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For the uninitiated, playing daily games on DraftKings can be an enjoyable experience, but equally sobering is the fact that season-long knowledge does not always translate to success in the daily space. Footballguys will bring you a series of value- and strategic-based selections from a number of seasoned daily veterans throughout the NFL season. Herein is another edition of “Tipandpick’s Tips and Picks,” where we will examine the salaries of players at each position on DraftKings and make value-based recommendations for both your cash games and tournaments.

Below you will find a list of recommended players for both formats. GPP players generally have high-upside, but are too risky for cash games; cash game players are consistent with high fantasy floors. In some instances, the value for a player is so strong, he may fall into both categories…let’s have a look.

TIPS...

In order to help you build winning rosters, let's walk through some of the observations that I have made while doing my research for DraftKings this week. As you build out your lineups on DraftKings, try to consider the following commentary, which revolves around game strategy and how we will want to take advantage of what the masses are doing when they construct their own lineups.

CRAZY WEEK: As I upload my player pool to the site from the Philadelphia airport, we were recently told that Matt Ryan, who practiced on Friday, will *not* play against the Seahawks on Sunday, breaking his consecutive start streak of 154 games. That means that another Matt, Matt Shaub, will get the home start against Seattle. Vegas has taken the game off their boards, so it is difficult to say exactly how to approach this game as of this moment. I will update the article throughout the evening with my evolving thoughts. Around the same time, we got a surprise notice that Drew Brees is going to make a return on Sunday against the Arizona Cardinals' terrible defense. This also comes as a bit of a surprise since the Saints have gone undefeated with Teddy Bridgewater under center and because the Saints have a bye next week, which would have given Brees another two weeks to recover from his thumb injury. That said, we probably should consider Brees and company in this matchup because the offense looks different when he is the starter. Stay tuned for additional thoughts this (Saturday) evening...

Saturday evening update: The implied team total for the Falcons dropped only two points with the announcement that Matt Ryan will be inactive on Sunday. Looking at our projections for Matt Schaub and comparing that output to his $4.7K salary, he becomes a possible cash game and an intriguing tournament play. Schaub is certainly not a world-beater, particularly in light of not having started a game in three years, but he is surrounded by talented skill players and has a favorable gamescript at home. He is assuredly going to be rusty and probably will throw an interception (or two), but his salary takes that risk into account. If you cannot afford the cash game options at quarterback listed in the Picks section, Schaub should be good enough for 3x value on his salary and he is a solid "3-star" GPP play because I suspect that most DFS players will avoid the Falcons altogether after this announcement.

Regarding Drew Brees, he catapults to a "4-star" GPP play with the news that he will be active against the leaky Cardinals secondary. Because most of the DFS content is created earlier in the week, the bulk of the DFS world will not react appropriately to this news and I expect Brees to go underowned in tournaments on Sunday. The Saints now boast the highest implied team total on the Vegas boards (30.3 points) with Brees back at the helm. Patrick Peterson will shadow Michael Thomas around the field, which makes Ted Ginn Jr a super-sneaky GPP option again because Brees brings a chemistry to the equation that did not exist with Bridgewater. Josh Hill, starting for the injured Jared Cook, also becomes more interesting for GPP contests. This news does not affect the running back situation in New Orleans, as it is a "high tide lifting all ships" situation.

2019 FORMAT:

A new year brings a new format. In an effort to condense and enhance the value of the article, the text of Tips and Picks will be less than in years' past, but the upside is that you will now gain access to my full GPP player pool for DraftKings each and every week! For each position, I will provide Footballguys' subscribers with every player that I consider to be viable for cash games, while providing a ranking for every player that I will be drafting in my tournament lineups. The above table is an example of what you will see in the "Picks" section of this article. See below for some important bullet points regarding the new format:

• The "CROWD EXPOSURE" column is based on Steve Buzzard's Ownership Projections each week.
• The "CASH VIABLE?" column reveals to the reader which players can be considered for cash games (50/50's, double-ups, and head-to-head contests).
• The "GPP STARS" column rates players according to how I rank them in my large-field GPP contests each week:
  • 4 stars: The players in which I will be most overweight on the public (indicated in the 'Crowd Exposure' column); these are my most confident plays.
  • 3 stars: The players in which I like more than the public (indicated in the 'Crowd Exposure' column); these are plays that I feel strongly could deliver.
  • 2 stars: The players in which I will be close to the public (indicated in the 'Crowd Exposure' column); these players reflect those that I think the public percentages are most accurate.
  • 1 star: The players in which I will be exposed at rates lower than the public (indicated in the 'Crowd Exposure' column) OR at rates generally lower than 5% overall; these are players who merit consideration in your overall approach, but will be limited in my player pool due to game strategy reasons.
• If you have any questions on the new format, please email me at john.lee@footballguys.com.

...AND PICKS

Let's take a deeper look into some of the players who I will be targeting for my cash game and tournament rosters this weekend. A short summary follows each respective table to fill in the gaps that led to the respective recommendations; that text represents only an overview of the methodology and rationale that goes into each recommendation.

QUARTERBACKS

QUARTERBACK QUICK TAKES:

CASH: If you haven't already read the "crazy week" segment in the Tips section of this article, you should--there is valuable information there about how you should handle the news that broke on Matt Ryan and Drew Brees late Saturday afternoon. Beyond what was written there, feel free to spend up at the quarterback position for your cash games this week. Both Deshaun Watson and Russell Wilson are stellar plays who appear to have substantial scoring floors against their respective opponents. Wilson gets the Atlanta Falcons, who have allowed more fantasy points per game to opposing quarterbacks than any team in the league and have allowed multiple passing touchdowns for five consecutive weeks. Watson's matchup looks just as juicy against the Raiders, who Aaron Rodgers lit up for nearly 50 fantasy points just last week; bolstering the case for Oakland is the fact that they are stout up front (11th DVOA against the rush), which tends to funnel action through air (30th DVOA versus the pass).

GPP: The Chargers are quietly throwing the ball on two-thirds of their offensive snaps, good enough for third-most in the league. Meanwhile, Philip Rivers is currently trending towards the lowest number of passing touchdowns in a season since he became a full-time starter in 2006. In short, Rivers is destined for positive scoring regression in the near future and given Melvin Gordon's struggles (2.3 yards per carry, 0 touchdowns) since returning from his holdout, that regression could come on Saturday against an overrated Bears defense that has allowed 60 points in their previous 2 games. I took some heat for talking about Sam Darnold on the PowerGrid this week, but the Jags defense will be without Jalen Ramsey (traded to the Rams) and three starting linebackers on Sunday, which should open up a lot of possibilities for the Jets offense; look for Darnold to live on short underneath passes to exploit those deficiencies. He will be underowned after his disastrous Monday Night Football performance against the Patriots and can be cheaply paired with any of his receivers. Even cheaper is Ryan Tannehill, who surprised with a 300+ yard performance in his first start of the year for the Titans last week in a win against the Chargers. Tannehill gets a softer secondary in the form of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who have allowed 300+ passing yards and/or multiple passing touchdowns in every game this season since Week #1.

RUNNING BACKS