Daily Fantasy Football Week 15: Best Lineup Advice, Matchups for 1-Week Leagues

In traditional fantasy leagues, matchups hold the utmost power. If two players of equal ability are available to start but your lineup only has room for one of them, one of your first considerations will be the matchups they are facing. 

And the player with the better matchup generally gets the start. Duh.

In one-week leagues, however, matchups are part of a more complicated decision-making process. Sure, certain players might have great matchups in a given week, but that may cause their prices to go up. Optimizing your lineup by starting players with great matchups who fit into your budget becomes an interesting tightrope to walk.

Still, you should always consider matchups when undertaking that dance. Below, I'll offer my FanDuel and DraftKings lineups for the week along with some advice about which matchups you should consider exploiting.

FanDuel

Position	Player	Salary
QB	Eli Manning	$7.5k
RB	Alfred Morris	$7.0k
RB	Lamar Miller	$6.7k
WR	T.Y. Hilton	$8.8k
WR	Alshon Jeffery	$8.4k
WR	Martavis Bryant	$6.8k
TE	Travis Kelce / Dwayne Allen	$5.4k
DEF	New York Jets	$4.9k
K	Kai Forbath	$4.5k
		Total = $60k

DraftKings

Position	Player	Salary
QB	Eli Manning	$6.4k
RB	Alfred Morris	$5.0k
RB	Lamar Miller	$5.0k
WR	T.Y. Hilton	$8.0k
WR	Julio Jones / Jordy Nelson	$7.8k
WR	Martavis Bryant	$4.8k
TE	Dwayne Allen	$3.3k
FLEX	LeSean McCoy / Mike Evans	$6.6k
DEF	Green Bay Packers	$3.1k
		Total = $50k

Matchup Advice

If you are looking for a matchup to exploit at quarterback, look no further than Washington's shoddy secondary, which has given up 28 passing touchdowns this season, 30th in the NFL. Nine times this season, Washington has given up two or more touchdown passes. Eight times, it has given up 250 or more passing yards. 

That makes Eli Manning a nice option this week for those brave enough to gamble on him. 

You could go the safer route and stick with Drew Brees facing the Chicago Bears, a defense that ranks 30th in passing yards per game and 32nd in passing touchdown allowed this season. The Bears have given up 595 passing yards and five touchdowns in the past two weeks, so Brees should have a big game against them.

You could go with Jay Cutler in a game that has "shootout" written all over it. The New Orleans Saints are giving up 265 passing yards per game, 29th in the NFL, and Cam Newton just torched them for 35 fantasy points in standard-scoring leagues. 

We turn to the running back position, where it's hard to find a better matchup than Le'Veon Bell going up against the Atlanta Falcon. The Falcons have given up an NFL-worst 17 rushing touchdowns and have given up 19 total touchdowns to running backs, also worst in the NFL.

Bell might be a bit too expensive for your one-week budget, however. Ditto for Matt Forte and Jamaal Charles, who have tasty matchups against the Saints and the Oakland Raiders, respectively. 

Christian Petersen/Getty Images

You could focus on the Tennessee Titans, a defense that has given up 951 rushing yards and eight rushing touchdowns in its last six games. If you go that route, choose Isaiah Crowell over Terrance West. The two appear to be in a timeshare, yes, but Crowell gets more love in the red zone and has eight rushing scores this year.

Finally, you have to love Justin Forsett against the Jacksonville Jaguars, a team that has given up at least 100 yards on the ground and a rushing score to opposing backs in five straight games. That's easy money for Forsett this week.

At wideout, the possibilities are endless.

The Houston Texans are allowing 264 passing yards per game, 28th in the NFL, and have given up 18 receiving touchdowns to opposing wideouts, tied for 30th in the league. That makes T.Y. Hilton an excellent option. The Falcons are 31st in receiving yards allowed to opposing wideouts, so Antonio Brown and Martavis Bryant should flourish. Doug Baldwin just caught seven passes for 97 yards and a score against the Philadelphia Eagles, so you can only imagine what Dez Bryant might be capable of doing.

At tight end, Martellus Bennett and Larry Donnell have perhaps the best matchups against New Orleans and Washington, respectively, as each team has given up 11 touchdown receptions to opposing tight ends, tying them for 29th in the NFL alongside Seattle.

Delanie Walker is also a solid choice against the New York Jets, as they've given up a league-worst 12 touchdowns to opposing tight ends.

You might also consider Zach Ertz. The Dallas Cowboys have given up an NFL-worst 820 receiving yards to opposing tight ends and have also sacrificed 10 touchdowns to the position. Ertz's production has been erratic, however, so he's an all-or-nothing play.

Finally, when looking for your defense, you rarely can go wrong with the unit facing the Jacksonville Jaguars. This week, that's the Baltimore Ravens. The Jags have given up seven or more fantasy points to opposing defenses every single week this season.

If you don't mind going a bit more expensive, consider the Seattle Seahawks, a defense that is absolutely on fire right now and facing a San Francisco 49ers offense that is less compelling than a Colin Kaepernick press conference these days. In Seattle, with the Niners really struggling, the Seattle defense is a great play.

All statistics via FanDuel, DraftKings or ESPN leagues. Hit me up on Twitter—I'll answer your fantasy questions and tweet some corny jokes too. It's more fun than a Colin Kaepernick press conference.