Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) – NFL Week 2 Studs and Values

Welcome back to the latest installment of our DFS series on studs and values. This article will focus strictly on Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) and more specifically DraftKings contest for the Sunday slate of games. However, typically the picks will work on FanDuel as well. 

Wild, unpredictable, and entertaining, are just a few words that describe the NFL Week 1 slate. Tyreek Hill and Tua Tagovailoa were the winning stack going off for a combined 79.64 fantasy points. Who will break the slate this week? Let’s take a look at some of the top studs and values that will help you get into the green in your DFS contests. The values listed below are using DraftKings pricetags.

DFS Studs and Values – Quarterbacks

Patrick Mahomes ($8,300)

Mahomes weapons failed him last week in their loss to the Detroit Lions. Don’t let that stop you from drafting the MVP in your lineups. Last season, the Kansas City Chiefs lost three games. Mahomes the week after those losses, averaged 329 passing yards and had three touchdowns in each game. The Chiefs are most likely going to get Travis Kelce back and get a matchup against the Jacksonville Jaguars secondary, who is probably bottom five in the league. Last season, they allowed the eighth most DraftKings points to quarterbacks and in Week 1 allowed rookie quarterback Anthony Richardson to score 21.9 points in his first game. Look for Mahomes to get the offense back on track in Week 2.

Daniel Jones ($6,000)

Jones is a prime bounce-back candidate after an absolutely abysmal first game. The New York Giants offense could not get anything going outside of the first drive. They drove right down the field behind Jones’s legs but settled for a field goal attempt that got blocked for a touchdown. After that, the rain just kept coming down and the Giant’s offense could never get going again ending the game with a goose egg. However, they will face an Arizona Cardinals defense this week, who have nowhere near the defense the Cowboys do. Jones will have more time in the pocket and his weapons should find it much easier to get open this week, resulting in Jones putting up some good fantasy points.

DFS Values – Running Backs

James Cook ($6,100)

Cook finished Monday night’s game with a solid 10.3 fantasy points. It was tough for the Buffalo Bills entire offense to get any rhythm going against an elite New York Jets defense. That shouldn’t be as much of a problem against the Las Vegas Raiders. The Raiders do have a very good pass rush but the Bills will need to establish the run to help counteract that. Furthermore, the Raiders are coming off a game against the Denver Broncos where they allowed nine receptions to runningbacks. Cook had four receptions himself Monday and will play a factor in the passing game as well. Bold prediction time, Cook has his best game as a pro this weekend.

Jahmyr Gibbs ($6,300)

Gibbs certainly did not get a lot of volume last week but he was efficient with his touches. He made the defense miss tackles but he did miss some holes which was one of his weaknesses in college. Gibbs should start to see more and more volume each week as the season progresses. This week he will face a Seattle Seahawks defense that was awful versus running backs last year against both the run and pass. Head coach Dan Campbell has preached all week that Gibbs will see more work. Look for that to start this week and for Gibbs to have a big game.

DFS Studs and Values – Wide Receivers

Ja’Marr Chase ($7,900)

The Cincinnati Bengals offense as a whole looked way off on Sunday. Chase was still able to put up some numbers having half of Joe Burrow’s yards compared to Tee Higgins who had zero. However, with Burrow only passing for 82 yards that’s not saying much. Things will likely change this week against a familiar opponent in the Baltimore Ravens. Chase has dominated them in his four career games against the division rival. In those four career regular-season matchups, Chase has had seven or more receptions in each game. His lowest yardage total in those four games is 50 with his highest being 201. The Ravens’ secondary is already banged up and the Bengals’ offense will come out hungry after last week’s showing resulting in Chase having a much better game this week.

Tank Dell ($3,200) 

The preseason darling had a decent Week 1 given his opportunities but with only playing around half of the snaps, that didn’t open the door for a huge fantasy day. However, on those 37 offensive snaps, he ran 25 routes seeing a total of four targets. Furthermore, he had two targets negated by penalties one of which would have picked up a first down. Four of the total targets including the negated ones were on third down. CJ Stroud trusts Dell in big moments like third downs and his opportunities will keep increasing throughout the season. Make sure you are on Dell before it’s too late, especially with Noah Brown hitting the injured reserve, opening up more opportunities for Dell.

DFS Studs and Values – Tight Ends

Darren Waller ($5,500)

Waller had an awful matchup in Week 1 against the Dallas Cowboys defense. The Cowboys were one of the best defenses against tight ends last season, allowing only one touchdown to the position. Waller now gets a matchup against the Arizona Cardinals defense, who allowed a league-high 12 touchdowns to tight ends last season. Keep an eye on his health as he was on the injury report for a hamstring injury. If healthy Waller will be one of the top scoring tight ends on the slate.

Luke Musgrave ($3,200)

Musgrave should have had a touchdown last week, had he not fallen down inside the 10-yard line. As a result, this week he is way too cheap. He played 75% of the snaps last week and gets a matchup against a defense that just let Hayden Hurst have a good fantasy game. Hurst, with a rookie quarterback who was playing his first NFL game, had five receptions for 41 yards and one touchdown. Musgrave should crush his value this week and give your lineups flexibility to pay up for some top-end players on this slate.

DFS Values – Defense / Special Teams

Houston Texans ($3,600)

The Texans defense was able to rack up four sacks in their opening game in week one. The addition of new head coach, DeMeco Ryan and rookie first-round pick, Will Anderson Jr., made an early impact. Anderson looked the part securing his first NFL sack in his first game. This week, they face the Indianapolis Colts and a rookie quarterback that can be forced into mistakes. Last week, the rookie was sacked four times and threw one interception. Look for the Texans defense to get after Richardson and fill the stat sheet resulting in a good fantasy day for the defense.

Good luck with all of your DFS contests this week. Be sure to check back next week for some more studs and values. Don’t forget to check your lineups before Sunday’s kickoff to make sure no injuries popped up. Go win that money!

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