WEEK 16 - FANTASYSCORE GPP OFFERINGS
FantasyScore is a USA Today Sports Media Group fantasy sports game that is powered by RealTime Fantasy Sports. It is a DFS site that can give you the excitement of playing fantasy football each week during the NFL season. FantasyScore offers Draft Leagues (Draft & Go) and Salary Cap leagues weekly during the NFL season.
In this feature we are going to look at the GPP contests and offer the top stacks, fades, and ownership projections for each upcoming week.
FantasyScore will also be hosting a $25,000 Football Championship for Week 16 for which you had to qualify during Weeks 1-15 via satellite tournaments. 105 "golden tickets" were won via satellite contests from Weeks 1 to 15 and the Championship pays the top 20 winners, with $10,000 going to first place.
TOP STACKS
Detroit Lions -- QB Matthew Stafford ($6,400) and WR Golden Tate ($5,700)
Matthew Stafford now has 12 touchdown passes over the past 4 games with at least 22 completitions in each of those games. Look for the trend to continue with a home matchup against a 49ers team that is in a downward spiral this season. In those same four games Stafford has zoned in on his wide receiver Golden Tate for 30 receptions for 218 yards and 5 touchdowns. Tate has a total of six touchdown receptions on the season but has found a nice groove with Stafford over the last four games and with Calvin Johnson somewhat banged up the opportunity for a Stafford and Tate connection is that much stronger. The prices on both Matthew Stafford $6,400, and Golden Tate $5,700 make them the most affordable stack on the board that comes with the most upside.
Pittsburgh Steelers -- QB Ben Roethlisberger ($8,500) and WR Antonio Brown ($8,800)
Maybe the most obvious QB/WR stack on the board this week is that of Ben Roethlisberger and Antonio Brown but in order to roster the duo you are going to have to pay the price of a combined salary of $17,300. The matchup is a great one as the Steelers travel to play their division rivals the Baltimore Ravens. Roethlisberger missed the Steelers first game this season against the Ravens and the last time he played the Ravens was Week 9 of the 2014 season where he threw for 340 yards and 6 touchdowns. The Steelers are a 10 point road favorite this week and even if they get out to a first half lead you have to think they will keep the foot on the gas against a hated oppenent such as the Ravens. Antonio Brown is coming off a Week 15 performance against the Broncos that saw him be targeted 18 times for 16 catches for 189 yards and 2 touchdowns.
Jacksonville Jaguars -- QB Blake Bortles ($8,100) and WR Allen Robinson ($7,900)
Blake Bortles has quietly posted a 33 touchdown season through the teams first 14 games in 2015. Although the Jaguars are not winning many games they are most certainly scoring their share of points on a week to week basis. The same will likely be true once again this week against the Saints awful secondary. If it is a close game Bortles will likely have his hand in the scoring and if the Jaguars fall behind he will also look to put up some big numbers in garbage time as they try to play catch up. Allen Robinson has been on fire this season has become a true WR1 in fantasy football with a 69/1141/13 statline so far this season. With two games left on the season look for Robinson to push for 16 touchdowns in 16 games. I like Robinson for a touchdown or two on Sunday and pairing him with Bortles makes a lot of sense against a bad Saints team in the Dome.
VALUE STACKS
Kansas City Chiefs -- QB Alex Smith ($5,200) and WR Jeremy Maclin ($6,800)
Alex Smith is the perfect quarterback for the Chiefs as he does what is required of him and helps them win games. We hear it all the time that Smith is a good NFL quarterback and is a game manager type but for fantasy football purposes he is an after thought. The price is always right with Smith and at just $5,200 at home against the Browns he has to be in play. You either are going to pair Smith up with Travis Kelce or Jeremy Maclin but in this case I think you have to go with the wide receiver in Maclin. Four of Maclin's six touchdown catches have come over the past 4 games and in that span he has 31 receptions for 373 yards. Continue to play the bad defensive matchups this late in the season and look at the statistics and play Smith and Maclin with confidence and for a reasonable price.
New York Giants -- QB Eli Manning ($7,500) and WR Rueben Randle ($4,400)
Eli Manning is having a nice season stats wise with 3,900 passing yards and 32 touchdowns and has scored 8 touchdowns over the past two games. The Giants will be desperate on Sunday Night Football as they need to win out to have a chance at the division title. The big news of Odell Beckham Jr getting a game suspension only makes things tougher for the Giants and for that reason they are going to have to put their trust in the likes of Rueben Randle to help them move the ball down the field and create big plays when needed. The matchup is not great against the underrated Vikings defense but Randle comes at a very cheap salary of just $4,400. Randle has 9 catches for 105 yards and 2 touchdowns over the last two games.
FADES
Quarterback -- Carson Palmer, Arizona Cardinals ($8,400)
The Cardinals have been doing fine lately just relying on their rookie running back sensation David Johnson and the early season success of Carson Palmer has somewhat fizzled out as the Cardinals are more interested in winning games than padding their offensive players stats. The Cardinals will have a tough task this week as they play host to the Green Bay Packers and with only 6 touchdowns over the last 4 games, Palmer might be more in line with a one or two touchdown performance rather than a 3+ one.
Running Back -- Chris Ivory, New York Jets ($6,000)
Chris Ivory got off to a fast start this season but over the Jets past six games he only has a single touchdown. The last time the Jets played the Patriots this season Ivory rushed 17 times for 41 yards but he did manage to score a touchdown on a reception.
Wide Receiver -- Michael Floyd, Arizona Cardinals ($6,300)
Much like the reasoning for Palmer it is hard to pinpoint any exact fantasy plays from the Cardinals offense as they win as a team and spread the ball around in the passing game. Floyd has turned up his game over the second half of the season but in a game such as this with the Packers the Cardinals will be looking to get the ball to Fitzgerald, Brown and Floyd and creating a running game with David Johnson. The best bet right now looks to be the Cardinals trying to establish a running game with Johnson.
Tight End -- Jason Witten, Dallas Cowboys ($4,900)
Jason Witten is one of the good guys in the NFL with what he does on and off the field but good guys don't always make you a profit in the world of DFS. Witten has two touchdowns on the season and both of them came back in Week 1 when the Cowboys had Tony Romo still under center. Witten has never quit on the Cowboys but he just doesn't have the talent at quarterback now to make him a trusted play even at a moderate price of $4,900.
Defense and Special Teams -- Tampa Bay Buccaneers ($1,900)
The Buccaneers get a good matchup against the Chicago Bears this week but they have also had the Saints and Rams over the past two weeks and were unable to get a single turnover from their defense.
OWNERSHIP PERCENTAGE
FantasyScore just announced this week that they will share the percentage owned for all their contests going forward. Now we don't have to guess at which players will be highly owned or which players will be low owned as we will have the current percentage to go off of. I will list the top 3 players at each position below with their ownership percentages as of the time I write this article.
HIGHEST OWNERSHIP
Quarterback
Ben Roethlisberger, Pittsburgh Steelers ($8,500) = 21.10%
Blake Bortles, Jacksonville Jaguars ($8,100) = 18.26%
Matthew Stafford, Detroit Lions ($6,400) = 10.75%
Running Back
David Johnson, Arizona Cardinals ($6,900) = 37.73%
Charcandrick West, Kansas City Chiefs ($5,900) = 20.69%
Karlos Williams, Buffalo Bills ($3,000) = 20.08%
Wide Receiver
Antonio Brown, Pittsburgh Steelers ($8,800) = 53.35%
Allen Robinson, Jacksonville Jaguars ($7,900) = 25.96%
Golden Tate, Detroit Lions ($5,700) = 21.50%
Tight End
Benjamin Watson, New Orleans Saints ($3,500) = 21.30%
Will Tye, New York Giants ($3,200) = 20.69%
Julius Thomas, Jacksonville Jaguars ($6,700) = 15.82%
Defense and Special Teams
Kansas City Chiefs ($3,200) = 27.38%
Pittsburgh Steelers ($2,000) = 20.89%
Houston Texans ($2,500) = 7.10%
LOW/VALUE OWNERSHIP
Quarterback
Jay Cutler, Chicago Bears ($5,900) = 0.61%
Carson Palmer, Arizona Cardinals ($8,400) = 0.61%
Ryan Tannehill, Miami Dolphins ($6,000) = 0.61%
Running Back
Darren McFadden, Dallas Cowboys ($6,500) = 0.41%
Frank Gore, Indianapolis Colts ($5,600) = 0.41%
Chris Ivory, New York Jets ($6,000) = 0.61%
Wide Receiver
Dez Bryant, Dallas Cowboys ($7,200) = 0.20%
Brandon LaFell, New England Patriots ($4,700) = 0.20%
T.Y. Hilton, Indianapolis Colts ($7,100) = 1.22%
Tight End
Gary Barnidge, Cleveland Browns ($7,300) = 0.20%
Luke Willson, Seattle Seahawks ($2,200) = 0.41%
Delanie Walker, Tennessee Titans ($7,500) = 0.61%
Defense and Special Teams
New York Giants ($2,200) = 0.20%
Cincinnati Bengals ($2,600) = 0.41%
Dallas Cowboys ($1,400) = 0.41%