Twelve of the 22 teams on the DraftKings Sunday main slate have expected totals between 19 and 22 points. The Patriots and Saints lead the way with expected totals of 29, meaning a Patriots stack would likely be Brady-Gronk and your choice of a RB (Burkhead, Lewis, and White are all on the cheap side).
A Saints stack is much harder. Do they stick with the solid run game and go Ingram-Kamara stack or will Sean Peyton and Co. pass a little more opening up a Brees-Thomas-Ginn stack? I expect all of those players to be owned far and wide this week.
For this week I am focusing on some players who I think will go overlooked this week. To stay away from the Patriots game, I plan to play some early slate contests. When I built my original lineup, I found that seven or my nine players were on the early slate. Travis Kelce and Sterling Shepard appear to be the most obvious “must-plays” this week.
| QB | Tom Brady | NE | 7400 | GOAT with highest team total |
| QB | Alex Smith | KC | 6700 | Great spot vs. helpless Giants |
| QB | Matthew Stafford | DET | 6600 | Nice string of high scores |
| QB | Kirk Cousins | WAS | 6100 | Expected to play from behind in game with high total |
| QB | Jay Cutler | MIA | 5400 | Interesting cheap gamble |
| QB | Joe Flacco | BAL | 4900 | Even cheaper gamble against horrific GB secondary |
| RB | Todd Gurley II | LAR | 8400 | Very high floor in this spot |
| RB | Mark Ingram | NO | 8100 | Splitting carries is always a risk |
| RB | Kareem Hunt | KC | 8000 | Still very high salary but who can argue with matchup |
| RB | LeSean McCoy | BUF | 7800 | Buffalo making a change at QB |
| RB | Alvin Kamara | NO | 7500 | See Ingram, but $600 cheaper |
| RB | Jordan Howard | CHI | 6200 | Seeing a lot of touches but high score is TD dependent |
| RB | Kenyan Drake | MIA | 4800 | Two solid games since Ajayi trade. Still cheap |
| RB | James White | NE | 4700 | Sharing touches with Lewis and Burkhead |
| RB | Duke Johnson Jr. | CLE | 4400 | Cheap pass catching option |
| RB | Theo Riddick | DET | 4100 | Even cheaper pass catching option |
| RB | Rex Burkhead | NE | 3600 | Head coach is a big fan |
| RB | Gio Bernard | CIN | 3000 | Cheapest pass catching option on the card |
| WR | Mike Evans | TB | 7900 | Expect to return from suspension with a chip |
| WR | DeVante Parker | MIA | 6500 | Deep threat against poor defense |
| WR | Jarvis Landry | MIA | 6400 | Short threat against poor defense |
| WR | Sterling Shepard | NYG | 6300 | Now a target-monster for bad team |
| WR | DeAndre Hopkins | HOU | 6100 | Savage is force-feeding targets to Hopkins |
| WR | Robert Woods | LAR | 6000 | Hottest mid-price option around |
| WR | Amari Cooper | OAK | 6000 | Underdog in highest Vegas total |
| WR | Michael Crabtree | OAK | 5900 | See Coopers |
| WR | Marvin Jones Jr. | DET | 5600 | Much cheaper option than Tate |
| WR | Marqise Lee | JAX | 5500 | Even better option without Hurns |
| WR | Emmanuel Sanders | DEN | 5200 | $600 savings from DT |
| WR | Ted Ginn Jr. | NO | 4800 | Need to have a NO receiver on the list |
| WR | Jeremy Maclin | BAL | 4500 | I dislike Ravens receivers, but interesting vs. GB |
| WR | Dontrelle Inman | CHI | 3200 | Near min-price should cover price easily |
| TE | Travis Kelce | KC | 7300 | TE against Giants pencil in the numbers |
| TE | Rob Gronkowski | NE | 7200 | Good spot for Gronk |
| TE | Evan Engram | NYG | 6000 | Gets the targets that do not go to Shepard |
| TE | Vernon Davis | WAS | 4600 | Cheap option with Reed out |
| TE | Jermaine Gresham | ARI | 2800 | Better option now with all the QB changes |
| DST | Jaguars | JAX | 4000 | Anyone against Cleveland |
| DST | Chiefs | KC | 3300 | Giants are bad |
| DST | Bengals | CIN | 3000 | Denver with major QB problem |
| DST | Dolphins | MIA | 2800 | They have to show some pride, don’t they? |
| DST | Rams | LAR | 2400 | Price drop? Why? |
| Main Slate | ||||
| QB | Jay Cutler | MIA | 5400 | |
| RB | Todd Gurley II | LAR | 8400 | |
| RB | Kenyan Drake | MIA | 4800 | |
| WR | Jarvis Landry | MIA | 6400 | |
| WR | Sterling Shepard | NYG | 6300 | |
| WR | Emmanuel Sanders | DEN | 5200 | |
| RB | Rex Burkhead | NE | 3600 | |
| TE | Travis Kelce | KC | 7300 | |
| DST | Rams | LAR | 2400 | |
| 49800 | ||||
| Early Sunday Slate | ||||
| QB | Jay Cutler | MIA | 5400 | |
| RB | Todd Gurley II | LAR | 8400 | |
| RB | Kenyan Drake | MIA | 4800 | |
| WR | Jarvis Landry | MIA | 6400 | |
| WR | Sterling Shepard | NYG | 6300 | |
| WR | Marvin Jones Jr. | DET | 5600 | |
| WR | Dontrelle Inman | CHI | 3200 | |
| TE | Travis Kelce | KC | 7300 | |
| DST | Rams | LAR | 2400 | |
| 49800 |
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