DraftKings Cash Game
Welcome to a weekly series where I provide you with what I think is the optimal cash game lineup. All prices, fantasy points, and analyses are based on DraftKings’ DFS platform. If you are unfamiliar with what cash games are, or if you are interested in my basic strategy, click here.
Week 7 Recap
I feel extraordinarily fortunate to have had a (small) winning week. Jayden Daniels was likely on his way to a massive game before getting knocked out early in the first half and only scoring 5.2 DK points. Additionally, the best play of the slate, JuJu Smith-Schuster ($4,000) posted a donut, as did Jordan Whittington ($4,800). If you had told me those three combined for just 5.2 points, I would have assumed I lost 100% of my matchups. Instead, I booked a small win.
Here are my results so far:
- Week 1: Won 21.3% of head-to-heads
- Week 2: Won 35.71% of head-to-heads
- Week 3: Won 21.3% of head-to-heads
- Week 4: Won 0% of head-to-heads
- Week 5: Won 85.71% of head-to-heads
- Week 6: Won 71.43% of head-to-heads
- Week 7: Won 57.1% of head-to-heads
- Season Win Percentage: 41.8%
Now, let’s dive into Week 8.
Quarterback
I can’t remember a week with so much value at QB. I don’t think there is a wrong way to play QB this week, as long as it makes sense with your team construction. I thought the RB/WR/TE plays were very obvious this week, so I considered a number of QB/DST 2 v 2s, and eventually landed on Caleb Williams ($6,000). Williams has turned a corner recently, scoring 23 points or more in three of his last four games. He gets a favorable matchup this week against Washington, owners of the NFL’s 26th-ranked secondary in EPA/Play.
Running Back
There is no rationale for how DraftKings went about pricing some of its RBs this week. Exhibit A: Breece Hall ($7,300). The star RB has benefited immensely following the firing of Ex-Jets Head Coach Robert Saleh, posting scores of 24.9 and 29.1 in the two games under interim HC Jeff Ulbrich. This has come, in part, due to a role change, as Hall has seen a 13.5% increase in snaps while teammate Braelon Allen has seen roughly 50% decrease in snaps, a signal that the Jets’ new HC wants to feature Hall more than the previous regime. Combine his talent with his increased role, and a salary of $7,300 makes no sense.
D’Andre Swift ($6,200) is another example of an RB with a better role and more talent than his salary suggests. Since Week 4, Swift has become one of the NFL’s most effective RBs, scoring the most points among all RBs over their last three games played. This kind of production is probably unsustainable, but his role (54% rush share and 13% target share) should allow him to see continued success in Week 8.
Wide Receiver
It feels like I’ve been playing Drake London ($7,200) a lot in cash recently, probably because I have. DraftKings has still been reluctant to aggressively adjust his price, hence why I keep playing him. London has been the hallmark of consistency, scoring 12 or more points in every game since Week 2. He has a good matchup this week agaisnt Tampa Bay, a game that might shootout, as both teams have great offenses and subpar defenses.
The whole world knew Tua Tagovailoa was returning this week, and yet DraftKings chose to keep Tyreek Hill ($7,000) at an unbelievably low salary. Tyreek’s elite production with Tua at the helm has been well documented, but there is some concern that Tua isn’t all the way back. However, this is already baked into Hill’s salary, so I’ll skip the double-counting and confidently play Tyreek Hill at roughly a $1,000 discount.
The injuries to Mike Evans and Chris Godwin on Monday night created insane value in the Buccaneer pass-catching corps, and I’m taking advantage of this by playing Jalen McMillan ($3,700). McMillan saw 8 targets on Monday night, a sign that Baker trusts him and will continue to go his way on Sunday. Even if he doesn’t cement himself as the WR1 in the Bucs offense (which he will), he won’t require that much production to pay off a salary of just $3,700.
Tight End
Another beneficiary of the Buccaneer WR cluster injuries is Cade Otton ($3,500). I actually think Otton was underpriced to begin with, but now, he’s even more of a value. On Monday night, he corralled 8 of his 10 targets for 100 yards, scoring 21 points. This kind of production is tough to pull off for untalented TEs, so even though he’s had a slow start to his career, Otton may be experiencing a breakout season. If he continues this production, he won’t be $3,500 for long.
FLEX
This spot was a decision point between De’Von Achane ($6,200) and Drake London/Bijan Robinson ($7,200). Ultimately, I think Achane is the correct play, as his ceiling is probably pretty close to London’s and Robinson’s and I can use the extra $1,000 to more meaningfully upgrade at QB. Still, Achane is a great play this week, facing a terrible Cardinals defense who has allowed 25.4 PPG to opposing teams
DST
I don’t really understand the pricing on the Bears DST ($2,700). DraftKings priced one of the NFL’s premier defenses off a bye against a hobbled Jayden Daniels/Marcus Mariota at just $2,700, only a few hundred off from the minimum. Washington’s offense has been electric thus far, but this is by the far the best defense that they have seen up to this point. Thus, I’m willing to bet Chicago gives Washington fits on Sunday.
Summary
Cash was relatively straightforward this week: play the 7 obvious values and pick your favorite QB/DST combo with your remaining salary. I think it’s wise to allocate as much of that to QB as possible, instead of trying to get up at DST and play someone like Bo Nix at QB. I also rarely have leftover salary, much less $200. However, there wasn’t a single player $200 more who I thought upgraded me at any position, so I’ll just eat the leftover salary.
Here is the final lineup:
