Fantasy Football Week 16: Best FanDuel, DraftKings Lineups and Advice

If you've ever played a video game with a character creation screen and you care about getting your avatar just right, you've had the experience of recreating that character over and over and over again. 

From your superstar in NBA 2K15 to that elf mage you're going for in an RPG, the last thing you want is to play with a character you can't stand.

In many ways, crafting your one-week lineup is the same process. Adding one player might make it impossible for you to add another player you want, causing you to completely start over with your lineup. It's a constant puzzle, but until it's just right, you can't hit submit.

Well folks, I'm here to help you streamline that process with my recommendations for your FanDuel and DraftKings lineups. The only thing worse than a hideous elf mage is a terrible one-week lineup, after all.
 

FanDuel

Position	Player	Salary
QB	Matt Stafford	$8.2k
RB	Mark Ingram	$7.4k
RB	Fred Jackson	$6.7k
WR	Randall Cobb	$8.3k
WR	Mike Evans	$7.9k
WR	Torrey Smith	$6.4k
TE	Dwayne Allen	$5.4k
D/ST	Buffalo Bills	$5.1k
K	Garrett Hartley	$4.5k
		Total = $59.9k

I'm a pretty big advocate of Matt Stafford this week. In Week 13, he threw for 390 yards and two passing touchdowns against the Chicago Bears, and he gets a rematch in the wake of Chicago giving up three passing touchdowns to Tony Romo in Week 14, and 375 passing yards and three touchdowns to Drew Brees in Week 15.

Remember, no team in the NFL has given up more than the 33 passing touchdowns Chicago has allowed this season. Stafford, Calvin Johnson and Golden Tate must be licking their lips right now thinking of this matchup. 

Both of the running backs I selected are likely just as excited about their prospects this week.

Mark Ingram faces an Atlanta defense that has given up an NFL-worst 19 rushing scores and 21 total touchdowns to opposing running backs. In a game that seems destined to be a shootout, it's hard to see Ingram being kept out of the end zone. His upside is huge this week.

Brett Carlsen/Getty Images

And then there's Fred Jackson, who probably doesn't have the overall upside of Ingram but has arguably the even better matchup against the Oakland Raiders, a defense that is 25th in rushing yards allowed and has given up 19 touchdowns to opposing backs, tied for 30th in the NFL.

In Week 13, the Raiders gave up 164 yards from scrimmage and three touchdowns to Tre Mason. Last week, Knile Davis gashed them for 81 yards from scrimmage and two scores, and he wasn't even Kansas City's starting running back to open the day!

Jackson should fare well, in other words.

At wide receiver, I shouldn't really have to justify the selections of Randall Cobb or Mike Evans at this point. Yes, Cobb has gone without a touchdown in five straight games, but against a Tampa Bay defense that has given up 19 touchdowns to opposing wideouts this season, that trend could easily come to an end. 

Evans, meanwhile, has nine touchdown receptions in his last seven games. The Green Bay Packers are tied for worst in the NFL with 21 touchdowns allowed to opposing wideouts, meanwhile, so if you aren't adverse to the somewhat risky strategy of gambling solely on touchdowns, Evans could reward you quite handsomely. 

Mike McCarn/Associated Press

I feel like I somehow always end up adding Torrey Smith to my teams. He just always seems to represent solid bang for the buck. This week he could finally really, truly break out, however. Houston is 26th in pass defense and has given up 19 passing touchdowns to opposing wideouts this season. 

J.J. Watt might get all of that attention on that defense, but not even he can fully cover for the team's suspect secondary. Before his injury, Torrey Smith had clearly surpassed Steve Smith as the top option in Baltimore's passing game. Now seemingly fully healthy, expect that to resume in Week 16.

When it comes to Dwayne Allen, you are essentially paying a pretty low cost to get a very high probability of a touchdown reception. Unless you are willing to pay top dollar for one of the elite tight ends, Allen is about as good a value as you'll get.

The Buffalo Bills lead the NFL with 49 sacks, are second in the league with 19 interceptions and give up just 18.1 points per game, fourth in the NFL. The Oakland Raiders have a rookie quarterback, a dearth of offensive weapons and, you know, kind of stink all around. This is a no-brainer. 

DraftKings

Position	Player	Salary
QB	Matt Stafford	$7.0k
RB	C.J. Anderson	$6.9k
RB	Mark Ingram	$6.1k
WR	Randall Cobb	$7.1k
WR	Julian Edelman	$6.5k
WR	Charles Johnson	$4.9k
TE	Dwayne Allen	$3.8k
FLEX	Torrey Smith	$4.6k
D/ST	Detroit Lions	$3.1k
		Total = $50k

As is often the case, there aren't a ton of differences in this lineup. But the chance to add C.J. Anderson to this lineup was too good to pass up.

Anderson has scored 10 or more points in DraftKings leagues in six straight games and has gone for 19 or more in five of them, and this week he faces a Cincy defense that is 24th in the NFL in rushing yards allowed, 28th in rushing scores given up and 28th in DraftKings points allowed to opposing backs per week.

That's a lot of numbers that say one thing—the Bengals aren't very good against the run this year. With the Denver Broncos leaning on the running game in recent weeks, Anderson is an easy recommendation. 

I'm going a little braver at wide receiver, though, with Julian Edelman and Charles Johnson. Edelman isn't a tough pick to make against a New York team that is 22nd in DraftKings points allowed to opposing wideouts per week, especially since he potentially can benefit so much from a one-point PPR format in New England's offense.

Johnson is more of a hunch. An educated hunch, since he has 22.6 total DraftKings points in the past two weeks, but still a hunch. Still, he's become Teddy Bridgewater's favorite target, and he's coming pretty cheap, so I'm rolling with him.

Finally, the Bills are priced pretty high in DraftKings leagues, so I went with Detroit instead. The Lions have totaled 32 DraftKings points in the past three weeks, and the Bears are 22nd in DraftKings points allowed to opposing defenses, so Detroit was a nice alternative to Buffalo.

All statistics via FanDuel, DraftKings or ESPN leagues.