Sunday Morning Update
Check back around 9:30 AM EST for any updates to the Primary Cash Lineup or other lineup thoughts
Week 6 Recap- Loss, Season Record 2-4
Week 6 was another frustrating week. The margins just continue to be so thin on FanDuel this year. For example, if Jonathan Taylor gets the touchdown instead of Daniel Jones running it in from inside the five, it changes the day. Or if Rachaad White gets the opportunity to punch it in instead of Sean Tucker after White drove the team down the field to get them in position to score it also would have changed the course of the day.
One of the things I like to do is look back and say to myself if I could have done this over again, would I have changed anything? The only thing I would have changed would have been Trevor Lawrence. While he wasn’t bad by any means, Drake Maye was the clear number one guy on that slate, and by forcing myself to go with Maye it would have landed on a downgrade from Jonathan Taylor to Josh Jacobs.
My overall thoughts are that this was an extremely competitive lineup, and if it’s run back tomorrow, I would still be confident in playing it. Fading Javonte Williams was completely the right call.
The key reason this lineup lost was at defense, which has been a trend this year. Multiple times, defenses have put up huge games, which have just been crushing when you don’t have them. My stance on this is pretty simple. I try to find the most sacks at the cheapest price when it comes to defense. Maybe I’m doing it incorrectly, as others are simply just playing whoever is facing Cam Ward. Even still, defense is completely random at times, which, if that’s a primary reason that I’m losing, it’s better than just not having the right individual players in the lineup. It reminds me a little bit of when FanDuel had kickers. If you lost because of a kicker, you just throw your hands up, and there’s nothing you can do. With defensive scoring so heavily weighted on turnovers, touchdowns, and with all of those being high-variance categories, it’s tough to truly project on a week-to-week basis.
But, this is a results-oriented article, and no one is more frustrated with the results than I am. Admittedly, it’s difficult to evaluate whether to completely change your process or whether to continue course based on a 2-4 start to the season. For me, it is a risk as I’ve had success with this process for a while particularly when it comes to picking defenses. I’ve looked over the last five years, and on a points-per-dollar basis, paying down for defenses has historically been the key to winning, so changing that after just six weeks seems a bit tricky. With that said, I’ll be taking either Denver or Cleveland’s defense this week, as despite the mid-range price tag, they’re still priced lower than they should be.
Week 6 Lineup
- QB Trevor Lawrence, JAX, $6,700- 19.2
- RB Rico Dowdle, CAR, $6,600- 34.9
- RB Rachaad White, TB, $6,800- 16.1
- WR Ladd McConkey, LAC, $6,400- 22.5
- WR Puka Nacua, LAR, $9,800- 3.8
- WR Stefon Diggs, NE, $5,900- 4.3
- TE Michael Mayer, LV, $4,300- 13.5
- Flex RB Jonathan Taylor, $10,200- 24.7
- TD Miami Dolphins, $3,000- 2
Injuries Create Opportunity:
David Njoku will miss this week with a knee injury. This should open up the door for Harold Fannin Jr. to have an opportunity to be fantasy relevant. It also should force Cleveland to run the ball more than what they did last week, as with only Jerry Jeudy and Fannin as the Browns primary pass catchers, it becomes extremely limited for Dillon Gabriel.
Brock Bowers is out this week with a knee injury. Michael Mayer will once again be an excellent play at the tight end position.
Jakobi Meyers will also likely miss for the Raiders. This will provide a boost to both Mayer as well as Tre Tucker who should see a boost because of this injury. Tucker is firmly in cash game consideration this week.