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 cash slate was a bit messy due to the weather situation in Chicago, and some injury situations such as Ladd McConkey and Michael Pittman. There were also a lot of close 1v1s at TE, QB, and even RB.
Note: Unless stated otherwise, the discussion below is about DraftKings.
MY MUST PLAYS
* I thought it was very close at tight end between Michael Mayer ($3600) and Dalton Schultz ($3200). Given that, saving the $400 with Schultz was a must because I needed every dollar on this slate. This was an outlier strong spot for Schultz because Nico Collins (hamstring) was out, and the Bengals’ elite offense can put opposing offenses into pass-heavy scripts. Note that on FanDuel, I played Mark Andrews as he was priced much lower vs. his DraftKings price.
MY WANT PLAYS
* I planned to play a $4600 Carson Wentz against the Bears’ anemic defense. However, the weather situation grew more concerning as kick approached. As I discussed on Last Minute Livestream Sunday morning, I decided the conditions just weren’t worth the risk for cash. I did play a Wentz-Justin Jefferson tournament team.
So that left me with just two other QB options in my cash pool: Dak Prescott or Brock Purdy. I would have been fine with either. Once I realized I wouldn’t have enough salary room for George Pickens or CeeDee Lamb, I prioritized Prescott. He was our highest-projected QB on the slate, 0.6 clear of Purdy.
* There were five really strong RB plays for cash on this slate. I was intent on playing three out of these: Bijan Robinson, Christian McCaffrey, Derrick Henry, Javonte Williams, Aaron Jones.
I really struggled with this spot. I am not really in the business of passing on plays like a $5100 Aaron Jones. With Jordan Mason (thumb) out, he projected for a a huge workload, plays well in the pass game, and had an excellent matchup. I’m also not in the business of passing on an $8000 Christian McCaffrey against a talent-less Dolphins team.
But in the end, I just had to play the three pieces that fit my team the best. I really liked Javonte Williams as a true three-down plus goal-line back on a team I expected to threaten the slate-lead for points. I really liked Derrick Henry as a big home favorite in the under-center Declan Doyle scheme. And of course, Bijan Robinson as the entire Falcons offense.
In hindsight, spending a bit less at RB in an effort to improve my WRs was likely correct. More on that in the results section below.
* It was a really weak WR slate on DraftKings. We only had one player with a salary-adjusted value above 1.0 on the entire slate – and that was CeeDee Lamb. So I was fine trying to save money at the position with some cheap upside plays.
Matthew Golden had an excellent role in Week 1, as an every-down player who commanded targets in a big way. At just $4700, I knew I’d be taking on some floor risk but really liked the ceiling. I certainly preferred Golden to the other $4K range options such as Rashod Bateman and Kayshon Boutte.
I wasn’t too excited to play DK Metcalf, as Aaron Rodgers is withered and the Patriots have Christian Gonzalez. But once Michael Pittman (foot) was ruled out, the volume expectation at $5200 was tough to pass on.
And then for the last WR spot, I wanted to get to George Pickens at $6300. But his route tree doesn’t lend itself too well for cash, so I was fine settling for Garrett Wilson at $6000. He’s simply a very, very good NFL player in a fine matchup at a good price.
* The expensive defenses such as Bucs (against Deshaun Watson), Eagles (Cam Ward), and 49ers (Malik Willis) were all strong options. But regular readers know I’m trying to spend as little as possible at D/ST. The clear best option this week was the Panthers D/ST against Cooper Rush and a Falcons OL that Brandon Thorn ranked 23rd for this week. I was fine playing them even with Bijan Robinson, as Bijan is very capable of scoring well even when Rush fails miserably.
Week 2 Results
I think I would have played this slate a bit differently if I could do it again. When we have five RBs who are similar plays (once adjusted for price), I likely should be prioritizing getting up to our best WR value in CeeDee Lamb. I also could make a case to simply IKB (I know better) Christian McCaffrey over Bijan Robinson, given the state of their teams. But sometimes you can get bailed out by a 29-ball from Dalton Schultz, plus a 26-ball from Panthers D/ST. Nice start to the season.
YEAR-TO-DATE RESULTS
Week 1 DraftKings: 159.94 points, won 82.2% of head-to-heads
Week 2 Draftkings: 154.76 points, won 81.1% of head-to-heads
Week 1 FanDuel: Did not play due to site functionality
Week 2 FanDuel: 125.86 points, won 66.7% of head-to-heads
* Note: Win percentages do not include ties.
