Mike ClayDec 31, 2025, 01:54 PM ET
- Mike Clay is a senior writer for fantasy football and the NFL at ESPN. Mike is a member of the FSWA Hall of Fame. His projections power the ESPN Fantasy Football game, and he also appears on "Fantasy Football Now" and the Fantasy Focus Football podcast.
Set a winning lineup for DraftKings' NFL Week 18 Sunday main slate by combining value picks in each roster slot and exploiting the best matchups, all within the confines of the salary cap. Every week, we evaluate all of your DraftKings options to identify the best values among the lower-priced options, as well as the matchups to play or avoid, so you can select the players who are worth their high price tags.
Value is determined by the number of DraftKings points you can expect for every dollar invested in putting that player in your lineup. A player may be an "Average" or even a "Good" value while also projected to outscore a player identified as a "Great" value, but when you consider the cap hit and the salary you can put toward other players, you may decide that the "Great" value outweighs that projection.
Players considered to be a "Great" value are those in the 90th percentile of projected value picks for the week. "Good" plays are in the 75th percentile or better. "Average" plays span the 25th to 74th percentiles, while "Shaky" plays are in the 10th-24th percentiles. "Poor" picks encompass single-digit percentiles. Only players projected to score 4 points or more are displayed.
Player salaries are drawn from DraftKings' main slate and are based on the ESPN player projections at the time of publication.
