Best Daily Fantasy Football Plays for Cash Games – Week 4

By Ha Kung Wong  Daily Fantasy Football

Twitter: @FBGarbageTime

And we’re back for Week 4 of the NFL season and MORE DFS CASH!  So, I wasn’t perfect in Week 3, like I was in Week 1, or in in Week 2, but I still had lineups that cashed.  And a 74% cash rate is still pretty good.  Just sayin’.

We all know that DFS is a great way to prove you have serious football IQ and earn you bragging rights among your friends (and if you’re like me, among your family as well!).  And heck, if you win cash, that’s just gravy, right?  (No need to answer that question, it was totally rhetorical. I know you all like cash. And gravy.)

So before we get to winning you bragging rights (and DFS cash), remember, the point of this article is not just to give you one lineup for each site, it’s to give you examples of one or two 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.  And that’s never been more true than in the first week of the season when we have very limited data.  Trust me, it’s a lot more fun that way AND you’ll improve your chances of cashing!

So without further to do, here are my favorite cash lineups for FanDuel, Draft Kings, and Yahoo! DFS, plus a few others suggestions you might consider for your lineups.

Let’s get to winning you some CASH in Week 4 of the 2017 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 4 contests, along with they’re prices on Fan Duel (“FD”), Draft Kings (“DK”) and Yahoo! Daily Fantasy (“Y!”).

FanDuel

UPDATE – Willie Snead is OUT.  Ted Ginn now a strong play.

Again, to encourage some diversity in your lineups, I’m giving you three sample lineups for FanDuel this week, the last of which includes the 9:30 AM Sunday game between the Saints and Dolphins.

This week, my approach is to go high end with QB, 1 x RB, 2 x WR and TE, and make room by grabbing value at RB and WR. I also like players in the four games with the highest over/unders of the week, New Orleans Saints @ Miami Dolphins (49.5), Washington Redskins @ Kansas City Chiefs (49.5), Carolina Panthers @ New England Patriots (48.5) and the Buffalo Bills @ Atlanta Falcons (48.5).

For some initial thoughts, we actually went through a number of players on this week’s Podcast, so don’t forget to check that out!  But let me explain a few of my picks here.

The game I really like is the Saints @ Dolphins in London.  I know this is at 9:30 AM on Sunday and not included in the standard slate, but if you can get into one of the contests that does include this game (e.g. Early Sunday slate or Thursday to Monday slate), I’d do it.  Aside from having the highest over/under of the week, there are specific reasons why I like this matchup for DFS production.

The Saints have the 31st ranked defense in the NFL pursuant to DVOA and LAST with respect to DAVE, which projects how their defense will perform for the rest of the season.  In addition, the Saints are 3rd to last defending against WR1s, 5th to last defending against RB receptions and 6th to last defending against TEs.  What that means is that many of the Dolphins skill positions are in play, including Jay Ajayi (DK: $7400), Jarvis Landry (DK: $6500) and DeVante Parker ($6700) in cash games, and for those who like to live on the edge, Julius Thomas (DK $2900) and Jay Cutler ($5800) in tournaments.

The Dolphins, however, are perhaps even worse on defense, as they’re the 28th ranked defense overall and dead LAST against the pass.  That translates specifically to last against WR2s, 5th to last against WR1s and 3rd to last against RB receptions.  So,that means that many of the Saints skill positions are also in play, including Drew Brees (DK: $7200) and Michael Thomas (DK: $7300) in cash games, and Alvin Kamara (DK: $3900), Ted Ginn Jr. (DK: $3900) and Willie Snead (DK: $5000) in tournaments.

At RB, you’ll note that I like to go big with Todd Gurley and Dalvin Cook while offsetting the price a little with Chris Carson and Joe Mixon.  We discuss Gurley, Cook and Carson on our podcast, so give it a listen if you want to know why we like them.  As for Mixon, it’s clear that new Cincy OC Bill Lazor is doing what he can to maximize Mixon’s touches, and I don’t see that stopping in Week 4 against an exploitable Cleveland defense.  Plus, his price is way too low for the contribution he’ll provide in PPR format.

I also like AJ Green as an under-priced elite WR against the same exploitable Cleveland defense, as well as Keenan Allen in a matchup against the burnable Eagles secondary where Philip Rivers will look to make up for terrible Week 3 performance.  Remember, beyond-QB-expiration-date Eli Manning and all three of his WRs had a good week against Philly in Week 3.

At WR on half and full PPR sites, I’d also look to Larry Fitzgerald (DK: $6100) as he’s avergaging over 7 receptions on over 11 targets per week and will be facing San Francisco’s 3rd worst pass defense at home.

For TE, I’m almost entirely in on Zach Ertz against the LA Chargers, who are the 2nd worst defending against TEs.  Ertz caught 8 of 10 targets for 55 yards and a TD over the Giants in Week 3 and I’d expect similar target share in Week 4.

For Defense, I’m buying back into the Jacksonville Jaguars after they stomped on the Ravens, will take them against the Jets (DK: $3600) and also like the Cincinnati Bengals after an impressive Week 3 performance against the Packers with 6 sacks, an INT and a DTD, this week against the much less threatening Browns (DK: $3500).

Draft Kings 

For Draft Kings, you’ll note that I took a slightly different approach depending on whether I’m playing the 9:30 AM Sunday slate or the regular 1 PM Sunday slate.

For the regular slate, I went big at QB with Tom Brady, while going ultra-value at RB with Wendell Smallwood and Jacquizz Rodgers.  With Darren Sproles out for the season, Smallwood and LaGarrette Blount look to take most of the snaps.  But I see Smallwood with an expanded role this week, plus he’s dirt cheap.  Rodgers is coming up on his expiration date with Doug Martin coming off suspension in Week 5, so this is his last chance to shine.  The Giants have a decent defense, but Tampa should be up in the game allowing Rodgers to get some late game run, unlike in Week 3 when they were chasing points.

For the 9:30 AM slate, I saved money at TE with Charles Clay to add 2 stud RBs, but otherwise took a similar approach.  If you need to save money at TE in any slate, though, I really like Clay for the price.  He’s been consistently targeted week to week and the Falcons don’t defend the TE well.

You also note the Stefon Diggs, Golden Tate and Devin Funchess play at WR.  We discuss Diggs on the podcast, so go check that out, but Funchess is more of a cheap upside play.  Kelvin Benjamin is likely to suit up in Week 4, but he’ll at least be partially limited.  Plus, we saw an uptick in targets for Funchess last week simply because Greg Olsen is out, and I don’t think that will be the exception.  Tate is averaging 7 receptions on 9 targets per game and is not facing the Vikings who are ranked 27th against the pass.  Plus, it appears that Xavier Rhodes will shadow Marvin Jones and not follow Tate into the slot, so he’ll have plenty of opportunity regardless of game script.

I’d also consider Marqise Lee (DK $4500) and Allen Hurns (DK $4700) against the NY Jets, who are 23rd and 26th defending against WR1s and WR2s, respectively.  Lee is averaging over 7 targets per game and Hurns is averaging almost 5 targets per game over the first 3 weeks, but Hurns has more receptions with 12 versus Lee at 11, and slightly edges Lee on yards 144 to 141.  Regardless of what the Jets did to Jay Cutler and the Dolphins in Week 3, I like this matchup for both WRs.

Yahoo! DFS

Alternative Options

Feel free to use any of the players that I’ve selected on one site in any other site if you have cap space.

In addition to the above, here are few other suggestions for players to use:

• RB LeVeon Bell @ BAL (FD: $8600 / DK: $8700 / Y!: $32)
• WR Antonio Brown @ BAL (FD: $9200 / DK: $9300 / Y!: $34)

I’d also consider a bounce back game for both Demaryius Thomas (FD: $6900 / DK: $6300 / Y!: $23) and Emmanual Sanders (FD: $6900 / DK: $6100 / Y!: $22) at home against Oakland Raiders, who are 22nd and 24th against WR1s and WR2s, respectively.

Good luck everyone, and I hope you all win DFS Cash in Week 4!