4 FanDuel NFL Studs to Target in Week 2

Hitting on high-salary players is the first step to having success in daily fantasy football on FanDuel.

These players take up the biggest chunk of your salary cap, and they need to deliver quality performances for your lineup to reach its ceiling.

Here are four studs to target on this week's main slate.

All betting odds come from the NFL odds at FanDuel Sportsbook.

Josh Allen, QB, Buffalo Bills

FanDuel Salary: $9,200

Week 1 was not one to celebrate for Josh Allen. Monday night featured three interceptions and a fumble by Allen, all resulting in the Buffalo Bills' eventual loss in overtime.

Better days are ahead for the star quarterback --well, it can't get much worse anyway. Despite the four turnovers, Allen still was able to finish with 12.0 FanDuel points after going 29-for-41, totaling 236 passing yards, 1 passing TD, and 36 rushing yards. Even with the turnovers, he still had a better day than the likes of Lamar Jackson and Joe Burrow. Given Allen's historical excellence, it's probably going to get better on Sunday when the Bills take on the Las Vegas Raiders.

Surprisingly, the Raiders held the Denver Broncos in check offensively as they only scored 16 points, but they weren't really pushing the ball down the field, either. A seemingly declining Russell Wilson posted 5.2 passing yards per attempt as he finished with just 177 yards through the air. It came as a bit of a shocker when the Raiders were expected to have one of the worst secondaries in the league this year, so Allen shouldn't be written off for reversing that trend in Buffalo this weekend.

Allen is going to produce turnovers, but more often than not, he's going to be one of the top quarterbacks of the week. Allen had poor efforts last year, but overall, he still finished as the QB3 on a points-per-game basis (24.3) on FanDuel. Down weeks are part of his package, but he also exploded past 25 FanDuel points in 7 of his 17 contests last year while dealing with an elbow issue.

We know Allen gets points through the air and on the ground, and that's what you often need from a stud play. numberFire's model believes in Allen as he's projected for 24.8 FanDuel points -- more than any other quarterback set to play Sunday.

Christian McCaffrey, RB, San Francisco 49ers

FanDuel Salary: $9,500

Run CMC.

Year 2 of Christian McCaffrey in San Francisco looks pretty good after what we saw from him in Week 1.

The San Francisco 49ers running back was dynamite on the field -- as were most of his teammates -- in the win over the Pittsburgh Steelers. McCaffrey finished as the RB2 with 152 rushing yards on 22 attempts plus a rushing touchdown. He also added 3 receptions and 17 yards through the air. A bulk of his rushing yards came on the 65-yard touchdown he had in the third quarter to give the 49ers a comfortable 26-7 lead.

Even in a blowout, McCaffrey earned 32 adjusted opportunities (carries plus double targets) and played 84.8% of the snaps. He is clearly the early favorite for the best workload from a running back in the NFL, so any worries about Elijah Mitchell's usage and/or the 49ers taking McCaffrey off the field likely are gone.

The 49ers will now take on the Los Angeles Rams. The Rams are heading into Week 2 at a rather surprising 1-0 after handling the Seattle Seahawks rather easily.

There's very little to take from in terms of the rushing defense for L.A. from Week 1; the Seahawks only ran the ball 18 times against the Rams, but they did average 4.7 yards per carry. The 49ers aren't likely going to have as tough of a time as the Seahawks did offensively based on their Week 1 output, so this should be another game where the McCaffrey and the 49ers feast.

CMC is the top projected running back heading into Sunday, per numberFire. He's expected to finish with 18.9 FanDuel points.

Ja'Marr Chase, WR, Cincinnati Bengals

FanDuel Salary: $8,400

Well, we can't say anyone expected that performance from the Cincinnati Bengals.

The Bengals lost to the Cleveland Browns by a score of 24-3 as Joe Burrow finished his day with 82 passing yards and was eventually benched with the game being so out of hand. Again -- didn't expect that.

As you can imagine with just 82 yards to go around, it wasn't a bright start to the season like you'd hope for with Ja'Marr Chase. The star wideout finished with 5 receptions for 39 yards while also adding 2 yards on the ground. That's not what you're looking for from a stud like Chase, but hey, it's better than Tee Higgins' zero catches...right?

Nonetheless, this should be the worst effort for a team like the Bengals. There is a reason they've been considered Super Bowl contenders all offseason. They have the team to get the job done and will look to -- in many ways -- get their season truly underway against the Baltimore Ravens. Chase has had some of the best games of his career in this matchup, so why should we expect anything less?

Over his four career games against Baltimore, Chase averages 7.5 receptions, 11.3 targets, and 115.5 receiving yards. He's also recorded two touchdowns against them. Cincinnati is going to enter the game far more ready with Burrow now having some game action following his calf injury that held him out the entire preseason. The Bengals have started slow before with Burrow under center, but they figured it out.

numberFire has Chase projected for the most points of any wide receiver on Sunday at 16.3 FanDuel points. With a 46.5-point game total, the Bengals and Ravens could be a sneaky game to stack in tournaments.

Stefon Diggs, WR, Buffalo Bills

FanDuel Salary: $8,000

Even in one of the worst games of Josh Allen's career, Stefon Diggs still managed to show up and show out.

What Diggs does so well for the Bills -- and especially Allen -- is that no matter the play, he knows how to get open. When watching Allen play, you know there are going to be plenty of broken plays where he's moving around and looking downfield. As we saw Monday night, that can both be a good thing and a bad thing.

It was overall pretty poor for Allen, but it was a good thing on multiple occasions for Diggs, including the touchdown that came on a bang-bang play with the Bills quarterback nearly going over the line of scrimmage on his throw.

Diggs finished as the fifth-best receiver last week after recording 10 receptions on 13 targets, good for 102 yards and the aforementioned touchdown. The misses for the Bills were still answers for the star wideout.

As mentioned, this week is going to be a "get-right" type of game after the brutal loss to the New York Jets.

The Las Vegas Raiders were able to stop the less-than-exciting Broncos. That's more of a credit to how uninteresting Denver was (and has been) offensively than how good this Raiders defense likely is. Even amidst the Broncos' struggles, Vegas still enters this week as numberFire's eighth-worst pass defense from Week 1.

All this means is that Diggs should be going good once again with his quarterback hopefully following suit. If you're afraid of Allen's personal struggles, Diggs as a one-off is likely going to be the one who eats.

numberFire has the Bills wideout projected for 15.2 FanDuel points -- the second-most among wide receivers behind Chase.

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The above author is a FanDuel employee and is not eligible to compete in public daily fantasy contests or place sports betting wagers on FanDuel. The advice provided by the author does not necessarily represent the views of FanDuel. Taking the author's advice will not guarantee a successful outcome. You should use your own judgment when participating in daily fantasy contests or placing sports wagers.