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The Bengals slow start to the season isn’t shocking. After finishing 6-10 last season, they opened up this season without A.J. Green and the offense is struggling to get points on the board. As for the Steelers, they are trying to adjust to life without Ben Roethlisberger and Antonio Brown. Mason Rudolph has done a decent job filling in for Big Ben although the Pittsburgh offense isn’t nearly what it’s been in previous seasons. Something has to give in this matchup against winless teams unless there is a tie and then we can enjoy this game by laughing at the result.
CAPTAIN OBVIOUS
James Connor ($15,900): The start to the season for Connor is less than ideal. He’s yet to break out a monster fantasy game and many analysts are quick to point out that he doesn’t have quite the same usage as last season. While this is true, Connor’s snap rate has gone up each week. He played 46% of the snaps in Week 1, 54% in Week 2 and then 68% in Week 3. This has me bullish on his upside going forward and the Bengals are ranked 28th in run defense DVOA. The game script also figures to work in Connor’s favor since the Steelers are home favorites.
CAPTAIN COURAGEOUS
Tyler Eifert ($7,800): In previous seasons, Eifert has been a primary Red Zone target for Dalton. He’s yet to get much going this season in the Red Zone although that’s mostly because the Bengals haven’t spent much time deep in enemy territory. Playing their easiest game of the season, they should be able to move the ball a bit better and Eifert could benefit since the Steelers allow the fifth most DKFP to tight ends. Rostering him as a cheap captain should come at low ownership and saves a ton of salary cap.
FLEX MEN
Andy Dalton ($9,800): Aided by game scripts, Dalton is one of the league’s leading passers. In three games, he’s thrown for 979 yards and is averaging 22.2 DKFP per game. As road underdogs, this is another game that sets up for Dalton to be airing it out in the second half as the Bengals try to comeback from behind. To this point, the Steelers have had one of the worst pass defenses in the league. They are 29th in pass defense DVOA and they allow the eighth most DKFP to quarterbacks.
John Ross ($8,400): Ross is the boom or bust GPP target of the night. He has a massive big play upside although we have also seen him struggle to produce when he doesn’t break the big play. Last week, we saw the downside. He caught just two passes for 22 yards in a fantasy dud. However, we have also seen plenty of his ceiling this season. In Week1, he caught a pair of touchdowns and scored 37.8 DKFP. I wouldn’t trust him in a cash game, but Ross can’t be ignored in GPP since he has the upside to break the slate.
I am a promoter at DraftKings and am also an avid fan and user (my username is gehrenberg) and may sometimes play on my personal account in the games that I offer advice on. Although I have expressed my personal view on the games and strategies above, they do not necessarily reflect the view(s) of DraftKings and I may also deploy different players and strategies than what I recommend above. I am not an employee of DraftKings and do not have access to any non-public information.