5 Daily Fantasy Football Matchups to Exploit in Week 8
Atlanta Falcons Passing Game
The number of times I have put my faith in the Atlanta Falcons passing game is far too embarrassing to admit. The number of times they have let me down is roughly the same. I'm going to hold my nose and do it again -- just for old time's sake.
Although the fantasy output from the Falcons has been disappointing of late (outside of Devonta Freeman), they are still viewed in a positive light by numberFire's metrics. The Falcons sit sixth in Adjusted Passing NEP per play, which is quite good. They're at home, facing a Tampa Bay Buccaneers defense that you, frankly, should target no matter who the opponent is. Game on.
Last week, the Buccaneers were facing Washington. I think we can all agree that Kirk Cousins isn't the greatest quarterback in the land, yes? He basically has his own fashion line now, and he has this defense to thank for it. We like that in our matchups.
Cousins last week because the third quarterback this year to post a top-three scoring week against the Buccaneers. The other two are fellow noted fantasy football juggernauts Marcus Mariota and Blake Bortles.
All of that said, this infatuation with the Buccaneers probably won't lead to my rostering Matt Ryan. Ryan's fantasy output this year has largely been disappointing with only one weekly top-10 finish, and his price ($8,000 on FanDuel and $7,100 on DraftKings) doesn't really reflect that. I'm looking more at his receivers.
Julio Jones is one of those dudes in whom you always want a little bit of ownership because he can go off in any contest. That is especially true for this week, against this team. Jones himself has finished in the top eight in scoring at wide receiver four times this week, landing in the top three twice. Tampa Bay let two receivers finish in the top six -- in the same week. Jones's potential is ign'ant this week, and you need yourself exposure.
In a way, this recommendation also translates to Freeman. Not only do the Falcons appear likely to build a large lead, pushing game script in his favor, but he is an involved member of this Falcons passing game. He's actually second on the entire team in targets with 44 this year, accounting for a 16.60 percent market share (Jones leads at 33.58 percent). He has seen at least five targets in five of seven games this year, and he has been efficient in those targets. Freeman is third in Reception NEP per target of 14 running backs with at least 25 targets this year. I believe this is more of a Julio week, but you should probably have exposure to one of these two guys on a good chunk of your rosters.
Finally, I do want to make mention of Jacob Tamme. From Week 2 on, Tamme has played four games unimpeded by injury. In those games, he has received 15.98 percent of the team's targets. That's not a huge number, but in a game where the team figures to be camping near the goalline with regularity, it's enough to justify a look. For just $4,800 on FanDuel and $2,700 on DraftKings, you could do a lot worse.
