Matthew Freedman publishes comprehensive positional breakdowns for the main NFL DFS slate throughout each week.
We’ll highlight one of the top players from each position (according to our Models) and his analysis of their outlooks below, but be sure to check out the full versions of each breakdown for the best cash-game and GPP plays for Week 9.
QB Breakdown
Russell Wilson, Seattle Seahawks
Russell Wilson is the No. 3 FanDuel quarterback with 23.3 points per game. He’s been a strong source of value with his +6.15 Plus/Minus.
As much fun as it is to disparage offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer, Wilson has been incredibly productive with him since he joined the team last season, especially since the 2018 Week 7 bye (per RotoViz NFL Stat Explorer).
In his past 18 regular-season games, Wilson has been a fantasy QB1 an outstanding 12 times, and only once has he finished outside the QB2 tier.
>> Read the full QB breakdown here
RB Breakdown
Dalvin Cook, Minnesota Vikings
Cook entered the season as a concern-laden player. He flashed but failed to sustain his output in two injury-impacted career-opening campaigns. But in his third NFL season, he has been forcefully fantastic through eight games.
On a weekly basis, Cook has an extremely high floor. He’s No. 3 with 18.4 expected fantasy points per game and No. 2 with 6.1 fantasy points over expectation (per RotoViz Screener). He’s getting his touches and making them count. He leads the league with 13 carries inside opponents’ five-yard line (per Pro Football Focus).
Cook has a touchdown in every game this year but one. And in that isolated instance, he put up 200-plus yards from scrimmage. He’s No. 1 with 346 yards created (per Player Profiler). Straight baller.
>> Read the full RB breakdown here
WR Breakdown
Jarvis Landry, Cleveland Browns
I’m not much of a Landry truther, but can you tell me what the real difference is between Odell Beckham Jr. and Landry right now?
OBJ’s on-field numbers are slightly better, but only slightly, and he’s horribly underperformed his salary-based expectations. As a producer, Landry has been similar enough to OBJ this year to make him a viable arbitrage play against the Broncos.
In truth, Landry is so discounted that he’s actually an option for cash games.
At $4,500, Landry is CHEAP. For Week 9 last year, Landry was $6,500. A $2,000 decline for a receiver playing almost every snap and still seeing regular targets is massive.
>> Read the full WR breakdown here
TE Breakdown
Hunter Henry, Los Angeles Chargers
Henry has been a hard-luck kind of guy for most of his career.
After winning the 2015 John Mackey Award as the top college tight end, Henry entered the league as a potential-laden second-rounder but was forced to spend the first two years of his career in a timeshare with long-time franchise fixture Antonio Gates.
Entering 2018, finally free of the stench emanating from Gates’ jettisoned corpse, Henry was poised to break out — and then he suffered an ACL tear in the preseason. His campaign was done before it even began. And then in Week 1, he suffered a knee injury near the end of the game. He wasn’t expected to return till late in the year.
Absolutely brutal.
But amazingly Henry returned to action in Week 6, and has since lived up to the hype.
>> Read the full TE breakdown here
