Cracking FanDuel Wildcard

Photo: USA Today Sports

Sunday MORNING UPDATE:

Check back each Sunday Morning around 10:30AM EST for any updates for the primary cash lineup.

Update #1: 10:36 AM EST Saturday

For the primary cash lineup for Saturday-Monday, we did get some questions whether leaving $500 on the table was a mistake. This was not a mistake, as this is the best lineup that I'm comfortable with and on a short slate, leaving a little bit of salary is not the end of the world. If you want to upgrade to Hayden Hurst from Cade Otton, or upgrade the Baltimore defense those are both options on this slate.

Update #2: 11:00 AM EST Sunday

No changes to the Sunday lineups, but I did just want to speak a little on the FanDuel cancellation of the Saturday slate. While the explanation from FanDuel has been nothing short of unacceptable, these types of things have happened before on all sites. There have been times where DraftKings has been down for several hours and they had to refund everyone. The reason I primarily play on FanDuel is I believe there is a bigger edge. I know most of the "sharper" players spend more time on their DraftKings lineups than they do on FanDuel. Having two operators is good for the DFS community. They owe the community a better explanation than "Due to Tech reasons we had to cancel the slate" that's not good enough, and the community is right to continue to pressure them for a better explanation.

Footballguys is in no way affiliated with FanDuel, we are not compensated from FanDuel to write this article.

SITUATIONS THAT STAND OUT TO THIS WEEK ON THE MAIN SLATE.

• Buffalo (vs MIA) – 27.75 points
• San Francisco (vs SEA) – 26 points
• Minnesota (vs NYG) – 25.75 points

Week 18 Recap

Week 18 was a good one for the Primary Cash Lineups, as I finished in the top 30-35% of all 50/50 contests. Some people reached out and indicated that they may have lost this week. We base the win/loss of this lineup based on a variety of different single entry 50/50’s at varying price points.

Some things to keep an eye on if you may have lost this week.

• Ensuring you’re entering 50/50’s instead of double-ups. Double-ups are higher risk and often have a cash line close to the min-cash of a GPP as often they allow multi-entry which lead to much more difficult competition as the stronger players will buy into these contests multiple times.

Total points scored- 103 points

• QB Josh Allen, BUF, $8,800- 22.76
• RB Tyler Allgeier, ATL, $6,500- 13.5
• RB Jonathan Williams, WAS, $5,000- 5.1
• WR, Ja'Marr Chase, CIN, $8,500- 18.6
• WR Stefon Diggs, BUF, $8,400- 19.9
• WR DK Metcalf, SEA, $7,200- 5.5
• TE Trey McBride, ARI, $5,100- 5.6
• Flex RB Miles Sanders, PHI, $6,700- 3.3
• TD Minnesota Vikings, $3,700- 9

What went right:

• Stefon Diggs finally broke through with a big game as he had 104 yards and a touchdown last week. Diggs had not had a 100-yard performance in six games heading into last week, so to get a strong performance paired with Allen was the key this week.
• While Josh Allen was not great by his standards as he finished with 21.8 points, he did finish as the number three overall quarterback for last week and far above the other two quarterbacks that we considered for the primary cash lineup (Hurts and Burrow).

What went wrong:

• Miles Sanders was disappointing last week, as it seemed that the Eagles were prepared to run a committee backfield in against a poor Giants defense. The Eagles were mostly just coasting through this game this past week as once they got out to a big lead by halftime, they didn’t continue to push which almost cost them the game.

Injuries Create Opportunity:

• Mike Williams has been ruled out with a back injury, which will leave Keenan Allen and Austin Ekeler as the primary targets in Los Angeles. DeAndre Carter will likely see more snaps, but has not been able to take advantage in the past when Williams has been out.
• Lamar Jackson will remain out this week with a knee injury. Tyler Huntley will get the start, although he is less than 100% with a
• One key injury surprise is Raheem Mostert is dealing with a broken thumb that coach Mike McDaniel is calling “serious”. If he’s unable to go, Jeff Wilson would be a fantastic cheap running back.
• Tua Tagovailoa will miss this week after not being cleared for a concussion. While Teddy Bridgewater will be active, it appears in an emergency capacity only as he is dealing with a finger issue and has not been throwing the ball in practice.

Cash Game Strategy- Wildcard Weekend- GPP Focus, Difficult Cash Week

These next two weekends are the best football weekends of the year. However, that does not mean that they are the best DFS weeks of the year. Because this is a week that is chopped up across multiple days, the smaller the slates the more difficult the cash game builds can be.

For cash games this week, try to pick the slate with the most amount of games that is available. So if you’re entering on Saturday, enter the Saturday-Monday slate, if you’re entering on Sunday, try to enter the Sunday-Monday slate. The reason for this is pretty simple, you’re going to want the most amount of options on a given slate to reduce your overlap amongst your competition.

For GPP’s just chase the biggest prize pools, which are going to be on the “Main Slates” on Saturday and Sunday. For these contests, since they are so small, you’re going to need to likely leave some salary on the table, or go with some less popular plays in order to be unique compared to your competition.

Saturday GPP Tips:

• Fade Zay Jones based on his roster percentage being 50%+ at the moment. You can then look towards players in similar price points such as Brandon Aiyuk, Josh Palmer, or even take a chance on Marvin Jones who has seen an increase in targets over the last four weeks and provides a nice savings at $5,500.
• Fade Evan Engram. Similar to Zay Jones, he’s going to be around 50% rostered, and while Engram was great for a 3 game stretch from Week 14-16, he has 30 yards or less in 6 of his last 9 games. Instead, look at paying up for George Kittle who has scored 7 touchdowns over his last four games, or pay down to Colby Parkinson.
• Don’t get fixated on a defense. The two most popular defenses this week will be the 49ers and Seahawks, but playing a defense in the Jaguars vs Chargers game could get you some leverage especially as defensive points can be random at times.
• Play your favorite quarterbacks and running backs regardless of roster percentages. Try to diversify elsewhere at the more volatile positions such as defense, wide receiver, and tight end.

Sunday GPP Tips

• Consider a fade of Buffalo’s wide receivers. If we look at the first two meetings between Buffalo and Miami, it was the running backs and tight ends that did most of the damage against this Miami defense. Stefon Diggs draws Xavien Howard who Diggs has not topped 76 yards in his last five appearances against the Dolphins.
• Look at KJ Osborn. Osborn is only projected to be rostered in about 5% of lineups, and he is a player who is extremely intriguing. He’s on the field for about 75% of the snaps, and has as many red zone targets as Justin Jefferson over the last five weeks.
• Richie James is in a tremendous matchup as he’s facing Chandon Sullivan who has allowed the most receiving yards of any corner this season.
• Fade Mark Andrews. Andrews is priced up because of a Week 17 performance, but he has not topped 53 yards in his other four games with Tyler Huntley this season. Expect Andrews to be around 40% rostered, which is just too high based on his low upside as Huntley has just thrown two total touchdowns in five games.
• Jeff Wilson should be higher rostered than what he currently is trending at. While he’s likely going to be one of the most popular players on this slate as he’s trending around 45%, he really should be between 65-70% rostered, and if that doesn’t change prior to Sunday makes him a strong buy heading into this week. Wilson at $6k, is priced as if Raheem Mostert is going to split carries, and on a short slate reaching value should be achievable for Wilson in this game.

Player Chart

Primary Cash Lineups

This week we are only focusing on the cash game lineups. The cash plus and GPP's can really be any combination of stacks that may occur, so pick your favorite team and then pair them with some of the player rankings along with some of the GPP tips.

Saturday-Monday Cash Lineup- 114.8

• QB Tom Brady, TB, $6,800
• RB Travis Etienne, JAX, $7,100
• RB Jeff Wilson, MIA, $6,000
• WR, Chris Godwin, TB, $7,200
• WR Justin Jefferson, MIN, $9,000
• WR Richie James, NYG, $6,100
• TE Cade Otton, TB, $4,700
• Flex RB Austin Ekeler, LAC, $9,000
• TD Baltimore Ravens, $3,600

Sunday Only Cash Lineup- 110.9

• QB Daniel Jones, NYG, $7,400
• RB Dalvin Cook, MIN, $7,800
• RB Jeff Wilson, MIA, $6,000
• WR Gabe Davis, BUF, $6,200
• WR Justin Jefferson, MIN, $9,000
• WR Richie James, NYG, $6,100
• TE Hayden Hurst, CIN, $5,100
• Flex RB Saquon Barkley, NYG, $8,800
• TD Baltimore, $3,600

Sunday-Monday Cash Lineup- 113.0

• QB Tom Brady, TB, $6,800
• RB Dalvin Cook, MIN, $7,800
• RB Jeff Wilson, MIA, $6,000
• WR Chris Godwin, TB, $7,200
• WR Justin Jefferson, MIN, $9,000
• WR Richie James, NYG, $6,100
• TE Cade Otton, TB, $4,700
• Flex RB Saquon Barkley, NYG, $8,800
• TD Baltimore, $3,600

Player Chart