Tonight the Baltimore Ravens are hosting the Indianapolis Colts for the Week 5 featured Monday Night Football matchup, and Yahoo Fantasy is offering NFL DFS single-game contests. The general concept of creating a team remains the same, but this is a one-game player pool. The twist is that any position player can be rostered, and one is designated to receive a 1.5x multiplier on their Yahoo fantasy points. Using Awesemo’s expert NFL projections and rankings, these are the top Yahoo NFL picks for the Monday Night Football game tonight.
Yahoo NFL Picks: Week 5 Monday Night Football
Top SUPERSTAR Options
The SUPERSTAR position will get a 1.5x multiplier on their Yahoo points in the single-game format.
Lamar Jackson, Baltimore Ravens – $36
Tonight only Carson Wentz projects to be within 10 points of Lamar Jackson. However, these are median outcomes, and anything can happen once the whistle blows to start the game. This is the third time that Jackson has been in a featured matchup this season, and based on prior results he is likely to be in 97% of all lineups and landing in the SUPERSTAR slot half the time. His fantasy production could easily be surpassed if another play scores two touchdowns, so there is a lot of strategy in play when dabbling in massive tournaments tonight.
Yahoo NFL Core Picks
Carson Wentz, Indianapolis Colts – $22
For a fun exercise, compare the fantasy game logs for both Wentz and Jackson. By the end of the season there will be dramatic differences in their production, but anything can happen in any given matchup. Though the Baltimore defense is not as elite as it has been in recent memory, they are still a top-10 unit. Wentz and the Colts will have their work cut out for them tonight, and if Latavius Murray happens to get touchdowns in a ground-control game flow, there is a path for Wentz to outscore Jackson tonight.
Mark Andrews, Baltimore Ravens – $20
Rookie Rashod Bateman (core muscle surgery) and Miles Boykin (hamstring) may return to action tonight, which makes for a crowded group of wideouts in a run-first offense. Fortunately, that should not impact Mark Andrews, who continues to have a steady role, with the third-most targets and yards and the second-most catches on the team. The rest of the tight ends only have four targets this season, and last year non-Andrews tight ends averaged 1.3 targets per game.
Michael Pittman Jr., Indianapolis Colts – $19
This season Michael Pittman Jr. is the undisputed WR1 for the Colts. While that is partly because T.Y. Hilton is out with an injury, Pittman is currently the better player. Pittman leads the Colts with 36 targets compared to 38 for the rest of the receivers combined. Zach Pascal (15) has the second most of this group. Even with the defense keying on him, Pittman should still approach double-digit looks and have the opportunity to produce.
Yahoo NFL Value Picks
Latavius Murray, Baltimore Ravens – $14
The funny thing about the Ravens offense is that they rarely throw to their running backs. This year through four games the position been targeted eight times, with seven of those going to undrafted free agent Ty’Son Williams before Baltimore was able to bring in Murray, Le’Veon Bell and Devonta Freeman. Last year the Baltimore backfield averaged 3.2 targets per game, and it was the same story in 2019 (3.3 targets). Murray should see 15 to 18 opportunities, but he is going to have to battle his quarterback for any touchdowns rushing.
Final Thoughts
In a game that projects for six touchdowns, the lineup construction strategies will be numerous. In the smaller-field (100 entries or fewer) contests it makes sense to put Jackson in the SUPERSTAR slot and move on. In the large-field tournaments (500-plus entries) playing the angle that Jackson is not the highest fantasy producer of the night and moving him into a Flex slot could pay handsomely if choosing the correct SUPERSTAR. Otherwise it is going to be rolling with Jackson and then hoping to capture the right combination of players who score the touchdowns.
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