Every week, at least one player becomes my fascination of whether he’s worthy of a fantasy football start or bench. The decision can be a mental wrestling match, but for the purpose of brevity, only one player can be chosen as the fantasy football gamble of the week.
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The best fantasy football gamble for Week 15
Tracking my predictions: 4-9-1
Win: Player produces ≥ 80% of projected fantasy points
Loss: Player produces >80% of projected fantasy points
Tie: Player is ejected or leaves with an injury
FanDuel holds the most market share in the fantasy football sport market along. Gambling and Fantasy Sports host/analyst for SI.com, Jim Cramer's BullMarketFantasy, and TheStreet. Football Jim Cramer Shocked By Cynthia Frelund's Super Bowl Predictions. We should start by clarifying that it is currently legal to bet on fantasy sports. The Unlawful Internet Gambling and Enforcement Act of 2006 (UIGEA), which establishes the legal guidelines for.
Seven straight wrong picks … put me out of my misery. Last week’s was the icing on the cake, because my selection, Cincinnati Bengals RB Giovani Bernard vs. Dallas Cowboys, fumbled for the first time in 830 carries — the longest active streak in the NFL — and was benched. He finished with three carries, three catches and 5.3 PPR points.
Barf.
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Okay, moving on, because what else can one do after such a situation?! The next choice isn’t going to be for the faint of heart, and it’s probably not going to apply to many people in the fantasy football playoffs. It may be best reserved for those in two-quarterback leagues or select DFS action.
Philadelphia Eagles QB Jalen Hurts at Arizona Cardinals
The Eagles turned over the keys to rookie Jalen Hurts last week, and he acquitted himself nicely vs. the New Orleans Saints. While most of the damage from a fantasy perspective came on the ground, he wasn’t entirely dreadful as a passer, and that’s about all one could hope for when surveying what is the Philly offense right now.
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Hurts finished the 24-21 win with 17-for-30 passing (56.7 percent), 167 yards, one touchdown throw, and no interceptions. As mentioned, his ground work (18-106-0) is what paved the way for a 23-point showing in traditional fantasy scoring.
A few takeaways that apply to the upcoming matchup: Hurts is not afraid to throw the ball vs. NFL coverage. His mobility was a boost, given the state of this offensive line, and he limited his mistakes to one fumble — hardly an egregious error considering he was sandwiched on the play.
WR Alshon Jeffery returned to the end zone, albeit on his only catch, but it is at least encouraging for a receiving corps that is starving for playmakers. Perhaps we’ll see Zach Ertz take a step in the right direction to look more like himself after a couple of weeks of substandard results since returning from an ankle sprain.
Finally, Hurts’ athleticism creates mismatch and decoy scenarios. The explosiveness of Miles Sanders was on full display — due, in part, to the defensive attention spent to spy on Hurts. It’s not something that necessarily pays off immediately, but repeated fakes, misdirections and setup plays put defenders on their heels, which eventually will create a huge mistake that benefits Hurts.
Arizona has given up five performances in the last seven games with at least 22.1 fantasy points and as many as 39.8. The two lowly efforts came from passing powerhouses Daniel Jones and Cam Newton. In two of those outings, Russell Wilson ran for a total of 126 yards on 16 carries. Newton rushed nine times for 46 yards, and Jared Goff plunged into the end zone in Week 13.
The Cardinals have regressed in recent weeks vs. the running back position. This matters because Sanders finding success on the ground opens the door for bootlegs and read-option plays for Hurts to find room of his own. Wide receivers have made enough noise to give even this lowly cast in Philadelphia a slight boost.
The game plan is likely to keep Kyler Murray off of the field. That means a bunch of running and controlling the clock. Don’t expect huge plays without there being either a breakdown in coverage or simply a spectacular display of athleticism.
However, this also works both ways in Hurts’ favor.
Let’s say the Cardinals jump out to an early lead, the rookie will be thrown into the fire as a passer and could do some damage with volume. That’s not what one should prefer to see as it likely to lead to more mistakes. The goal here is seeing Hurts maximize his efficiency as a passer and make critical plays with his legs.
My projection: 205 passing yards, 2 TD passes, 1 INT, 65 rushing yards, 1 TD (29.75 fantasy points)
Some 56 million fantasy sports players are plunking down money hoping to win big prizes based on the outcome of real world games.
Sure sounds like sports gambling, which happens to be illegal in every state except for Nevada.
But fantasy sports is perfectly legal.
The reason: a series of court decisions and a 63-word provision of federal law that classify fantasy sports as a game of skill.
For the most part, games of skill are allowed under federal law. Illegal gambling is considered to be a game of chance.
Fantasy sports works like this: Fans choose from real players in a draft or an online selection process to assemble a fantasy team. The players' real-game statistics are compiled and compared to see whose fantasy team has done the best.
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The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 specifically mentions fantasy sports as something allowed under the law, as long as people are not betting on the outcome of a single game or the performance of a single player.
Because fantasy sports 'owners' must make decisions to pick multiple players for their teams, they are participating in a game of skill.
That legal status is unlikely to change.
Fantasy sports has grown into an estimated $1.5 billion industry. Many of the major media and Internet companies such as Disney's(DIS) ESPN unit, Yahoo(YHOO) and CBS(CBS) have become major players in the business.
Two standalone companies specializing in daily fantasy games -- DraftKings and FanDuel --have each raised about $300 million from investors.
Fantasy sports is illegal in five states -- Arizona, Iowa, Louisiana, Montana and Washington, according to the Fantasy Sports Trade Association. That trade group is pushing for legislation to change the law in those states.
On Monday, DraftKings and FanDuel announced they have banned employees from playing fantasy games after allegations surfaced that a DraftKings employee reportedly made $350,000 on FanDuel's football game when he had insider information about which players were being chosen by other fantasy team owners.
Right now there really is no government authority that oversees fantasy sports, the way gambling regulators oversee sports gambling in Nevada. The scandal involving DraftKings and FanDuel could bring calls for greater government oversight of the industry if not calls for an outright ban on the games.
Are you playing fantasy sports? How much are you putting up and what's your record? Email Ahiza Garcia and your story might be included in a CNNMoney article.