Just as we think we have clarity at the wide receiver position, quarterbacks get injured and offensive coordinators choose not to feature their best player. I’m specifically referring to Bill Lazor not finding a way to get AJ Green more than one catch in the second half, but I digress. There are plenty of good options this week. So, let’s see which players we can rule out early in the week in the wide receiver edition of week 8 DFS don’ts.
Antonio Brown: FanDuel Price $9,200
I always get nervous when putting one of the NFL’s best at any position on this list, especially Antonio Brown. So, how does the leagues best wide receiver wind up on the week 8 DFS don’ts list? His matchup. Brown and company will travel to Detroit this Sunday night. That means Brown will line up opposite of Darius Slay. Slay has been one of the leagues best corners in 2017 and is deployed in shadow coverage in certain situations.
Let’s say the Steelers move Brown around so he doesn’t see Slay. Well, he’ll then face Quandre Diggs. That may seem like a plus matchup, but it isn’t. According to Pro Football Focus, the Lions are the only team besides the Jaguars to have both of their starting corners ranked in the top 16.
Pair those two players with Glover Quinn and the Lions have one of the deepest secondaries in the league. With no Martavis Bryant, and possibly no Juju Smith-Schuster, the Steelers will likely feature Le’Veon bell even more in the pass game.
Amari Cooper: FanDuel Price $7,200
The FanDuel engineers are begging you to play Amari Cooper. His price looks great. Derek Carr has appeared to regained his confidence in this offense. However, this is the classic example of chasing points and overvaluing an outlier performance.
Cooper was targeted 19 times. Of those 19 targets, he only had 11 catches. So, Cooper is still not operating as an efficient player. There were actually a of those balls that he realistically should have caught. In short I’m not convinced his drop issues are over. In addition to his unrealistic volume, his matchup against the Chiefs was much more favorable than his upcoming opponent.
The Chiefs have been awful in terms of surrendering points to wide receivers. Terrence Mitchell has been abused by opposing receivers all season. This Sunday, Cooper will see either Tradevious White or EJ Gaines. Both of those players are far superior to Mitchell.
Matchup aside, Cooper’s touchdowns came from at least 30 yards away from the end zone. While we love big play wide outs, their production is inconsistent. When the game was on the line against the Chiefs, the Raiders targeted Michael Crabtree with a jump ball fade and a speed out. In short, Cooper is not the red zone receiver. With Crabtree at the same price, I’d be incredibly tempted to fade Cooper and take advantage of the field, who will no doubt be all over Cooper. As soon as the Thursday game was over, I had Amari Cooper marked down for my week 8 DFS don’ts.
Will Fuller: FanDuel Price $6,500
I love the emergence of Will Fuller in this offense. He presents a dangerous threat to a defense with his ability to connect on the deep pass, but it’s not happening for Fuller this week. The Texans travel to Seattle. That’s all that needs to be said. While this Seahawks team may not have the same defensive reputation in years past, they are still a tough out.
Football Outsiders has the Seahawks pass defense ranked 5th in terms of DVOA. The Texans have not seen a secondary this good yet. The profitable Watson-Hopkins stack will not deliver this weekend. Fuller will not deliver either. He is too dependent on the big play to create production. His target workload and matchup against Seattle do not justify his $6,500 price tag. Fuller, Brown and Cooper round out the wide receiver edition of week 8 DFS don’ts.
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