If you would’ve played our cash lineup in some tournaments last week, you would’ve landed in the money. But truth be told, we don’t care how high our cash lineup scores, as long as it’s in the top 50 percent of players. Mission has been accomplished three of four weeks thus far, provided you didn’t completely whiff on the other players you added, seeing that we cannot give a full lineup, per DraftKings rules and regulations.
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What this article should do is give you a solid foundation as to who you should build your cash lineups around. When we say cash games, we’re referring to 50/50’s, head-to-head matchups, and double-ups. The goal is to find players who provide a solid floor, while also offering a potential ceiling at their given price. Tournaments require you to pay attention to ownership and hit on minimally priced players the majority of time, which is a completely different article all together. If you want safety and just have a positive return on investment, you’ve come to the right place.
Quarterbacks
Aaron Rodgers (at DAL) $8,100
It’s impossible not to like Rodgers this week, as he should be getting both of his starting offensive tackles back for this game, his running backs are dinged up, and all of his passing options appear to be on track to play. It’s not often you’ll get me to pay up for a quarterback in cash, but you need to see if your lineup construction allows for it. The Cowboys secondary has been weak, allowing the combination of Trevor Siemian, Carson Palmer, and Jared Goff to throw for eight touchdowns the last three weeks. It also helps that opponents are averaging 38.5 pass attempts per game, the third-most in the NFL. This game being played in a dome also offers some safety, as you don’t have to worry about the weather elements changing anything.
Brian Hoyer (at IND) $4,700
I cannot believe that we’re here actually thinking about using Brian Hoyer in cash games, but his price of $4,700 is extremely enticing because of what it allows you to do with the rest of your lineup. Despite averaging just under 35 pass attempts per game, there hasn’t been a single quarterback to play the Colts who’s finished outside the top 14 in quarterback scoring any given week. Keep in mind that they’ve played Jared Goff, Carson Palmer, DeShone Kizer, and Russell Wilson. Two of those quarterbacks haven’t had great protection (Palmer, Wilson), yet have managed to average over 10.1 yards per attempt. The Colts have also played better against the run than most expected, allowing just 3.70 yards per carry on the year. In a cash lineup, you want your players to hit 2.5X, which means Hoyer hits value if he scores 11.8 fantasy points. It’s tempting.
Running Backs
Le’Veon Bell (vs. JAX) $9,500
It seems too easy to put Bell here, but we’re giving you options in this article that make him relatively easy to fit into lineups. The Jaguars defense has yet to allow a quarterback to throw for more than one touchdown, yet they’ve allowed four rushing touchdowns in the last three weeks, despite playing against some teams who have struggled to run the ball. The Titans posted 138 yards and two touchdowns on the ground, the Ravens (yuck) posted 123 yards as a team, and then the Jets posted 256 yards with two touchdowns just last week. With Antonio Brown locked up with Jalen Ramsey and Martavis Bryant locked up with A.J. Bouye, look for Bell to get tons of work in this game en route to an RB1 finish.
Marshawn Lynch (vs. BAL) $5,100
You may want to punch your computer screen when reading this, but hear me out. Yes, Lynch has seen declining work over the last few weeks. Yes, the Ravens were one of the best teams in the NFL against the run last year. Yes, I know that DraftKings is a PPR site. Now let’s talk about why the Ravens defense has allowed 321 rushing yards and three touchdowns the last two weeks. They lost defensive end Brent Urban in Week 3 and have been without their best run-stuffer Brandon Williams the last two weeks. It’s been said that he’ll miss this game once again. The Raiders are not in a position where they want to lean on E.J. Manuel at home. No, instead they’ll do what the Jaguars and Steelers did – run the ball, a lot. Lynch hasn’t lost anything on his game and will make the Raiders fans happy during this game. Lock him in for at least one touchdown.
Frank Gore (vs. SF) $4,400
This isn’t the sexiest pick that I’ve ever put in with the running backs, but again, we want to give you an option to get Aaron Rodgers in your cash-game lineup. The Colts are getting their top offensive lineman Ryan Kelly back at center this week, which is huge news for Gore, who is a north-south runner who doesn’t bounce runs outside, but rather sticks in between his guards a lot of the time. The 49ers defense has allowed three top-12 running backs in the first four weeks, including a 19.4-point performance by Andre Ellington last week. Gore saw a season-high three targets in the passing game last week, which is also good for his potential floor. Oh, and I forgot to mention that this game is against the 49ers, you know, the team he played with for 10 years, if you believe in that sort of thing.
Wide Receivers
Jordy Nelson (at DAL) $8,100
With a lot of big-name wide receivers matching up with some top-tier cornerbacks, Nelson is the easy choice if you want to spend up at wide receiver. The Cowboys appear to be getting cornerback Nolan Carroll back from his concussion and rookie cornerback Chidobe Awuzie back from his hamstring injury, but it’s important to note that both of them are coming off multi-week absences to come back and defend Nelson. Good luck. It should be noted that Carroll wasn’t good when healthy, while Awuzie is still a rookie that can be abused by the veteran connection of Rodgers/Nelson. The only team who didn’t have a top-12 wide receiver against the Cowboys were the Odell Beckham-less Giants in Week 1.
Dez Bryant (vs. GB) $6,500
It hasn’t been often this year where we catch an error in DraftKings pricing, but this is one of them. Bryant belongs in the conversation with $7,500-$8,000 receivers this week, as his matchup with the Packers is among the better ones in the league this week. The Packers are likely going to ask rookie second-round pick Kevin King to cover him, though that shouldn’t stop Bryant’s production. Over the last three weeks, we’ve seen Julio Jones (5/108/0) and A.J. Green (10/111/1) finish as top-15 receivers, and then even Kendall Wright (4/51/1) post top-20 numbers against this secondary. The last time Bryant played this defense was in the playoffs where he destroyed them for nine catches, 132 yards, and two touchdowns.
Jeremy Maclin (at OAK) $4,200
Some will call me nuts for this one, but hear me out… What do the Raiders do well? Get after the quarterback. What do the Ravens have issues with? A banged-up offensive line that’s now missing both of its starting guards. The gameplan needs to include quick-hitting passes to the wide receiver who took over for Steve Smith in the slot role. Maclin’s 8.0 air yards per target is easily the lowest among pass-catchers on this team. Ben Watson is also likely to be targeted quite a bit, but they also may ask him to stay in and block more often due to the offensive line struggles. The offensive line isn’t going to allow them to run the ball, so look for a lot of pass attempts from Joe Flacco, moving the ball like a west-coast offense would. At just $4,200, he needs just 10.5 PPR points to hit value, which is something like five catches for 55 yards.
Tight Ends
Hunter Henry (at NYG) $3,800
I’m doing it, putting myself at the mercy of the Chargers play callers this week. Tight end is such a volatile position that you need to simply take a stand on a player. Henry has not seen a target in two of their four games, but his vital signs are headed in the right direction. After playing just 39.7 percent of the snaps in Week 1, he’s up to almost 60 percent of the snaps over the last three weeks. The Giants have played four games, yet they’ve allowed five different tight ends to finish top-seven in weekly performance. There have been 35 targets to tight ends against the Giants, leading to a stat line of 27/302/5. With Keenan Allen mixed up with Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and Tyrell Williams mixed up with Janoris Jenkins, Rivers should look for his tight ends often.
Austin Seferian-Jenkins (at CLE) $3,500
If you’ve researched anything this week, you’ve likely seen or heard someone talking about Seferian-Jenkins as a strong play. That’s because the Browns have now allowed three top-four performances to tight ends, including two No. 1 finishes to Jesse James and Tyler Kroft. Since returning from his two-game suspension, Seferian-Jenkins has seen 10 targets, which ranks second among pass-catchers to only Robby Anderson. The Browns have now allowed multiple passing touchdowns in 24 of their last 30 games, dating back to 2015. The addition of Myles Garrett will help their pass rush, but that shouldn’t affect Seferian-Jenkins’ production.
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Mike Tagliere is a featured writer at FantasyPros. For more from Mike, check out his archive and follow him @MikeTagliereNFL.
