Scaled back this week. Playing 9 50/50s and a couple small $$ GPPs. Playing with house money after a good week 1 & 2.
As most of my leagues are already full, I feel fine sharing my approach.
Here are the players I built around:
QB10 Burrow $7500
QB13 Tua $7300
QB19 Lawrence $7000
NYJ is a better offense than expected and the Bengals are spotty on defense, so NYJ/CIN could be a shootout. Burrow at QB10 seems a nice value. With Tua, you have a few questions to ask. Was last week a fluke? Is Buffalo DEF too good to play a QB against? On paper it's a bad matchup, but Baltimore looked like a bad matchup last week too. This could easily become another shootout, in which case Tua is likely to rack up some stats (even if there are some INTs mixed in there too). At QB13 the price is reasonable to take some gambles. I like Lawrence for cheap as a rotational option in lineups where I needed to save $$$. Also grabbed one share each of Allen and Hurts to add more diversity to my portfolio. Going with a pretty even blend here, as opposed to maxing one player.
RB4 McCaffrey $8500
RB6 Mixon $8300
RB9 Clyde $7300
RB17 Sanders $6800
RB18 Gibson $6700
Like this price on CMC vs. a very middling NO team. Possibility for a monster game and you're getting a discount from JT, Henry, Ekeler. Mixon is my go-to mid-level RB1 this season. Not been a sexy choice, but he's always a strong bet for high volume and the offense will generate scoring chances. A little iffy on Clyde, but mixed him into some teams at a modest $7300 price point. Sanders and Gibson look like clear value when you weigh production + likely workload + cost. Been going to the Gibson well often this season and so far his price is still quite low for a three down back with goal line potential. Would've been mighty interested in Josh Jacobs at $6500 this week if not for the weird illness situation. Had to pull him out of some lineups.
WR4 Chase $8500
WR7 AJ Brown $8000
WR10 Waddle $7500
WR12 Pittman $7400
WR16 Kirk $7100
WR19 McLaurin $6900
WR21 Metcalf $6700
WR25 DJ Moore $6400
WR27 Samuel $6300
WR28 London $6200
WR32 Lazard $6000
As usual, lots to love here in the mid-level WR ranks. Still plenty of guys in the 6-7k range who figure to have large target volume. I just mixed and matched, with an eye on my RB/TE picks to avoid redundancy in any given lineup. On the high end, I like Chase and Brown for a discount over Jefferson and Kupp. Tyreek may still be underpriced, but Waddle for almost $1k cheaper is the more appealing piece to me. Pittman at WR12 is great value if he's healthy because he's such a target magnet on that team. Kirk continues to be a nice play, as does DJ Moore. You can make a case for any of the WAS WRs at their lowish prices. Also intrigued by the Jets, though I didn't pick any. Wilson and Elijah could be good picks. London and Lazard make sense as cheap options with a high probability of good target numbers. Metcalf has been a flop this season, but at some point he's going to have a big game. Mixed in him into some lineups for variety.
TE7 Pitts $5600
TE8 Goedert $5500
I'm on the Pitts train, and I'll keep selecting him until he finally has a big week. He's too good to be this unproductive indefinitely. For a massive discount vs. Andrews and Kelce, I'll roll the dice. Mixed in Goedert for certain lineups where I had Drake London at WR, as I don't think ATL will be lighting up the scoreboard enough to yield two great receiving weeks.
Falcons DEF vs. SEA $3700 - Two bad offenses that will be punting and trading FGs. Seattle has a below par QB and a suspect running game.
Raiders DEF vs. TEN $3400 - Titans are bad, bad, bad. Henry has yet to get rolling this season. Hoping it doesn't happen this week.
Seahawks DEF vs. ATL $3400 - Hard to see this one being a shootout, so the Seahawks are probably a safe bet to yield a decent score.
Jaguars DEF vs. LAC $3200 - Cheap play vs. a QB with injured ribs. Not the worst idea. Jags aren't as bad as everyone thinks.
I've been quite fortunate to find massive value for cheap from the DEF slots so far this season, but I don't love any of the plays this week. My lineups feature an even blend of the above options, rotating based on excess budget and interaction with other roster pieces (i.e. not playing ATL def on teams where I picked Metcalf, not playing SEA def on my Pitts/London teams when possible).