Things can change quickly in fantasy football. To quote Ferris Bueller, "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."
We're here to "look around" and make sure we don't miss any week-to-week salary changes that could pay dividends on FanDuel.
Maybe a player had an outlier performance and saw their salary rise too high, making them a sub-optimal play. Perhaps a player saw an increase in their role but played on Monday night after salaries for the following week's slate already came out, and therefore they haven't been priced accordingly.
This week's article will take a look at which players salaries have changed the most from Week 6 to Week 7 and dig into why those moves happened.
Now that you're ready, let's get to it!
Deshaun Watson, QB, Houston Texans
Week 6 Salary: $8,100
Week 7 Salary: $7,500
After three consecutive games of at least 375 passing yards, Deshaun Watson crashed back hard against the Buffalo Bills on Sunday afternoon. He completed only 15 of 25 passes for 177 yards and a touchdown with three turnovers. The Texans did prevail 20-13 to even their record at 3-3, but Watson's performance combined with his Week 7 AFC South matchup against the Jacksonville Jaguars makes him the biggest mover of the week at quarterback.
This will be Watson's second game against the Jaguars, his first as a starter. In the 2017 season opener between the two teams, Watson played in relief of Tom Savage and led them to their only score in the third quarter. He tore his ACL in week 8 and missed the second game against these two divisional foes last year.
The Jaguars are back home after giving up a combined 70 points the last two weeks on the road to the Kansas City Chiefs and Dallas Cowboys. Despite those setbacks, Vegas is siding with the Jaguars as 5-point favorites against the Texans with only a combined total of 42 points, the lowest of the week. Watson does have the eight-best projection at quarterback with 19.3 FanDuel points despite Houston's low implied team total of 18.5.
Other Big Movers:
Andrew Luck, Indianapolis Colts: $7,800 | $8,200
Joe Flacco, Baltimore Ravens: $7,000 | $7,500
Jameis Winston,Tampa Bay Buccaneers: $7,800 | $7,400
Mark Ingram, RB, New Orleans Saints
Week 5 Salary: $6,400
Week 7 Salary: $7,400
After serving his four-game suspension for PED's, Mark Ingram returned in Week 5 against the Washington Redskins on Monday night and played 54 percent of the snaps. He rushed for 53 yards on 16 carries, added 2 receptions for an additional 20 yards, and capped off his night with 2 rushing touchdowns. After finishing as the RB7 with 20.3 FanDuel points, Ingram's salary has increased by $1,000 coming off a week 6 bye.
New Orleans will travel to face the Baltimore Ravens and their number-one ranked schedule-adjusted defense. The Saints 2.5-point road underdogs with an over/under of 50. We're projecting Ingram for 12.1 FanDuel points this week, which ranks eighth on the main slate, with a ceiling just below 16. The Ravens have yet to allow a touchdown in the second half this season and are coming off a monster 11-sack day against the Tennessee Titans. It's hard to get excited about Ingram this week beyond a low-owned tournament play.
Other Big Movers:
Latavius Murray, Minnesota Vikings: $5,600 | $6,500
Tarik Cohen, Chicago Bears: $5,900 | $6,600
Corey Clement, Philadelphia Eagles: $5,000 | $6,000
Alshon Jeffery, WR, Philadelphia Eagles
Week 6 Salary: $6,800
Week 7 Salary: $7,600
Due to off-season rotator cuff surgery, Alshon Jeffery didn't see the field until week 4. Since then, he's hauled in 18 receptions on 29 targets for 224 yards and three touchdowns. His salary has increased from $6,500 to start the year to $7,600 this week as the Philadelphia Eagles take on the Carolina Panthers at home as 5 point favorites.
Jeffery has commanded almost 25 percent of the Eagles targets since his return. Where Jeffrey gets his targets is also important. The only wide receiver averaging more red zone targets per game than him (2.0) is Michael Thomas at 2.2. His lone down game against the Minnesota Vikings in Week 5, but he still saw eight targets from Carson Wentz. We want to attack volume and our current projections give Alshon almost nine targets with a ceiling projection of 16.60 points.
At $7,600, he carries the sixth-highest salary at the position this week. It may be difficult to find room for Jeffrey in your cash games but his price point and projection make him an interesting tournament pivot off of either Robert Woods ($7,700) or Brandin Cooks ($7,500).
Other Big Movers:
Kenny Golladay, Detroit Lions: $6,300 | $7,000
Tyler Boyd, Cincinnati Bengals: $6,300 | $6,800
Cole Beasley, Dallas Cowboys: $5,400 | $6,200
Rob Gronkowski, TE, New England Patriots
Week 6 Salary: $7,900
Week 7 Salary: $7,600
A $300 adjustment seems to be the order of the week for tight ends on FanDuel all throughout the player pool. Facing the league's most generous defense against tight ends on Sunday in the Kansas City Chiefs, Rob Gronkowski saw only four targets from Tom Brady despite an excellent game script. Gronk fell just short of his second 100 yard game of the season, catching three passes for 97 yards
He remains the highest priced tight end on the slate, but $7,600 is the cheapest he's been all season. The Patriots travel to play the Chicago Bears in a game with an over/under of 49.5 and an implied team total of 26. On paper, the Bears have shut down opposing tight ends, allowing the fewest points to the tight end one role all season. While the individual yardage totals have been held in check, the Bears may have a problem in the red zone, surrendering a receiving touchdown to a tight end in four consecutive games.
We're projecting Gronk for 13.12 FanDuel points, which trails only Zach Ertz ($7,500) on the main slate. Roster construction on FanDuel this week leans towards paying down at every opportunity to squeeze in pieces of the Los Angeles Rams offense, most notably Todd Gurley. Paying up at tight end and finding value elsewhere could be a profitable GPP strategy if Gronkowski can continue the touchdown trend against the Bears.
Other Big Movers:
Eric Ebron, Indianapolis Colts: $6,500 | $6,800
Austin Hooper, Atlanta Falcons: $5,600 | $5,900
O.J. Howard, Tampa Bay Buccaneers: $5,500 | $5,800
Ryan Bobbitt is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Ryan Bobbitt also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username Drummerinabox. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his/her personal views, he/she may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his/her personal account. The views expressed in his/her articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.