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Top FanDuel Football Values for Championship Weekend

DENVER, CO - SEPTEMBER 29: Denver Broncos tight end Julius Thomas picks up extra yards in the first quarter. The Denver Broncos took on the Philadelphia Eagles at Sports Authority Field at Mile High in Denver on September 29, 2013. (Photo by Steve Nehf/The Denver Post)

Julius Thomas3*For those who are weekly readers, simply skip the first few paragraphs of explanation and jump down to the ideal matchups. Don’t forget that the promo code “PFF” is worth a 100 percent deposit bonus.

 

If you’ve never played weekly salary cap games, you’re missing out on an exciting game to play throughout the NFL season. The game that we’ll be breaking down in this weekly article is for the website FanDuel.

For those of you who have never played a salary cap game before, I’ll quickly go over the rules so you can understand how these games work. Each player is given a monetary value based on statistics, matchups and that player’s hype. You then try to create the ideal lineup using a salary cap, such as $60,000.

The purpose of this weekly article is to point out the best values each week, so you can make the most ideal lineup. A few positions you’ll never see in this article are defenses and kickers. With these positions you’re just basically looking for the most ideal matchup, whether that’s a rookie quarterback for a defense or a terrible defense for a kicker.

With all this information, let’s now take a look at some of the most ideal matchups over at FanDuel. Since there are only eight teams remaining, it’s going to be difficult finding an ideal matchup at each position. Instead, we’ll take a look at an ideal starting lineup and point out some of the better matchups available.

 

Ideal $60K Salary Team

This is the most difficult week to come up with a team because you only have four teams to work with. What you’re ultimately going to need to do is find a handful of players that you feel good about having a high floor and a high ceiling.

What that means is that these players are pretty much guaranteed to not have a bad game, but could also explode for an absolutely huge performance. Take a look below at our ideal team and explanations on why we’d take each player.

 

QB – Tom Brady, New England Patriots ($8,700) – With only four quarterbacks to choose from, this is the most difficult position to decide on. However, you can’t choose Russell Wilson or Colin Kaepernick because of the defenses they will be playing against.

That leaves either Brady or Peyton Manning. Either player is a good choice because their matchup will likely turn into a shootout. The reason Brady gets the edge for us is because Manning has a cost of $11,000 compared to Brady’s $8,700.

RB – Frank Gore, San Francisco 49ers ($7,300) – You have to either pick Gore or Marshawn Lynch and much like above with the quarterbacks, Lynch’s cost of $9,900 is just a little too high to field a truly competitive team this year.

Gore should see plenty of touches in this low-scoring matchup. If he can get into the end zone just once, he should be one of the top-scoring backs this week.

RB – Shane Vereen, New England Patriots ($6,000) – The reason I like Vereen is because of how often he’s used in the passing game for New England. Vereen saw 66 targets during the regular season as a receiver and another five during the Patriots divisional round win over the Indianapolis Colts.

If the Broncos get up big to start this game, or this matchup turns into a high-scoring affair, Brady and the Patriots could target Vereen more than often. That could ultimately turn into a big game for Vereen.

WR – Julian Edelman, New England Patriots ($7,200) – Edelman has turned into Brady’s No. 1 option over the past few weeks, and that shouldn’t change this week. Edelman’s elusiveness in the open field is what ultimately makes him so dangerous. However, what truly makes a great pick this week is that his floor is extremely low, meaning he’s almost guaranteed to have a solid game this week.

WR – Michael Crabtree, San Francisco 49ers ($6,800) – Whenever you can get a team’s No. 1 receiver for only $6,800, you have to take that deal. While Crabtree could see a lot of Richard Sherman this week, he’s also going to be targeted early and often by quarterback Colin Kaepernick.

WR – Doug Baldwin, Seattle Seahawks ($4,900) – Baldwin is the only player on our roster that poses a huge risk, but he’s the “safest” risky player available this week. It seems like every week Baldwin has a handful of big-play opportunities. If he can make those big plays, he could turn out to be the biggest steal of the weekend.

TE – Julius Thomas, Denver Broncos ($6,800) – Thomas is the most expensive tight end this week and at a cost of only $6,800 it’s an absolute no-brainer to add him to your roster this week. There is simply no way the Broncos won’t be throwing the ball a ton in their matchup this weekend and the Patriots simply don’t have a player who can match up against Thomas to slow him down.

K – Matt Prater, Denver Broncos ($5,800) – If there is one team that is guaranteed to score points this week, it’s the Broncos. That’s why Prater is the logical choice to start as your kicker this week.

DEF – Seattle Seahawks ($6,200) – The reason Seattle’s defense starts this week is because they are the home team and their ability to create turnovers is far superior to any other defense available. Their matchup against the 49ers offense should be a difficult one, but the Seahawks defense was up to the task during both regular-season meetings.

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