NY Giants Fantasy Spotlight – Week 13
Ethan Haskell
Draft a new fantasy football lineup every week on DraftKings. Put a team together of a QB, RB, RB, WR, WR, WR, TE, FLEX (RB/WR/TE) and DST within a $50,000 salary cap.
With three games on Thanksgiving Day the Week 13 schedule looks a little bit like a typical mid-season bye week schedule on DraftKings. Only 13 games on the slate for Sunday/Monday contests which somewhat limits the number of viable options. When you add in tough matchups for high-powered offenses such as the Packers and Broncos, it might take some outside the box thinking to roster the highest scoring squad on DraftKings this weekend. One of those outside the box offenses you can look to target is the San Diego Chargers passing game against the Baltimore Ravens. Baltimore's strength is in rushing defense, which often times people confuse with having an elite total defense. They are extremely banged up and vulnerable in their secondary and QBs recently have reaped the rewards.
Philip Rivers at $6000 on DraftKings this week is a terrific value QB option that allows you to spend up at other positions. Rivers has struggled of late and his price tag has plummeted alongside it, but the Chargers as a team are a running offense - passing the ball on the 10th fewest percentage of offensive snaps this season. This weekend, the Chargers won't be able to afford to force feed the rushing attack against a staunch Ravens front seven, meaning they'll have to throw the ball often to put points on the board. As referenced earlier, the Ravens secondary is reeling right now and Rivers should be able to hook up with his primary target, Keenan Allen, early and often. Over the last five weeks the Ravens have allowed the most fantasy points per game to opposing quarterbacks. In that time they've seen Ben Roethlisberger put six passing touchdowns on the board against them and Drew Brees threw for 420 yards and 3 TDs. Rivers also has the tournament upside needed to win a major event on DraftKings, such as the Millionaire Maker, as he's posted three games of 25 or more fantasy points on the year.
Switching the focus back to his receivers, it looks like Keenan Allen is in line for another big week in Week 13. He's seen at least 9 targets in each of his last 5 games has at least 14 fantasy points in three of his last four outings. He had some early season struggles finding the end zone but has remedied those concerns with 2 touchdowns in the last four weeks. As far as coverage goes the Ravens best corner, Lardarius Webb, plays primarily out of the slot and we've seen true wideouts (such as Allen) have success against this defense in recent weeks. Last week, both Kenny Stills and Marques Colston had over 80 receiving yards and they've allowed 100+ receiving yards to three receivers in the last 5 games. Allen's touchdown opportunities are trending upwards and his $6,000 price tag on DraftKings makes him an appealing tournament play to pair up with Rivers for this weekend's contests.
For a combined $12,000 in salaries between Rivers and Allen, you are spending just 24% of the total $50,000 salary cap on your QB and his top receiving weapon and the two combining for 50 fantasy points is well within reach. Compare that to the $19,000 that the duo of Peyton Manning and Demaryius Thomas will cost you or the $17,800 that the duo of Aaron Rodgers and Jordy Nelson costs and it's easy to see why this pairing is a tremendous value option. Beyond Rivers, some other value QB options this week are Ryan Tannehill ($6,900), Andy Dalton ($6,100), Alex Smith ($6,200) and Colt McCoy ($5,000).
