Todd Gurley and Ezekiel Elliott will be fixtures in DraftKings GPP/tournament lineups in Week 16. Of course, the strategy of jamming both will prove to be challenging one to employ in NFL DFS contests.
Carolina projects as a popular team stack, and we'll include a nugget from UFCollective's ownership percentage report to that effect. Their metrics aid us in parsing narratives and spots to muse on contrarian plays, potentially allowing an edge for lineups heavy on chalk elsewhere.
For DraftKings' 12-game featured slate in NFL Week 16.
WEEK 16 DFS:
Yahoo GPP lineup | Y! cash | DK cash | DK GPP | FD GPP | FD cash | Values | Stacks | DFS lineup builder
NFL Week 16 DFS Ownership: Quarterback
UFCollective projects Cam Newton ($6,800) well ahead of the pack in ownership this Sunday. The Bucs defense has been riddled with injuries and Greg Olsen's return helped rejuvenate the Carolina pass O, as evidenced against Green Bay.
Marcus Mariota ($5,300) could be near zero-percent owned despite rebounding last week — getting a $600 price drop to boot. This tag marks his lowest by a significant margin, even though the Titans' 20 implied total this week is more middling than bottom-end and there's projected negative game script.
NFL Week 16 DFS Ownership: Running Back
Todd Gurley ($9,100) and Ezekiel Elliott ($8,000) could both top a massive 30 percent owned. Gurley just shattered the Seahawks, and Zeke seems to almost get a discount for coming off hiatus, having topped $9K in his previous three DK slates.
UFCollective projects LeSean McCoy ($7,800) for relatively low ownership. McCoy's face injury concerns in practice this week, but he could prove to be a classic injury fade or an NFL player who balls out after DFS players bail due to injury uncertainty. ... Leonard Fournette ($7,500) also falls under the same category in the $7K tier.
NFL Week 16 DFS Ownership: Receiver
Michael Thomas ($7,600) came through in prime time against the Falcons two weeks ago and more than returned value on the featured slate this past Sunday. ... Julio Jones ($7,900) will join Thomas in a Superdome showdown that the DK masses are unlikely to fade. UFCollective projects both near 20 percent owned.
Golden Tate ($6,200) posted a dud in the dome against Chicago and now faces the third-stingiest defense for receivers in DK scoring in potentially snowy conditions at Cincy. However, Detroit's the pass-happiest team in the league as a result of an ineffective run offense, and Tate in the short passing game could be more crucial than ever. ... A.J. Green ($6,700) joins him as a post-dud contrarian in winter conditions.
NFL Week 16 DFS Ownership: Tight End
Greg Olsen ($5,200) did not see a price bump that fully buys into his massive target and air yards totals in Week 15. Many DKers will view that Green Bay shredding as enough to run Newton-Olsen as the most popular QB/TE stack against Tampa. ... And of course, Antonio Gates ($2,500) sans Hunter Henry should go chalk.
Jimmy Graham ($4,700) has burned too many people in favorable spots over the past two weeks to sniff double-digit ownership, even while his price falls to its lowest point since Week 8. Graham seems like a contrarian with high TD upside as the league's most-used option in the red zone.