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 an interesting cash slate for two reasons. First, we didn’t have a ton of options at RB or WR… but we had options at all different price points. That created plenty of different ways to build. And second, we got late George Pickens (hamstring, inactive) news which flipped the slate on its head.
Note: Unless stated otherwise, the discussion below is about DraftKings.
MY MUST PLAYS
* Ryan Flournoy has already proven he is a very good NFL receiver, earning 14.6% of the targets from the WR3 spot and producing a 30-342-2 line through eight games. With George Pickens (hamstring) out, we could project Flournoy to play roughly 100% of the snaps. And the Colts came into this game ranked 30th in yards per play allowed. With very little to play at the mid-range at WR, Flournoy’s $4800 price and role was a lock.
* I rarely consider a profile like George Kittle a “must” in cash. He’s shown a low floor throughout his career, coupled with an astronomical ceiling. However, this was a unique situation. Mike Evans, Deebo Samuel, and Christian Kirk were all out for the 49ers. They had a massively uptempo matchup against the Raiders with a huge team total. And perhaps most importantly, the rest of the tight end position on DraftKings was dreadful.
* RJ Harvey’s (knee) absence shrunk Sean Payton’s typical 3-headed backfield to a 2-headed one. At the same time, the Broncos have finally relegated JK Dobbins into a strict backup role where he belongs. That left exciting rookie Jonah Coleman as the clear feature back against the Panthers at just $5300. Most importantly we knew Coleman would be solid in the pass game where Harvey has earned some huge target shares.
MY WANT PLAYS
* Before the George Pickens (hamstring) news, I had Puka Nacua, AD Mitchell, and Eagles D/ST. After the news, I went to CeeDee Lamb, Ryan Flournoy, and Giants D/ST.
I think this was a close call. Without Pickens, I could certainly argue Lamb’s ceiling was higher than Puka’s. But for cash, Puka without Davante Adams against the Commanders is the dream. In the end, I decided Flournoy was a must. And getting from Eagles D to Giants D was a solid upgrade as well given the state of the Eagles offensive line and Joe Milton already being on his third NFL team.
* One 2v2 I looked at was Drew Lock and Jahmyr Gibbs vs. Patrick Mahomes and Christian McCaffrey. This was another one we discussed on Last Minute Livestream. I did not think Mahomes with his current state of WRs and lack of rushing was a must at all. But passing on CMC at just $8000 home against the Raiders was not something I loved doing. If I wasn’t a hair spooked by the Drew Lock elbow tendonitis reports, I may have gone to the Lock side.
* When you spend $6000 at tight end (see above), you have to make sacrifices elsewhere. That meant punting down to $4100 for Antonio Williams. But I was actually fine with this because mid-range WR was so bad. Of course we’d rather spend less money for a thin play vs. spending a lot more for a thin play. It was also worth noting Treylon Burks and Dyami Brown were out – I expected Williams to run roughly 100% of the routes with Jayden Daniels. I did go for full fades of Williams and AD Mitchell in tournaments, where I expected them to be overowned relative to floors.
* I would’ve loved to play Rhamondre Stevenson or Jahmyr Gibbs over Devin Singletary. But that simply wasn’t going to fit. And I was fine with Singletary at $4600 given the setup. Both Cam Skattebo and Tyrone Tracy were out, leaving practice squad dust behind Singletary. He’s also been a fine pass-catcher in his career. And the Eagles are a laughing stock. It may not be “good,” but it’s always going to be “fine” to play a RB we can project for 18+ touches at this price.
Week 9 Results
I was certainly fortunate that Christian McCaffrey outscored Jahmyr Gibbs by 9.3 points. That mitigated Patrick Mahomes only outscoring Drew Lock by 4.9. Another big differentiator was Giants D/ST scoring 13, beating both Saints and Eagles. I do think Puka Nacua was likely a better cash WR than CeeDee Lamb, it’s almost impossible for Puka to fail in the current setup.
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 3 DraftKings: 163.30 points, won 73.9% of head-to-heads
Week 4 DraftKings: 104.38 points, won 41.1% of head-to-heads
Week 5 DraftKings: 158.96 points, won 79.5% of head-to-heads
Week 6 DraftKings: 125.60 points, won 48.5% of head-to-heads
Week 7 DraftKings: 114.06 points, won 50.8% of head-to-heads
Week 8 DraftKings: 118.90 points, won 22.6% of head-to-heads
Week 9 DraftKings: 137.98 points, won 72.1% 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
Week 3 FanDuel: 140.36 points, won 82.6% of head-to-heads
Week 4 FanDuel: 137.68 points, won 78.9% of head-to-heads
Week 5 FanDuel: 151.16 points, won 92.3% of head-to-heads
Week 6 FanDuel: 112.08 points, won 87.5% of head-to-heads
Week 7 FanDuel: 96.06 points, won 30.8% of head-to-heads
Week 8 FanDuel: 142.4 points, won 50.1% of head-to-heads
Week 9 FanDuel: 116.92 points, won 57.9% of head-to-heads
* Note: Win percentages do not include ties.
