Thursday FanDuel Dimes- Week 5

This week is the most irrelevant fantasy BYE week EVER!

All we are missing is the Miami Dolphins and Oakland Raiders (basically, Mike Wallace and Miami's Defense). So consider the whole player pool to be at your disposal. With 1/4th of the season in the books, I think it's appropriate to remind everyone of this piece of advice: DON'T GET CUTE! For every Ahmad Bradshaw there has been a Khiry Robinson or Justin Hunter. Bargains are crucial but don't fill your team with sleepers. Don't be afraid to spend on consistency.

By the way, I'm giving daily postseason baseball a shot this weekend as well. I'll report back next week with my experience.

***Note: Picks are for 'Sunday/Monday Only' games

Bargain Buys

RB Reggie Bush ($7,000)- Joique Bell and Theo Riddick are highly questionable for Sunday after getting injured last week. Even if you find that one of them is active I'd imagine that Bush will still see around 70% of the snaps. Bush is historically much better at home in Ford Field and this week they host the Buffalo Bills. The Bills are a good run defense but I expect Bush to be heavily involved in the pass game. Expect around 7 targets and over 70 yards through the air alone.

QB Russell Wilson ($8,300)- Checking my homerism at the door for this one. Being the 7th ranked player at your position and priced at $8,300 usually doesn't qualify you as a bargain, but if you roll with Wilson this week you'll likely be getting Top 3 QB production for $1,700+ less than the current Top 3 QB's. The Seahawks are coming off a bye week and are playing a Redskins defense that were absolutely handled by the Eagles and Giants in the last two weeks. The Redskins have shown the ability to limit the running attack so I'd expect Wilson to take what the young corners for the Redskins are giving him all game.

RB Rashad Jennings ($7,200)- This is the last mid-level bargain, I promise. Jennings is just too hard to pass up this week. For all intents and purposes he had a bye week last week after Eli Manning took last Thursday's game over. Jennings gets the Atlanta Falcons and their porous rush defense. The Falcons have already given up over 800 total yards and 8 touchdowns to running backs this year. Look for Jennings to be a Top 10 RB this week.

WR Markus Wheaton ($5,300)- The Steelers face the Jaguars this week. Not only have the Jags given up over 940 yards to receivers this year (worst in the NFL) but they've also given up 24 pass plays over 20+ yards. Wheaton is Pittsburgh's deep threat and should see a ton of action this week. Monitor his health, he's been dealing with a groin issue but it doesn't look like it'll keep him out on Sunday.

TE Niles Paul ($5,300)/ TE Jordan Reed ($5,100)- I like them both over Travis Kelce ($5,300) who is a popular sleeper this week. As much as I like Kelce's potential and the fact that it's his birthday on Sunday, I hate his matchup this week at San Francisco. The Chiefs are a completely different team at Arrowhead than they are away. The Redskins tight ends are both recovering from injuries and I'd imagine if one suits up the other will not. Monitor that. The LOB is as good as advertised but Seattle's defense has struggled versus tight ends this year. They're giving up over 55 yards per game and have already rendered 5 touchdowns in 3 games to tight ends. As solid as they may be, I'd still prefer to splurge on Jimmy Graham or Julius Thomas.

Star Splurges

RB LeSean McCoy ($8,300)- This is the week. The week Shady returns. The Eagles play the Rams at home. St. Louis sits at 3rd worst rush defense in the NFL thus far, giving up 155 yards on the ground per game. Much has been made of McCoy's struggles the last two weeks, so Chip Kelly could be looking to avoid those nagging questions surrounding McCoy's utilization by making him the centerpiece of that offense this week. He's the 7th most expensive RB but he could finish as the #1 back this week.

QB Drew Brees ($9,100)- The Saints are 1-3. What better way to get out of this rut than against their division foe Tampa Bay Bucs at home. Brees has been far from Brees-like this year but it's hard to argue with his trackrecord in the Superdome. No team has given up a higher completion percentage (75.57%) and QB rating (118.15) against them than the Bucs. With Mark Ingram still out, Sean Payton knows that he'll have to put the game in his QB's hands to prevent this season from tail-spinning.

WR Julio Jones ($8,300)- It's about time he makes it on this list. Low double digits is his floor and upper 20's is his ceiling. He and Antonio Brown have easily been the most consistent WR threats this year. Jones and the Falcons get the Giants in a game Vegas has determined to be worthy of the highest O/U at around 50pts this week. Points will be a plenty, so look for Julio to go off.

Must Avoid

QB Andrew Luck ($10,000)- He's been on a tear but at $10K he's taking up 1/6th of your cap with one player. Sometimes that's worth it, but I don't like his matchup against the Ravens this week. Sure the Ravens are 24th ranked pass defense in yardage but they have given up the 2nd fewest points per game, only 3 passing touchdowns in 4 games, and the least amount of fantasy points to tight ends in the league (taking away Fleener and Allen could hurt Luck badly). Luck will produce but don't expect anything more than 2 touchdowns from him.

WR Demaryius Thomas ($8,600)- This was supposed to be his year but so far he's been just bad. The bye week may have benefited him but I don't think it's worth risking him against the Cardinals with Patrick Peterson and Antonio Cromartie. The Cardinals are tied with Ravens for 2nd best in the league in points given up per game at 15. Spend $200 more for a sure thing in Julio Jones or save $100 and roll with A.J. Green back healthy vs. the Patriots on a short week.