DraftKings NFL Week 3 Positional Breakdown

We are now two weeks into a highly injury prone NFL season, but we are still having a blast. The realization has now hit me that we are just four weeks from the start of the NBA season, but that is neither here nor there. I am very excited for this week of football action, and I think I see some plays we can certainly use to our advantage.

Without further adieu, let’s get this thing started!

QUARTERBACKS

HIGH OWNERSHIP: The easiest point to jump off on will be Drew Brees ($7900) and Matt Ryan ($7400), as they are in the highest projected scoring game of the week. The problem is that the game is on Monday night, and DraftKings has moved away from including that game on their main slate. I think that will result in us seeing a lot of ownership of Cam Newton ($7800), Aaron Rodgers ($7700), Andrew Luck ($7600) and perhaps even Eli Manning ($7000). I could potentially see one name that we will have below seeing higher ownership as well, but I think we could see some spending up at the position.

LOW OWNERSHIP: One of my favorite plays this week is going to be Marcus Mariota ($5900). He is laughably cheap in a matchup with what looks to be the worst defense in the league. I also like Alex Smith ($5800) a lot this week as the Chiefs try to cobble something together against a pretty high profile Jets offense. Matthew Stafford ($6800) could end being a little lower owned because of the obvious options being in good spots, but I really like him too. Philip Rivers ($6700) is a good play as well against a bad Indianapolis defense. Finally, I think Kirk Cousins ($6400) is underpriced and should be under owned this week.

HOW I’M USING THEM IN CASH GAMES: Ryan/Brees/Mariota/Stafford/Cousins

HOW I’M USING THEM IN TOURNAMENTS: Brees/Newton/Rodgers/Mariota/Stafford

RUNNING BACKS

HIGH OWNERSHIP: I think it is safe to say we are likely to see high ownership this week of David Johnson ($7700), DeAngelo Williams ($7500), C.J. Anderson ($7300), and Matt Forte ($7000). Why? All of them have been producing and are in pretty good situations this week. I think Melvin Gordon ($5800) will see high ownership too, as will Charles Sims ($4900) due to injuries. Theo Riddick ($4900) will likely see a ton of ownership with Ameer Abdullah hitting the injured reserve. I think that is pretty straight forward, but also how I can see the ownership shaping up this week.

LOW OWNERSHIP: After two really bad weeks, I think we will likely see pretty low ownership on Todd Gurley ($7100), and he’s in a good matchup to boot. DeMarco Murray ($6300) could also see lower ownership with the high end guys in such good positions. Christine Michael ($5000) is in a weird position, as I think he will be used more this week, but is in that price range where people will go to either Sims or Riddick ahead of him. That makes him one of my top tournament plays. Fozzy Whittaker ($3800) is being overlooked, and despite the fact that Ron Rivera says they will split carries, I think he’ll be the lead back. Finally, Shane Vereen ($3700) was used at the goal line quite a bit and I think his usage will be higher in this high scoring game.

HOW I’M USING THEM IN CASH GAMES: Williams/Gordon/Johnson/Riddick/Forte

HOW I’M USING THEM IN TOURNAMENTS: Michael/Vereen/Gurley/Murray/Gordon

WIDE RECEIVERS

HIGH OWNERSHIP: Antonio Brown ($9600) against anyone is always going to be highly owned. The same can be said for Julio Jones ($9500) against the Saints and their putrid defense. Staying in the same game, there is no question that Brandin Cooks ($7900) and Willie Snead ($6500) will see a ton of ownership as well. After his week 2 explosion, you can expect to see Kelvin Benjamin ($7200) with a double digit ownership percentage too. Larry Fitzgerald ($6900) looks pretty impressive thus far, so you know he will see a lot of ownership. Jarvis Landry ($6600) could have another huge day, and he is not reliant on touchdowns for big fantasy games. Will Fuller ($4800) and Stefon Diggs ($5100) just feel far too cheap after the big weeks they’ve had. I’m seeing high ownership here as well.

LOW OWNERSHIP: Odell Beckham Jr. ($9100) was high on my list, but it appears as if Josh Norman will be shadowing him, so unless he’s being used out of the slot all game, this will lower his upside, and thus, likely his ownership. Going up a tough defense and coming off a bad week 2, A.J. Green ($8100) will likely see his ownership drop in a big way. I’m on him in tournaments just because of this. Allen Robinson ($7500) hasn’t looked good, and will probably be pretty low owned this week. Sammy Watkins ($6100) hasn’t looked good either, but this could be a good buy in spot for him this week. I would also take a look into Jeremy Maclin ($6000) who could be the next guy to burn Darrelle Revis. Victor Cruz ($4700) has looked mostly good since coming off of injury, aside from a fumble last week, and could benefit from Norman covering Beckham.

HOW I’M USING THEM IN CASH GAMES: Snead/Landry/Jones Jr./Brown/Fitzgerald

HOW I’M USING THEM IN TOURNAMENTS: Green/Watking/Cruz/Maclin/Diggs

TIGHT ENDS

HIGH OWNERSHIP: At the tight end position, I think you will have the usual high owned plays: Jordan Reed ($6500), Greg Olsen ($5800), Delanie Walker ($5000) and maybe even Dwayne Allen ($3800). There is the potential that you will see higher ownership this week from Jacob Tamme ($3200) and Coby Fleener ($3300), but that is merely a result of the game they are in. I actually like Tamme quite a bit, and he was even my cash game tight end last week, so I have no issues using him in an even better matchup.

LOW OWNERSHIP: I’m curious to see the ownership on Martellus Bennett ($4700) if Gronk plays. I think it will be very low, and I think that Bennett actually plays to Brissett’s game plan at this point with or without Gronk. Dennis Pitta ($3400) is my favorite tight end play this week, but I think he will be lower owned. Kyle Rudolph ($3100) has shown good chemistry with Bradford in the early going, so I like this spot for him here. If you really want to dumpster dive, I’d look at either Jared Cook ($2900) or Richard Rodgers ($2700) against a Detroit defense getting eaten alive by tight ends.

HOW I’M USING THEM IN CASH GAMES: Pitta/Tamme/Reed

HOW I’M USING THEM IN TOURNAMENTS: Pitta/Tamme/Bennett

DEFENSES

HIGH OWNERSHIP: I think the Seattle Seahawks ($4100) will remain a highly owned team going against a 49ers team that coughed up turnover to turnover to the Panthers. I would think the Denver Broncos ($3500) could also see a high amount of ownership against the Bengals after how the Broncos D looked last week. Finally, the Miami Dolphins ($3000) are facing Cody Kessler and the Cleveland Browns, so there’s that.

LOW OWNERSHIP: The Tampa Bay Buccaneers ($3100) aren’t an exciting defense, but the Rams offense looks bad. In the same breathe, the Tampa Bay offense looked beatable too and I think the Los Angeles Rams ($3000) have a decent enough defense to keep it interesting. If we really want to roll the dice, I find the Dallas Cowboys ($2500) appealing against a bad offensive line and a second string quarterback.

HOW I’M USING THEM IN CASH GAMES: Dolphins/Seahawks/Broncos

HOW I’M USING THEM IN TOURNAMENTS: Cowboys/Dolphins/Buccaneers

I hope you enjoyed this article, and I will be back next week. I hope to see you on the leaderboards!

Nicholas Volinchak is a correspondent at FF Nation. To read more from Nicholas, follow him @researchandwin. You can find more of Nicholas’ football work at Research Fantasy.