Week 9 DFS Picks: Tournament Plays

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.

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 they also are the primary players I still want to be ahead of the field on, compared to the percentage of rosters they are projected to make this weekend.

I will analyze the player selections and game writeups, but please refer to the Week 9 Worksheet for a detailed breakdown of the players and games.

Quarterback

Daniel Jones ($7,900/$6,200)

Jones has thrown multiple touchdowns in four straight games for the first time in his career.

For the season, he has completed 71.2% of his passes (3rd) for 8.5 yards per pass attempt (3rd).

Jones has been a QB1 scorer in six of eight games this season.

Facing a good pass rush would typically be a spot where we would proceed with caution with Jones, but this season, he has stood up to pressure.

He leads the NFL with a 111.1 rating when pressured, completing 61.6% of his passes (2nd) for 7.3 Y/A (5th) with 6 touchdowns and 0 interceptions.

We also have the potential for the Colts to be in a competitive game environment.

Jones is third in fantasy points per dropback (0.62) but 23rd in dropbacks per game (32.9).

Indianapolis has a 65.2% dropback rate in the first half of games, which is seventh in the league.

As a result, Jones leads all quarterbacks in fantasy scoring in the first half of games.

But the Colts have had the lowest dropback rate in the second half this season (46.1%), which moves Jones to QB12 in second-half scoring.

Pittsburgh should push the Colts here.

If that happens, this Pittsburgh pass defense has been exploitable.

The Steelers are allowing 7.5 yards per pass attempt (24th) and 11.1 yards per completion (24th).

They are allowing 18.3 passing points per game, 31st in the league and ahead of only the Cowboys.

The Steelers have allowed five QB1-scoring weeks in seven games.

The exceptions have been Dillon Gabriel and Sam Darnold.

Darnold still threw for 8.9 Y/A and 295 yards in that game.

They have allowed top-10 weeks to Justin Fields (29.5 points), Drake Maye (19.2 points), Carson Wentz (21.2 points), Joe Flacco (26 points), and Jordan Love (28.3 points).

Jared Goff ($7,600/$6,000)

It looks like the Lions are going to be a touch underplayed this weekend, despite being at home.

Detroit is at home with one of the highest totals of the week.

At home, the Lions have scored 52, 34, and 24 points.

In those games, Goff has completed 70.2% of his passes for 8.8 Y/A and a 9.5% touchdown rate.

Minnesota has struggled against every capable starter they have faced this season.

They are 27th in passing points allowed per attempt (0.511), allowing a 68.3% completion rate (26th), 7.7 Y/A (27th), and a 5.9% touchdown rate (24th).

They had success against Michael Penix, Jake Browning, and Dillon Gabriel, but have allowed top-10 scoring weeks to Jalen Hurts (24 points) and Justin Herbert (25.3 points) these past two weeks.

Aaron Rodgers threw for 9.1 yards per attempt with 2 touchdowns against them in Week 4.

Brian Flores has not been shy about sending blitzes again this season, sending extra defenders on a league-high 44% of defensive snaps.

Flores has blitzed Goff on 63.8% of his dropbacks over the past two seasons, with a 50% rate or higher in all four meetings.

Goff has completed 78.5% of his passes across those matchups for 8.4 yards per pass attempt.

Against the blitz in those games, Goff has completed 80.5% of his passes for 9.0 Y/A and a 5.7% touchdown rate.

Running Back