With no early London game and only four teams on a bye week, we have a deep, 13-game schedule to pick apart in Week 10. Throughout the column, however, we found ourselves frequently citing the limited amount of options due to either poor offenses or stellar defenses. If ever we needed a bigger slate of games, this was it. Thankfully, enough pieces can be found to complete the puzzle.
Sporfolio’s NFL Daily Fantasy Sports game-by-game analysis columns are driven by expected game flow. Based on a combination of our Week 10 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.
Cleveland Browns at Detroit Lions
Luke’s DFS Take: With Josh Gordon seemingly close to returning to football, the Browns finally may have something to be excited about. Unfortunately for them, he is not eligible to return this week, which leaves them waiting, yet again. Their offense continues to be a disaster, and their quarterback play is about as bad as it gets. DeShone Kizer should still be the starter coming off a bye week, but you never know with the Browns, and no matter the quarterback, the offense poses little threat or merit in the fantasy world. Needless to say, the Lions’ defense is a viable option, as is the passing game for Detroit. The Browns’ run defense is actually surprisingly good, allowing the fourth best yards per game average at just 84.3 yards, and their pass defense is middle of the road at 229.3 yards per game. The problem for the Browns is that their offense turns the ball over so regularly, and the opposition doesn’t have to do much to score which has lead to the Browns allowing 24.3 points per game – fifth highest in the league. Matthew Stafford, Golden Tate, and Marvin Jones should all be in-play this week as they look to capitalize on the inevitable Browns mistakes.
Mario’s DFS Take: It might seem impossible for a team that finished last season with a 1-15 record, but the Cleveland Browns appear to have regressed. At least, in terms of fantasy football value. To start the season, a large spread for the Browns usually left us in a position to buy either a quarterback or pass-catcher from Cleveland, as the team would eventually be trailing late and pick up fantasy points in ‘garbage time.’ Unfortunately, the carousel at the quarterback position continues to run in-game and, as much as I welcome risk when crafting a lineup, the lack of commitment to a single quarterback throughout one game makes it impossible to use an offensive player from Cleveland. Detroit’s defense gets the nod, but not many others. The Browns have a surprisingly effective run defense, and the Lions likely won’t be throwing late in the game. Therefore, if using Matthew Stafford, do so for his first-half statistics, alone. Anything else is a bonus.