Week #10 has come and gone, so let’s take a look at the biggest daily fantasy football busts and diamonds. There’s still seven weeks left in the regular season, and several weeks of playoff football, so hopefully this information will help you to make better picks in the future. Let’s get started with the busts.
The Week in Busts
Peyton Manning, QB, Denver Broncos
Manning has now set the NFL record for most passing yards in a career, but in the same game, he was pulled because of a poor performance. The Broncos ended up losing; their first loss of the 2016 season. However, this wasn’t a huge surprise to many daily fantasy analysts. Manning has been struggling week after week, but the strength of his team around him has carried his share of the weight. That didn’t happen this week. Still, this was one of his worst fantasy performances ever. He had 5 completions on 20 attempts for a total of 35 yards. He threw 4 interceptions and was sacked twice, too. Don’t count on Manning turning his season around anytime soon.
Marshawn Lynch, RB, Seattle Seahawks
Lynch is a talented RB, but had a subpar performance as the Seahawks lost to the Arizona Cardinals. He had just 42 yards of rushing, but he did score a touchdown, which actually helped his fantasy value a lot. We’ve included him in the busts section because Lynch is capable of a lot more. In fact, the Seahawks had commented that they were not expecting him to play on Sunday. So a lackluster performance was to be expected. For those that enjoy having him on their fantasy teams, this is a good thing because we know he can play better, and a poor outing will drive his price down a little bit for next week.
Dez Bryant, WR, Dallas Cowboys
Bryant had 45 yards and no touchdowns on Sunday. Even more troubling than this was his receptions rate. He had 5 completions on 12 targets, giving him a completion rate of less than 50 percent. Bryant has played far better than this all season, and a large part of his struggles recently are because QB Tony Romo is out with an injury. Bryant is at the mercy of backup QB, Matt Cassel. This is going to give him too much uncertainty as a receiver, and drive down his value. Even if you can get a good price on Bryant, the big question mark by his name is probably going to make him a bad choice for the near future. Tony Romo is eligible to play next week, though, so keep an eye out for improvements.
The Guys Who Made Us Happy
Kirk Cousins, QB, Washington Redskins
Cousins has shown a flash of greatness here and there this season, but Sunday’s game was by far his best yet. He threw for 324 yards, had 4 touchdowns, and had 20 completions on 25 attempts. His QB Rating was up over 158, giving him the best performance of the weekend. The Redskins have struggled a bit this season, but they crushed the New Orleans Saints, 47-14, showing that they might just be able to give themselves a winning record after all. If Cousins comes at a cheap price in the future against a weak defensive team, he’s worth picking up.
Michael Floyd, WR, Arizona Cardinals
Floyd was targeted 9 times and had 7 receptions when the Cardinals defeated the Seattle Seahawks. He put up 113 yards and scored two touchdowns on those 7 receptions. It was a great game by him, and his ability to pick apart the Seattle defensive was pretty impressive. He hasn’t had that impressive of a season, though. He’s only averaging 48 yards per game, and only had 3 touchdowns on the year before this game. He has potential though, especially if he is able to do so much on so few completions. His 35 yard run—the longest of the Seattle game by him—wasn’t even his most impressive of the season. He could be a last half of the season standout.
Cousins photo by.
