Below are positional rankings for the 15-game early slate of DraftKings contests on Saturday with some commentary along the way. Keep in mind that salary has a huge impact on a player’s ranking. 

Matchup Chart

Below is a matchup chart I create each week that includes information from Vegas and information on each team’s opponent in terms of their defensive strength. The defensive numbers are rankings from Football Outsiders’ S&P+ ratings. One thing to note with the defensive ranks is that a team’s total defense rank is schedule adjusted, but the rushing and passing ranks are not adjusted. All the info is color coded as follows from most favorable to the offense to least favorable: purple-blue-green-yellow-orange-red-burgundy.

Quarterback

1. Skyler Howard – $6,800 – West Virginia
2. Patrick Mahomes – $8,900 – Texas Tech
3. Jerrod Heard – $7,400 – Texas
4. Seth Russell – $9,700 – Baylor
5. Matt Johnson – $9,400 – Bowling Green

Three of this slate’s four expensive quarterbacks are listed here, but I’m really only considering Patrick Mahomes all that seriously. That game between TCU and Texas Tech easily has the highest total of the slate with an over/under of 80.5. Tech could well be trailing most of the game, but they’re only a 6.5-point underdog, so there’s not much risk of either team putting in the second string at any point. TCU is not a top-40 defense according to the S&P+ ratings and they’re not markedly better against either the run or the pass. So there should be plenty of volume in a matchup that is at least decent. Mahomes is the cheapest of the four expensive QBs on this slate, which is nice, but it’s certainly not the only reason I like him most.

Were I to roster one of the more expensive guys, I’d probably lean toward Baylor’s Seth Russell as the Bears have an absurd team total of 54.5. But they’re huge, huge favorites, so I’m not sure Russell sees a second of the second half. I’m also a little more inclined to get exposure to this one via the running game with Shock Linwood. The same goes for TCU. Trevone Boykin could easily have a day, but the best way to attack Tech is on the ground, so I’m leaning more toward Aaron Green for my exposure to TCU. Boykin can expose that weak run defense himself, but his price tag is somewhat prohibitive while Green’s is a bit more accessible.

As for the cheaper guys you’re more likely to roster, I love me some Skyler Howard. West Virginia has the seventh highest team total of the slate, and they have a matchup against Maryland who ranks 72nd in total defense and 100th against the pass. Howard hasn’t seen a lot of volume in his first two games, but West Virginia has won them by a combined 69 points, so he hasn’t had to. West Virginia is a favorite in this one and by a decent margin at 16.5, but this one shouldn’t be a blowout. But even lacking volume, Howard has been good early because he has been wildly efficient. He has completed 72.5 percent of his passes, has five touchdowns compared to no interceptions and has the highest passer rating of any QB so far this season.

If you’d prefer to save money at QB and not pair Howard and Mahomes, you could go with the salary relief option of pairing Howard and Heard. Heard didn’t impress through the air in his first start last week against Cal, but he did do plenty of damage on the ground with 24 carries for 163 yards and three rushing touchdowns. UT’s projected point total is just about average for the slate, but he’ll face Oklahoma State who ranks just 65th in total defense. Like I said, I’d prefer to pair Howard and Mahomes, but Howard and Heard would certainly allow you more latitude elsewhere.

Running Back

1. Aaron Greene – $7,900 – TCU
2. Shock Linwood – $7,200 – Baylor
3. Markell Jones – $4,400 – Purdue
4. Myles Gaskin – $4,500 – Washington
5. Wendell Smallwood – $4,900 – West Virginia
6. Vic Enwere – $4,500 – Cal
7. Patrick Skov – $6,300 – Georgia Tech

If possible, find a way to work Aaron Greene or Shock Linwood into your lineup. Both guys are on teams with huge projected totals and both have an excellent matchup against bad run defenses. Of the two I prefer Greene as TCU’s contest against Tech should be much more in question in the second half than Baylor against Rice. But if the extra $700 matters, Linwood is a 1b option.

Unless you can somehow roster both Greene and Linwood, you’re going to have to decide between some of the value options ranked here. The best matchups of the bunch belong to Purdue’s Markell Jones and Washington’s Myles Gaskin. Both guys are freshman who are listed second on their team’s depth charts, but they have seen enough work early in the season to warrant consideration, especially at their price tags.

Gaskin lead Washington in touches last week with 15, but he wasn’t super productive totaling just 42 yards. The week prior he averaged more than 10 yards per carry and scored three touchdowns, but that was against an FCS team. Even though this week’s opponent is an FBS team (Cal), they rank 84th in total defense and 89th against the run. If he continues to get double-digit touches, he should be worth this price tag.

Jones only carried the ball six times last week against Virginia Tech, but the other Purdue back, D.J. Knox, only carried the ball eight times in a 51-24 loss to Virginia Tech. In a 10-point loss to Marshall and in a big win against Indiana State previously, Jones carried the ball 12 and 14 times, respectively. Purdue is a 2.5-point underdog, so if the usage pattern holds, Jones should see at least 12 touches. If Purdue is smart, both Jones and Knox will touch the ball 15+ times each in an attempt to keep Bowling Green’s explosive offense off the field. Bowling Green allows 5.07 yards per carry, so Jones should provide value as long as he gets the touches.

Wendell Smallwood and Vic Enwere are more likely to lead their team in touches, but their matchups aren’t as good as those of Gaskin and Jones. If you’d prefer to roster volume as opposed to upside, these guys might be more attractive to you. I won’t be on Smallwood simply because I’ll be counting on big things from the West Virginia passing game, but Enwere should shoulder the majority of the load for Cal so long as Daniel Lasco is out again this week, which seems like it will be the case. But if you’re not relying on the West Virginia passing game or don’t mind having a quarterback and running back from the same team on your roster, Smallwood probably has the better matchup.

If you’re looking desperately for salary relief, I might consider the Wake Forest backs against Indiana. Indiana ranks 118th in total defense and 99th against the run, so the matchup is certainly good. Wake has split their carries pretty evenly between freshman Tyler Bell ($3,800) and sophomore Isaiah Robinson ($3,400) with Bell seeing five more touches in total. Neither has been very effective with their work, but the matchup and their price could make them worth a flier if you can’t figure anything else out.

Wide Receiver

1. Jovon Durante – $3,900 – West Virginia
2. Shelton Gibson – $4,400 – West Virginia
3. Jay Lee – $6,000 – Baylor
4. Dennis Parks – $4,800 – Rice
5. Isaiah Jones – $5,000 – East Carolina
6. Ian Sadler – $4,300 – Texas Tech
7. Kenny Lawler – $5,800 – Cal
8. Roger Lewis – $7,700 – Bowling Green

Pick a WVU receiver to pair with Howard. Roster both if you’re desperate for salary relief. Shelton Gibson is the big play threat as he’s averaging a whopping 35.2 yards per catch on six catches this year. He has scored in each of West Virginia’s games, but he certainly looks like he may be a boom-or-bust type guy. Jovon Durante has 10 catches in two games, though he had three for 121 yards in the first game of the season, so he’s not exactly a sure thing for high volume. I’m honestly not sure how to differentiate between the two other than price and the level of risk you like. Durante is cheaper and perhaps slightly safer, so that’s why he was ranked higher.

As mentioned when discussing Seth Russell, I wonder how much work Baylor’s first team unit will see in the second half. And given that they have a ton of weapons, there’s a decent chance that guys other than Jay Lee get the early looks and the game is out of reach before everyone has time to get theirs. That said, Lee had three touchdowns in Week 1 and nine catches for 111 yards in Week 2 (Baylor has only played twice), and that’s a ton of production for a guy that only costs $6,000. The value may be too tough for me to pass up. If I can roster Greene at running back, I’ll pass on Linwood and get my exposure to Baylor via Lee.

Dennis Parks is this week’s good receiver on a bad team that will have to throw a shit ton. Rice is a 34.5-point dog to Baylor, so they’ll likely be chucking it for a decent portion of this game. Baylor ranks just 89th in total defense, though they are better against the pass than they are against the run. That said, they’re not elite against the pass or anything. Parks has eight catches in each of Rice’s two games, so, at $4,800, he could reach value fairly easily in DK’s PPR format. But he also showed his upside last week going for 163 yards and scoring twice.

Speaking of guys who can hit value simply based on receptions, Isaiah Jones has caught 24 passes the last two weeks and 30 total for the season. I don’t love his matchup against Virginia Tech, but it’s not prohibitive. And mitigating the mediocre statistical matchup is potential game flow as VaTech is almost a double-digit favorite over ECU.

We covered the WVU receivers to stack with Howard, and if you do decide to roster Seth Russell, I’d obviously recommend stacking him with Jay Lee. And if you’re going with Jerrod Heard, there’s not too much reason to stack a receiver with him since he has done most of his damage on the ground. The only quarterback really considered above who we haven’t metioned a potential stack partner for is Tech’s Patrick Mahomes.

Jakeem Grant is the obvious choice if you can afford it as he leads the team in catches with 21 and in yardage with 287. The problem is that he’s pretty pricey at $7,400, and it’s hard to justify a $3,100 price difference between Grant and Ian Sadler. Sadler is second on the team in receptions and has scored twice. Tech spreads the ball around quite a bit, so Reginald Davis or Devin Lauderdale could even be the guys to own, but Sadler is the cheapest of the bunch and has at least been as productive as anyone but Grant.