Yahoo fantasy football is running a $500,000 contest with a $20 entry fee and 28,000 entries for the two-game Sunday Divisional Round slate. Let’s get into some Yahoo Daily Fantasy Picks for NFL lineups, including Tom Brady, Dak Prescott and more.
Divisional Round Sunday NFL Yahoo Daily Fantasy Strategy & Picks
The critical thing to remember is that Yahoo is a half-PPR site, and the minimum salary is $10, with an average salary per player of $22. This week, Josh Allen is at the top of the salary list at $43. The complete scoring parameters can be found here.
One of the most valuable features of the Awesemo.com premium content is the personal player rankings from Alex Baker, for all of the main sports. The players grade out separately for each DFS site with ratings for both “projected points” and “value,” receiving an A through E report card-style grade. This week, as a special treat, Awesemo is also adding in the “Roster%,” which is the projected percentage a player will be used in the large-field tournaments.
Quarterback
If you have played daily fantasy football on Yahoo or Yahoo fantasy baseball, you know that the strategy is to look for the cheapest quarterback or pitcher that is tolerable so you can look for more secure points and upside elsewhere. In the recommendations below, I will be highlighting several discount options at the other positions so you can build a framework that will allow lineup construction for a top-shelf quarterback, along with his favorite target and still have enough salary cap to run it back with the top option on the opposing team.
Tom Brady: Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs. Los Angeles Rams – $35
Awesemo Grade: Points B, Value C, Roster% 15.2%
Does it really seem like a whole NFL season has taken place after we watched Tom Brady ($35) win yet another Super Bowl? Yeah, time can be slippery as we head into our NFL DFS contests today talking ourselves into a field general who will be 45-years old for Week 1 of the 2022 season. At this point if we are betting against Brady, we are taking a path towards disappointment. There are enough capable options and while TB12 is without two of his three most talented pass-catchers, he always and I mean ALWAYS finds a way.
THE OTHERS
Sunday is providing four amazing quarterbacks who all have multiple elite players on the receiving end of their passes. The salary spread is the big neutralizer once we add in the best pass-catcher for each signal-caller. Do we want to go with Brady and Mike Evans ($30) for $65 or Matthew Stafford ($29) and Cooper Kupp ($40) for a WHOPPING $69. Suddenly the $67 for Patrick Mahomes ($34) and Tyreek Hill ($23) seems reasonable.
Then of course we have the amazing Josh Allen ($43) with his ace-in-the-hole Stefon Diggs ($27) who is a game breaker. These quarterbacks combined for an astounding 15 touchdowns during Wild Card Weekend – which makes all analysis seem suspect under the best of the circumstances.
Running Back
There is no reason to trust coaches with their “assessments” of player health. We only have to look back to last weekend when Jerick McKinnon ($17) got the nod over Darrel Williams ($15) who was deemed healthy, but clearly was not. Now Kansas City is a full blown running back by committee.
Who knows what is going on with Leonard Fournette ($24) after he was not able to reach full speed in practice this week and of course Clyde Edwards-Helaire ($17) is back clouding and crowding the KC backfield.
Bonus, if you watched the Rams game, DAMN Cam Akers ($19) looked spry after missing the entire regular season after a late training camp injury. Of course Sony Michel ($18) has earned his way to half of the carries and he may potentially be a red zone menace for the Akers backers.
Then of course we have Devin Singletary ($24) who has somehow consolidated the backfield opportunities in Buffalo over the last half dozen weeks. Let your personal preference and risk tolerance guide your decisions on Sunday.
Wide Receiver
If we pay the King’s Ransom for Cooper Kupp ($40) we are painting ourselves into a corner. Though that lofty salary will be pushing gamers towards Stefon Diggs ($27), Mike Evans ($30) and even Odell Beckham Jr. ($22) there are differentiation options dependent on risk tolerance. While our highlighted pair below gives us some upside at mid-tier and bargain salaries – there are a dozen viable options, even with just four teams in our player pool.
Tyreek Hill: Kansas City Chiefs vs. Buffalo Bills – $23
Awesemo Grade: Points A, Value B, Roster% 45.7%
This salary is an absolute miss by the Yahoo salary algorithm and we do not want to go against Tyreek “The Freak” Hill when he is a free square. The backflip gymnastics last week against Pittsburgh should remove all doubt about his heel injury and if he has a Freaknick performance we have no chance at making up two dozen points on our rosters without the most dynamic option on Sunday.
Tyler Johnson: Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs. Los Angeles Rams – $12
Awesemo Grade: Points D, Value C, Roster% 17.6%
This is all about the salary savings with a wideout catching passes from Brady at only two bucks above the Yahoo minimum salary. Breshad Perriman has been ruled out, though there is a chance Cyril Grayson ($16) is active. We know that Scotty Miller ($10) will be active, however, Johnson has moved ahead of both and while we are looking at a couple targets with five or so as an upside, this play should net us half a dozen points in most outcomes and if he gets lucky, we could see double digit fantasy points.
Tight Ends
Rob Gronkowski: Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs. Los Angeles Rams – $25
Awesemo Grade: Points A, Value C, Roster% 35.6%
There is no doubt that Rob Gronkowski will be popular Sunday, however, we know that Brady will lean on his trusted options in the clutch. Close your eyes and imagine a Tompa Bay offense with Chris Godwin and Antonio Brown working their magic on all three levels across the entire route tree. Yup, sucks to be a fan of the Pewter Pirates, though we will not shed any tears for the reigning Super Bowl Champions. This is a Gronk Smash situation where we should see at least 70 yards, a touchdown or both.
Dawson Knox: Buffalo Bills at Kansas City Chiefs – $20
Awesemo Grade: Points C, Value E, Roster% 25.6%
Last week Dawson Knox had the third multi-touchdown game of the season. The salary, lack of name recognition and so many other options – even on the two-game slate are going to have gamers missing out on this budding elite tight end option.
Defense/Special Teams
Buffalo Bills at Kansas City Chiefs – $19
Awesemo Grade: Points D, Value E, Roster% 6.2%
The lofty salary, tricky matchup against a wizard as well as being on the road have The Masses shying away from this DST. Buffalo has 22 sacks in their last five games and while the nine in Week 18 against a desperate J-E-T-S, jets, Jets, JETS squad was a glorious outlier, we have seen the Kansas City offensive line struggle on several occasions this season.
Los Angeles Rams at Tampa Bay Buccaneers – $13
Awesemo Grade: Points B, Value C, Roster% 33.1%
This should be an excellent chess match with the Rams ranking behind only Blitzburgh this season for sacks and Brady being the maestro of avoidance. Take the salary savings if needed and just move on with the randomness and varying fantasy results for DSTs.
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