Week #1 of the NFL season illustrated some examples of what happens when you price daily fantasy sports salaries out before the season begins. This is a difficult task, and in their defense sites like FanDuel and DraftKings have a tough time evaluating information before it becomes available. There are bound to be mistakes.
But now that it’s the second week, we have more information and we can use it to our advantage when drafting our daily fantasy football teams. One week is not enough to be conclusive, but it is enough to raise some warnings and give us some ideas of what to be wary of. With our Week #1 stats in hand, we have found a couple players that you will want to avoid for your drafts this week.
Calvin Johnson, WR
Johnson had only 2 receptions last week for a total of 39 yards. He has posted great stats in the past, and this kind of performance raises a bunch of red flags about the Detroit Lions and their targets. Why is such a great player only getting four targets?
While it’s easy to say that you can’t jump to a conclusion after only one week, it is also apparent that there are some issues going on with Detroit’s receivers. Yes, Johnson only had 4 targets, but there is a reason for this. Either he is not able to get himself open like he should, QB Matthew Stafford is not as quick as he once was, the other receivers have surpassed Johnson in talent, or there is some other issue. Either way, Johnson did not perform and at his still inflated price, he is not worth picking up this week. He’s too expensive and hasn’t shown us any results to warrant that price this year. Even if he has a great game against the Vikings, he will be performing at the level his price says he should, and isn’t a good deal in this respect. The odds are that this will not happen, though, and therefore Johnson should be avoided in your drafts.
Andrew Luck, QB
Luck is supposed to be the best QB in the NFL this year, but so far, he hasn’t shown us that. He struggled quite a bit last week against the Buffalo Bills, and although his opposing defense this weekend might not be as strong in the New York Jets, they are still a force to be reckoned with. Luck is a gifted athlete, but until he shows that he can win games against tough teams, he is not worth his high price tag. Only one QB in the entire NFL is priced higher than him at most sites: Aaron Rodgers. Luck’s strength is that he throws the ball a lot. His weakness is that he’s not as accurate as he could be; he only had a 53.1 percent completion rate last week. He did have 2 TDs, which is helpful, but if you throw the ball as much as he does, that’s inevitable. Luck either needs to prove that he’s worthy of his price, or it needs to come down about $800 before you should consider having him on your team. Until then, he’s just one of those guys that’s really fun to watch on TV, but won’t actually be a top contributor on your fantasy football team. He could easily improve this by boosting his yards per reception average. Right now, he’s at 9.3 yards per throw, and 5.0 yards per attempt. These are both really low and need to come up if Luck is going to be a seriously considered quarterback this year.
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