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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 that 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 as 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 on this article is 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.
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Quarterback
Brian Hoyer, Cleveland Browns
Does it feel good to say that Hoyer is the best bargain at quarterback this week? Absolutely not, but that shouldn’t stop us from taking a chance on him. At only a cost of $6,100, Hoyer has some value if you’re feeling risky this week.
In two weeks of play, Hoyer has thrown for 590 yards and five touchdowns. He’s also thrown three interceptions, but that should be expected in a quarterbacks first few starts.
What really gives Hoyer a chance to succeed this week is his matchup with the Buffalo Bills on a short week of practice. The Bills defense has been mediocre this year with an average grade of 0.9 on defense. Look for Hoyer to have another strong performance this week to continue to make his case as the permanent starter in Cleveland.
Running Back
Eddie Lacy, Green Bay Packers
Lacy missed Week 3 with a concussion, but the bye week following that game seems to have him ready for Week 5. At a cost of only $6,000, Lacy is a great value pickup this week.
The Packers play the Detroit Lions this week at home. They are coming off weeks where they’ve successfully produced back-to-back 100-yard rushers. Furthermore, the Lions run defense has graded out as the 10th-worst in the league with a grade of -3.7 through four games.
With James Starks still sidelined with a knee injury, look for Lacy to get a good chunk of the carries in Green Bay and for him to be extremely successful with them.
Isaiah Pead, St. Louis Rams
With starting running back Daryl Richardson being rather unproductive this season, the Rams need to look elsewhere to jumpstart their ground game. A matchup against the awful defense of the Jacksonville Jaguars this week might be the perfect place to start.
The Jaguars boast the fourth-worst overall defense and the second-worst run defense with grades of -32.6 and -18.6 respectively. The ground is an area where the Rams can be successful and Pead should definitely get the opportunities to have a big game.
At a cost of only $5,600, Pead could end up being the steal of the week.
Wide Receiver
Kenbrell Thompkins, New England Patriots
Many expected Thompkins to have a breakout year for the Patriots this year. Unfortunately, he struggled through the first two games of the season and made every fantasy football owner in the universe very uncomfortable about his future.
Thompkins, however, has seemed to have righted the ship in the past two weeks. In those games, Thompkins has recorded nine receptions for 168 and three touchdowns. Last week against the Atlanta Falcons he recorded six receptions, 127 yards and a touchdown.
Simply put, Thompkins is starting to become the go-to receiver for quarterback Tom Brady. He should have another big game this week, and at a cost of only $5,900 he’s a great value this week.
Nate Washington, Tennessee Titans
Washington has continued his strong play through the first four weeks of the season. His current overall grade of 7.5 is good for the second-best in the league.
Washington also has a wide receiver rating of 131.8, which is good enough for the third-best for a receiver. While his production could drop some with the injury to starting quarterback Jake Locker, his cost of only $5,200 easily makes up for that.
Start Washington this week and watch him continue to play at an elite level.
Tight End
Jermichael Finley, Green Bay Packers
Much like Lacy, Finley is coming back from a concussion suffered in Week 3. And just like Lacy, he could be in for a rather productive week against the Lions this week.
In only 111 snaps this year, Finley has 11 receptions for 121 yards and two touchdowns. Those aren’t incredible numbers, but they are rather decent for a play that only has a cost of $5,900 this week.
The Lions pass defense has been decent this year, but the Packers pass offense is simply too superior for Detroit to slow them down. Finley should have another solid game and provide big numbers at a low cost.
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