money Fantasy Football: Potential bargains, must-plays from Giants-Eagles game
Week 18 in the NFL is the wildest of the wild when it comes to fantasy football. Most season-long leagues are still geared to end in Week 17, so many will not have any interest, or juice, this week.
That leaves us with DFS — DraftKings and FanDuel — and playing against thousands of others for prize pool money. That’s an endeavor I’ve had some success with, so you’re fortunate I’m here to help.
Here’s a quick rundown of the fantasy options in this game.
Eagles defense
Elsa/Getty Images
The Giants scored 22 points when they had their complete team on the field a few weeks ago at MetLife Stadium against Philly and struggled to move the football when it counted.
With the Eagles needing to win this one to secure the top seed in the playoffs and the Giants leaning on sitting many of their key starters, the Philly defense is a great play here. The Eagles’ D has scored 10 points on DK in three of their last five and nine points in the other two games.
Jalen Hurts
Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports
QB Jalen Hurts has to start here, bad shoulder and all. How effective he’ll be — and whether the Eagles would him exposing his shoulder by running the ball — is the question.
In the first meeting, Hurts had a cakewalk of a game racking up 30.33 FFPS on DK. I don’t see him repeating that for two reasons. One, as stated, he may not be running as much and two, if the Eagles get a two-score lead, he’s likely to be pulled for his own safety.
That means Gardner Minshew, who hasn’t been bad. Some wiseacres will have him in their lineups just as a precaution. Not a bad idea.
Other Eagles options
Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports
Running back Miles Sanders had a huge day against the Giants in Week 14, scoring 31.5 FFPS on DK. He could get there again in this game with Hurts being held back.
Tight end Dallas Goedert has not been as productive since coming back from IR but he faces a Giants’ defense that is ranked 24th against tight ends this year.
The temptation here will be to play the two stud wideouts — A.J. Brown and Devonta Smith. With Adoree’ Jackson still out, the Giants have no answers for them, but again, the Eagles may choose to run the ball with Leonard Williams out.
Should you play any Giants?
Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports
The quick answer is no. Head coach Brian Daboll has been cagey about his plans this week but you can bet with the Giants having nothing to play for, he’ll either bench or limit Daniel Jones and Saquon Barkley.
Tyrod Taylor would be the quarterback, and while he’s not bad, he’s not on the fantasy radar. Matt Breida would pick up most of Barkley’s snaps in this game and he has shown some spark in the small sample of work we’ve seen.
Tight end Daniel Bellinger could see some more targets and the wide receiver group of Darius Slayton, Isaiah Hodgins, and Richie James Jr. have all been cheap plays but it’s hard to put any one of them in the lineup with a backup quarterback playing.
