Thanks to the weakness of the NFC South division, the Carolina Panthers (5-9) are currently in a tie for second place, just one game behind the Tampa Bay Buccaneers atop the division. They’ve been forced to use at the trio of Baker Mayfield, PJ Walker and Sam Darnold at quarterback throughout the year, but it’s been Darnold under center for the past three weeks, taking a stranglehold of the starting spot. Ahead of the intriguing matchup against the Detroit Lions on Saturday, let’s take a look at the Sam Darnold DFS and fantasy football rankings and see if he has any value as a sleeper option.
Sam Darnold DFS & Fantasy Football Ranking
Per our expert NFL DFS projections, Sam Darnold ($5,100) projects at 15.36 fantasy points. With a value rating over three, he ranks as one of the better options for Saturday’s slate. Per our ownership projections, Darnold is looking at about a 3.5% ownership rate, making him a solid leverage play for the main slate.
With our fantasy football rankings, Darnold (No. 18 on the board) projects as more of a long-shot option in some two-quarterback or deeper leagues.
Since taking over the mantle of starting quarterback, Darnold has gone 2-1, throwing for three touchdowns and no interceptions. But he has yet to score over 20 fantasy points in those games.
The Darnold play is largely based on the Lions’ inability to control opposing quarterbacks. The Lions defense has been a bit better against the run in recent weeks, but they remain dead last in the league in fantasy points allowed to opposing quarterbacks. And after what we saw in the Jacksonville Jaguars-New York Jets matchup on Thursday night, the Lions pass defense looks even worse for letting Zach Wilson throw for more than 300 yards and score nearly 20 fantasy points in Week 15.
Though the Panthers have been using Darnold as more of a game manager in his time under center this season, they could opt to let him air it out a little bit more against the Lions. If there was ever a week where Sam Darnold were to provide large DFS and fantasy football numbers, it would likely be this one, even if his ceiling isn’t overly high.
