Daily Fantasy Football Week 13: Best Lineup Advice, Matchups for 1-Week Leagues

There are several different approaches and philosophies when building your one-week lineup. You could look for the best values and compile a high-upside team. You could load your team on the front end with reliable, more expensive players and fill in the blanks with cheaper, riskier options. 

Or you could play the matchups. 

Below, I'll provide my optimal FanDuel and DraftKings lineups for the week along with taking a closer look at some matchups I think are very exploitable this week. You might not want to fill your team with all of the players below, but you might be wise to sprinkle one or two of them into your teams.

FanDuel

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

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

Matchup Advice

Dustin Bradford/Getty Images

We'll start at quarterback, and we'll start with why Ryan Tannehill is such an appealing option this week. It can really be boiled down to one stat: The New York Jets have given up 27 passing touchdowns this season, worst in the NFL. For a player coming off of a three-touchdown performance (plus another rushing score), this is a tasty matchup.

If you don't mind paying the big bucks for him, Andrew Luck has an amazing matchup against Washington, a defense that has given up at least two passing touchdowns in seven games and at least 250 passing yards in seven games as well. Luck is going to cost you, sure, but he's virtually guaranteed to produce. 

Onto the running backs.

As you can see, I think a matchup against the Tennessee Titans is too good to pass up on no matter who starts at running back for the Houston Texans (except in DraftKings leagues, where neither Arian Foster or Alfred Blue are worth a really high price). 

The Titans have given up 717 rushing yards and eight touchdowns to opposing backs in their last four games. Need I say more?

On the season, the Atlanta Falcons have given up 15 touchdowns to opposing running backs, tying them with the Titans for worst in the NFL. That's a big reason why I'm high on Andre Ellington in both FanDuel and DraftKings leagues this week. 

A few other players who are a bit riskier but could exploit tasty matchups are Denard Robinson against the New York Giants and Tre Mason against the Oakland Raiders. The Giants are 31st in rush defense this season, while the Raiders are 25th in rush defense and have given up 13 touchdowns to opposing running backs, tied for 28th.

For one-week players with a taste for the dangerous, consider either Kendall Wright or Justin Hunter (I prefer Hunter for his downfield ability) against the Houston Texans, a team that ranks 31st in pass defense and has given up 15 touchdowns to opposing wideouts this season, tied for 30th in the NFL. It isn't the safest play, no, but if you need a cheap receiver to fill out your lineup, I think Hunter is a reasonable gamble.

Rich Schultz/Getty Images

If you don't mind springing for a more expensive wide receiver, A.J. Green and Antonio Brown are both solid options this week. Green faces a Tampa Bay defense that has given up 15 passing touchdowns this season, while Brown faces a New Orleans Saints secondary that has given up 200 or more yards to opposing wide receivers in four of their last six games.

If you want the cheaper alternatives on each team, consider Mohamed Sanu and Martavis Bryant.

From a matchup perspective, the tight end you want is Jimmy Graham. That might be tough to budget, but Graham faces a Pittsburgh Steelers defense that has given up eight touchdown passes to opposing tight ends, tied for 27th in the league. 

Sure, the New Orleans Saints are a mess this year. But hey, Graham is still producing, so there's that!

Finally, when choosing your defense you should always consider the team facing the Jacksonville Jaguars. That's a bit difficult this week, considering the Giants have been pretty bad on defense this year, but if you don't want to spend much on your defense that's your play.

If you have a bit more to spend, consider the Miami Dolphins, mostly because Geno Smith will be starting for the Jets and, you know, the Jets really, really stink. 

Seriously, they're bad. 

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.