We officially have the smallest slate of games to address, this season, with four teams on a bye week and two playing the early morning game in London – thus knocking them out of most daily fantasy contests. We do, however, see a decent split between the main slate and the Primetime games, where talent and game flow are spread nicely between the two.
Sporfolio’s NFL Daily Fantasy Sports game-by-game analysis columns are driven by expected game flow. Based on a combination of our Week 7 NFL picks against the spread and our expectations for a given game, we project the actions necessary to make these picks come to fruition. We aim to pinpoint players integral to our predicted game flow for each game of the week.
Luke May is our resident NFL DFS expert, and Mario Mergola operates Sporfolio as our expert for NFL Picks Against the Spread.
Minnesota Vikings at New York Jets
Luke’s DFS Take: It was a welcomed site for the Vikings to see Latavius Murray finally produce a good rushing game for them, but make no mistake about, this is Adam Thielen’s offense. Thielen is having a historic start to the season, and it’s hard to imagine that he slows down this week. He has seen at least 10 targets every single game, and 12 or more in all-but-one, he is as reliable as they come, and he has a matchup against a Jets defense that ranks 30th in fantasy-points-allowed-per-game to wide receivers. He and Stefon Diggs should continue to feast this week. With Quincy Enunwa out and Tyrelle Pryor trending towards being out, both Robby Anderson and Jermaine Kearse are playable this week. The Jets’ defense likely won’t hold up very well this week, so Sam Darnold will be forced to throw the ball early and often. Kearse and Anderson should see a ton of targets with Kearse a safer option of the two. The matchup isn’t great for these receivers, but the Vikings have had their share of breakdowns, so with the positive game script, they warrant some consideration.
Mario’s DFS Take: At the beginning of this season, would you have ever imagined using a rookie quarterback against the Minnesota Vikings’ defense? But, at the beginning of the season, it was reasonable to believe that this defense would be far better than it has been, to date. Therefore, Sam Darnold is worth a look, especially because of the game flow and direct matchup. Minnesota is far better at stopping the run than the pass and, even though the Jets love to run, it might not be viable gameplan. And, as the actual contest unfolds, it will become more necessary for Darnold to make plays. Minnesota’s Kirk Cousins is in an even better position, despite the fact that the Jets’ defense leads the league in takeaways. New York still ranks 22nd in yards-allowed-per-game, and the Vikings have yet to find a reliable rushing attack. With Cousins, the constant producer of wide receiver Adam Thielen makes sense against a Jets secondary that has allowed eleven passing touchdowns through six games.