The Daily Spin – NFL Cash Game Focus – Week 4

One of the biggest reasons that I loved fantasy sports so much is that it allows my love of the game to remain high throughout the season even when my love of my favorite team takes a hit along the way. With the gut punch that took place last Sunday when the Vikings were unceremoniously dispatched by the lowly Buffalo Bills at home in the most humiliating fashion imaginable, I went through what fans of 31 NFL teams go through each season when they recognize the moment where their team is not destined for greatness. It can happen as a fan at almost any point in the season. In 2017, it did not happen with the Vikings until the 2nd quarter of the NFC title game. In 2016, it took place against the Lions when a two game losing streak should have come to an end, but was then extended in miraculous fashion. In 2015, the moment of agony took place in the first round of the playoffs when Blair Walsh missed a game winning 27 yard field goal to lose to Seattle. In 2014, that moment of pain came in a totally unexpected manner when Adrian Peterson was suspended indefinitely after the first game when child abuse allegations emerged. Sadly, as a Vikings fan, I can go back through about the last 30 seasons and pull up each heartbreaking moment where I knew that season was lost, but I think you get my point. So even during the debacle last week against the Bills where I knew in a flash that this was not a special team, I still had a solid week of cash game winnings to make me feel so much better about the week and for what is to come this season.

Things ended up going really well last week for my cash games as once again, the deep value play ended up putting up a huge number of points as Matt Ryan and the Falcons had a juicy shootout with the Saints that delivered a ton of points and got the week rolling for me. Corey Clement was the auto chalk play owned by 70% of the field and while he did not do anything special, he did enough not to hurt us. Kareem Hunt played okay against the 49ers and although he barely did anything in terms of yardage, he got into the end zone twice to prop up his numbers. I played Todd Gurley in the Flex spot and he was outstanding yet again. When you have a stud RB who you know will get the volume the way Gurley does every week, I always try to find a way to pay up if possible as the bust potential, particularly for this Rams team, is very low.

At the WR position, I heard from many of you that had great weeks with Calvin Ridley. While I did not throw him onto my cash lineup, he was excellent and had a career day…although that career is only three games old at this point. For my three, I used Julio Jones, Allen Robinson and Tyler Boyd. Boyd was incredibly cheap and keeps getting a high level of targets and ended up being a great fit it a high scoring game against the Panthers. Julio was frustrating again for me. He was not terrible, but when you pay over $8k, you really need him to get that 100 yard bonus and find the end zone. Allen Robinson saw more of Patrick Peterson than I would have liked and was largely held in check for the week.

At the TE spot, Eric Ebron performed the way that he usually does when he is the chalk play and did not muster much in terms of production for the week. He had plenty of targets, and even a few in the red zone, but could not haul them in. It was the right play and he received the volume that we projected. With any of these players, we can’t control how many balls they will catch or if they will break a big play. We can only project volume. As long as we are operating under the right assumptions for how involved a player is from week to week, I am not going to be bothered on weeks where it does not translate to a huge output.

Of course, it wouldn’t be DFS NFL in 2018 for me if my defense was not underperforming for me. Last week, I made the rare move to actually pay up for a defense in thinking that the Vikings felt very much like the ‘can’t miss’, play of the week. They typically turn up their performance at home and the Bills looked like a lost team the first two weeks operating with a rookie QB. It ended up being the most lopsided upset from a point spread perspective in 23 years. Had this been the final blow that kept my team out of the money last week, I would not have been a very pleasant person to be around this week.

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