It’s time for the week nine NFL DFS under the radar plays. And, the main slate leaves little to be desired. Ownership will be condensed on a few players in excellent match-ups. The rest of the plays will leave you needing a shower after hitting the lock button. With that being said, I’m going to have to go dumpster diving for this weeks under the radar plays. NFL DFS players will have difficult decisions making line-ups. First, Christian McCaffrey, Dalvin Cook, and Le’Veon Bell are in great spots but are all highly-priced. Additionally, the stud wide receivers received bumps to their salaries. And, two games stand-out, that will draw high ownership with the Detroit Lions at Oakland Raiders and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Seattle Seahawks. DraftKing’s pricing could be described as high and tight. Constructing rosters will be a challenge. But, That’s why we do this. Let’s go under the radar for week nine NFL DFS!
(All players, fantasy points and pricing are from DraftKings, Sunday main slate.)
Week Nine NFL DFS: Under the Radar Plays
Quarterback: Philip Rivers $5,100
I was tempted to list Baker Mayfield as my under-the-radar quarterback, at $5,100 he seemed too cheap. However, the Denver Broncos have the fourth-best defense against the pass. They are road favorites in a low implied total. I love Nick Chubb this week.
Which leads me to Rivers. The Los Angeles Chargers are a home underdog in, one of the only, moderately high implied total of 46.5 against the Green Bay Packers. I expect the Chargers to play from behind which will lead Rivers to have to throw a lot. Rivers has attempted more than 30 passes in all but one game. Although the Packers have an improved secondary, they have given up the sixth-most yards. Additionally, they are the bottom ten against the tight end. Hello, Hunter Henry. This game has sneaky shoot out potential and could also be considered for under the radar stack of the week. Rivers offers some, salary relief for those of us that will be jamming the stud running backs into our line-ups.
Week eight pick: Ryan Tannehill, fantasy points, 19.42. Result: Solid!
Running Back: Phillip Lindsay $5,300
The easy pick will be Jaylen Samuels or Trey Edmunds, of the Pittsburgh Steelers whomever gets the start. If he gets the start that would create salary relief to pay up at another position. However, I don’t like running backs against a stout Indianapolis Colts run defense.
With that being said, the Denver Broncos are running Brandon Allen out for his first career start. The Cleveland Browns are middle of the pack, defensively, against the run. The Broncos will most likely lean on the run to support Allen. Lindsay will be a valuable outlet to Allen on passing downs. Lindsay continues to see fifteen or more touches per game and his point-per-reception value on DraftKings is what makes him an attractive pivot.
Week eight pick: Tevin Coleman, fantasy points, 40.80. Result: BOOM!
Wide Receiver: D.J. Moore $4,800
Moore could be an afterthought as McCaffrey will most likely be a chalk play, from the Carolina Panthers‘ side, in most line-ups. You could do worse than Moore. He’s been targeted eight or more times in each of the past three games. Moore’s also been on the field for more than ninety percent of the snaps. If the Titans sell out to stop McCaffrey, good luck with that, the passing game will open up for Kyle Allen, and we just saw Mike Evans light up this Titans’ defense last week.
Week eight pick: Robby Anderson, fantasy points, 8.3. Result: Bust!
Tight End: Cameron Brate $3,100
Brate has seen an increase in offensive snaps and targets the past two weeks since taking over for injured, O.J. Howard. Howard’s status remains questionable this week, still nursing a hamstring injury. The Seahawks give up the third-most yards to opposing tight ends. And, this game should involve plenty of passing from both sides. We can only hope that Brate finds the end zone in this contest which would more than pay for his price. Additionally, Brate is good for a ceiling performance, at least, once a year. If that’s the case pivoting to Brate from Chris Godwin and Evans, or stacking with either could be massive.
Week eight pick: Jonnu Smith, fantasy points, 19.8. Result: BOOM!
Defense: Redskins $1,800
When it comes to defense I’m willing to go to the bottom of the barrel. This week it’s the Washington Redskins. We have to save money wherever we can and this is the spot. The lone redeeming quality of the Redskins’ defense is there ability to put pressure on the quarterback. They are the sixth-best defense in quarterback hurries with a thirteen percent hurry rate per drop back. So what does that mean? Well, it means they’re getting close. They are middle of the pack in total sacks with nineteen. So, we have to hope they force Josh Allen into making mistakes in the passing game, which he is prone to do. Also, if they can get to him and force a fumble. Allen is taking a little more than two sacks per game, thrown seven interceptions and has fumbled the ball eight times.
Week eight pick: Texans, fantasy points, zero. Result: BUST!
Under the Radar
With so many games with low implied totals, it’s going to be difficult to differentiate from the field. Additionally, Draftkings pricing has adjusted to the match-ups making it difficult to play all the studs. Tight end is the toughest position to get to this week. Because the studs are priced at or above $6,000, we have to dive below $4,000 to find value. And, there just isn’t a whole lot to like down there. However, if we can get our under the radar play to fall into the endzone we should fall into pay dirt. Those are week nine’s NFL DFS under the radar plays. Sprinkle them into your GPP (guaranteed prize pool) line-ups and get that tournament take-down. Who do you think is flying under the radar?
Good luck and good DFS!
Main Photo: Embed from Getty Images
