How to Handle Week 1's High-Ownership Daily Fantasy Football Assets
T.Y. Hilton and Donte Moncrief, Indianapolis Colts
As numberFire's Jacob Gibbs emphasized in his initial look at the Week 1 pricing on FanDuel, the Colts' passing game is disgustingly cheap. That's probably going to lead to heavy investment in both T.Y. Hilton and Donte Moncrief as the Colts take the field against the Lions.
It'd be hard to blame people for doing so, given the likelihood that the offense rebounds with Andrew Luck healthy and the enticing matchup. The Lions ranked 25th last year in Adjusted Defensive Passing NEP per play, though that did trend in the right direction as the season progressed. Still, with Vegas slobbering all over this game, that's not an overly crippling concern.
With both Hilton and Moncrief, you'll have to weigh the same dilemma you had with Cooper: is it worth the high ownership, given the variance at the position? The answer here might be a bit different.
Because both Hilton and Moncrief are absurdly cheap and on the same team, they may actually eat into one another's ownership. While they should both be some of the higher-owned receivers on the slate, neither will be as chalky as a guy like Cooper. That'll move the needle a bit.
If you still want to avoid this, though, then Phillip Dorsett would likely be the avenue to do so. As noted in this Adam Levitan piece on preseason trends, the Colts have used three-receiver sets on 70% of their preseason snaps, echoing what they've been flashing in training camp. Dorsett will be on the field, he likely won't be covered by talented cornerback Darius Slay, and he should be able to skirt the high ownership of his well-known teammates.