DFS Three And Out 2018 Week 8

By Bob Harris
Bob Harris
DFS Three And Out
Three DFS players I'm investing heavily in for tournament (GPP) play this week. ... And one I'm not.




I'm In:


John Brown, WR, Baltimore Ravens ($5,900 on DraftKings; $6,700 on FanDuel)

It's been two weeks since I rolled out Brown, so I'm overdue. To quote myself from the Week 6 edition of the Three and Out: "My love for Brown knows no bounds." I don't deny it. Heck. I revel in it. You should too. The Panthers secondary will have its hands full with Brown, who currently leads Baltimore in receiving yards with 558. While that puts him at 15th in the NFL in total yards, Brown ranks No. 1 in the league in yards per catch among receivers with 25 or more catches, with 28 receptions for an average of 19.9 yards. Meanwhile, as ESPN's Mike Clay notes, Carolina sits among the top 10 in fantasy points allowed to both left and right perimeter receivers, and has the eighth most combined to all outside WRs. In general, the Panthers’ secondary has been inconsistent, ranking No. 17 in the NFL in passing defense, allowing 260 yards per game. Last week, Philadelphia quarterback Carson Wentz was very successful against the Panthers, completing 30 passes on 37 attempts for 310 yards and two touchdowns.

Kenny Golladay ($5,700 on DraftKings; $6,600 on FanDuel)

As the Sports Xchange note this week, thanks to Kerryon Johnson, the Lions have unearthed a ground game that has seemingly eluded the franchise since Barry Sanders retired prior to the 2000 season. But Detroit's offense still runs through Matthew Stafford, who will sling the ball all over the field to his capable stable of receivers. Golden Tate, who started his career with the Seahawks and helped guide the team to a Super Bowl victory, leads the Lions with 37 receptions for 467 yards and three touchdowns. But the 6-4 Golladay has given Stafford a bigger-bodied receiver who can spread the field and beat defenses over the top. In fact, as ESPN's Al Zeidenfeld noted this week, Golladay leads the Lions in receiving yards when he lines up wide. Seattle is allowing the sixth-highest completion percentage to players lined up wide and the sixth-lowest completion percentage to all other locations on the field. Beyond that, as Clay pointed out, in Tate, Golladay and Marvin Jones, Seattle will face its toughest wide receiver unit since the Rams racked up 33 points against them back in Week 5. Worth noting, Golladay is coming off his worst game of the season -- a game in which he was targeted just twice (a season-low) as Stafford threw just 22 passes with Johnson running rampant. Prior to last week, Golladay's targets were 12, 9, 7, 4 and 9. Tate is still seeing 26 percent of the team's targets, which is impressive. Golladay is only at 19.6 percent, but as CBSSports.com's Heath Cummings suggests, you can live with that from a guy who averages 16 yards per catch and has a high catch rate. I'm banking on a rebound in targets and production at a very reasonable price.

Jalen Richard, RB, Oakland Raiders ($4,200 on DraftKings; $5,700 on FanDuel)

With Marshawn Lynch out until at least Week 16, Doug Martin will move in as the starter. As USA Today's Marcus Mosher put it, "While head coach Jon Gruden is confident in Martin’s ability to be a workhorse back, I am not. ..." I share in that because. ... Numbers! Over Martin’s last 27 games, he’s averaged three yards per carry and as Mosher added, he's "looked painfully slow." Meanwhile, through six games, Richard has already set a career high in receptions and is all but certain to pass his career high in receiving yards on Sunday. He’s one of the most dynamic backs in the NFL and he leads the league having been targeted on 42 percent of his routes (minimum 20 routes run); he's averaging 6.5 targets per game over the last four. As Zeidenfeld notes, he's one of just four running backs who have had three-plus catches and 35 yards in four straight games, along with Saquon Barkley, James White and Alvin Kamara. In addition, the Colts have allowed the second-most RB receptions per game this season with seven. ESPN's Matthew Berry added to that by noting that Richard has four games with at least six catches, one of only four backs to do that, with Christian McCaffrey, Barkley and White being the others. Go ahead and check the pricing on Barkley, Kamara, McCaffrey and White.



I'm Out


Cam Newton, QB, Carolina Panthers ($5,800 on DraftKings; $8,100 on FanDuel)

Newton is good. I mean, he's super good. He's run for 252 yards and a team-high three touchdowns this season while averaging 4.9 yards per carry for Carolina. He’s also thrown for 11 TDs. But this week, Newton faces a Ravens defense that ranks first in sacks (27) and scoring (14.4 points a game). As FantasyPros' Mike Tagliere pointed out this week, outside of the one Thursday night game against Andy Dalton where they just seemed off, the Ravens allowed just four passing touchdowns in their other six games combined. They're coming off a game in which they held Drew Brees to 212 yards and two touchdowns. In addition, Berry points out the Ravens blitz at the second-highest rate in the NFL (37.2 percent) while Newton ranks 30th in yards per dropback when blitzed. The Ravens also have a top-10 red zone defense. This is also a week in which Newton has been limited in practice due to a sore throwing shoulder. The other issue for Newton? A lack of high-end weaponry at wideout. The Panthers would like Devein Funchess to be a go-to weapon down the field and he's shown signs of becoming dependable (he has a team-leading three touchdown receptions this season, including one in each of the past two weeks), but nobody should view him as "high end." Saving grace? The Ravens have allowed six runs of 10 yards or more to quarterbacks this season and they've up the 13th-most rushing yards to quarterbacks this season. So Newton might make some hay as a runner, but will it be enough? This might be a week to pay up at QB.