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FanDuel advice: Quarterbacks in conference championships
It’s a small player pool, but a lot of big names this weekend.
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If nothing else, this weekend is the most interesting FanDuel small-field game.
FanDuel fantasy football offers small-field games several times a year. Every week, there’s a Sunday-Monday game, with Sunday’s 8 p.m. game and the Monday night game. There are combined weeks, with a FanDuel game of the Monday and Thursday games. Thanksgiving is a three-game field. When the Saturday games start, there’s a Thursday-Saturday FanDuel game.
You'll get some big names in those fields, but inevitably, a Tennessee, a St. Louis, a Buffalo sneaks in there. This weekend, though (the last FanDuel weekend of the NFL season), it's all elite teams. The weak spot, such as it is, is the Denver Broncos, which only a year ago was the league's most formidable offense and still features some of the biggest names.
So sure, there are only four teams, two games this weekend. There are still FanDuel decisions to be made. Below, I’m ranking the quarterbacks for the weekend’s conference championship games in FanDuel, taking salary into account. There are only four names, so each distinction is important. The other positions will follow later this morning. Here’s the chart, with rationales to follow:
Quarterbacks
| Rank | Quarterback | Team | Opp. | Salary |
| 1 | Tom Brady | NE | @DEN | $8,100 |
| 2 | Cam Newton | CAR | ARI | $8,500 |
| 3 | Carson Palmer | ARI | @CAR | $7,700 |
| 4 | Peyton Manning | DEN | NE | $6,700 |
- I'm not as scared of the Denver defense as I was early in the season, and Tom Brady gets to throw to the likes of the seemingly healthy Julian Edelman and Rob Gronkowski. I trust him this week more than the guy who is $400 more expensive.
- When there are only two games, you basically have to pick a quarterback from who you think wins the games, and I think New England and Carolina win this weekend. That's in part colored by the struggles Carson Palmer had last weekend, when he was bailed out by lucky bounces and the unstoppable force that was Larry Fitzgerald. I don't think Palmer will likely feast on the Carolina defense.
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