Everyday we will post a Market Check, which is a summary of our research on a different position for the week.
This is not the end of our advice for the week. At the end of the week, we’ll make our picks at each position. Some of the picks will not be discussed in the Market Check.
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BULL MARKET
Players we believe will out-perform their salary for the week. These guys will give you the most bang for your buck when you are building lineups.
The public and fantasy players are hopping off the Colts bandwagon in bunches. I’m a firm believer their rough start was due in large part to playing two elite defenses to start the season. Andrew Luck and the Colts will get back on track this week. Pep Hamilton will feed Frank Gore the ball and establish the run game. This will slow down the pass rush and draw safeties closer to the box. As the game goes on, Luck will take advantage of the loaded box and hit the Titans over the top for a few scores. I really like the chances of a Luck-Ty Hilton bomb in week 3. Finally.
Because Luck will bounce back this week, Mariota will gets extra pass attempts to try to keep pace with the Colts. Indianapolis’ secondary is still missing 2 of their top 3 corners, so this is essentially a JV secondary vs. a rising stud QB. Even under extreme pressure last week (sacked 7 times) Mariota led his team back into the game with 2 second half scores. Mariota is the real deal and Kendall Wright will do work in the slot. I also love that fact that on top of a projected big day through the air, Mariota is capable of tucking it and taking it to the house at any point with his 4.4 speed. A Mariota-Wright/Walker stack will be in my near future.
OMG, close your eyes and just press submit. I absolutely hate Blake Bortles but I’m going to do it, I’m going to use him in a few tournament lineups this week. The game script sets up for Bortles to have an ass load of attempts, which should cover up the few INT’s that he may throw. And at his extremely low salary you can load up at other positions. The Patriots secondary is still one of the worst in the league and Bortles is starting to show why he was worth the #3 overall pick. The Big fella is also mobile so I like the upside of some scrambling yards and possibly a goal line plunge as well. So, I’m just as scared as you are but Bortles is a smart DFS play this week in tournament contests only! Play a Bortles-Robinson stack and hope to hell the O-line gives BB enough time for another 50 yard TD to Robinson like week 2.
Foles checks all the boxes to be a sneaky good cheap QB play this week. At home, as an underdog, in a dome, facing a weak secondary. It’s hard to get excited about any Qb that looks like Napoleon Dynamite, and it’s very unsexy, but you will be happy when it allows you to load up your lineup with studs everywhere else. The Rams will be trailing and forced to open up the playbook. On volume alone, Foles should easily meet his salary and has the potential to far exceed his salary if it turns out to be a shootout. I’m going to use Foles as my cash game QB this week. If Brian Quick’s injury status wasn’t so murky I would love that stack this week, however, I’m going to do a Foles-Cook stack and try to win some big bucks in tournament contests.
BEAR MARKET
Players we don’t believe will perform up to their salaries. We think you can find better value elsewhere.
This is easy, the O-line looks atrocious, Bradford looks scared, and Chip looks….fat. As I’ve said many times on this site, the Eagles will become the offense we all hoped for this season, and if you play season long fantasy as well, don’t trade your Eagles. However, I love the Jets defense too much to take any Eagles this week. Their D line is too good and their secondary has some of the best man-man defenders in the league. Chip will fix this, but I don’t like his chances against this D. Let’s hold off a week.
I’m a Browns fan, so please don’t paint me as a ginger-ist. I know from experience how pitiful Weeds is as a QB. …to the point where it was painful to watch. And in reality it’s sad because he does have absurd arm talent, but the game just moves to quick for him and he is too dumb to read coverages. The Atlanta defense is playing inspired football and if any coach can confuse the shit out of Weeden it will be Dan Quinn. The Cowboys will go with an ultra conservative- run heavy offense, and when they fall behind Weeden will once again shit down his leg….and I will watch and laugh and thank God that Cleveland now has….McCown, shit.
Carr is an awesome young QB, just hate the matchup. The Brownies will establish the run, and put together long boring drives that eat up clock. When Carr does get the ball, his injury battered O-line will have trouble protecting him from the millions of man pressures Pettine schemes up each week. Haden bounced back in week 2 and should take away Cooper. Could be a tough day for the young fella, I like the Bull Market QB’s better.
No one is saying it because all the analysts were so “impressed” with Teddy last season, but he hasn’t looked great the past two weeks. Don’t get me wrong, for having only made single digit starts in his career, he looks great…. but compared to where expectations soared before the season…..I don’t see it… yet. In fact, to me he looks like a promising young game manager. And that’s all the Vikings need him to be this year. Norv knows the D is good enough to win games, so he will continue to call conservative play calls and let AP do all the heavy lifting for this offense. For this reason, I don’t like TB, the Vikings aren’t asking him to sling it 30 times a game and all the fantasy points will be eaten up by AP on the ground.
