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Divisional Round DFS fades and players to avoid

FOXBORO, MA - DECEMBER 12: Martellus Bennett #88 of the New England Patriots reacts after scoring a touchdown during the game against the Baltimore Ravens at Gillette Stadium on December 12, 2016 in Foxboro, Massachusetts. (Photo by Adam Glanzman/Getty Images)

Fading Matthew Stafford was a great idea last week, but as it turns out, fading Thomas Rawls was not a great idea. Who would’ve guessed that a running back with just 56 yards on his last 37 carries would’ve had one of the best games in Seahawks postseason history? But we know it’s all about process over results, and sometimes the results aren’t as favorable as we’d like. Hopefully you paired that article with the locks of the week, because you would’ve been extremely profitable, despite the Rawls miss.

During the season in this article, you were accustomed to finding players to avoid in both tournament and cash lineups, or at least limit your exposure. With the playoffs here, this article will be solely focused on cash-game lineups. I say that because in order to win a tournament during this time, you need to play some of the not-so-obvious players. Last week we had just one fade at the quarterback position, simply because you didn’t need to be told to not play Connor Cook. With that being said, you’re going to get the usual from me this week, which is two quarterbacks, running backs and wide receivers and one tight end to fade in your cash-game lineups.

Quarterbacks

Ben Roethlisberger, Pittsburgh Steelers (at Chiefs)

I’m not sure how many times we need to cover how much less impressive Roethlisberger is on the road, but it seems that everyone wants to think that “this is the week where that ends.” Over the last three seasons, he’s not only been worse on the road, but he’s legitimately been a bad quarterback on the road.

  Games Comp Att Yds YPA TDs/gm INTs/gm PPG
Player A 22 23.7 36.5 269.9 7.5 1.05 1.00 17.1
Player B 22 19.5 28.6 212.8 7.5 1.32 0.68 19.5

Looking at the chart above, you wouldn’t know that Player B is Roethlisberger’s opponent this week, Alex Smith. Those are Smith’s numbers at home, compared to Roethlisberger’s numbers on the road. As you can see, he’s simply not a good fantasy quarterback on the road, and 22 games is plenty of a sample size. The Chiefs have also been dominant at home this year, allowing just 15.8 points per game, which ranks fourth in the NFL. That number is down to 14.1 over their last seven home games, as they have not allowed an opponent to score more than 21 points in Arrowhead since way back in Week 1. Add in the fact that Roethlisberger appeared to have hurt his ankle toward the end of the Dolphins game and was in a walking boot that night as he left the stadium, and you have yourself an easy fade.

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