Quarterback

Phillip Rivers, LA Chargers, $5,100

The Chargers are a bad football team and this has no bearing on their fantasy value. Rivers has attempted the fourth-most passes this season at 305 throws and is third in passing yards at 2,315. This is mostly a function of how good they are at losing. They are 0-3 in the past three weeks and have attempted a pass on more than 70% of their snaps in that span. 

Ownership is going to gravitate to Seattle/Tampa Bay and Oakland/Detroit. Both games have totals trending downward since lines have opened.

LA/Green Bay is the third-highest total of the slate and is on the rise. This won’t be the last Charger in this article.

Running Back

Nick Chubb, Cleveland Browns, $7,300

Nick Chubb is getting an incredible amount of volume each week and is going to be significantly lower owned that the high-priced backs in CMC and Dalvin Cook. Paying down to the mid-range price backs is going to automatically give you a unique build. With Chubb, you don’t have to sacrifice the touches either.

Chubb has been given 17 touches in every game this season and has hit at least 85 yards in seven of seven outings. 

He’s also just been churning out yards and bonuses lately. He’s hit the 100-yard bonus in three of his past four games and has had 125 scrimmage yards four of his past five. 

Now he’s a three-point favorite against the Broncos who are starting a quarterback throwing his first NFL pass. 

Aaron Jones, Green Bay Packers, $7,000

Aaron Jones has only topped 15 carries twice this season but he has more than made up for that with his receiving work. He is sixth in the NFL among backs at 42 and fifth in air yards at 107. 

The only way Chargers stacks pay off is if they pass the ball frequently and they need to be losing for that to happen. In that case, Jones would be set up with a great game script to get more carries than usual. 

Jones is a great correlation play in an underrated game against the Chargers.

Wide Receiver

Chris Godwin, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, $7,300

Chirs Godwin is one of the few high-price receivers that projects as a good value and he was on the wrong side of Mike Evans last week, posting a quiet 4-43-0 line as Evans neared 200 yards. 

Godwin isn’t going to be popular but he’s unlikely to reach the heights of chalk that Evans will. That makes him a great leverage play on Evans and a viable one-off in a game that will be popular for its stacks.

Godwin is a particularly great one-off in this game because he has three games with a 33% target share. If he controls a large portion f the team’s targets it’s possible that Godwin is the only Buccaneer to put up a big performance. 

Looking to stack elsewhere and running lone Godwin lineups or Godwin and Lockett/Metcalf is a unique approach to the slate that can pay big dividends.

Mike Williams, LA Chargers, $4,600

One of these days Mike Williams is going to capitalize on his air yards and when he does, we will be there to reap the rewards.

Since returning from an injury in Week 5 Williams has 507 air yards. He is the only player with more than 500 air yards over those four weeks.

There are 14 players with 350 plus air yards in that span. The 13th and 14th players on that lust by fantasy points are Keenan Allen and Williams.

Doubling down with both Chargers receivers and Rivers is a great way to capitalize on the volume the duo has seen.

Tight End

Noah Fant, Denver Broncos, $3,000

With little value to be had throughout the slate, paying down at tight end is likely the move this week. While many will see Noah Fant’s quarterback, Joe Flacco, getting benched as a bad thing, nothing could be further from the truth. Flacco is bottom-five in touchdown rate, yards per attempt, and passer rating this year.

Brandon Allen will either be bad and the switch from Flacco is a lateral move or he’ll be service which would be a major upgrade.

Last week, in the Broncos first outing without Emmanuel Sanders in the lineup, Fant was upgraded to a full-time player:

• 8 targets
• 60/73 snaps
• 23 routes on 32 pass attempt

Just buy Fant before people realize Joe Flacco was the problem with this offense.

Defense

Carolina Panthers, $2,800

The Panthers would be the best value on the slate if it wasn’t for Washington and their $1,800 price tag. However, they aren’t projecting to be a top-three owned defense on the slate. People seem to be glossing over how bad Ryan Tannehill is over a 92 game sample:

• 2.6% interception rate
• 2.8 sacks per game
• 6.8  adjusted yards per attempt

This season the Panthers lead the league with 4.3 sacks per game and are third with 2.3 takeaways per game. Fire up the Panthers in an obvious spot that will go under-owned.