Fantasy Football Week 13: Best FanDuel, DraftKings Lineups and Advice

You're going to get a lot of Thanksgiving-themed articles this time of year, but every one-week fantasy player knows the event that really mirrors the FanDuel or DraftKings experience is Black Friday.

You are desperately hunting down the best deals. You are competing with others to get the most bang for your buck. If you spend wisely, you'll rejoice. But if you miss out on the best bargains, you'll be despondent. 

Well, folks, I'm here to make sure that your Black Friday of the fantasy world goes to plan. I'll be focusing on the Sunday games and Monday night clash to ensure that this week you're triumphant in your one-week league of choice.

Happy holidays!

FanDuel

Position	Lineup 1	Price	Lineup 2	Price
QB	Ben Roethlisberger	$8.3k	Ben Roethlisberger	$8.3k
RB	Arian Foster	$8.7k	Alfred Blue	$6.8k
RB	Andre Ellington	$7.7k	Andre Ellington	$7.7k
WR	Kelvin Benjamin	$7.9k	Kelvin Benjamin	$7.9k
WR	Torrey Smith	$6.5k	T.Y. Hilton	$8.7k
WR	Justin Hunter	$5.9k	Justin Hunter	$5.9k
TE	Antonio Gates	$5.6k	Travis Kelce	$5.3k
DEF	Miami Dolphins	$4.9k	Miami Dolphins	$4.9k
K	Josh Scobee	$4.5k	Josh Scobee	$4.5k
		Total = $60k		Total = $60k

Because I love you and want you to prosper, I've concocted two different lineups for you at FanDuel this week: one if Arian Foster is able to play and one if he isn't. Why? Because I feel very strongly that you must have whatever running back is facing the Tennessee Titans in your FanDuel lineup. 

In their past four games, the Tennessee Titans have given up 717 rushing yards and eight touchdowns to opposing backs. In Week 8, Foster torched the Titans for 37.3 points at FanDuel. No, he won't come cheap, but for a player who has an upside of about 40 points, he's well worth the cost. 

And if Foster can't go, Blue is a great alternative at the price offered. For a player who should post top-15 numbers against Tennessee's run defense, picking up Blue on the cheap gives you both upside and budget flexibility.

At quarterback, I know Ben Roethlisberger has been inconsistent this year. He either gives fantasy owners a gigantic week or absolutely nothing. Why trust a player like that?

Because there has been a bit of a trend in Big Ben's production, that's why. In his last four road games, Roethlisberger has a total of 52.74 FanDuel points, an average of 13.18 points. In his last four home games, however, he has 119.74 FanDuel points, an average of 29.93 points.

Whoa.

Now, I know that you are going to attribute some of that to his two-game stretch against the Baltimore Ravens and Indianapolis Colts when he threw 12 touchdown passes. Fair enough. But he also posted 16.9 points against the Houston Texans at home and 22.36 in Pittsburgh against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. In fact, in five home games this year, he hasn't dipped below 16 FanDuel points.

With such a high ceiling at home and a relatively high floor as well—and a great matchup against a New Orleans defense that has given up two or more touchdown passes in three of five road games this year—why not roll the dice on Big Ben this week?

My focus this week was about being very solid at running back given the matchups available. I know Andre Ellington has struggled in the past three weeks, but I love his matchup against an Atlanta Falcons defense that just gave up 150 rushing yards and two touchdowns to Cleveland's running backs last week. 

Plus, despite Arizona's woeful 3.1 yards per carry, worst in the NFL, Ellington also is a huge part of the passing game with 46 receptions for 395 yards and two touchdowns. I think Ellington has enormous upside this week and is worth a play in one-week leagues.

Grant Halverson/Getty Images

In both leagues, I went with Kelvin Benjamin and Justin Hunter. Benjamin is a safe choice and a pretty nice value given that he's gone over 20 points in FanDuel leagues in his past two games and has hit double digits in eight of 11 games this season.

Hunter is obviously a huge gamble, though plucking him out of the bargain bin makes that gamble less severe. He's hit nine or more points in FanDuel leagues in four of his last seven games and is really Tennessee's only threat down the field.

That gives him solid upside against a Houston Texans defense that has given up 15 touchdowns to opposing wide receivers this season, tied for 30th in the NFL. Hunter really only has value if he reaches the end zone but, luckily, the Texans quite frequently allow opposing wideouts to do just that.

In my Foster lineup, I finished out the wide receiver bunch with Torrey Smith. I wanted to pair Hunter with someone that I could both afford and rely on to at least give me right around 10 FanDuel points. Seeing as Smith has 12 or more points in six of the last eight games, he fit the bill. 

In the Blue lineup, I was able to afford T.Y. Hilton, who has 13 or more FanDuel points in seven of his last eight games and faces a suspect Washington defense. Consider me sold.

Because I spent pretty heavily at either running back or wide receiver depending on the lineup, I didn't have as much of a budget for tight end. No matter—if you aren't splurging on a top option, you are basically tossing cash at a very unpredictable position anyway. I'll take my chances with either Antonio Gates or Travis Kelce, who had 10.1 FanDuel points in his first meeting against the Denver Broncos. 

I love the Miami Dolphins defense against the New York Jets. I have two words for you: Geno Smith. For a reasonable price you are getting a potential top-five defense. Do it.

By the time I had the above lineup filled out, there wasn't much of a budget left for a kicker, so I just added Josh Scobee. I'm not too worried about that—kickers are pretty hard to predict, making them a risky investment in the first place, and the New York Giants defense hasn't exactly been gangbusters this year. 

DraftKings

Position	Player	Price
QB	Ryan Tannehill	$6.9k
RB	Andre Ellington	$6.2k
RB	Alfred Morris	$5.5k
WR	Odell Beckham Jr.	$6.8k
WR	Kelvin Benjamin	$6.6k
WR	Jarvis Landry	$5.4k
TE	Antonio Gates	$4.2k
FLEX	Giovani Bernard	$5.2k
DEF	Miami Dolphins	$3.2k
		Total = $50k

As much as I love either Arian Foster or Alfred Blue this week, you simply aren't getting any value on either player at DraftKings.

Foster is the sixth most expensive player on the site this week, while Blue is the 12th most expensive running back. As much upside as Foster has, his price of $8.8K means I would have to spend 17.6 percent of my budget on him. I think with the money I save by not adding Foster this week I can make up his potential point production. 

I also bypassed Big Ben in this league, if only because Ryan Tannehill was $700 cheaper, and I love his upside against a New York Jets defense that ranks 30th in points allowed to opposing quarterbacks in DraftKings leagues. For a player who has scored 18 or more DraftKings points in six of his last eight games, I'll take that matchup.

Bypassing Foster allowed me to go after Alfred Morris as my second running back and Giovani Bernard as my flex. Morris is red-hot, having notched at least 15 DraftKings points in his last four games, and he gets a nice matchup against an Indianapolis defense that is 24th in points allowed to opposing backs.

I know Morris loses some upside in the DraftKings format given his invisibility in the passing game—he has just 11 receptions for 109 yards this year—but he's more than made up for it in recent weeks. 

John Grieshop/Getty Images

Meanwhile, I get the concerns with Bernard. Jeremy Hill really impressed while Bernard was out to an injury and had a bigger performance last week with both players in the lineup. There are a few reasons I'm not losing much sleep over any of it, however. 

For starters, Bernard was just returning last week, so it was natural for the team to ease him back into the swing of things a bit, especially with Hill playing well. And Bernard still had 19 touches. 

For another, Bernard did nothing this year to lose his starting gig. While Hill has earned more touches in this offense, yes, Bernard started the season by scoring 17 or more DraftKings points in four of his first five games. I can't imagine the Cincinnati Bengals have forgotten how good he was to start the season. 

This may be the rare platoon where both players benefit from splitting time. Bernard may not have the huge upside he showed earlier in the year, but at a nice price he's a solid gamble for your flex. 

Bypassing Foster also allowed me to nab Odell Beckham Jr. at wide receiver. All he's done is score 14 or more DraftKings points in six of his last seven games. I'll certainly roll with Beckham against the Jacksonville Jaguars. 

Finally, for my third receiver I went with Jarvis Landry, who has 11 or more DraftKings points in four straight games and has 24 receptions in that time. Because you are getting a point per reception in DraftKings leagues, Landry is an enticing start against a shoddy Jets secondary.

All statistics via ESPN standard scoring leagues, FanDuel or DraftKings leagues. Hit me up on Twitter—I'll answer your fantasy questions and make some corny jokes, too. It's more fun than a catching drill with Odell Beckham Jr.