The Commish's Weekly Fantasy Take: Week Four Starters!

/

Hello, ladies and gentlemen! Since fantasy football is SUCH a big deal and big business these days, and I opened a FanDuel account and have been playing, I thought it wouldn't hurt to share with you the Commish's picks for those online one-week fantasy duels. Since you likely won't be competing against me - you would have to somehow find the same league I'm in on FanDuel - I'm happy to share with you my thoughts on the upcoming week.

First of all, let me say that I have actually lost more than I've won, simply because I break my entries up between those "50/50" leagues and the million-dollars-to-first leagues. After my first week, I've done well in the 50/50 ones and come very close to getting at least SOME prize in those million-to-first leagues, so I may actually give you loyal readers an idea on some of the players you might look at when filling out your roster.

Let the FanDuel Begin!

First, a quick look at one or two of LAST week's entries for reference purposes. Here are the final standings who doubled money in the 20-team league I was placed in:

As you can see, I finished 5th pretty comfortably. Here's who I started:

Pretty easy to see I got very little from the QB position or EITHER RB position....yet, I still doubled my money.

The deal is you get to pick your team every week that you play, but each player is given a value and you have to stay under the "salary cap." That's what those "salaries" are that you see by the name.

Now, on to week four:

While a lot of folks went heavy on the Thursday night contest, setting the bar so far at 105.30 FP for the current "leaders," I haven't scored yet because none of my players have played, duh! 

First off, I went ahead and took Cam against the hapless Tampa Bay Bucs. Great fantasy QB, poor defense, and Jonathan Stewart is aching (again). Cam's been on fantasy fire lately, having scored 2 passing TDs and a rushing TD in each of the last two games. I think the trend continues until Carolina finds some stability in the running game.

The next priciest player would be Latavius Murray. Since he's playing on the road, it isn't perfect, but the Bears are a train wreck and Murray has really flourished overall. Giovanni Bernard was my last selection, but with Jeremy Hill troubling the coaching staff a bit, I think perhaps Gio gets a chance this week to shine, rounding out the RBs.

The WRs are there due to price vs. production, and in fact that's how one should approach this sort of thing. For instance, Donte Moncrief has been a pleasant fantasy surprise this season while T.Y. Hilton has been dinged up. Moncrief has established some rapport with Andrew Luck, plus they're playing JACKSONVILLE, who gave up over 50 points to an angry New England team last week. Clearly, they have a way to go yet, thus the Moncrief pick for this week.

Keenan Allen has been hauling in passes at a very fast clip, but isn't too pricey because he doesn't get a lot of TDs. I figure he breaks that this week against an "okay" Cleveland team. However, he's the one guy I might switch out because Joe Haden will likely be covering him, so I'm not so sure about Keenan this week, but I'll let him tell me when it's time to get off that horse with his production or lack of it.

Rounding out the WR group is DeAndre Hopkins of the Texans. He's their #1 receiver, Ryan Mallet has a complete cannon arm, and Hopkins has so far played well - other than at Carolina where few offensive players shine. This week, DeAndre is facing an improved Atlanta team and the Texans look to be behind, I would think, so Hopkins could post great fantasy numbers even in a probable losing effort.

Oakland has given up a lot of yards to TEs this year, and Martellus Bennett should be helped by that. Without Cutler and WR Alshon Jeffery, I think Bennett is on the block for a great week. 

Kicker Graham Gano is a nice selection with Carolina's drives bogging down. The team can move the ball, but often stalls out for field goal attempts, plus they're playing an easy opponent and should move the ball well, giving Gano multiple chances at scoring both on field goals and perhaps more than a few PATs. 

Lastly, I took Arizona's D, but Seattle's is equivalent now that they have Kam Chancellor back. Arizona seems to be a better fantasy defense, but Seattle flirts with shutouts a lot. Either or is a good pick.

One Entry Isn't Enough!

Here is another entry for another contest to check out:

Okay, so I kept Keenan Allen on this one as well simply because he HAS been productive and the Bolts are playing at home. I also kept Latavius Murray - I think both are "values" this week.

I'm going with Tyrod Taylor at QB - he's relatively inexpensive (the website is having issues displaying things OR it could be on my end due to the deluge we're seeing) and he has been highly productive in general so far. The Giants' defense isn't what it used to be, so I like the match-up.

Larry Fitzgerald has found the Fountain of Youth, albeit from an older QB in Carson Palmer. The Rams have a defense laden with talent, but the team as a whole is struggling, so I'm going ahead with Fitz as he's a proven pro with incredible hands.

While I don't generally recommend taking multiple position players from any single team, I'm doubling-up on Raiders here with RB Murray as mentioned AND rookie phenom Amari Cooper. Reasons? 11 of them called Chicago defenders. Ditto for Karlos Williams, starting now, against Giants defenders. Rookies are developing more quickly in recent years and we now have the beginnings of a sample size.

TE Travis Kelce is facing a difficult defense with Cincy, but they're likelier to start paying more attention to Jeremy Maclin while Kelce hits the seams over the middle and plays more like a WR than he does a TE.

K Adam Vinatieri is there simply because they play the Jags, and I took the Cardinals' defense because they're very productive in fantasy point going against that struggling Rams offense.

Enjoy the lineup suggestions and who knows, perhaps I gave a few of you some ideas. I hope so - that's the point!

Follow me on Twitter @Ken_Dye