DRAFTKINGS WEEK 2 RECAP
There’s a lot of fantasy advice out there. It’s easy to tout any player, especially in a format like daily fantasy, when every reason not to play a guy is just a reason he’ll be low-owned. In this column every week, I’ll attempt to tackle the most important part of giving advice: accountability. I’ll recap my personal Week 1 DraftKings cash lineup and Main Slate Breakdown touts and try to evaluate what was bad process, what was bad luck, and what we can with us to Week 2.
CASH LINEUP REVIEW
It was a low cash line this week, with around 135 points in DraftKings’ Double-Ups
The Process
Kyler Murray was a smash insert. Jonathan Taylor was, too. After reviewing the low-priced options projectable for high volume, I figured I could fit in both Ezekiel Elliott and Derrick Henry at my RB spots, as well as Davante Adams as my WR1. Logan Thomas was the lowest-priced TE I was comfortable with, so i plugged him in. I plugged in the lowest priced-WRs i was comfortable with, Cephus and Miller, which didn’t leave me enough salary to get up to the Rams, so i stuck with the Giants.
The Good
Kyler Murray was predictably a big value. His price drop after his Week 1 performance didn’t make sense and he produced in this spot. Ezekiel Elliott’s Cowboys fell behind early, but he stayed involved with 6 receptions and managed to come close to 3x value. Jonathan Taylor (at 63% owned in the massive double-up) nearly delivered 4x value.
The Bad
This week was a Big Oof. The danger of playing a guy like Derrick Henry in cash is that his floor is so low, if he doesn’t catch the ball or find the end zone. With just 8.4 points on 84 rushing yards, we saw that floor this week. Davante Adams took a back seat to Aaron Jones as the Packers emphasized the ground game against Detroit, and was one of many players who left their Week 2 game with an injury.
Neither of my low-priced WRs paid off, though Quintez Cephus came close. Scotty Miller, someone who i didn’t write up in my breakdown but liked after Chris Godwin was ruled out, suffered from an emphasis on passing the ball to RBs, as Mike Evans was the only Buccaneers wide receiver to earn more than 3 targets. Logan Thomas got 9 targets, opportunity fantasy owners would be more than happy with, but only hauled in 4 for 26 yards.
GPP LINEUP REVIEW
Here I’ll look at my best-performing tournament lineup and see what went right
I had three lineups return 5x value in the First Down, at 192.18, 191.08, and 190.30 points. Above is my best. This lineup was a naked Josh Allen lineup, with an opposing player in Mike Gesicki. Aaron Jones was my favorite GPP RB of the week and he absolutely smashed, and the Packers DST scored a TD as well to hit value.
Diontae Johnson was one of the only sub-$4.5k WRs to hit value this week; Parris Campbell was one of the worst-performing. Ronald Jones was outshined by Leonard Fournette, a possibility we were all aware of. There is some missed opportunity here, as I played Allen Robinson instead of the slate’s WR2 Stefon Diggs at $100 cheaper. Diggs was in two of my three Allen lineups (including the 191.08 lineup), but neither of them had Aaron Jones, so the finished just behind this one.
BREAKDOWN REVIEW
Quarterbacks
I talked about five quarterbacks in my Week 2 Main Slate Breakdown
- Lamar Jackson – $8,200 – 17.56 points.
- Dak Prescott – $6,800 – 43.8 points
- Josh Allen – $6,700 – 37.48 points
- Kyler Murray – $6,100 – 33.14 points
- Mitchell Trubisky – $5,500 – 15.2 points
Four of five QBs hitting 3x value, especially in a week with a sub-3x cash line, is pretty good. Three of five hitting 5x value is something I’ll walk away proud of. Prescott, Allen, and Murray were the top three QBs of the week. Murray was predictably very high owned – 55% in my single-entry $25 double-up, limiting the payoff in cash, but if you picked a QB based on my breakdown, chances are you’re happy.
Running Backs
I’ve gone into Zeke Elliott and Derrick Henry, neither of whom had a great performance in Week 2. Neither did Christian McCaffery, whom I completely faded, with 24 points on a five-digit salary. McCaffrey actually finished as the overall RB3, but just the RB21 in points per $1,000. Similarly, Elliott was the overall RB5, but the RB19 in points per $1,000.
My mid-priced options didn’t fare much better. Jonathan Taylor, the chalk of the week, returned value, but Kenyan Drake and Ronald Jones both fell short. Drake’s lack of a receiving game role haunts him for the second consecutive week. Ronald Jones was outshined by Leonard Fournette, who I mentioned in my breakdown as someone to keep an eye on. After out-touching Fournette 20-6 in Week 1, Jones ceded the lead role in touches (16 – 9) and had just 27 total yards on a touchdown, lagging far behind Fournette’s 116 yards and 2 touchdowns. I thought Jones had at least one more week as a playable option. At this point, however, i wouldn’t trust any part of this backfield.
D’Andre Swift’s 12.2 points came close to 3x value, which isn’t exciting, but is encouraging for a rookie. Swift caught all five of his targets for 60 yards, but doesn’t have much of a role on the ground, continuing to trail both Adrian Peterson and Kerryon Johnson in carries.
The big slate-breaker of the week was my favorite GPP sleeper – Aaron Jones. Jones added 8 targets to 18 carries and produced both through the air and on the ground, with 236 total yards and three touchdowns.
Wide Receivers
Davante Adams was a miserable failure, hurting nearly 50% of owners in cash. Adams left in the mid-3rd quarter with a hamstring issue. It’s unknown if it bothered him before then, and it sounds as if he could have returned if he was needed, but he hadn’t impressed up to that point, with just 3 catches for 36 yards.
Allen Robinson didn’t fare much better, catching 3 balls for 33 yards. On an encouraging note, he got 9 targets, but that inefficiency is an occupational hazard of trusting wide receivers whose quarterbacks are Mitchell Trubisky-like.
Amari Cooper, on the other hand, delivered 3x value with 19 points. In a weird scoring line, Dak Prescott threw for 450 yards but just 1 touchdown (to Dalton Shultz), so Cooper’s 6 receptions for 100 yards left him scoreless. CeeDee Lamb matched him, with the same 9 targets and 6 catches, but 106 yards. Michael Gallup was an afterthought in the offense, also trailing Shultz and Elliott with just 5 targets on the night.
On the other side of the ball, Julio Jones was maddeningly absent from the Falcons offense, with just 4 targets. Calvin Ridley picked up exactly where he left off in Week 1 with another 9 catches for 109 and another two TDs, and Russell Gage grabbed 6 balls for 46 yards and a TD. Ridley was the overall WR1 on the slate. Hayden Hurst delivered the performance we were looking for in Week 1 with 72 yards and a TD. Julio was already at a $300 price decrease from Week 1, so I’m not sure if he’ll get much cheaper, but someday, he’ll score a touchdown (maybe).
My favorite part of the week was the number of WRs at $4,500 and below that offered a good chance at great volume. Diontae Johnson, Parris Campbell, Christian Kirk, Mike Williams, Scotty Miller, Corey Davis, Quintez Cephus. all projected for great opportunity. overwhelmingly, they didn’t deliver.
- Parris Campbell: 0 targets (1 rushing attempt)
- Christian Kirk: 4 targets (2 receptions and 1 rushing attempt)
- Mike Williams: 4 targets (2 receptions)
- Scotty Miller: 3 targets (2 receptions)
- Corey Davis: 5 targets (3 receptions)
- Quintez Cephus: 3 targets (3 receptions)
Diontae Johnson appears to be the Pittsburgh WR1, hauling in 8 receptions on 13 targets. Our window for getting him at an affordable price isn’t quite over though. He’s up to just $5,400 in Week 3 against Houston.
Tight Ends
Mark Andrews crashed to earth after an excellent Week 1, catching just 1 of his 3 targets. Lamar Jackson only attempted 24 passes so it was another low-volume day for Ravens’ pass-catchers.
Logan Thomas got the volume we hoped for with 9 targets, but only hauled in 4 for 26 yards. We should keep the faith in this spot moving forward, especially since his price stays at just $3,700 in a prime matchup with Cleveland.. Chris Herndon, on the other hand, only got 4 targets, catching 1 for five yards.
It was a big week for a number of Tight Ends. Seven players scored at least 19 points and six of those seven hit 5x value. Mike Gesicki was the high scorer with 30 points, with Tyler Higbee close behind at 28.4, Jonnu Smith with 24.4, Jordan Reed with 24, Dalton Shultz with 22.8, and Mo Alie-Cox with 19.10. Gesicki leaves the main slate in Week 3, while the other five get price boosts of at least $800.
