Best Daily Fantasy Football Plays for Cash Games – Week 9

By Ha Kung Wong  Daily Fantasy Football

Twitter: @FBGarbageTime

Hey all!  First of all, GO CUBS GO!!  What a great World Series ending a 108 year championship drought.  But before I get all teary eyed again, let’s get to helping you all win CASH in Week 9 of the 2016 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.

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 Fan Duel (“FD”), Draft Kings (“DK”) and Yahoo! Daily Fantasy (“Y!”).

Quarterback

There’s plenty of QBs to pick from, but I don’t tend to take too many chances at QB for cash games because they’re so important for anchoring your team’s performance, so I’ll give you two “safe” choices, then one that is more of a gamble if you’d prefer to take chances on QB and spend money at the other positions.

Aaron Rodgers vs. IND (FD: $9100 / DK: $7800 / Y!: $38)

• The Colts have the 3rd worst total pass defense in the NFL, as they’ve allowed the 3rd most passing yards (288) and the 4th highest completion percentage to opposing QBs (66.8) in the league this season.  And Rodgers has 17 total passing TDs and 2 rushing TDs in 7 games this year, good for 3rd best and 4th best in the NFL.  Add in the fact that this game has the highest over/under of any Week 9 game at 54.5 and that all means lock in Rodgers at QB and move along.

Drew Brees @ SF (FD: $8600 / DK: $7200 / Y!: $39)

• Drew Brees is first in the NFL in yards per game (338) and has the 2nd most total passing TDs (18).  So does it matter that the 49ers defense has a decent pass rush and secondary?  No, I think not.  The only thing that could go wrong is if the Saints score too much and decide to resort to the ground game to grind clock.  But this game has the second highest over/under of Week 9 at 52.5 and New Orleans is only favored by 4, so if this remains close, I don’t see why Brees doesn’t have another productive game.

Dak Prescott @ CLE (FD: $7600 / DK: $6100 / Y!: $31)

• In the last 5 games, Prescott has had at least 220 passing yards and 2 total TDs. And now he gets to face a bottom 10 Cleveland Browns passing defense with the third highest over/under of the week at 49, meaning there should be plenty of scoring.  Prescott presents a nice floor with upside and a reasonable price if you want to spend more at other positions.

Running Back

As usual, RB is a position where I want some “guaranteed” volume.  And by that, I mean we need 10+ touches to even be considered.

Ezekiel Elliot @ CLE (FD: $9200 / DK: $7900 / Y!: $39)

• Do I really need to break this down?  Ezekiel Elliot has had the most carries per game (22.7) and rushing yards per game (114.1) of any RB in the NFL this season.  Plus, Cleveland has the second worst run defense in the NFL.  Ergo, concordantly, lock in Elliot if you have the cap space and move along.

Matt Forte @ MIA (FD: $7500 / DK: $6500 / Y!: $29)

• Matt Forte has now had back to back solid weeks in Week 7 and Week 8, totaling 182 rush yards, 70 receiving yards and 4 total TDs.  Plus, the Dolphins have the 3rd worst rushing defense in the NFL.

Devontae Booker @ OAK (FD: $7000 / DK: $6400 / Y!: $28)

• With Devontae Booker’s first game leading the backfield he tallied 54 rush yards and a TD with 30 receiving yards on 5 receptions.  The Broncos are 7th in the NFL in rushing attempts and Oakland has a bottom 10 run defense.  The price has been elevated, but the upside is still there to make it worth it.

Charcandrick West vs JAX (FD: $5600 / DK: $4700 / Y!: $19)

• With Jamaal Charles on IR and Spencer Ware out with a concussion, Charcandrick West is the last man standing for the Chiefs.  And it’s good timing for him as he’ll be facing the bottom 5 Jaguars rush defense.  For the price, he’s the lock of the week.

Wide Receivers

Remember, in DFS, you not only want yards, you want receptions, though its more valuable in Draft Kings, which is a full PPR, than FanDuel, which is a half PPR.  So with that in mind, here’s my thoughts for WR plays.

Antonio Brown @ BAL (FD: $8700 / DK: $8900 / Y!: $37)

• Big Ben is listed as questionable, but everyone expects him to be back in Week 9.  Baltimore is not a great match up, but really doesn’t matter for Antonio Brown if Roethlisberger returns.  Don’t overthink this and slot him in if you have the cash.

Jordy Nelson vs. IND (FD: $8200 / DK: $7800 / Y!: $27)

• I have no problem with stacking Rodgers and his favorite target.  Even with the stinker in Week 7, Nelson averaged 8.6 targets per game and has the second most receiving TDs (6) of any WR this season.  There will be plenty of points to go around as this game has the highest over/under of the week, particularly against this 3rd worst Colts pass defense.  With this matchup, I have no problem locking in Randall Cobb (FD: $6900 / DK: $6600 / Y!: $23) instead if he’s active.
• UPDATE – Cobb is said to be a “longshot” to play in Week 9, so I’d avoid him and potentially consider Devante Adams, who has had a whopping 30 targets in the last two games.

Dez Bryant @ CLE (FD: $7800 / DK: $7400 / Y!: $25)

• Dez Bryant came back from injury in Week 8 to tally 113 yards and a TD on a whopping 14 targets.  Cleveland has allowed the second most passing TDs (19) in the league this year, and has the 3rd worst DVOA against the pass according to Football Outsiders.  In other words, assuming Bryant is active, fire him up against this bottom 10 passing defense.

Emmanuel Sanders @ OAK (FD: $6800 / DK: $6300 / Y!: $25)

• As I mentioned, Trevor Siemian and the Denver Broncos have gone conservative on offense, but that doesn’t mean you can’t take advantage of another favorable matchup.  The Raiders are a bottom 5 pass defense that has allowed 285 passing yards per game and 15 total passing TDs.  Sanders has at least 8 targets in all but 1 game this year and has at least 80 yards in 4.  With the matchup, I like Sanders for the price, but gave no problem with taking Demaryius Thomas (FD: $7400 / DK: $6000 / Y!: $24), particularly on Draft Kings and Yahoo, who has had 10 targets in each of the last 3 weeks.

Kenny Stills vs. NYJ (FD: $6000 / DK: $3900 / Y!: $17)

• The Jets defense isn’t good, and although they have the second worst pass defense in the league, you might be surprised to learn that they have the number 1 ranked defense against the run.  It’s possible that the ranking is skewed because their secondary is so bad that there’s never a reason for opponents to run the ball on them, but the analysis remains the same.  The Jets will look to hold breakout RB Jay Ajayi, and force Ryan Tannehill to beat them through the air.  Sure, you could go with Jarvis Landry (FD: $7600 / DK: $7100 / Y!: $30), and I have no problems with that, but Kenny Stills has homerun potential and is cheaper.  He pulled in 5 of 8 for 100 yards and a TD before the bye against the Bills, and although TDs aren’t predictable, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him tally 80-100 yards this week in this terrific matchup.

Tavon Austin vs. CAR (FD: $5600 / DK: $5000 / Y!: $18)

• As I mentioned, the Carolina Panthers defense is not the defense you remember from the Super Bowl.  Without Josh Norman, the Panthers secondary has been terrible, as they’ve allowed the 4th most passing yards per game (287) and tied for the 5th most passing TDs (16) in the NFL.  I usually don’t like starting anyone on the Rams offense, particularly in the passing game, but Tavon Austin is averaging 9.1 targets per game, and the Rams will have to air it out to stay competitive.  So feel free to give him a look if you need to save a few bucks.

Tight Ends

Greg Olsen @ LA (FD: $7500 / DK: $6200 / Y!: $27)

• Greg Olsen has the second most targets per game (9) and most yards per game (88.7) of any TE in the NFL this year.  The Rams defense is nothing special, and really, who cares if they were.

Jimmy Graham vs. BUF (FD: $6700 / DK: $5700 / Y!: $21)

• Jimmy Graham has averaged 8 targets and around 80 yards per game over his last 5 games.  He’s back on board as a top 5 TE, and has a decent matchup against the Bills floundering pass defense.  Russell Wilson clearly trusts him and so should you.

Kyle Rudolph vs. DET (FD: $5000 / DK: $4000 / Y!: $21)

• With 7.7 targets per game, good for 4th most among TEs, and with Detroit being a middle of the road defense, I’d expect Rudolph will find a little running room, particularly with Diggs getting more attention.  The Vikings need this win to get back on track, and Bradford needs to protect the ball.  That means checkdown city, and some great value at the TE position.

Defenses

Kansas City Chiefs vs JAX (FD: $5100 / DK: $3500 / Y!: $19)

• The Chiefs haven’t been the dominant defense we’ve become accustomed to, but the Jaguars are terrible.  Plus, Bortles is a turnover machine and the Chiefs have the most INTs (11) in the NFL.  Again, I don’t take chances on defense because the prices are so close, so just lock in the Chiefs this week.