When setting your weekly NFL DFS lineups, it can be just as helpful to have an idea of whom you DON’T want to include as whom you do. Every Friday we’ll highlight a few players that you might want to fade. When a player appears here, it mainly refers to fading him in cash games. If you play in a lot of large field, multi-entry tournaments, you might consider just being underweight on these players relative to the field rather than not using them at all.
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Players I’m fading for Week 13 include:
Kyler Murray, Arizona Cardinals at Chicago
Everything is trending toward Murray making his return this week, while Hopkins is probably still more firmly in the questionable department. Assuming that is the case, he won’t be finding his way into my lineups this week, despite the lack of a strong QB field for the main slate. One of the main reasons why is Tom Brady. Cheaper than Murray on both FanDuel and DraftKings, he is playing with the top offense in league and everyone is healthy in a great matchup with the Falcons. Murray is definitely not 100 percent, possibly playing without his top wideout, against a very strong Bears defense in Chicago. No thanks, for that salary.
Sony Michel, LA Rams vs. Jacksonville
The Rams are the biggest favorite of the weekend, by nearly two touchdowns at home. Darrell Henderson is questionable, which might have you thinking of rostering Michel on the cheap in this good matchup. Alexander Mattison’s salary is sky high and even Jamaal Williams is higher than most ‘sudden’ starters’, so Michel does offer that deep discount that can make a slate. I just think the Rams are most comfortable in their passing scheme, and they’ll rely more on Stafford and Kupp to move the ball Sunday. Michel isn’t a great efficiency back and isn’t super involved in the pass game…there’s not much to get excited about beyond the price. To be fair, for the price he might be fine, but I’m generally not clicking his name.
NY Giants Wide Receivers at Miami
I’m using the Dolphins’ D/ST quite a bit this week, so this fade is definitely a personal one, but in general, the Giants are not a high scoring team. They rank 24th in points per game and average 226 passing yards per game. They have 11 total receiving touchdowns this season, fewer than everyone but Chicago, Jacksonville, Detroit and Carolina. Four of those went to tight ends. Kenny Golladay and Darius Slayton are the only wide receivers not on the injury report, so you could imagine a scenario where they’d be busy – and productive – facing a Miami pass defense that ranks as the eighth-best to QB and third-best to WR. They’ve been in good situations before and failed. This is an offense to simply avoid.
Kyle Pitts, Atlanta Falcons vs. Tampa Bay
Long-time readers might know that I’ll sometimes sneak wishful thinking reverse jinx fade in here. Truly, I’m not playing Pitts in 99 percent of lineups this week, but I do really hope I’m wrong about that. It’s hard to see his talent wasted week after week, especially after being teased by it in Weeks 5 & 7. He’s scored one touchdown all season. I know he’s being smothered by opposing defenses and has had some aggregious drops, but it adds up to him not being rosterable, at least until his salary drops further. This should be a high-scoring, back-and-forth game, if you believe Atlanta can provide competition in what has been a favorable passing matchup, which I don’t. Cordarrelle Patterson is the only guy to trust from Atlanta this and any week for the foreseeable future.
Tyler Lockett, Seattle Seahawks vs. San Francisco
Lockett has been seeing more targets lately than D.K. Metcalf and Metcalf is not super pleased about it. Right now, they are tied with 76 apiece, but for my money, the balance is about to tilt back in Metcalf’s favor. He’s been getting open, Russell Wilson just isn’t finding him. That’s a detriment to the team, not just Metcalf’s fantasy value and it will correct. The 49ers might have people fading this game, but I think it could be a sneaky good one for DFS. I love George Kittle and Elijah Mitchell, and from a Seattle squad that is again hurting at the RB position, I think they take advantage of Metcalf’s size, strength and speed to dominate this game. Lockett might be all right here too, but if I’m choosing one Seattle receiver, it’s definitely Metcalf this week.
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Players I like, but who are expected to have high ownership in Week 13 include: Tom Brady, Alexander Mattison, Jamaal Williams, Joe Mixon, Elijah Mitchell, Mike Evans, Cooper Kupp, Rob Gronkowski, Rams D/ST. You might consider deviating away from this player pool and pivoting in large GPPs if you’re after a more unique lineup.
