Ethan Haskell
Written By: DraftKings Playbook Manager
Last week Russell Wilson disappointed against a poor Carolina defense so we'll try to bounce back with a couple of stronger options for Week 9. There are 6 teams on the bye this week so choices are a little slimmer than usual, which is why I'm looking to heavily target the Denver at New England game with an over/under set at 54 points. The player I'm targeting the most here is Julius Thomas, whose recent struggles have dropped his DraftKings price to just $5600. That's an absolute bargain compared to his counterpart in this game, Rob Gronkowski, and his matchup might be better than that of Gronk. The Patriots are allowing the 12th most fantasy points per game to opposing tight ends this season but have been even worse since their linebacker, and defensive captain, Jerod Mayo went down. Mayo went down in the 2nd quarter against the Bills and their TE, Scott Chandler, finished the game with 6 catches for 105 yards. The following week vs. the Jets, both Jeff Cumberland and Jace Amaro combined for 6 catches, 72 yards and a touchdown. And then last week Martellus Bennett of the Bears had 6 catches for 95 yards and a TD against New England. Their linebackers are slow-footed and the Broncos have enough weapons to spread the Patriots secondary out, leaving huge holes for Orange Julius to take advantage of. It wouldn't surprise me if he finished the week as the highest scoring tight end while carrying just the 4th most expensive price point on DraftKings.
At quarterback, it looks like a great spot for Colin Kaepernick to post another solid fantasy performance against the Rams. Kaep had his best fantasy game of the season a few weeks back against St. Louis, totaling 32 fantasy points with 343 passing yards and 3 TDs. That type of game has been the norm for a Rams defense that has allowed the 5th most fantasy points per game to opposing QBs on the year. Last week was just the second time all season that St. Louis had held an opposing QB without multiple passing touchdowns but for the most part they've been wide open defensively. Kaepernick has a reasonable $7000 price tag on DraftKings for Week 9 and there aren't a lot of mid-range quarterbacks who have strong matchups this weekend. The 49ers QB has also been dropping back a lot this season, throwing at least 30 times in all but two of the 49ers games. This surge in passing attempts has been fueled by a 49ers offense that is throwing the ball on 7% more snaps than they did a season ago. They still rank in the bottom third of the NFL in pass play percentage, but the increase from last season is a good indicator that they're trying to get Frank Gore some more rest which leads to more opportunities for Kaepernick to tally fantasy points. If you're looking to pair Kaepernick with one of his receivers, Anquan Boldin has back to back games with 7 receptions and should line up across from slot corner LaMarcus Joyner on the majority of downs. Joyner has been one of the worst coverage corners all season and Boldin should be able to take advantage. Boldin sits at just $5000, making the Kaepernick/Boldin duo a nice value combination for Week 9 tournaments on DraftKings.
