DraftKings Wild Card Weekend Lineup: Aaron Rodgers, Martavis Bryant Good Bets

The NFL playoffs finally have arrived, and if you thought fantasy football ended with the regular season, think again.

DraftKings offers many different one-week fantasy games for Wild Card Weekend, giving players plenty more chances to win prizes.

Here’s our DraftKings lineup for the four wild card games this weekend.

Quarterback: Aaron Rodgers, Green Bay Packers ($6,400)
Rodgers has the best matchup of any quarterback in the wild card round. He’s facing a Washington Redskins defense that’s given up more passing yards per game and per attempt than any team in the playoffs.

Running Backs: Eddie Lacy, Green Bay Packers ($4,500); Jeremy Hill, Cincinnati Bengals ($5,000)
Lacy has averaged 4.5 yards or more per carry in four of the last seven games. He’s a pretty good value at just $4,500, particularly against a Redskins defense that struggled in defending the run all season. Washington gave up 122.8 yards per game and 4.8 yards per carry, the most among all playoff teams.

Hill doesn’t rack up a ton of yards and his matchup against the Steelers is a tough one, but he’s been a touchdown machine all season. He scored 11 rushing touchdowns, four of which came in the last five games. Hill isn’t a slam dunk, but his touchdown success makes him worth the gamble.

Wide Receivers: Martavis Bryant, Pittsburgh Steelers ($5,600); Jamison Crowder, Washington Redskins ($3,800); Doug Baldwin, Seattle Seahawks ($6,700)

The Steelers won’t have starting running back DeAngelo Williams, so we might see them throw more often than normal. Either way, Bryant is a good bet this week. He was targeted nine times in each of his two games against Cincinnati this season.

Crowder is a good value pick from a Redskins offense that scored 19 passing touchdowns over the last eight games. He’s also averaged 10.2 yards per catch and gave his best performance of the season in Week 17 with 102 yards and a touchdown.

Baldwin emerged as a fantasy All-Star with 11 touchdowns in the last six games. Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson also looked Baldwin’s way often in that span with nearly eight targets per game. The Vikings don’t have a great defense, and Baldwin’s production in the red zone and the trust he has with Wilson makes him a pretty safe bet this week.

Tight End: Travis Kelce, Kansas City Chiefs ($4,500)
Kelce is one of Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith’s most trusted targets, and his matchup against the Texans’ defense isn’t a bad one. Kelce averaged 12.2 yards per catch and six targets per game. That’s pretty solid for a tight end, especially one at $4,500.

Flex: DeAndre Hopkins, Houston Texans ($8,400)
Hopkins had a tremendous season with 1,521 receiving yards, 11 touchdown catches and six 100-yard games.Hopkins is capable of giving a great performance even without a quality quarterback throwing him the ball. His size, speed, route running and ability to make fantastic catches in traffic are so impressive.

Hopkins is targeted a lot — 13 games with 10 or more targets. That’s the main reason why he’s a good pick this week. Fantasy football is all about opportunity.

Defense: Kansas City Chiefs ($4,000)
This is a no-brainer. The Chiefs, whose defense has dominated over the last eight games, are playing the worst offense and worst quarterback (regardless of who starts for Houston) in the playoffs. The Texans are the lowest-scoring postseason team at 21.2 points per game and the only threat they have on offense is Hopkins.

Thumbnail photo via Brace Hemmelgarn/USA TODAY Sports Images