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 7 to Week 8 and dig into why those moves happened.
Now that you're ready, let's get to it!
C.J. Beathard, QB, San Francisco 49ers
Week 7 Salary: $6,400
Week 8 Salary: $7,300
This week, quarterback salaries changed slightly with one exception: C.J. Beathard. The San Francisco 49ers quarterback received the third-highest salary increase by percentage this week despite a pedestrian 170 yards passing and one touchdown against the Los Angeles Rams, which mostly took place once the game was out of hand. With two interceptions, his Passing Net Expected Points (NEP) of -17.56 were fourth-worst on the week as the 49ers fell to 1-6.
Beathard was considered a value play last week, at just $6,400, but now finds himself among nine other quarterbacks priced from $7,800 to $7,000. The 49ers are on the road at Arizona this week, with an implied team total of just 21.75 points and a game total of 42.5. For as bad as the Cardinals offense has been, the defense is numberFire's seventh-ranked unit in total defense and 11th against the pass. As it applies to Beathard, Arizona ranks third against the position, using our advanced stats, and his projection of 12.56 FanDuel points is the second-lowest behind counterpart Josh Rosen.
This feels a bit like the guy trying to sell his 20-year-old Honda Civic in your local ads for $8,000 "firm". Let someone else waste their money.
Other Big Movers:
Mitchell Trubisky, Chicago Bears: $7,500 | $7,700
Matthew Stafford, Detroit Lions: $7,500 | $7,300
Case Keenum, Denver Broncos: $6,700 | $7,000
Nick Chubb, RB, Cleveland Browns
Week 7 Salary: $4,800
Week 8 Salary: $6,400
Last Friday, the Cleveland Browns traded Carlos Hyde to the Jacksonville Jaguars for a fifth-round pick in the 2019 NFL Draft. In a week where a strong value play was needed, Nick Chubb immediately fit the bill, at just $4,800, and was projected to receive the majority of the touches. That change allowed you to jam-in the likes of Todd Gurley, Adam Thielen, and Ezekiel Elliott.
Chubb played 66 percent of the snaps to Duke Johnson's 51, rushing 18 times for 80 yards and a touchdown on his way to 14 FanDuel points. With a more secure role and a solid week operating as the primary running back option, Chubb gets the biggest salary increase of any position, up $1,600 from last week. It will be hard to keep the positive momentum going as the Browns travel to take on the Pittsburgh Steelers, who rank second versus running backs. Chubb could be a worthwhile tournament pivot off of fellow rookie Phillip Lindsay ($6,500), who figures to be high-owned should Royce Freeman miss this week.
Other Big Movers:
Christian McCaffrey, Carolina Panthers: $8,000 | $7,300
Doug Martin, Oakland Raiders: $5,100 | $6,000
Trenton Cannon, New York Jets: $4,500 | $5,200
Emmanuel Sanders, WR, Denver Broncos
Week 7 Salary: $6,700
Week 8 Salary: $7,200
While big adjustments were made to quarterback and running back salaries, wide receiver stayed mostly static this week. Emmanuel Sanders is the biggest mover of the week, up $500 after a 24.32-FanDuel-point outburst last Thursday night against the Cardinals. Sanders caught 6 passes for 102 yards and a touchdown, while also throwing a touchdown pass to Courtland Sutton.
The Broncos stay in the division this week and travel to face the Kansas City Chiefs, numberFIre's 27th-ranked defense. All of the Broncos are priced up in this matchup, with an over/under of 53.5 points, but the Chiefs have limited the Bengals and Jaguars to 24 combined points over their last 2 home games. Sanders leads the Broncos in every receiving category, securing 26 percent of the air yards and a 24 percent target share as Case Keenum's top option.
Other Big Movers:
Doug Baldwin, Seattle Seahawks: $6,200 | $6,400
Courtland Sutton, Denver Broncos: $4,800 | $5,300
Josh Doctson, Washington Redskins, $4,600 | $4,900
Vance McDonald, TE, Pittsburgh Steelers
Week 6 Salary: $4,600
Week 8 Salary: $5,300
The Pittsburgh Steelers were on a bye last week. But in week six, Vance McDonald played almost 70 percent of the snaps, catching 7 of 8 targets for 68 yards. He has at least five targets in every game but one and has topped double-digit FanDuel points twice.
As the fourth option in the passing game, it's hard to get too excited about his projection of 7.38 points against the Cleveland Browns, numberFire's top-ranked overall and passing defense. However, the Browns are only 19th against the tight end position and gave up 8 receptions for 90 yards against the Tampa duo of Cameron Brate and O.J. Howard. The Steelers have the fourth-highest implied total on the slate, at 28.5 points, and McDonald still represents a nice value at only $5,300.
Other Big Movers:
Jared Cook, Oakland Riaders: $6,400 | $5,900
Chris Herndon, New York Jets, $4,700 | $5,400
Mark Andrews, Baltimore Ravens, $4,000 | $4,600
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.