Best Daily Fantasy Football Plays for Cash Games – Week 7

October 21, 2017

By Ha Kung Wong Daily Fantasy Football

And we’re back for Week 7 of the NFL season and MORE DFS CASH! Hope you followed my advice last week, since all my lineups CASHED! If not, no worries, we got you covered for this week too.

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. 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 7 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 7 contests, along with they’re prices on Fan Duel (“FD”), Draft Kings (“DK”) and Yahoo! Daily Fantasy (“Y!”).

UPDATE – With Leonard Fournette unlikely to suit up, Chris Ivory is now a very interesting value play at RB.

FanDuel

To provide you with some diversity, I have two sample lineups this week, which were constructed via two different approaches.

Approach 1 was to anchor my lineup with a solid high floor QB and 2 super stud WRs, getting my value from the RB position. Approach 2 was to anchor my lineup with 2 super stud RBs, and get value at QB and WR.

In Approach 1, I went with Drew Brees as my QB anchor. Over his first 5 games of the season, Brees is averaging just over 264 yards and 2 TDs per game. He’s only failed to throw for multiple TDs in 1 game so far, and has only 2 INTs for the season. Willie Snead is working back into shape, so Brees should have his full complement of receiving options, plus a dynamic Alvin Kamara to dump off to if necessary. His ceiling isn’t that high, but his floor is terrific, which makes him one of my favorite DFS plays this week for cash games. I then paired him with super stud WR Antonio Brown and Julio Jones. Both have a very high floor, Jones averaging over 7 targets per game and Brown averaging over a whopping 12 targets per game. Brown is facing a tough Bengals pass defense, but sheer volume makes him a lock for production. And although Jones hasn’t scored a TD yet, he’s facing the Patriot’s league worst pass defense this week, so I like his chances.

Once again a big play by Jordan Howard was key in a win over an AFC North opponent pic.twitter.com/nxEmutm0ds

— Pro Football Focus (@PFF) October 15, 2017

I then rounded out some RB value with Jordan Howard and Orleans Darkwa. Howard is priced competitively in light of the fact that the Bears have gone completely run heavy ever since instilling Mitchell Trubisky at QB. In Week 6, the Bears has 54 plays on the ground compared to just 17 passes, and Howard had a ridiculous 36 of those carries. even battling through injuries and a mostly low end offense, Howard still has the 3rd most rushing TDs (4) and 5th most rushing yards (495) this season. Darkwa is a little more of a gamble, but we already know that Paul Perkins will miss another game, and Darkwa put on a show in Week 6 with 21 carries for 117 yards, helping the Giants win their first game of the season. The Seahawks have a challenging defense, but they’re actually the 6th worst in the NFL this season against the run, so I think Darkwa is an excellent value pick.

In Approach 2, I anchored my lineup with Le’Veon Bell and Todd Gurley. Bell is averaging over 22 carries and 6 targets a game, even including his early season down games against the Browns and Vikings. He has the most carries and 4th most targets of any RB this season, and although the Bengals have a top flight pass defense, they’re only 14th against the run. Gurley has had a resurgence this year averaging over 127 total yards per game. He also has 7 total TDs this year, 4 on the ground and 3 through the air. The Cardinals aren’t pushovers on defense, but Gurley’s workload makes him a safe high end pick.

Can C.J. Beathard lead the 49ers to their first win of the season? pic.twitter.com/GrY55kLrXf

— Pro Football Focus (@PFF) October 19, 2017

Of course, in order to roster Bell and Gurley, I had to take a chance on rookie CJ Beathard at QB. After it became clear that Brian Hoyer wasn’t the answer, even as a bridge QB, Beathard stepped in and completed 19 of 36 passes for 245 yards and a TD in about 3/4th of a game, almost leading the 49ers to a win over the Redskins. He did have a late INT, but that was essentially in desperation mode at the end of the game. The Cowboys haven’t been particularly scary on defense, and Beathard does have some weapons in Pierre Garcon and George Kittle, so I like rostering him for the bargain basement pricing.

I then round it out with WRs DeSean Jackson and Brandin Cooks. D-Jax has been quietly productive this season having 3 of 5 games in double digit fantasy points. The Bills are weaker in pass defense than they are on the ground, and I’d expect Jameis Winston, who’s in line to play with a full Friday practice, to take advantage of that. Cooks actually has the 6th most receiving yards of any WR this season (472) and has a decent matchup at home against the Falcons. Both teams struggle in defense, so I’d expect this to be a relatively high scoring affair.

The remaining players are the same in both approaches. I like Adam Thielen with Stefon Diggs likely out again this week (or at least severely limited), as we saw the volume he got last week.

Giants tight end Evan Engram was key to the Giants picking up their first win of the season pic.twitter.com/uSh60wCXI9

— Pro Football Focus (@PFF) October 16, 2017

For TE, I’m in again on Evan Engram. I told you last week to play even after the donut he gave us in week 5, and if you did, that paid off handsomely catching 5 of 8 targets for 82 yards and a TD. Even without the breakout performance, Engram’s receptions and targets had increased each week as he topped out with 6 of 11 targets for 62 yards in Week 4, and even garnered 4 targets in his down Week 5. The point is that OBJ and Brandon Marshall are out, and it’s still questionable whether Sterling Shepard will play, meaning plenty more looks for Engram. His salary hasn’t moved much, which makes him a steal.

On defense, I looked to save money by employing the Minnesota Vikings against the turnover prone Joe Flacco (who already has 8 INTs this season) and his mostly inept Ravens offense.

Draft Kings

In full PPR sites like Draft Kings, I like Jarvis Landry with DeVante Parker likely out this week, as he’s been peppered with targets, and Robert Woods with Patrick Peterson (if he plays) likely to shadow Sammy Watkins. I also like Duke Johnson, since he’s already compiled 26 receptions from 36 targets this season for the Browns.

Dak Prescott just happened to be priced well on Draft Kings, and I love his matchup against the 49ers as the Cowboys come off a bye week. Last, I rostered Jay Ajayi, who should broke out in Week 6 to the tune of 130 yards, plus he’s completely off the injury report after putting a full practice in on Friday.

Yahoo! DFS

With Yahoo, I’m looking for value. And it just so happens that there are a few underpriced values as compared to the other sites.

Tom Brady is probably the best QB this week, and he’s in a Super Bowl rematch. Surprisingly, he’s not the most expensive QB on Yahoo, so I’m taking advantage of that. Michael Thomas is also actually underpriced on Yahoo, which is why I like him in what looks to be a high scoring opportunity against the Packers. Alshon Jeffery is almost criminally underpriced for being the top WR in one of the top offenses in the NFL so far. And last, Jerick McKinnon is the clear lead back in Minnesota, and with the Ravens offense sputtering, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Vikings go run heavy to kill clock.