Week 14 DFS Picks: Tournament Plays

Every Sunday in the weekly fantasy chats, I get asked about my favorite plays of the week or who is in my player pool that weekend for DFS.

This article series covers exactly that.

Every week, I will go through the players I am targeting to play in DFS for all games, tournaments, and game stacks.

The idea is that this will paint a clearer picture of framing lineups.

Week 14 DFS Content:

It is not that tournament players cannot be used in cash games.

If a player here works out for your team structure in cash games surrounding your primary core, use them.

These are just the players that come with some element of inherent risk but are the primary players that I still want to be ahead of the field compared to the percentage of rosters they are projected to make this weekend.

I will analyze the player selections and game writeups, but for a detailed breakdown of the players and games, check out the Week 14 Worksheet.

Quarterback

Jalen Hurts ($7,800/$9,200)

Hurts comes with volume concerns, but there was a spot a few weeks ago when Detroit hosted the Jaguars where some of the same problems existed and it lowered projected ownership for their offense.

In that game, the Lions were double-digit home favorites with the highest team total on the slate.

That week, Detroit team stacks took down multiple tournaments.

That is the same layout for the Eagles this weekend.

While the Eagles have not thrown the ball a ton since their bye, we still have a great matchup on the table here while Hurts and the Philly passing game can be leverage plays against Saquon Barkley.

We also have a slate where the quarterback pool is shallow.

Hurts is one of the few options that can put the field out of reach with a high score.

Carolina is 30th in passing points allowed per attempt (0.503).

Baker Mayfield ($6,400/$8,100)

Mayfield was not at his best on Sunday.

He ended the week QB29 (10.2 points), completing 21-of-33 (63.6%) passes for 235 yards (7.1 Y/A) with one touchdown and 2 interceptions.

His 18.2% inaccurate throw rate was his highest rate in a game this season.

Despite the bad taste from Sunday, he has been steady this season through a fantasy lens.

That was only Mayfield’s third game this season, finishing lower than QB13.

The Bucs are large favorites at home, with a team total of 26 points.

That is a solid signal to return to Mayfield as an upside option.

The matchup is sound as well.

The Raiders are 27th in pressure rate (30%), are allowing 15.4 passing points per game (27th), and a 5.2% touchdown rate (23rd) to passers.

Mayfield has a 7.0% touchdown rate from a clean pocket, which is third in the league.

Aidan O’Connell ($4,800/$6,700)

Going across from Mayfield, O’Connell is one of the cheapest quarterbacks on the slate.

O’Connell was solid on Black Friday, returning from a broken thumb and closing the week as QB11 (19.6 points) in Kansas City.

He threw for a career-high 340 yards and two touchdowns.

Going back to last season, this was O’Connell’s fourth QB1 scoring week over his past six full games started.

The matchup is not daunting, either.

I noted that Tampa Bay's splits were better last week with both their starting cornerbacks, Zyon McCollum and Jamel Dean, available.

They only allowed 6.5 yards per pass attempt and a 56.5% completion rate to Byrce Young, but they still surrendered 15.9 passing points, just below their season rate.

Tampa Bay has allowed 17.2 passing points per game for the year, 31st.

Running Back