Top daily fantasy football quarterback plays for Week 14

Welcome to Week 14 of the Daily Fantasy season. While season-long leagues are down to their playoff weeks, leaving the majority of those owners with no games to play, the DFS world keeps chugging right along. This article looks at some of the projected lesser-owned plays at quarterback who could provide huge boosts to your tournament lineups, as well as some trap plays to avoid.

You have to wonder what Cousins did to FanDuel that he is so continuously disrespected in its pricing algorithm. There is no way a quarterback producing at Cousins’ recent level should be $7,600, especially against a defense that has not been performing well of late. You get the feeling the Eagles are on the verge of a major breakdown, and Cousins is more than capable of taking advantage with another multiple-TD performance. At some point, maybe, before the season is over, Cousins’ price will rise to where it belongs. Until then, enjoy the savings and the production.

It’s difficult to overstate how far Carolina’s defense has fallen in 2016. The loss of Josh Norman, coupled with injuries to stalwarts like Luke Kuechly, coupled with a severe case of Super Bowl loser syndrome, have left the Panthers a wilting shell of their former selves. This is great news for Rivers, who finally has a healthy group of pass catchers at his disposal in a game that may require him to throw the ball 35-40 times. Except for that one nightmare four-interception fourth quarter against Miami, Rivers has been very efficient with the ball lately, and this week should be no exception.

On the other side, there is Cam, who has been wildly inconsistent this season. But when he’s on, he’s been the Cam of old. This week sets up as an “on” game against a Chargers defense that is better than it was early in the season, but can be beaten through the air and still struggles at times against the run. Cam has run for touchdowns in two of his past four games, and if he can find the end zone this week, it could put the cap on a solid outing at a ridiculously discounted price.

All hail the dysfunction! It’s hard to say which team looked like a hotter mess last week. Both got blown out and both had their starting quarterbacks benched. At least the 49ers are giving the ball back to their starter, and presuming the weather will be a little nicer in Santa Clara than it was in Chicago, Kaepernick has a chance for a real nice day against the dreadful Jets pass defense. Recency bias is going to keep Kaepernick’s ownership low, but he has a real chance to put up a big number, especially if the Jets go in the tank again.

It’s a wild card play if ever there was one, but at $6,200, and if you can remember far back enough to the preseason, there’s something to be said for going here this week. Griffin was the preseason MVP, so the ability is clearly still there. And the Bengals are hardly the Steel Curtain defense these days. The Browns have had two weeks to prepare, they’re at home and Griffin had real preseason chemistry with Terrelle Pryor. If RG3 comes through, you could have yourself a merry little Christmas a couple weeks early.

Ryan is likely going to be without Julio Jones and is already without Mohamed Sanu. Taylor Gabriel is more than capable of making up for some of that lost production, but is it enough to salvage Ryan’s projected total at such a high price tag? The odds are against it, making Ryan a fade until his primary weapons get healthy.

Betting against Mariota has not been a winning move in 2016, but this is no ordinary defense the second-year QB will be facing on Sunday. There are simply too many other options in his price range with much more favorable matchups to fool with the Denver defense.