Fantasy Football Weekly: Regrets, I’ve Had a Few

Richard Trueman

12 Dec 2019, 04:59 PM IST

(Bloomberg) -- I’ve been kicking myself all season for not going with my gut. I wanted Panthers running back Christian McCaffrey in my fantasy football draft. But that would have meant passing on the Saquon Barkley of the Giants, something I did last year and regretted.

I’m a Giants fan and my daughter went to Penn State. That practically ties me to Barkley and I couldn’t pass him up again even if I did have McCaffrey as my highest rated running back. Boy what a mistake. McCaffrey has the most points by any running back while Barkley barely makes the top 20.

All can be forgiven this week. In my playoff game, I have Barkley and my opponent, you guessed it, has McCaffrey. So a year long heartache could be wiped out by one great performance by Barkley against a bad Dolphins defense. Here’s to a great Barkley game and another Giants loss. I want them to have a higher pick in the real NFL draft.

Now on to the weekly selections. A reminder: We look for value picks, not the obvious FAANG stocks of fantasy, like McCaffrey or Lamar Jackson. The picks are based on a points per reception league. But first, here’s last week’s recap.

Bulls

Carson Wentz: 325 yards passing, 2 TDs

Jacoby Brissett: 251 yards passing, 2 TDs

Zach Pascal: 5 catches, 74 yards, 1 TD

Bears

Sony Michel: 8 yards rushing

Allen Lazard: 2 catches, 19 yards

Mike Gesicki: 1 catch, 6 yards

Jamison Crowder: 3 catches, 30 yards

Low Volatility

Kirk Cousins: 242 yards passing, 1 Td

Melvin Gordon: 84 total yards, 1 Td

Alexander Mattison: 64 total yards

Week 15 Value Picks

QB: Ryan Fitzpatrick: We’ll continue to pick quarterbacks against the Giants secondary until proven otherwise.

QB: Baker Mayfield: The Browns signal caller goes up against the Cardinals, the worst against the pass in the league.

QB: David Blough: The Lions quarterback faces Tampa Bay, who have been getting shredded by quarterbacks every week.

RB: Raheem Mostert: He’s emerging as the best running back on the 49ers. San Francisco can clinch a playoff win against the Falcons at home.

RB: DeAndre Washington: Only play him if Josh Jacobs is scratched. The Jaguars have given up 11 touchdowns on the ground over the past month.

RB: Kenyan Drake: The main running back for the Cardinals faces the Browns, who have the 7th worst defense against the run in the league.

WR: Jarvis Landry: I like his quarterback in this match-up. Expect Landry to have a nice game.

WR: Terry McLaurin: Not crazy about his quarterback Dwayne Haskins, but the way to beat the Eagles is through the air.

WR: Breshad Perriman: Should get a bigger workload with teammate Mike Evans injury. Could be high scoring affair.

WR: Dede Westbrook: Fellow receiver DJ Chark is expected to miss the game against the Raiders, who are weak against the pass.

TE: Mike Gesicki: He might be Ryan Fitzpatrick’s main target now that DeVante Parker is probably out. Plus, he goes against the weak Giants defense.

TE: Jack Doyle: Expecting the Colts to play from behind against the Saints. The tight end could get a lot of targets.

To contact the reporter on this story: Richard Trueman in New York at rtrueman@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Matthew G. Miller at mmiller144@bloomberg.net, Brandon Kochkodin