We’re getting into the part of the season where fantasy lineups start getting shaped by more than just injury news. Trades matter now, too.
Matchups matter. Weird game scripts matter.
And sometimes a player can land in your FLEX because his team is playing the Colts.
That’s the kind of week this is in DraftKings’ DFS slate, where the bar for success here is modest: 50 yards or a touchdown counts as a win. At quarterback, you’re on your own. This is about the FLEX spots - the backs, receivers and tight ends who can sneak past expectations.
Blake Corum is still right in the middle of that conversation at running back. At $5,000, he’s coming off a 17-carry, 93-yard, one-touchdown game, and the setup against the Chargers looks like another one where the Rams lean on the ground game.
The passing game doesn’t look especially stable right now, and Corum’s touchdown streak has reached three straight games. There are going to be quieter weeks, but this doesn’t look like the spot where the Rams walk away from what worked last time.
The price also hasn’t caught up yet.
Jonah Coleman checks in at $4,300, and the number feels low because Denver rotated all three backs last week. Still, Coleman is the clearest lead option in that group right now, and Sean Payton backed that up Monday when he called Coleman’s carries “explosive.” The Chiefs are a difficult matchup - they’re top-10 in run defense DVOA - but the Broncos also need to establish something after their last meeting with Kansas City got away from them with too much Bo Nix.
Samaje Perine comes in at $4,800, even though Chase Brown handled 16 touches to Perine’s four last week. The catch is that three of Perine’s touches came after halftime, once the Bengals recognized “oh, this under center stuff isn’t working.”
He still looks like a meaningful part of the offense, with roughly 40 percent of the backfield work in play on a strong unit. Cincinnati is a 10-point home favorite against the Titans, so there should be enough chances for the backs to matter.
Chris Rodriguez is priced at $4,400 and gives the Jaguars another back worth considering. Before the bye, he logged his first game of the season with more than 10 touches and turned 11 carries into 55 yards.
He also spent too much of the second half watching from the sideline even though Jacksonville stayed close to the Texans. The Colts, as the source material puts it, are quitting on the season, and Rodriguez looks like a candidate for another 10-carry outing with a shot at a touchdown.
At receiver, Keenan Allen is the Colts option at $4,500, and the game script sets up fine for him. Indianapolis is a 7.5-point road underdog in Jacksonville, which should push the passing volume up.
Allen didn’t have much room to work last week because none of the Colts receivers did - 108 passing yards doesn’t leave much to go around - but he still stood out as the best of the bunch. He’s also the veteran type who can still cash in on PPR volume.
And with Josh Downs having requested a trade, the receiving pecking order isn’t exactly settled.
Antonio Williams is listed for Washington at $4,300, and there’s a clear path to more work now. The coach essentially said Stefon Diggs can’t take on the entire Terry McLaurin load and that Williams is someone they like.
Diggs also popped up on Wednesday’s injury report, though it was just a rest designation and he’s expected to play. Williams was already usable before McLaurin’s season-ending injury, and then he played 67 percent of the snaps against the 49ers.
Philadelphia’s defense hasn’t been as frightening as expected, and Williams already scored against the Eagles once.
Kendrick Bourne is the bargain name at $3,900, and the volume case is strong. He managed six targets even in a rough box score last week, and now he moves from Denver’s defense to a Dallas unit that even allowed Tanner McKee to get something going.
Michael Wilson should see plenty of Joey Porter Jr., which only helps Bourne’s opportunity share. The Cardinals are also turning further into Jalen Brooks, who is now out for the season with the wrist injury he announced on Instagram.
Bourne doesn’t need much efficiency to pay off if the targets stay there.
Caleb Douglas sits at $4,100 and has already flashed in a small sample. Over his last three games, he’s gone over 70 yards twice and scored twice.
He left early against the 49ers with the ankle injury that kept him out for most of a month, so there’s some health caution here, but the matchup is appealing. New England is 29th in DVOA against opposing No. 1 wide receivers, though that number is shaped at least a bit by Christian Gonzalez missing time with a shoulder injury.
Ja’Kobi Lane is the cheap play at $3,400, and the case for him is basically the same every week: more targets, more chances, and eventually Lamar Jackson should be back. Lane posted another 3/25 line with five targets even without Jackson, and the recommendation is being made as if Jackson will play.
When that happens, the read on Lane gets a real test. The matchup also comes with a 54.5 over/under, which is hard to ignore.
At tight end, Brenton Strange remains a volume play at $4,000. He has 23 targets over his last three games, and even without a touchdown since Week 1, that kind of usage keeps him in the mix. Tight end has been thin enough this season that volume like this matters, especially once you get past the top names.
Chig Okonkwo rounds things out at $3,800, and the opportunity has picked up with Terry McLaurin sidelined. Call it the Chigassance, call it Getting Chiggy With It - either way, he’s becoming a real piece of the passing game and may be the second-most important target there now.
Stefon Diggs has also had his own health issues this season, which only helps Okonkwo’s case. Against the Eagles, he should be in line to threaten TE1 value.
In Other News...
Commanders Pass Rush Faces Pressure To Deliver Against The Eagles
Washington spent the offseason trying to bolster its edge rush, bringing in Odafe Oweh and KLavon Chaisson and adding Joshua Josephs in the draft, all with the idea that the front would become a more consistent problem for opposing quarterbacks. So far, the production has been thinner than hoped, even with Oweh emerging as the teams most productive pass rusher and the group still searching for a steadier impact.
Dan Quinn acknowledged the need to get more from that part of the defense as the Commanders come out of the bye week and turn toward Philadelphia. Facing the Eagles tends to stress every weakness in a defense, and for Washington, the pass rush has become one of the clearest areas where a stronger showing could help define the stretch run. [Read more 🡒]
Commanders Season Is Suddenly Riding On One Huge Jayden Daniels Question
With the NFC tightening up around them, the Commanders are staring at a far less forgiving stretch than the one they expected when the season began. Philadelphias collapse has opened up the division picture, but Washington has not been able to take full advantage, and the bigger concern in the building is how far the team still has to go before it looks like a real contender again.
A lot of that now comes back to Jayden Daniels, because his status shapes everything about how this team is viewed going into the second half of the season. The broader issue is not just the quarterbacks health or availability, but whether Washingtons current roster and coaching setup are good enough to support him in the way a playoff team has to, especially with so much attention on Dan Quinn and the way the front office has assembled the group around its young passer. [Read more 🡒]
Commanders Secondary Has One Obvious Missing Piece Before Eagles Week
Washington has a prime NFC East test coming up in Week 8, with the Eagles visiting while Philadelphia works through a wave of injuries that has changed the shape of the matchup. Even with the visitors in a difficult spot after the season-ending loss of Jalen Hurts, the Commanders still have a secondary that will be under the microscope against a division rival that can test coverage in a hurry.
The bigger question is whether Washington has enough at corner to match up cleanly with Philadelphias top weapons, especially when one more impact defender would change the look of the unit in an instant. A glance at the Eagles defensive backfield makes it easy to see why this conversation keeps coming up, because one young corner has already done enough in seven games to make a strong case as the kind of piece any secondary would love to add. [Read more 🡒]