Fantasy football advice week 14: FanDuel lineup tips and strategies for Sunday, Monday

Week 14 has arrived, and with it the general unease and frantic Twitter refreshing that we know and love during the fantasy football playoffs. Did you build a team of giants, only to see the injury bug strike at the most inopportune moment? Are you 6-7, the sixth seed in a league with at most seven competitive players, and constantly re-watching the 2007 Giants Super Bowl highlights hoping that your team can, too, coalesce in the playoffs? Fantasy football is the cruelest love possible; it takes 13 weeks to get a shot at the promised land, you’ll probably lose most of your friends along the way, and ultimately it’ll be ruined by DeMarco Murray.

We may not have a helmet catch waiting for you, but we do have four great value plays for your FanDuel league this week.

QB - Shaun Hill $6700 - We believe in certain truisms. An athlete with an interesting perspective will, without fail, be the subject of a scathing column that begs him or her to play the right way. I will rewatch the same three seasons of the Office without ever getting bored. And, finally, you always look first to the quarterback playing the Washington secondary. Hill threw for two touchdowns, ran for another and enjoyed a productive and inexpensive performance against the Raiders. Facing a defense surprisingly stout against the run, look for Hill to produce beyond his marginal cost as a nice value play for the week.

RB- Andre Williams, $6500/Rashad Jennings, $7400 - I was all in on Rashad Jennings in the beginning of the season. I saw him at the start of the fourth in almost every mock, almost frenetic with excitement at getting a true workhorse back at such a late pick. When he has been healthy, he’s been exactly that guy; last week’s 26 carries for 91 yards and 2 touchdowns prove high usage and a great return on that workload. However, Jennings has a bum ankle and looks unlikely to suit up against what is a dream matchup.

With Rashad likely to sit, Andre Williams and his marginal efficiency get a crack at a heavy workload against the Titans. Last week, I went with Joique Bell; his unquestioned workload, even measured against a woeful YPC, could result in a decent day for cheap if the matchup is right. Joique turned that into 23.7 points. Fire up Williams and his woeful 2.93 YPC against the Tennessee Sieve; best case, you’ll probably get 25 carries for 70 yards and 2 fall-forward touchdowns, but those still count.

WR - Charles Johnson, $6000 (vs Jets) - Promoted to the starting receiver, beneficiary of almost all of Cordarrelle Patterson’s snaps, and facing a Jets secondary that flashes airport guiding lights toward the endzone. Charles Johnson is a supremely cheap option facing a fantastic matchup. Look at the production afforded to the #2 receiver in the past three weeks: Martavis Bryant went for 143 yards and a touchdown, Robert Woods had 118 and a touchdown, and Jarvis Landry had 8 catches for 68 yards. Johnson will be a cheap and effective option for your WR3 slot this week.

TE - Jordan Reed, $5300 - Colt McCoy loves his tight ends, and Reed’s production has never been a reflection of talent, merely health. Facing a ST. Louis DEF that has been reborn and finally playing up to the preseason hype, MCoy will look for his security blanket early and often. I’ll take Reed at $5300 over Larry Donnell, Owen Daniels, or Mychal Rivera, and I’d rather save the money on him than pay for either Colts tight end-individually great options, but they eat into each other’s workload - or an injured Greg Olsen.

Deep, desperate plays

RB- Frank Gore, $5700 (vs OAK) - He’s had marginal production over the last few weeks, but the price and matchup combination might provide some decent return. I won’t be touching him, but if you’re looking to stack heavily on top-end WRs, Gore could be a cheap fill-in at RB2.

WR- Harry Douglas $5900 (vs GB, possible no Roddy White) - If Roddy White doesn’t play, this is a fantastic value play in what will assuredly be a Falcons offense trying to follow pace with the prolific GB offense. The risk here is timing; without any firm update on Roddy’s health, you may be stuck with Douglas as the third wideout and no alternative.

TE - Kyle Rudolph $5200 (vs NYJ) - Jets give up a league-leading amount of points to the TEs, evidenced by even Dio Sims having a decent game last week. Rudolph doesn’t face a full slate of work, but he does get consistent red zone looks. I would prefer Reed at $100 more, but, since a good chunk of these tight ends are merely touchdown-dependent, a tiny investment minimizes your risk.