September 17, 2016

Renee Miller's DraftKings daily fantasy football lineup picks. Week 2 NFL DFS sleepers & FLEX values - running backs (RB), wide receivers (WR), tight ends (TE).

It’s easy to let your DraftKings FLEX spot be left up to the amount of salary remaining after you fill out the rest of the squad. That’s the ‘flex-by-default’ strategy, and the purpose of this Week Two DraftKings DFS article is to help you avoid it. You can and should use the FLEX spot to strengthen and diversify your daily league lineups for Week 2 of the NFL season.

A couple of thoughts: (1) You don’t have to spend all the salary cap. A better player in a better situation may force you to leave a few hundred salary cap dollars on the table. Force yourself to roster the best lineup, even if it fails to use the whole cap. (2) As a scientist, I like to use players for which I can build a case based on multiple pieces of evidence. I look at things like opportunities, efficiency, opponent and game flow to start my research. I want as many players that are positive in all categories as I can fit. Having an idea of the players I want before I work with salaries helps me with #1 too.

Editor's Note: If you like DraftKings, then be sure to also check out FantasyAces. New users that sign up on Fantasy Aces and make a $20 deposit will receive RotoBaller's full season NFL Premium Pass for free (including Premium DFS), normally a $59.99 value. Expert DFS research, sample lineups, matchup ratings and lots more!

Week 2 DraftKings FLEX Options - Daily Fantasy Football Picks

Use this list as your FLEX cheat sheet; if a player is on here, there’s good reason to roster him in your last spot. I assume that you have $6,500 or less to work with for this final spot on the roster.

I also assume you’ll arrange accordingly so that the player with the latest game start is in the FLEX in case you should need to swap someone out. Let's get to it.

Safe Options - Week 2 DFS Lineup Picks

Larry Fitzgerald - $6,400

Picking up right where he left off somewhere around Week 6 last year, the ageless Fitzgerald is already on a torrid TD pace again. It’s clear that Carson Palmer, one of my favorite QBs this weekend, has nothing but trust in the elite wideout and neither should you in a great matchup vs. Tampa Bay. Arizona is the big home favorite in one of the week’s highest projected scoring games.

Greg Olsen - $5,600

Speaking of big favorites, Cam Newton and company own the biggest spread of the week. Vegas cares not for the 49ers huge Monday night win over Los Angeles, as the Panthers are currently 13-point favorites. It’s great to have Kelvin Benjamin back in the fold, but Olsen is a key cog in this offense and should see close to 10 targets this weekend. I expect his ownership to be lower than it should with more appealing tight end options on this slate than last week.

Jason Witten - $4,300

Two tight ends in the safe section? After last week I may be crazy. I like opportunity when it comes to TE and Dak Prescott targeted Witten 14 times (!) last week. If his volume of passing attempts remains over 40, there’s literally no way Witten doesn’t see in the neighborhood of 10 targets against the Redskins in Week 2. I’ll go out on a limb and say, I’m expecting the first Prescott TD to be to Witten this weekend.

Upside Options - Week 2 DFS Lineup Picks

Allen Hurns - $5,400

I’d have liked to put Allen Robinson here but his price tag exceeds my limits. Robinson had 15 targets last week to Hurns’ five, but the two finished with nearly identical yardage totals (72 and 75 respectively). While both were held without a TD against Green Bay, I think that changes in San Diego. Especially with Julius Thomas nursing a mild ankle injury already, Blake Bortles should find Hurns for a couple long passes that end in the end zone this weekend.

Danny Woodhead - $5,200

Woodhead might be the most popular running back play this week, given his enhanced role last year and even last week when Keenan Allen was out of action. Philip Rivers loves him. The Chargers are in a great situation facing Jacksonville at home. I think the Jags keep this game competitive, which keeps Woodhead on the field. He has multi-TD upside in what should be a high scoring game for San Diego.

Latavius Murray - $5,700

He sees a small price hike after a solid Week 1 performance, but Murray still has the ability to exceed value. He faces Atlanta, and perhaps not much more needs to be said. Pretty much every running back’s best game of 2015 came against the Falcons. Murray proved to be the workhorse back for the Raiders, carrying 14 times, scoring and making a 13-yard reception on two targets. In a fantastic matchup, in one of the highest scoring games of the week, give me the every down back on a good team, and no, I’m not scared of Jalen Richard.

Value Options - Week 2 DFS Lineup Picks

Kyle Rudolph - $3,100

The deepest value I find myself leaning on for Week 2 is Rudolph, who was targeted by Shaun Hill eight times Sunday. The Vikings looked awful, no doubt about it, but opportunity is what you’re after with someone in this tier, and Rudolph has it. He’s a big guy at 6’5” and I expect Hill to look for him should they approach the end zone this week. While Green Bay quieted the Jags wideouts in Week 1, they did allow Julius Thomas to catch all five of his targets for 64 yards and a TD.

Chris Hogan - $3,500

Rob Gronkowski was limited in practice on Wednesday, but even if he’s active Sunday I don’t think Bill Belichick and the Pats will push him too hard coming off an early hamstring injury. Hogan earned more snaps than Danny Amendola or rookie Malcolm Mitchell Sunday night, and caught 3/4 of his targets including a nice touchdown. If Jimmy Garoppolo trusts him, I like him a bunch in Week 2 where the Pats are pretty big home favorites as a cheap contrarian play with nice upside.

Travis Benjamin - $4,400 / Tyrell Williams, $3,700

Last but certainly not least, are the other beneficiaries of Keenan Allen’s unfortunate injury. The attention is squarely on Tyrell Williams, who shined in the preseason and followed it up in Week 1 with two long receptions for 71 yards. I’m hedging a bit with Benjamin, who is also a great value as the new #1 in a pass-first offense. He had seven (albeit short) catches in Week 1. Expect Benjamin’s ownership to be extremely low, but don’t forget that he is more than capable of making big plays, something that is hard to remember since he was most recently making them for the Browns. Unless you really need the extra salary cap, consider Benjamin over Williams in all formats.