CFB DFS Top Plays: Week 12 (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. 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

Jeff Sims (ASU – DK $7,400) – “You know a lot of people go to college for seven years.” To be fair to Jeff Sims, he’s not quite at seven years, but he is in Year 6. If you’ve been playing CFB DFS for a while, then you’re familiar with the rollercoaster that is Sims, so it almost seems fitting that we get one last Jeff Sims chalk week. It’s a thin slate at QB, and Sims is cheap at $7,400 while projecting roughly four points higher than any other QB. In his two starts for ASU this season, Sims had 49 combined passing and rushing attempts (including 21 carries) against Utah, and then 53 combined passing and rushing attempts (including 29 carries) against Iowa State. He’s been used heavily on designed QB runs, and he gets his softest matchup to date with a West Virginia defense allowing 32.6 points per game (113th) and 280.4 passing yards per game (128th). Sims should provide quality rushing upside based on sheer volume, and the weak WVU passing defense is a bonus.