CFB DFS Top Plays: Week 2 – Saturday Main

Editor’s Note: We may not write up every player we consider to be a top play. Be sure to consult the chart at the bottom of the page. This page will be updated as necessary.

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Understanding optimal lineups for cash games is extremely important, even if you only play tournaments. Players in our cash pool are the ones we believe are the most underpriced, have the best floor/ceiling combo, and typically feature a relatively tight range of outcomes. These are the best plays on the board when considering price, context, and positional scarcity. These are usually pretty good options for GPPs as well.

The optimal GPP lineup will typically mix some of these cash-type plays with higher-variance options, often in correlated lineups. In cash games (where roughly 50% of the field gets paid out), we don’t worry about ownership, game stacks, or correlation. In large-field tournaments, we should be much more mindful of ownership. For more tournament content, check out our projections, and Friday’s live show, Establish The Show: The College Years, with Alex Hardin and Sean Newsham.

With all that said, these are our Top Plays considering the following factors: mean projection, matchup, upside, and value. Ownership is NOT considered here. Generally speaking, these players are what we consider to be “head-to-head and 50/50 considerations”.

They are listed in price descending order (NOT ranked by “best play”). At the bottom, you’ll find suggested rankings by site once salary is accounted for.

Quarterback

Jaxson Dart (MISS – DK $9,700) – It may be a stretch to fully justify using Dart in cash games, but if you have confidence that he will get 100% of the snaps for Ole Miss, there is a good chance he wins the QB position this slate in terms of raw points. However, the hold-ups are twofold: price and role. If you opt to pay all the way up at QB, you end up having to sacrifice elsewhere, and in terms of role, we have some concern that he has a short leash with Spencer Sanders breathing down his neck. We prefer Dart to Shedeur Sanders because of Dart’s game environment and his rushing ability (he ran for 548 yards last year with two 100+ yard games). GPP Recommendation: 1 to 2 pass catchers in stack.

Michael Pratt (TUL – DK $8,800, FD $10,800) – On the other side of the Dart matchup is Michael Pratt for Tulane, who is 100% the guy at quarterback but gets a tougher matchup versus the Ole Miss defense (which is a borderline top-25 defense in terms of efficiency). Pratt does not run quite as much as Dart, except he does run more near the goal line, as evidenced by his 10 rushing touchdowns last season. While Pratt is still more of a luxury than a priority, he is a bit safer (in terms of role) and cheaper compared to Dart. GPP Recommendation: 0 to 1 pass catchers in stack.

Jeff Sims (NEB – DK $7,200) – Now that you are a few sentences deep into the quarterback position, you may start to get the sense that there aren’t too many appealing options out there. After scouring the position multiple times, you are likely to come to the same conclusion that we did: It is a Jeff Sims mega-chalk week. When has that ever gone well? History tells us, never. We know Sims can’t throw the ball (effectively), however, he is an excellent (ok, good) runner and the Buffaloes are playing at such a pace that it is going to afford this game with a large number of plays whether Nebraska likes it or not. Sims made some mistakes last week, but Minnesota is a very good defense, so we can give him a pass.