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 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. If you have questions about any of the recommendations or the process that led to them, please email me at john.lee@footballguys.com.
CASH GAMES
| NAME | OPP. | SALARY |
| Taysom Hill | ATL | $4,800 |
Quarterbacks: With the surprise announcement that it would be not Jameis Winston, but instead Taysom Hill, who starts for the Saints on Sunday at home against the Falcons. With an implied team total of 28-points, the Saints quarterback is primed to deliver solid fantasy production and, at $4.8K, Hill should easily deliver 3x value on his salary for cash game formats. In fact, our David Dodds projects Hill at 19.8 DK points, which is 4x his salary. In cash games, he is the best option at his position this week; in tournaments, you are advised to go underweight on him because he will be on ~ 10% of lineups. He certainly has the potential upside to deliver value on his salary, but his stacking options are suboptimal (see fades in the "Tournaments" section below). If you want to play him in tournaments, do so on FanDuel where his $4.5K salary and tight end eligibility make him an absolute must-play.
| NAME | OPP. | SALARY |
| Dalvin Cook | DAL | $9,000 |
| Giovani Bernard | @WAS | $5,500 |
| Duke Johnson Jr | NE | $5,400 |
| Adrian Peterson | @CAR | $4,000 |
Running Backs: On a points per dollar basis, Adrian Peterson is the play of the week at the running back position. With DAndre Swift watching from the sideline, Peterson gets another shot to lead the Lions backfield against the Panthers' 27th-ranked DVOA rush defense. It is worth noting that Adrian Peterson is also one of the better running back options for tournaments, as well. At the other end of the price spectrum, Dalvin Cook is the player you should build your cash games around on Sunday. Cook's $9K price tag is going to take a chunk out of your budget, but there is no expensive player on the slate who is more likely to deliver 3x value on his salary, especially given the plus gamescript as touchdown home-favorites against the 2-7 Cowboys. Elsewhere, both Gio Bernard and Duke Johnson Jr are mid-$5K options in decent spots due to bellcow roles they have absorbed as a result to injuries to Joe Mixon and David Johnson, respectively (in tournaments, however, you should steer clear of Duke Johnson Jr, whose crowd popularity has far outgrown his likelihood to reach 4x value).
| NAME | OPP. | SALARY |
| Keenan Allen | NYJ | $7,400 |
| Terry McLaurin | CIN | $6,900 |
| Diontae Johnson | @JAX | $5,900 |
| Jakobi Meyers | @HOU | $4,900 |
| Jakeem Grant | @DEN | $3,500 |
Wide Receivers: With the added value conferred by Taysom Hill and Adrian Peterson, it is possible to spend a few extra dollars on wide receivers that might have been out of reach earlier in the week. Of the available options, both Keenan Allen and Terry McLaurin bring significant volume and a solid floor to your cash game builds; Allen ranks fourth and McLaurin sixth in targets this season. In Jacksonville, Diontae Johnson is also in play on the heels of three double-digit target games across since he returned from injury a month ago; he is becoming Ben Roethlisberger's favorite target in a fast-paced offense that has seen him average 42.3 attempts per game across his previous 4 games. On this week's edition of the PowerGrid, the one wide receiver that all analysts agreed on for cash games (a rarity) was Jakobi Meyers. Meyers is fairly priced at $4.9K and has clearly settled in as Cam Newton's most-trusted receiver since Julian Edelman was injured three weeks ago. Since that time, Meyers is averaging 21 DK points per game and is so integrated into Bill Belichick's offense that he even threw a touchdown last Sunday night. As for a punt option, Jakeem Grant gets the nod at $3.5K with Preston Williams still sidelined with a foot injury; in his first game as a starter without Williams, Grant collected four receptions and a score against the Chargers last week. Behind Meyers, Grant has the highest projected points per dollar value at the position.
| NAME | OPP. | SALARY |
| T.J. Hockenson | @CAR | $4,200 |
| Logan Thomas | CIN | $3,300 |
Tight Ends: With Kenny Golladay, Danny Amendola, and DAndre Swift all verging on an inactive status, the remaining Lions' skill players are all fairly cheap. The trick will be selecting those players with the right combination of skill and opportunity to deliver on their low salaries and T.J. Hockenson certainly fits the bill. Hockenson should see increased action as a result of the aforementioned injuries and his asking price is puzzling--his $4.2K salary is the cheapest he has been all season and he has scored in 60% of Detroit's game since their Week #5 bye week. In our nation's capital, Logan Thomas gets a repeat appearance in this space after delivering 10.6 DK points (3.2x last week's salary) against the Lions last Sunday; with Alex Smith's propensity to dump passes to his tight end, it is difficult to envision a scenario where "LT3" finishes with less than 10 DK points.
| NAME | OPP. | SALARY |
| Broncos | MIA | $2,400 |
| Falcons | @NO | $2,300 |
Team Defenses: By far, my two favorite defenses this week are the Denver Broncos and Atlanta Falcons. Both pop on my spreadsheet for both cash games and tournaments; ensure that you get exposure in all formats. The Broncos host Tua Tagovailoa in his third career start and look unattractive on paper after facing a gauntlet of solid offenses over the past month including Chiefs, Chargers, Falcons, and Raiders. In fairness, the Dolphins offense has surprised to this point in the season, but the value on this Denver defense cannot be ignored. A similar argument could be made for Atlanta's defense against the Saints and Taysom Hill. To be clear, these recommendations are based entirely on obtaining 3x value, not the strength of the defense and/or historical performance.
TOURNAMENTS
| NAME | OPP. | SALARY | PROJ. % |
| Joe Burrow | @WAS | $5,500 | 10% |
| Andy Dalton | @MIN | $5,300 | 2% |
| Jake Luton | PIT | $5,000 | 1% |
| Tua Tagovailoa | @DEN | $4,800 | 1% |
| DEEP SLEEPER: | |||
| Philip Rivers | GB | $5,600 | 3% |
| FADE: | |||
| Justin Herbert | NYJ | $6,800 | 11% |
Quarterbacks: On a week where all of the marquee quarterbacks are either on bye or playing in primetime games, there is reason to consider a series of lesser-talented pass throwers including Andy Dalton and Jake Luton. Dalton should find himself in a pass-heavy gamescript as touchdown-underdogs to the Vikings; both CeeDee Lamb and Michael Gallup will be excellent stacking options that can be game-stacked with Dalvin Cook. After a 300-yard debut against the Texans two weeks ago, Jack Luton came back to Earth last Sunday against the Packers and finished with only 169 passing yards. His matchup versus the Steelers this week is the toughest yet, but it is baked into his (and his receivers') price(s). Under Coach Mike Tomlin, the Steelers have traditionally played down to poor opponents, which creates sneaky value for Luton-based stacks with Chris Conley and/or Keelan Cole. Elsewhere, Joe Burrow is coming off his second-worst performance against the Steelers defense referenced in the previous sentence, but gets a plush matchup against the Redskins in a possible barnburner featuring a pair of pass-happy offenses.
- Sleeper: Outside of the Atlanta-New Orleans game, the Packers-Colts contest is the only other game on the Vegas boards with a total > 50 points. Interestingly, outside of Taysom Hill, the other three quarterbacks in those games are all slated to go off on less than 5% of tournament rosters. Of the three, Philip Rivers is the top choice because of the value associated with his receivers--Michael Pittman, T.Y. Hilton, and Zach Pascal are all projected to be on too few rosters relative to their projected output. If this game evolves into a shootout, Rivers could easily surpass 4x value on his modest $5.6K salary.
- Fade: Having delivered 20+ DK points in 5 consecutive weeks, Justin Herbert's salary and percent-rostered has risen to a point where he is a fade candidate against the lowly Jets. Herbert will be popular in stacks with Keenan Allen, while people will largely ignore Mike Williams and Jalen Guyton. If the ancillary receivers find paydirt and/or the Jets fail to keep the game close (both are real possibilities), Herbert could be relegated to handing the ball to Kalen Ballage in the second half, which could make it extremely difficult to reach GPP value at high crowd exposure.
