With
no Rams, Steelers and Chiefs on the main slate, this was a week
to really dig into the matchups and find the right plays. Luckily,
we had some obvious options making building cash game lineups fairly
straight forward. We still had Giovani Bernard underpriced given
his high-usage role and Sterling Shepard became an bargain once
Giants’ tight end Evan Engram was ruled out. Alvin Kamara
also qualified as a lock because… he scores a lot of points.
Here’s a look at my cash game Lineup for Fanduel in Week
4.
Quarterback
There were three QBs priced in the $7000s that were my main considerations.
Using one of the three instead of paying up for Drew Brees ($8700)
or paying down for Baker Mayfield ($6900) felt like the safest
bet for cash games. Philip Rivers ($7800) at home facing a below
average secondary, missing Richard Sherman and just getting roasted
by Mahomes and Stafford in consecutive weeks was an obvious target.
As was Deshaun Watson ($7600) with his safe rushing floor, playing
on the road against the Colts. Cheapest of the bunch was my pick,
Andy Dalton ($7400), who’s thrown at least 2 TDs in each
game this season and was getting the privilege of facing a Falcons
defense that’s given up 300-yard games to Cam Newton and
Drew Brees. I considered Mayfield, but the risk/reward didn’t
make sense and the extra savings ($500) wasn’t needed given
Fanduel’s loose pricing.
Running Back
The Bengals-Falcons game had the highest over/under (52.5) on
the slate, making it ripe to target in DFS. Giovani Bernard was
an early-week lock and was 70-80% owned in 50/50s and double-ups.
His high usage in the Bengals offense when Joe Mixon sits and
cheap price ($6400) made him a no-brainer. Bernard did get dinged
up a couple times in this game which allowed rookie Mark Walton
to see 7 touches but Gio’s results (23.6 FPts) were more
than enough given his price.
Alvin Kamara’s 70% ownership was justified even at his
$9100 price tag. I’m actually a little surprised he wasn’t
80-90% owned given the lofty stats he’s posted over the
first three weeks including 38 targets, 30 receptions and 289
receiving yards. His redzone usage with Mark Ingram out, usage
in the passing game, and high efficiency is truly special. If
you haven’t been playing Kamara in cash games, you need
to re-evaluate your approach.
I didn’t really consider moving away from these two locks
and I did want to play a running back in the Flex position where
a potential mistake was made. More on that in a minute…
With late-word over the weekend that Randall Cobb would be inactive,
Geronimo Allison ($5900) also became enticing option given a likelihood
of increased usage in the slot. However, while I had the money,
I didn’t project him any higher than Boyd and preferred
the likely game environment for the Bengals/Falcons over the Packers/Bills. Boyd was too cheap given his increased role in the offense and
allowed me to pay up for the three high-priced running backs I
wanted.
I wasn’t budging off Shepard and I really like Landry’s
usage over the first three weeks (targets: 15-7-15) coupled with
the change in quarterback that expected to give the offense a
boost in efficiency and production. Facing the suspect Raiders
defense was also a plus and ultimately swayed my decision to use
the Browns lead receiver over Fuller. I’ll mention Antonio Calloway here, who was min-priced ($4500) and reasonably popular
on Fanduel this week. He was an unnecessary risk in my eyes, given
there was enough value to be had at the wide receiver position.
Tight End
Eric Ebron was locked into a starting role in an offense that
spends the majority of the time hitting short-to-intermediate
targets. While he drops too many passes and can be a headache
for fantasy owners to watch, he’s a safe play given his
usage. I also considered Tyler Eifert ($4600) who was starting
to see his role increase, Jared Cook ($5400) facing a Browns team
that has leaked fantasy points to tight ends in the past and O.J. Howard ($5600) who I thought could be more involved in the gameplan
attacking the Bears defense in the middle of the field. I plugged
in Ebron, shielded my eyes when the Colts had the ball on Sunday
and my Week 4 NFL viewing experience was all the better for it.
Flex
My biggest dilemma of the week was what to do with the Flex position.
I wanted Melvin Gordon ($8700) but to be honest, I didn’t
give enough thought and consideration to Saquon Barkley ($8000)
and Ezekiel Elliott ($8200). All three have similar roles in the
offense, receive solid passing game usage and get first crack
around the goaline. Elliott is basically the entire Cowboys offense
but had lagged Gordon in terms of fantasy point production over
the first three weeks – a tribute to their slow pace of
play and methodical approach. Tipping the scales in Gordon’s
favor was the game environment where the Chargers were heavy favorites
(-10) at home with an implied team total of 28 versus the Cowboys
(23 pts implied). Even with Austin Ekeler’s established
role in the offense, I was fine paying the ($500) premium for
Gordon over Elliott in such a great spot.
Defense
There were a few obvious plays this week including Jacksonville
($5200) at home verses the Jets, the Chargers ($4400) against
C.J.
Beathard, the Packers ($4300) against the J.V. Bills and the
Bears ($4300) against the turnover-prone Ryan
Fitzpatrick. The Colts ($3600) were an interesting low-cost
option against Deshaun
Watson who had been sacked 10 times in the first three weeks
and tends to be careless with the football when under pressure.
Results
This lineup left $300 on the table so you can argue a mistake
was made in my two-v-two of Gordon and the Colts-D verses Elliott
and the Bears or Packers-D (I would’ve chosen the Bears).
I will often sacrifice the Defense position in order to fit in
the skill position player I covet but even though I projected
Gordon for slightly higher production both workhorse running backs
were in my same tier. I should’ve come off of Gordon and
went down to Elliott and strengthened my Defense position. In
the end it didn’t cost me as this lineup cashed across the
board in 50/50’s and Double-ups making this the fourth-straight
week in the green.
With
no Rams, Steelers and Chiefs on the main slate, this was a week
to really dig into the matchups and find the right plays. Luckily,
we had some obvious options making building cash game lineups fairly
straight forward. We still had 
