The Daily Spin – NFL Cash Game Selections – Week 2

Zachary Turcotte
By Zachary Turcotte September 19, 2020 08:38

The Daily Spin – NFL Cash Game Selections – Week 2

Week 1 is in the books and we got off to a fantastic start with cash games, notching a win in one of the strangest first weeks we are ever going to witness. Without pre-season and less information that ever before going into a new year, we needed to really focus in on the best match ups on the board that were obvious, try to save salary cap space when able and avoid making any silly mistakes.

In reviewing my lineup for the week, it came together very much the way I drew it up in my article for the week as I had an easy win on my double up team on DraftKings and was able to duplicate that success in FanDuel.

 

Week 1 Team
Cam Newton 6100 25.7
Josh Jacobs 6800 35.9
Boston Scott 4800 7.4
Davante Adams 7300 44.6
DK Metcalf 5800 19.5
Marquise Brown 5100 18.1
Jack Doyle 3600 7.9
Austin Ekeler 7000 9.7
Patriots 3200 11
49700 179.8

 

From the start of the week, I knew I would likely pay down at QB. While I loved Lamar Jackson’s matchups against the lowly Browns, the extra $2000 in salary on DraftKings would have forced me to drop down from one or more of the stars that I wanted to anchor my team for the week. With Cam being at home against a very weak Dolphins team, I had every reason to expect a big week from Cam. The additional benefit of using Cam, particularly early in the season is that it will take some time for him to get acclimated and comfortable with the offense of Josh McDaniels. With a less than elite receiving corp that will struggle to gain much separation, I would expect the trend of Cam running often (15 rushes against Miami) to continue until he develops better rapport with his pass catchers. What I liked is that this is Cam’s offense and the coaches seem to trust his judgement. Now if he could just not dress like a circus clown, he may be less aggravating to watch this season.

At RB, the news broke on Saturday afternoon that Miles Sanders would not make the trip to DC which elevated Boston Scott the starting role for the Eagles. Though I was not excited about playing Scott, his price point made the decision painless. A few of you are new to this type of research so I want to belabor the point a little further. When an RB that is expected to play a prominent role in an offense gets hurt late in the week and there is a discernable backup that will take the majority of the workload, you know immediately that this player will likely see a massive spike in ownership. There’s no real reason to retreat from this type of play in cash games. As it turned out, Scott was 70-80% owned in most of my cash game (50/50 or double up) contests so there was not going to be much, if any advantage to be gained by having him on the roster. However, if you can play a RB that you expect to get 15+ touches at that low of a price, you’re less concerned about his play and more focused on all of the salary cap space that is opened up by utilizing him at such a low price. Scott underperformed to say the least and the backfield of the Eagles was a mess against a very tough Washington front line on defense, but it did not hurt our chances of winning as most other owners took the same hit.

Josh Jacobs was a very obvious play for us, especially on DK where he steamrolled the Panthers who look like a team that we can continue to target on the ground. The retirement of Luke Kuechly is a devastating blow to a defense that was already at the bottom of the league against the run so when we look at the board for an RB each week, be sure to check who Carolina is up against as they should continue to yield a ton of yardage on the ground and will generally be playing from behind in most games.

Devante Adams was my lock of the week going against the Vikings. As a close follower of the Vikes, I knew this game spelled disaster for an inexperienced secondary. With new faces up front unable to generate any pass rush, Rodgers took a surgical approach to slicing up the Vikings all afternoon. We were very fortunate that DraftKings made Adams so much cheaper than Michael Thomas, whose cost was prohibitive for me. With Thomas rolling his ankle to start the year, Adams looks like to elevate himself to being the top receiver in the league.

I wanted to have a piece of the Atlanta/Seattle game last week and was able to get that through DK Metcalf, who I do not expect to see below $6k very often, if ever again. He started slowly, but he’s a big play threat any time he is on the field and it was only a matter of time before he was able to burn the suspect secondary of Atlanta for a long TD as expected.

Marquise Brown was priced way too low last week against the Browns, especially with the Cleveland secondary being so incredibly banged up. The biggest risk in playing Brown is that the Ravens run the ball so well and get so far ahead that he falls out of the mix in the second half, which is what happened Sunday. Fortunately, he was over 100 yards with five catches by that point so he provided plenty of value.

At TE, I paid down for Jack Doyle and did not get much. Unless an expensive TE has a really strong match up, I rarely spend up at this spot. With the way starting TEs get priced, you can create considerable savings by paying down here and streaming whichever player is cheap and has an exploitable match up. Doyle did not help us, but he did not really hurt us either as the TE position was mostly a wasteland for the week.

In the flex spot, I was really excited to play Austin Ekeler, but ended up being puzzled by his usage. He’s not the biggest back, though he has bulked up, but he’s been at his best when the Chargers get him out in space in the passing game and let him create plays. Against a terrible Bengals team, Anthony Lynn dialed up only one pass to Ekeler and instead pounded him between the tackles for much of the game. Though he had 84 yards on 19 carries, it was not at all what I had expected give what we saw a year ago when he was the featured back. To really rub salt in our wounds, the Chargers turned to Josh Kelley near the goal line, giving him the TD instead of Ekeler. The Chargers were able to escape with an uninspiring win against the Bengals, but if this is the type of game plan we can expect from Lynn and staff moving forward, I will have to temper my excitement for Ekeler this season.

Finally, I finished up with the Patriots for my defense. Though the Pats lost Tom Brady, they still have perhaps the best defensive mind in the league in Bill Belichik to utilize and I am always amazed at his ability to take seemingly average players and get them to play at level far beyond what most thought possible. When you can match a Belichik defense up against the turnover prone Ryan Fitzpatrick, you take it every time, especially with how they were priced for the week.

Now on to Week 2….


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Zachary Turcotte
By Zachary Turcotte September 19, 2020 08:38

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