NFL Fantasy Football Matchup Cheat Sheet: Indianapolis Colts
In NFL daily fantasy leagues, matchups are important. Pay attention to favorable matchups rather than the overall quality of individual players. It is better to select an above-average offensive player facing poor to average defense than an elite talent facing above-average to elite defense.
Each position in ranked according to one of these four ratings: Elite, Above-average, Average, and Poor.
Offense
QB Andrew Luck: Above-average
RB Trent Richardson: Average
WR1 Reggie Wayne: Above-average
WR2 Hakeem Nicks: Average
Slot WR T.Y. Hilton: Above-average
TE Dwayne Allen: Above-average
O-line: LT Anthony Castonzo, LG Donald Thomas, C Khaled Holmes, RG Hugh Thornton, RT Gosder Cherilus: Average
Luck should soon develop into an elite quarterback, but he isn’t quite there yet. He does have the advantage of possessing a better set of receivers than most QBs. Wayne and Hilton are always a good play against poor to average secondaries, and keep an eye on Nicks to see if he can play closer to his peak in 2011 than his inconsistent last two years.
The run-blocking capabilities of Cherilus will help Richardson, but the interior of the o-line is lacking and Richardson himself should continue to disappoint, as he has in every game since being selected . Stick to the passing game when selecting players from Indy’s offense.
Defense
CB1 Vontae Davis: Above-average
CB2 Greg Toler: Poor
Nickel CB Darius Butler: Average
Safeties: SS LaRon Landry, FS Sergio Brown: Poor
Linebackers: OLB Robert Mathis, ILB Jerrell Freeman, ILB D’Qwell Jackson, OLB Erik Walden: Above-average
D-line: DE Arthur Jones, NT Josh Chapman, DE Ricky Jean-Francois: Above-average
Davis is a good corner, but besides him the Colts have a terrible secondary. WR2s and slot receivers have an excellent matchup against Indy. Also, remember to take advantage of last year’s NFL sack leader Robert Mathis’ 4 game suspension and strongly consider playing QBs against the Colts in the first quarter of the 2014 season. In that window, QBs will face both an underwhelming secondary and a weakened pass rush.
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