“Buy or Bye”™ – Daily Fantasy Football Plays for Week 8 2020 Cash Games

By Ha Kung Wong 

Twitter: @FBGarbageTime

In 2019, we were over 70% for cash lineups and we’re back with more Daily Fantasy Football advice for Cash Games for Week 8 of the 2020 season!  We’re 68.0% on lineups so far this year, but we’re looking to win even more in 2020!

As usual, before we get to winning you bragging rights (and DFS cash), remember, the point of this article is not just to give you one or two lineups for each site, it’s to give you examples of a few POSSIBLE lineups.  Getting exposure to a few different lineups is always a good idea, so don’t forget to mix and match additional lineups from my suggestions below.  Trust me, it’s a lot more fun that way AND you’ll improve your chances of cashing!

Let’s get to winning you some CASH in Week 8 of the 2020 NFL season!

Cash Games, for those who don’t know, are essentially the lowest risk games.  They include “50/50” games, in which half the entrants win about 1.8x the entry fee, and “Double Ups”, in which slightly less than half the entrants win 2x the entry fee.

Since there’s so many different sites, and I can’t cover them all, I’ve decided to cover just the most popular sites, including Fan Duel, Draft Kings and Yahoo! Daily Fantasy.

First of all, as a general rule for 50/50 Cash Games, there’s a basic target of points per salary cap spent that you’d like to look for:

• For Fan Duel try to target at least 2 fantasy points per $1000 spent.
• For Draft Kings, try to target at least 2.5 fantasy points per $1000 spent.
• For Yahoo! Daily Fantasy, try to target at least 0.6-0.7 fantasy points per $1 spent.

Remember, this article is not focused on GPP (Tournament) Games, JUST Cash Games.  Feel free to use a few of these suggested players as a base when constructing a GPP lineup, but you’ll have to take some chances on a few low cost, upside players as well.

As per usual, I’m going to provide you with a few sample lineups on each site and give you a few notes to consider.  You’re welcome. ?

So, without further to do, here are my suggestions for the Best Daily Fantasy Football Plays for Cash Games for Week 8 contests, along with they’re prices on FanDuel (“FD”), Draft Kings (“DK”) and Yahoo! Daily Fantasy (“Y!”).

FanDuel 

Draft Kings 

Yahoo! DFS

Game Notes:

• • For those new to this column, note that I never advocate against you paying up at any particular position.  We all know that the likes of Patrick Mahomes and Lamar Jackson are probably going to have the most consistent upside in terms of potential fantasy points from week to week.  But remember that DFS is a salary cap game.  You can feel free to sprinkle those into your lineups, but you can’t pay up at every position because there’s simply not enough salary to go around.  I try my best each week to provide my thoughts on how you might want to balance your cash lineups in terms of points potential and salary.  So feel free to sprinkle in those players if you have cap space.
  • “Free Squares of the Week”™ of the week are Giovani Bernard and, if your slate includes Sunday Night, Boston Scott. With Joe Mixon ruled out again, Bernard steps into a decent matchup against the Tennessee Titans with the 17th ranked defense per DVOA in the NFL, and at a significant discount on most sites.  Last week, Bernard put up 37 rush yards and 5 receptions for 59 yards and a TD against the Browns.  I could see him doing something similar this week, making his pricing a steal.  Scott has a similar scenario taking over for Miles Sanders for the second week against the Cowboys, who have the 3rd worst rush defense in the league per DVOA, and is sporting rock bottom pricing.
    • And while we’re talking about the Titans @ Bengals, it features the second highest over/under of the weekend (51), so I like plenty of others in the game.  For the Titans, I really like Ryan Tannehill, particularly with his depressed pricing across industry, against the Bengals 26th ranked pass defense per DVOA, which means I also like A.J. Brown and Jonnu Smith.  For the Bengals, I don’t mind sprinkling in a bit of Joe Burrows, Tyler Boyd, Tee Higgins and A.J. Green.
• The San Francisco 49ers @ Seattle Seahawks game has the highest over/under of the weekend (54) featuring a Seahawks defense that’s ranked 28th overall and the 49ers pass defense that’s ranked 13th per DVOA. So for the Seahawks, I like D.K. Metcalf and Tyler Lockett the most, but don’t mind playing Russell Wilson.  I’m not sure I trust DeeJay Dallas, but if he starts at RB for the Seahawks, he might be worth a punt in the flex.  For the 49ers, I like George Kittle and Brandon Aiyuk, but will probably stay away from any RB, as we have no idea how that shakes out from week to week (I feel your pain, Jerrick McKinnon owners in Week 7).
• The Las Vegas Raiders @ Cleveland Browns game has the 4th highest over/under of the weekend (49.5) featuring a Raiders defense that’s ranked 31st overall and a Browns defense that’s ranked 24th overall per DVOA. So for the Raiders, I like Derek Carr, Darren Waller and Josh Jacobs.  For the Browns, I really like Jarvis Landry and Rishard Higgins, particularly with OBJ and Austin Hooper out, and also like Kareem Hunt to have a solid floor with upside.  And if you feel like punting at your flex, you can consider Donovon Peoples-Jones, who had his best game of the season with OBJ out totaling 56 yards and a TD.
• And I really really like Aaron Rodgers this week.  The Vikings have the 15th ranked defense overall per DVOA, but allow the 4th most passing yards per game (286.7) and the 3rd highest opposing QB passer rating (110.4) in the NFL this season. And if I like Rodgers, I definitely like his number 1 target, Davante Adams.  Jamaal Williams is a decent play as well with Aaron Jones ruled out, but he’s already priced up across industry from last week, so is only a middling value.
• At defense, I usually just take value, and there are a couple good choices this week depending on the site. As you can see, I like the Miami Dolphins defense as a punt.  They face the LA Rams, but have actually allowed the 2nd least passing TDs (7), have the 11th most sacks (17), totaled the 7th most sack yards lost (146) of any team this year, and they’re among the cheapest available at the position across industry.  If you’re going to pay up, I like the value you get from the Los Angeles Chargers defense facing the Denver Broncos, who have thrown the 2nd most INTs (10) and allowed the 10th most sacks (18) this season.

Good luck everyone with your Week 8 Cash Lineups, and I’ll see you next week for some Week 9 Cash Lineup suggestions!