Fantasy football advice, NFL playoffs 2015: FanDuel Divisional round strategy

Wave goodbye to Wild Card weekend, where four teams ended their season with poor draft picks and just as many postseason wins as my dear Jets. We enjoyed the annual Andy Dalton playoff meltdown. We found hope for the future as Chris “The Great Unifer” Christie united an entire nation in shared disdain for his choice of NFL team and his hugs. Cam Newton managed to get his first playoff win and a heaping helping of hysterical backlash to his sartorial choices from the “Win like a Champion” coalition and “Idris Elba can’t be James Bond” collective. The Ravens managed to beat the Steelers and move on to the Patriots, which gives us non-invested fans the privilege of rooting for stadium collapses two weeks in a row.

We also get another week of FanDuel fun. Today, we’ll focus on Saturday-only games.

Avoid, run, flee from the Carolina Panthers skill players

I know, in the karmic terribleness of fantasy football advice, that any sort of declarative statement like avoid all of Carolina will result in a shocking upset that throws all the eggs in my face. However, I’ll point toward the following carnage caused by the Seahawks’ defense in the last five weeks to support the code red we’re calling on Carolina offensive players.

That is statistical brutality. The Seahawks haven’t let a running back exceed 50 yards in five weeks. The best receiving performance came from Zach Ertz, who managed two catches for 39 yards and a touchdown. Yardage-wise, they haven’t let a receiving option top 57 yards or a quarterback throw for more than 243 yards. Now? They’re at home facing a Panthers’ offense that blindly stumbled to a win over Ryan Lindley. Regardless of cost, I want absolutely nothing to do with a Panther this weekend. Resist the cheaper price on Kelvin Benjamin, my friends.

So, who does that leave us?

Pay the Gronk and Marshawn Lynch tax

Saturday’s games lack easy selections. With one-eighth of the NFL teams available to us, we’ll have to look for any sort of consistency. Turn toward Marshawn Lynch and Ron Gronkowski for your salvation. Gronk is a force of nature hell-bent on scoring in every sense of the word. At $7,900, he’ll cost you a good chunk, but he offers a floor and upside so much higher than any other tight end that you have to make the investment.

At RB, you’ll be hard-pressed to find anyone nearly as enticing as Lynch. No other team Saturday has a readily defined workhorse who enjoys unquestioned usage and production-you’re stuck with the Belichick roulette, Jonathan Stewart against the previously discussed Seattle defense, or Justin Forsett, who struggled last week and faces a top-10 Patriots’ rush defense. All three other rush attacks have enough question marks that I’m skeptical to invest heavily.

The Lynch and Gronk combination will cost you $16,800, which means we’ll have to find value in cheaper plays.

Wideouts are super tricky, so look toward usage

Our wide receivers Saturday have similar issues to our RB stable, but, without a Lynch to invest in, we have to embrace the discomfort and make some risky plays. I have two WRs in mind that have enjoyed decent production and consistent usage. Brandon LaFell has seen eight, 10, and six targets over the last three weeks, turning that into 10.3, 9.9, and 9.6 points. In the last three Ravens games, Steve Smith Sr. has scored 7.4, 13, and 12.6 points on 12, 12, and seven targets. Smith has a brutal matchup against the Pats, while LaFell-admittedly facing an easier secondary-hasn’t scored in five weeks. They both carry their downsides, but at $6,600 and $6,800, respectively, they’re cheaper options to enable us to play Lynch and Gronk.

It leaves us, as always, with a dart throw at WR3. There’s a thin line between usable and Philly Brown, and, to me, we’re landing on Doug Baldwin. He only costs $5,900, he’s the nominal number one on the Seahawks’ passing attack, and he faces a Carolina secondary that allows 244.6 passing yards per game.

Here’s the lineup I’ll be using this weekend for Saturday-only. It combines these three approaches with some cheap upside plays and solid investment at kicker and defense. It also invests heavily in the Patriots, which hurts my heart and soul more than my FanDuel wallet.