Monkey Knife Fight: Week One Musings
The DLF Team is thrilled to announce an extension of our terrific partnership with the fastest growing daily fantasy sports site on the planet, Monkey Knife Fight (MKF). To further that relationship with our partner and premium members, we are now providing a weekly column to help familiarize you with the format and offer some tips on who to target each week throughout the NFL season.
This is the perfect format for you if you are in “rebuild” mode, “tanking”, or just looking for something that requires a little less work than managing a dynasty team year-round. Instead of competing against professional players, while calculating salaries against expected points, MKF is made for the average fan.
Monkey Knife Fight offers the ability to play a wide variety of fantasy contests, including their popular More or Less games, allowing you to simply pick if a player is going to score more or less than the given line. You can read all about the details of the games and scoring here, but here is a quick rundown of how MKF works:
More/Less – You will be drafting your team by choosing More or Less for a group of player statistics presented. You will be squaring off with your own predictions. Choose the coinciding number of tiers correctly to win the prize shown prior to entry.
Rapid Fire – You will be selecting your team by choosing the highest-scoring player in multiple head-to-head matchups in statistical categories. They will need to beat the unchosen players in their head-to-head matchups. If a player gets additional points added to their score in a matchup, they will be shown in green (ex: +14.5). Choose the coinciding posted number of matchups correctly to win the prize shown prior to entry.
Also, you can choose to play the full slate and select players from different games, or you can choose a single game to focus on and choose just the two quarterbacks, running backs, or receivers from that game only. Now, on to week one!
Week One More or Less Plays
For the purpose of this article, we will cover the most popular format and give you players we like or dislike over at MKF. Each week we will highlight a few player props at each position who really stand out. You can deploy these picks in the full slate contests or the single-game options. The choice is yours.
Quarterbacks
Ryan Tannehill, TEN
An already weak Arizona Cardinals secondary suffered another blow when Malcolm Butler was put on the Reserve/Retired list on August 31st. This is a unit that was already ranked near the bottom of the league in all metrics. With the addition of Julio Jones and AJ Brown already in town, Tannehill should easily pass his prop of 248.5 yards (more).
Jalen Hurts, PHI
In four starts last season, Hurts averaged 229.25 yards per game. This included games with just 72 and 167 yards passing. To say the Eagles offense was bad in the preseason is an understatement. With a brand-new head coach who has never called plays, we can expect a conservative approach. Also, new Falcons defensive coordinator Dean Pees likes to blitz a ton.
Hopefully, this will help a Falcons defense that allowed the most passing yards to the QB position in 2020, but Hurts holds the ball too long and also likes to run. It is a tough call but this makes the number of 225.5 unlikely to achieve (less).
Baker Mayfield, CLE
This game has one of the highest totals of the weekend (54.5) and has Cleveland listed as a 5.5 point dog. The Chiefs were middle of the pack in 2020 as far as passing yards allowed per game (231.8) but in all likelihood, the Browns will be trailing most of the game and be forced to throw.
A healthy Odell Beckham Jr and Jarvis Landry along with Kareem Hunt out of the backfield give Mayfield plenty of options. Kansas City was also terrible against the tight-end position in 2020 so look for Austin Hooper to get some work. All of this points to Mayfield surpassing the prop of 263.5 (more).
Running Backs
James Robinson, JAC
Do you want to know who was dead last in rushing yards allowed in 2020? You guessed it. The Houston Texans. Gone is JJ Watt and the team is in shambles from top to bottom. Enter James Robinson.
In two games against Houston last season, Robinson averaged 73.5 yards (48 and 99 respectively) but only rushed 13 times in the first matchup due to the lopsided nature of the game. The Texans offense is not likely to blow anyone out in 2021. The 70.5 rushing yards simply seems too low for Robinson here (more).
David Montgomery, CHI
The Los Angeles Rams were fourth-best in the league in rushing yards allowed in 2020 (99.1) and face an underwhelming quarterback in Andy Dalton Sunday night. Look for them to stack the line and make the former Bengal and Cowboy beat them.
This is going to make for incredibly tough sledding for Montgomery, who showed marked improvement in 2020. This is not the game for him to get going, however, and it will be tough for him to hit the needed 55.5 rushing yard prop (less).
Darrell Henderson, LAR
Sticking with the same game, look for the Rams to attack Chicago through the air. Matthew Stafford obviously knows them well from his days in Detroit. The former Lion has many better-receiving weapons at his disposal and the Bears secondary downgraded significantly in the offseason.
Factor in the arrival of Sony Michel and Sean McVay’s historic rushing ratio of just over 40% and it does not bode well for Henderson to hit the required 50.5 yards (less).
Wide Receiver/Tight End
AJ Brown, TEN
We discussed Tannehill and the disarray of the Cardinals secondary earlier. It only makes sense that one of the top receivers in this game will be a target. Brown was 14th in the NFL in receiving yards per game (76.8) and with Julio Jones in town, expect that number to increase with coverage being pulled away somewhat to focus on Jones. All these factors make the 72.5 expected yards seem way too low (more).
Travis Kelce, KC
Speaking of receiving yards per-game leaders, Kelce was third in the NFL at 94.4. Cleveland was 30th in the league against the tight-end position in 2020. Look for Kelce to feast as he usually does. The stud tight end went over 91.5 yards in eight of 15 games last season. This is the prop set by MKF for week one and we like the over here as we mentioned earlier this game has a total of 54.5 (more).
Calvin Ridley, ATL
Gone is Julio Jones. Even with Jones in Atlanta, Ridley averaged 91.6 yards per game, good for fourth-best in the NFL. The Eagles secondary is nothing to be afraid of and outside of Kyle Pitts, no receiving options were brought In by the Falcons to replace the usage that Jones saw every year. Expect Ridley to be targeted early and often resulting in him smashing the projected 85.5 yards projected (more).
Wrapping It Up
We hope you have taken the opportunity to try out our partner’s platform and these tips help earn you extra cash towards your dynasty league dues. Come back weekly for the top plays and fades of the week from DLF. We look forward to seeing you here.
He graduated from SUNY Alfred State in 2015 with a bachelor's degree in Technology Management. When he is not writing or playing video games, Jeff spends time with his wife Naomi and their Bichon Poo, Daisy.
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