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Week 16 Daily fantasy picks: DraftKings tournament advice

Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Martavis Bryant (10) celebrates his second quarter touchdown with wide receiver Antonio Brown (84) and wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster (19) and running back Le’Veon Bell (26) against the Jacksonville Jaguars in the AFC Divisional Playoff game against the Pittsburgh Steelers at Heinz Field. Mandatory Credit: Philip G. Pavely-USA TODAY Sports

Welcome to the Week 16 DraftKings Tournament Guide! This Guaranteed Prize Pool overview covers the main slate on DraftKings and how to approach the week with roster building strategies, games to target, and cheap salary-saving dart throws that could reach their ceilings this week. Let’s get right into Week 16 and analyze how we should be approaching the main slate for tournaments this week.

Roster-building strategies

Lock in high-volume running backs

Week 16 draws quite a few parallels to Week 15. There’s one 50-plus-point game and then a lot of poor matchups. The strategies from Week 15 worked well, so they’ll be copied over into this week and updated for this particular slate.

That starts with prioritizing backs we can lock in for a high number of touches. Ezekiel Elliott looks like the safest of the bunch given matchup and projected volume. Christian McCaffrey will have a new quarterback under center this week, potentially leading to more crowded boxes and may not check down as frequently as Cam Newton did. Saquon Barkley’s coming off his lowest touch total of his young career (18). It’s odd to say, but he’s shaping up to be a contrarian play based on early ownership projections. Todd Gurley hasn’t practiced all week and is looking like the easiest to fade of the bunch.

The next tier down is tricky. Early front-runners for players I want to prioritize in my player pool are at the top and bottom of this next tier. Nick Chubb has 30-point potential against a Bengals squad he torched in Week 12 for 27.8 DK points. At the bottom of this tier, both Marlon Mack and Jamaal Williams should be locked in for a high number of touches. Mack projects as a home, double-digit favorite and Williams takes over the backfield with little competition for touches now that Aaron Jones has been placed on IR.

The under-$5K tier is flush with risky options that could see touches but aren’t guaranteed them. There’s a case to be made for a few of them, but I think it’s going to be more trap plays than successful ones. Sony Michel (-13.5 home favorites), Elijah McGuire (more on him later) and Peyton Barber (yuck) are the three that look the safest from a high-touch perspective.

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