Salary Cap Savers for Week 7

One of the first things I do when beginning my lineup-building for the DFS week is looking for obvious lower-cost plays. They save cap space from the outset and it is much easier to boost salary on a position or two at the end of filling out a lineup than cutting even a few hundred bucks. Here are the key salary cap savers for Week 7:

Todd Gurley $7,400

Slot Gurley in as a value RB1 or high-floor (and upside RB2) this week. Since Week 3, no running back in the NFL is averaging more than Gurley's 24.5 carries per game and only Chris Ivory is averaging more yards-per-carry than Gurley's 6.22 on similar usage over that span. Add to all that the Rams' great matchup against Cleveland, in St.Louis as favorites, plus he has yet to score on 55 carries and Gurley is a must-play.

Willie Snead $6,500

Snead has gone four games, spanning 25 receptions, without a score. The Colts have allowed a receiver to post at least 17 PPR points in every game this season, including 7-105-0 to Danny Amendola in Week 6 and Kendall Wright's 7-95-1 in Week 3 amidst the stronger opposing receivers along the way. Oh and Percy Harvin also posted 5-79-1 back in Week 1 on five targets. Snead has seen at least five targets in every game since Week 1 and Brandin Cooks will continue to draw top coverage, allowing Snead to excel against secondary corners.

Examining Early FanDuel Ownership

The early ownership numbers are in and front-and-center in the Projection Ownership article over at Footballguys.com. Here are a few highlights:

High Ownership

Devonta Freeman has moved up to the elite tier of pricing with his historic run of recent production. The ownership levels have only strengthened at near 50% this week even at $8,700. Todd Gurley is the name in bright lights in terms of ownership and value for Week 7. Gurley logged 35% ownership in tournament action and I even saw a 50/50 FanDuel contest at 70% with a Thursday night lock. Gurley has a green light matchup against Cleveland and at $7,400 is a significant advantage as an RB2 and value play RB1 for the week.

Low Ownership

Of the 5% or lower early ownership group at wide receiver, Golden Tate, Mike Evans, and Vincent Jackson stand out for tournament play. Evans and Jackson get Washington's secondary, which has struggled against big-bodied receiver this season like Brandon Marshall (7-111-1), Eric Decker (4-59-1) and even Rueben Randle (7-116-1). Golden Tate as the secondary receiver against Minnesota's secondary continues the trend of success. Albert Wilson outproduced Jeremy Maclin against the Vikings (3-57-1), Malcom Floyd had 4-63-0 back in Week 3, plus Tate himself was successful against Minnesota earlier this season with 6-80-0 on 10 targets.

Find the rest of this post over at Footballguys.com.

Musings: Sorry rush defenses = plentiful RB options Week Seven

As I am crafting my Sunday lineups at FanDuel, I am reviewing my notes from the rushing matchups I wrote earlier this week -

Todd Gurley ($7,400) vs. sorry CLE rush D

Joseph Randle? ($6,800 )/Christine Michael? ($5,600) vs. sorry NYG rush D

Adrian Peterson ($8,900) vs. LIONS sorry rush D

Latavius Murray ($7,000) vs. sorry SD rush D

Doug Martin ($7,200) vs. softening WAS rush D

Frank Gore ($7,100) vs. sorry NO D

I'm still sorting through the offensive line situations and injuries at other skill positions on each of the matchups above, but there seems to be a lot of attractive running back options this week for DFS purposes...

Good Luck everyone!

FanDuel Week 7 Starting Stacks

I just posted my FanDuel stacks of the week, covering less common stacks, defensive stacks, and twists on highly-owned stacks. Here's one stack idea. Be sure to check out the full article for tons of other stacks.

Drew Brees ($8,400) + Willie Snead ($6,500) = $14,900

I always pay close attention to the top-scoring underdog of the week. The Saints face the Colts on the road in the only game with a 50+ point over/under. This is a shootout in the making. Snead isn't the value he was the past two weeks, but his price still hasn't caught up to his status as New Orleans' number one receiver.

Staff Friday Cash Plays - Week Seven

Welcome to the Week Seven edition of Footballguys.com's Staff Friday Cash Plays - we're glad you are sticking with us into the heart of the 2015 NFL season!

As my colleague Andrew Garda noted on the Thursday edition of this post, a lot of the Footballguys are going for Antonio Gates ($5,800) - in fact, 12 of the 15 lineups submitted by the deadline for writing this post included Gates in their lineups for Sunday Cash linups!  Gates Mania 2015 continues heading into the weekend. Delanie Walker ($5,500), Greg Olsen ($6,400) and Crockett Gillmore ($5,000) were the other tight ends in play on staff lineups for Week Seven.

Two predominant quarterbacks - Carson Palmer ($8,200) and Cam Newton ($8,100) appeared on the most rosters at quarterback, with Palmer showing up in four lineups and Newton appearing in five. Philip Rivers ($8,000) and Andrew Luck ($8,900) each made the cut for two DFS lineups.

Catanzaro Lambo - No, those aren't Greek letters or the name of a fraternity - Chandler Catanzaro ($4,900) and Josh Lambo ($4,700) are the most popular placekickers among the Footballguys.com Staff Friday Cash Plays - Catanzaro appears on four lineups while Lambo graces three teams for the staff this weekend.

RAM tough - eight teams have the St. Louis Rams ($4,500) in play against the Browns (despite Josh McCown's crazy passing stats from recent games) - the Panthers ($4,800) check in at second this week with just two lineups rolling with Carolina at D/ST.

Remember to check up on the Footballguys.com player injury resources before setting lineups for the weekend - Craig Zumsteg's Injury Report Insight for Week Seven  and Dr. Jene Bramel's publications for Week Seven are invaluable resources for DFS players.

Good Luck everyone! 

Week 7 FanDuel Show on The Audible

Check out the Week 7 FanDuel show on The Audible. Every Friday morning Cecil Lammy, Alex Miglio, and Austin Lee dig into the Vegas lines, cover the key WR/CB matchups, dissect some unique tournament stacks, and make their out-on-a-limb picks of the week.

Listen here or subscribe to The Audible on iTunes and never miss an episode.

Week 7 Footballguys + Rotogrinders Show

Be sure to check out the Week 7 episode of The Footballguys Daily Fantasy Hour presented by Rotogrinders. Dan Back, John Lee, and Austin Lee air live every Wednesday at 9:30pm ET. They cover key injuries, discuss matchups, and make their bold picks of the week. Don't miss Austin Lee's lip sync video paying off last week's DubSmash bet by celebrating Back to the Future Day. Gotta get back in time!

You can watch this week's episode on-demand or download the audio version to listen on the go.