I play around 60% of my action each week in “cash games.” Cash games refer to any contest in which roughly 50% of the field gets paid out, such as head-to-head, double up or 50/50. I try to get as much head-to-head action as I can every week and then supplement that with other cash games. I make one cash lineup for DraftKings and one for FanDuel.
Each week, I’ll review my cash-game lineups in this space. Sometimes I’ll lose, but hopefully I’ll win more often. Either way, I’ll post it here and give you my thought process.
This was one of the softest-priced slates I can ever remember. At one point, our second-optimal on DK (best possible lineup based on our projections, can use Solver add-on to generate optimal lineups) left $700 of salary on the table. We simply don’t see so many strong cheap QBs and RBs available on one slate. It led to some awkward constructions where we had to pay up at spots we didn’t love.
Note: Unless stated otherwise, the discussion below is about DraftKings.
MY MUST PLAYS
* Marcus Mariota was starting for the Commanders with Jayden Daniels (knee) out. Mariota’s best skill as a quarterback is running, and he was getting dropped into an offense already designed for his skill set. It’s rare I’d pass on a $4000 quarterback who runs on DraftKings, especially when they are a home favorite with solid weaponry.
* Christian McCaffrey is the ideal kind of cash RB on full-PPR DraftKings. Anytime his price is reasonable, I’m trying to play the NFL’s best receiving back who also has a workhorse role. That’s especially true in a home game against the Cardinals with Jauan Jennings, George Kittle, and Brandon Aiyuk all out.
* Kenneth Walker was battling with Zach Charbonnet for control of the Seahawks backfield the first two weeks. Then Charbs (foot) went down, leaving Walker with total control for a home game against the lowly Saints. Given Walker’s explosive running ability and his pass-catching ability, I was never missing out on this spot at just $5800.
* Speaking of Seahawks, Jaxon Smith-Ngjiba’s role this season has been outrageous. And ideal for cash. He’s going to an insane target share weekly, he mixes in short-area targets to keep the aDOT low, and has been going deep more this season. JSN was our top salary-adjusted value in projection. I was not going to be scared off by the illness.
MY WANT PLAYS
* The last 2v2 I looked at was Jordan Mason and Packers D/ST vs. Jonathan Taylor and Bengals D/ST. I thought the best play in this group of four was clearly JT. He now has the pass-down role, the Titans were without run-plugging DT T’Vondre Sweat, and I expected the Colts to control the game. On the other hand, I didn’t expect Mason to be heavily involved in the pass game and isn’t nearly as explosive as Taylor.
The other part of this is that the Mason/Packers side left $700 on the table. I’ve never done that in cash, don’t think I’ve ever left more than $400 on. So leaving $700 of free salary + spending $3700 on a defense… I think it was fine give how unique this slate was, but I just wasn’t comfortable doing it.
* The only TEs I looked at for cash were Tyler Warren, Trey McBride, and Brock Bowers. And the only reason I was looking at expensive tight end was because of slate dynamics – I had to spend money somewhere. Given Warren’s toe issue, I preferred McBride. And we had McBride ahead of Bowers in projection despite Bowers costing more.
* I had a pretty big pool of WRs I considered for the WR2 and WR3 spots. The cheapest I was willing to go was was Keenan Allen ($4700) and the most expensive I was willing to go was CeeDee Lamb ($8000). I wanted to handle RB first, and then play what fit best per projections at WR. That turned out to be Keenan and Caleb Williams’ clear WR1, Rome Odunze ($5300).
Week 3 Results
This was another great week for our projections. Our “optimal” on DraftKings (most projected points possible in a lineup based on straight projection) scored a massive 193 points. Anytime that happens, I’m going to have a good week.
YEAR-TO-DATE RESULTS
Week 1 DraftKings: 111.32 points, won 37.0% of head-to-heads
Week 2 DraftKings: 145.40 points, won 76.5% of head-to-heads
Week 3 DraftKings: 168.68 points, won 70.6% of head-to-heads
Week 1 FanDuel: 114.22 points, won 92.3% of head-to-heads
Week 2 FanDuel: 119.00 points, won 95.2% of head-to-heads
Week 3 FanDuel: 149.42 points, won 82.6% of head-to-heads
