The road to the Grey Cup continues with the opening round of the CFL playoffs this week. The Edmonton Eskimos earned the crossover seed and will play the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in the Eastern semi-final, while the Winnipeg Blue Bombers are set to visit the BC Lions in the Western semi-final. We took the time to break down the matchups, player values and salaries for this week’s DraftKings competitions in order to provide you with a winning lineup for this weekend. Here is a look at the optimal lineup for this week’s DraftKings CFL fantasy tournaments.
QB: Mike Reilly, Edmonton
Salary: $11,600
All Reilly did this season was complete 70.8-percent of his passes for a league-leading 5,554 yards and 28 touchdowns. He’s been a solid option in CFL fantasy all year. Now the Eskimos star quarterback will get the opportunity to put on a show on the biggest stage as he looks to lead his team to the Eastern Final. The Tiger-Cats secondary is pretty beaten up heading in to Sunday’s showdown so Reilly should have no problem putting up big numbers in Hamilton. Although the Ti-Cats are the home team in Sunday’s showdown, they are just 3-6 at home this season, so it’s not as if they have a clear edge playing at home.
RB: Jeremiah Johnson, BC
Salary: $7,300
The Lions are rolling heading in to the postseason but they will face a tough Blue Bombers defense that has been particularly good defending the pass. That means BC will need to rely on its rushing attack in order to effectively move the football with Johnson once again in a featured role. Johnson averaged 5.9 yards per carry while rushing for 809 yards and seven scores in 11 games for the Lions this season and should deliver a big performance at home against Winnipeg.
WR: Derel Walker, Edmonton
Salary: $9,600
The fact that Walker is available for $1K cheaper than his teammate Adarius Bowman should be enough to make him an obvious pick in most DraftKings lineups for this weekend. Walker had 109 receptions for 1,589 yards and 10 touchdowns this season and the fact that we can lock him in at a much more reasonable price than Bowman makes him a lock in our lineup. Edmonton is on the road in this spot but they were just as good at home (5-4) as they were on the road (5-4).
WR: Bryan Burnham, BC
Salary: $6,400
Speaking of value, Burnham finished fourth in the CFL with 1,392 receiving yards this season and is somehow available for just $6.4K in DraftKings tournaments. His three touchdown catches weren’t nearly as impressive as his yardage total but he will have plenty of opportunities to make up for it and to find the endzone on Sunday. The Lions were an impressive 6-3 at home this season, so they should have a clear edge in this spot even though the Blue Bombers were 7-2 in away games this year.
FLEX: Brandon Zylstra, Edmonton
Salary: $4,900
Zylstra is somewhat of a forgotten man in Edmonton behind Bowman and Walker but he did finish the season with 508 receiving yards and three scores. The Tiger-Cats will do everything they can to try to keep Bowman and Walker in check so there could be room for Zylstra to do some serious damage against the Hamilton secondary.
FLEX: Tori Gurley, Winnipeg
Salary: $4,800
Gurley finished the regular season with 571 receiving yards and five touchdowns despite dealing with injury concerns and getting cut by the Toronto Argonauts. His talent was never in question and the Blue Bombers are banking on his ability to come through in a big game for them on Sunday. At under $5K, he is definitely worth taking a shot with as a FLEX play.
D/ST: Eskimos
Salary: $4,700
The Eskimos defense is available for less money than the other three and yet Edmonton might have the best shot at pulling off a lopsided victory over an injury-riddled Hamilton team this weekend. Zach Collaros is clearly not 100-percent heading in to the playoffs so look for the Eskimos to make him pay the price for being under center and do their best to shut down the Tiger-Cats offense. Taking a closer look at the CFL fantasy numbers, the Eskimos allowed 496 points so far this season, which was mediocre. That’s only the fourth-best number in the West Division but this is a good spot to bet on them to perform well.
