Daily Fantasy Football Sleepers & Value Plays For Week 17

While most of your season long leagues have come to a close and your NFL team has either already made the playoffs or like my Lions found another way to piss away a season, we can at least rejoice in the fact we still have daily league contests to partake in. So happy early New Year and may these picks help you bring in 2014 with a bang.

Quarterbacks

* Ryan Fitzpatrick TEN (12%) has a price tag similar to Jets Geno Smith, so you know the price is nice and hopefully he can take advantage of a Texans pass defense that will be without their top cover corner Johnathan Joseph. On the other side of the ball, the Texans offense is now down to likely starting Jonathan Grimes at running back, which means that the Titans have a great chance of dominating the time of possession battle, increasing the opportunities for Fitzpatrick to make things happen this week.

* Terrelle Pryor OAK  (11%) is in play as he can make things happen with his legs and the Broncos, who are allowing the 11th most points and yards to opposing offenses, will be without Von Miller. Pryor was 15 of 28 for 281 yards, a touchdown, no interceptions, and rushed the ball four times for 36 yards for 17.8 Fantasy Points back in Week 3 in Denver.

* Kirk Cousins WAS (10.6%) while some others are recommending Cowboys Kyle Orton, I’ll take Kirk Cousins who will cost you only $100 more than Orton and who has actually been playing, not sitting on the sidelines looking like Dave Grohl.

Running Backs

* Joique Bell DET (9.9%) has scored 20-plus Fantasy Points in three of his last four games and has been leaned on more in the running game over that span.

* James Starks GB (9.8%) Eddie Lacy seems as though he could be very limited this week. If you learned one thing this season it is that the odds are in your favor if you start a running back against the Chicago Bears defense. If you are not confident that Starks will see enough carries than consider Broncos Montee Ball could be your discounted huckleberry instead at only 5.4% of your cap.

* DeAngelo Williams CAR (9.7%) has scored a touchdown in back-to-back weeks and will have one less person to compete against for carries as Jonathan Stewart has been ruled out for this week. DWill will face a Falcons defense that has allowed the seventh most Fantasy Points to running backs this season.

Wide Receivers

* Nate Washington TEN (6.9%) has 13 receptions for over 200 yards and a touchdown in his last two games combined and will be facing a depleted Texans secondary (see Ryan Fitzpatrick above).

* Doug Baldwin SEA (6.9%) the Seahawks will be without Jermaine Kearse, who led the team in targets in Week 16 with one more than Doug Baldwin. Baldwin has seen 13 targets to Golden Tate’s nine over the last two games making it seem more likely that Baldwin is the sneaky Seahawks receiver of the week.

* Ted Ginn Jr. (5.6%) the Panthers will be without wide out Steve Smith and Brandon LaFell has proven that he is not a WR1 caliber player. Ginn Jr. has scored in double-digits in four games this season and with some additional looks, which he should receive this week, he could be saving his best week for last against a Falcons defense that has allowed 61 Fantasy Points to wide receivers over their last two games (WAS and SF).

Tight Ends

* Joseph Fauria DET (5.6%) saw a season-high seven targets with Brandon Pettigrew on IR and of his 15 receptions this season seven of them have been for a touchdown.

* Ryan Griffin HOU (6.1%) has scored nine Fantasy Points in back-to-back weeks and is facing a Titans defense that has allowed a touchdown to a tight end in three consecutive games.

Defense

* Saints (5.3%) are playing at home against the Bucs whose starting quarterback leads the NFL in percent pressured at 44.2% of the time and has been sacked 19.7% of the time (8th highest in the NFL). In addition, Mike Glennon has been sacked 21 times in his last five games. (I also like the Dolphins this week against Geno Smith and the Jets, but at DraftStreet the price is much higher than on some other sites).