There are just four games this weekend. Normally, I highlight a handful of FanDuel player options who I like or don't like based not only on matchups and situations, but also on their weekly FanDuel salary.
Fantasy football advice, Wild Card weekend: FanDuel quarterbacks
There are a couple of obviously good investments in this week’s list of FanDuel quarterbacks, but which are the best?Click here to get a 100% deposit bonus on FanDuel
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When you're playing weekly games like FanDuel, the salary is all-important. Odell Beckham Jr. was a super-cheap player early in the season, and did so well for so long that he became insanely expensive by the end. The super-cheap Beckham that produced so well, then, was a much better value than the end-of-season version, even if both were ultimately at least somewhat valuable. You'd take two touchdowns and 150 yards out of any player, but those numbers out of a $4,500-ish guy like Kenbrell Thompkins is much more valuable than the exact same out of a superstar like Julio Jones.
So this week, and throughout the playoffs, I’ll be offering position rankings for the weekend’s games, based on projected performance and salary. It adds a wrinkle that should help with picking lineups this weekend.
First, the quarterbacks. Justifications come after the table:
Quarterbacks
| Rank | Quarterback | Team | Opponent | Salary |
| 1 | Ben Roethlisberger | PIT | BAL | $8,500 |
| 2 | Cam Newton | CAR | ARI | $8,300 |
| 3 | Andrew Luck | IND | CIN | $9,700 |
| 4 | Tony Romo | DAL | DET | $8,800 |
| 5 | Matthew Stafford | DET | @DAK | $8,000 |
| 6 | Andy Dalton | CIN | @IND | $7,800 |
| 7 | Joe Flacco | BAL | @PIT | $8,200 |
| 8 | Ryan Lindley | ARI | @CAR | $6,700 |
Theoretically, I could have gone on to rank the backups -- Derek Anderson actually has a higher salary than Lindley -- but if you're picking from the Jason Campbell and Matt Hasselbeck types, you aren't actually trying to win money anyway.
Now, thoughts:
- With Le'Veon Bell out, the Steelers get to run some combination of Josh Harris, Dri Archer and Ben Tate against the Ravens' elite run defense. Translation: Roethlisberger gonna throw. A lot. Hard to find a reason not to like Roethlisberger's value this week.
- Newton comes in to this game on an unexpected hot stretch; he's been great since returning from his car-wreck injuries. Meanwhile, the Arizona defense, while good, has slipped of late, due at least in part to the woefulness of its offense. So even if Newton can't do a lot on each play, every little bit he'll do while having so many chances should add up.
- I like both Romo and Luck this week -- particularly Luck, who at least doesn't face that Detroit defense. But I can make more arguments for Roethlisberger and Newton, and their cheaper salaries make them more appealing.
- I guess you can consider these rankings something of a choice of winners as well, as I expect the first four quarterbacks I list to be the winning quarterbacks (and therefore the more successful ones). Stafford has been underwhelming far more often than he's been, you know, whelming, while Dalton and Flacco are just sort of there.
- Please don't use Lindley. I asked nicely.
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