Today’s fantasy football daily fix delivers news and notes about Matt McGloin and Chris Rainey, as well as DraftKings Week 12 daily fantasy football D/ST recommendations for the Cleveland Browns and New Orleans Saints.

News & Notes

Matt McGloin Still Starting for Oakland

After a shockingly impressive debut, the Oakland Raiders have handed the keys to McGloin for the foreseeable future. He took all of the first-team reps in practice on Wednesday; former starter Terrelle Pryor was relegated to backup duty. One game won’t convince me that McGloin is in possession of any qualities that could be labeled as “upside”, but at least he brings some stability to the offense. His presence is terrific news for Denarius Moore and Rod Streater.

Chris Rainey Signs with Indianapolis

There’s a very good chance that this signing will result in no measurable fantasy impact, but there’s a non-zero chance that it will result in a huge fantasy impact. Chris Rainey has some talent, which is something that I’m not sure I can say for Trent Richardson right now. The Colts want to be a run-first offense; I can’t imagine why they’d sign another running back if they didn’t plan to give him a shot. Rainey only needs to be picked up in the deepest of deep leagues, but he’s worth keeping an eye on in shallower formats. If he’s given significant carries, he could swing a fantasy playoff matchup for two in a couple of weeks.

DraftKings Defense/Special Teams Recommendations

If you’ve never played DraftKings before, it’s time to start. You’re reading this column, so I know you like fantasy football, and new depositors get a free ticket into a Millionaire Grand Final qualifier, a contest that as me so excited, I wrote a whole damn article about it!

I think you’ve got some signing up to do.

Once you’re registered, check out the multitude of options DraftKings has to offer; the Double Up and Triple Up contests are my personal favorites.

CADILLAC

Alright, I think it’s time for you, me, and DraftKings to have a little moment.

Sure, Carolina looks great this week against the disintegrating Dolphins. Of course, I’d love a piece of the Chiefs at home against a very sketchy Philip Rivers. But unless the matchup is completely overwhelming (neither of those are) and/or a cheap investment, it’s just not worth the price. We discussed it last week, so I won’t rehash it, but suffice it to say, this space is going to sit at least half-empty for most of the rest of the season; there just aren’t many defenses that I can recommend at Cadillac prices.

BUICK

Finally, our “Anybody Against the Jags” strategy is back on. The Houston Texans ($4,000) have underachieved in just about every way possible this season, but their defense remains loaded with talent – more than enough talent to cause some problems for the most limited offense in the league. Of course, I said that last week when they faced Matt McGloin… You know what, forget I brought it up. Let’s move on.

As somebody who owns Matt Ryan and Roddy White in a dynasty league, this isn’t easy for me to say, but the Atlanta Falcons are just a really bad team. The New Orleans Saints ($3,000) will be on every one of my DraftKings teams this weekend. The Atlanta offense is punchless without Julio Jones and the Saints pass rush leads the league in adjusted sack rate.

CHEVROLET

The Cleveland Browns ($3,000) are a perfect match for their opponent this week, the Pittsburgh Steelers. Ben Roethlisberger is at his best when he’s freestyling, but Cleveland has a good enough pass rush to collapse his passing pocket while Joe Haden nestles himself neatly into Antonio Brown’s pants pocket.

The New York Jets ($2,300) and Jacksonville Jaguars ($2,300) are pretty much interchangeable this week. Spending as little money as possible on a defense is generally a solid strategy and both the Jets and Jags have road matchups against offenses that have proven to be more than capable of being less than capable.