Budget QBs
This discussion centered around Jameis Winston and Marcus Mariota as they are the next opponents for the New York Giants and New Orleans Saints, respectively. But the guys took this one in other directions and recommended other low-priced quarterbacks with better prospects this week.

John Lee: ...and this is why we play DFS! I agree with Dan that Carr is intriguing in the same price range as Winston and Mariota, but I am not fond of John's Fitzpatrick selection. Both will face suspect secondaries, but I suspect the Jets will try to protect Fitzpatrick and any chance they have at a wild-card bid this year; if he aggravates the thumb injury while sitting in the pocket looking for a receiver against the Jaguars, nobody is going to forgive first year head coach for allowing it to happen. Instead, I expect a run-first approach from the Jets, although I do agree it is a tough matchup against a very stout rush defense.

Defense Plays
This topic discussed team defenses for this week, particularly as compared to Atlanta, who gets to face a very weak San Francisco team starting Blaine Gabbert this week.

Dan Hindery: The choice of defense for Week 9 is going to be a tough one, and I do not know if a real consensus play will end up emerging by Sunday morning or if there will be a cluster of defenses all ranked similarly. My shortlist top-five for Week 9 includes:

New Orleans ($2,200) - Sure they just got torched for 49 points. But the Tennessee offense is a mess, and they are projected to score fewer than 20 points this week by Vegas. Perhaps it is a better GPP play than a cash game option, but the extra $1,000 or so in savings compared to the top defenses could really provide a boost to a cash game lineup as well. There is also an interesting precedent here; Houston got torched for 42 first half points in Week 7 and came back against Tennessee in Week 8 and held them to six points, notched seven sacks, and collected three turnovers.

New England ($3,300) - New England is favored by 14 points, which means Washington will almost certainly be playing from behind and forced to go pass-heavy. Kirk Cousins has been turnover-prone throughout his career. New England has been one of the better D/ST options all season with 26 sacks in seven games. But they have yet to score a touchdown, which is the only thing that has kept them from having a big week. At some point, they are due to find the end zone.

Off-Script Games
Here, we discussed how we use Vegas to help us project games but that they're sometimes wrong. We're trying to identify the Week 9 games that won't go according to script.

John Mamula: I was surprised to see the Vegas projection of 49 total points in the Chicago Bears-San Diego Chargers game. I see this game coming in about six or seven points fewer than what Vegas is projecting. I do not see either offense producing as they have done in the past without their key playmakers.

Philip Rivers is leading the league in passing with 2,695 passing yards and 336 passing yards per game this season. He has thrown for multiple touchdowns in every home game this season. However, Rivers has lost his number one passing target, Keenan Allen. Through eight games, Allen had 67 receptions for 725 yards. This loss will have an effect on the entire offense and limits Rivers' upside. On the other side of the field, the Chicago Bears will be without the centerpiece of their offense, Matt Forte. Alshon Jeffery should be held in check by up-and-coming cornerback, Jason Verrett.

Enjoy the full article. It was a great week of discussion!