Cracking DraftKings Week 3

Sunday Morning Update:

Check back around 9:30 AM each Sunday morning for final thoughts on this slate.

Week 2 Results: Win- 1-1 on the season

Solid rebound week after a disastrous Week 1. The lineup was really never in doubt for cashing in 50/50’s as it finished in the top 40% of all lineups. It was far from perfect however, as the Jaguars defense was a severe letdown compared to the Panthers who at nearly 20% rostered had 26.6 points, and CeeDee Lamb who was 38% rostered had 38.3 points.

The Good:

• Dak Prescott was great at $6,400. Putting up 29.76 points was enough to help offset some of the high roster percentage that CeeDee Lamb had last week.
• Avoiding some landmines. DK Metcalf, Javonte Williams, George Pickens, and Terry McLaurin were all 20%+ rostered and struggled mightily. Thankfully, a lot of those rosters were correlated with the CeeDee Lamb rosters that helped offset his high score.

The Bad:

• Not having the Panthers defense is challenging. In hindsight, I’m not really sure how they got to become that popular, as this was a defense that in the prior week had allowed 59 points to the Bears only to put up 26 DraftKings points the following week. Especially when Bijan Robinson was 76% rostered.
• Bijan Robinson was a mistake, but it’s hard to beat yourself up too much on it. He was 76% rostered and had just 11 points at $8,200. It’s hard because Carolina had allowed both D’Andre Swift and Kyle Monangai both had over 100-yards against this defense in Week 1.

Primary Cash Lineup- 143.56

• QB Dak Prescott, DAL, $6,400- 29.76
• RB Bijan Robinson, ATL, $8,200- 11.1
• RB Christian McCaffrey, SF, $8,000- 22.6
• WR Matthew Golden, GB, $4,700- 9.8
• WR Garrett Wilson, NYJ, $6,000- 16.7
• WR Caleb Douglas, MIA, $3,700- 3.9
• TE Dalton Schultz, $3,200- 29.0
• Flex RB Derrick Henry, BAL, $7,200- 17.7
• TD Jacksonville, $2,400- 3.0

Injury Creates Opportunity

Keon Coleman and DJ Moore are both questionable this week. It seems unlikely that they’re going to play, but even if they do, they’ll likely be limited. This opens the door for Dalton Schultz to once again have a big game as he had 140 yards last week.

Nico Collins will miss this week with a hamstring injury. This will once again leave the Texans incredibly thin at the wide receiver position as Jayden Higgins and Tank Dell were

Sam Darnold will return this week after missing last week with a hip injury. While it should be an upgrade, Drew Lock looked more than capable filling in for him in 1.5+ games that he was asked to step in. It could have a slightly negative impact when it comes to Jaxon Smith-Njigba, as often we see the backup quarterback lock on to the number one receiver more than the starter who is able to better read through his progressions.

Kyler Murray will return for the Vikings this week. It’s hard to know what to expect from Murray as he was knocked out of the Week 1 opener so early. It should help the entire Vikings offense, as it has been stagnant with Carson Wentz just having an inability to throw downfield.

Adonai Mitchell is questionable with a finger injury that popped up mid-week. He was able to log limited practices on Thursday/Friday, but whether he will be able to catch the ball is a completely different story. It would be a slight upgrade to Garrett Wilson if he were to miss this week.

The Steelers are a bit of a mess at the moment. Rico Dowdle has been ruled out, while both Jaylen Warren and Michael Pittman Jr. are questionable. If Warren is active, he’s likely a solid play despite the offensive line issues for Pittsburgh, but this could be an ugly situation that could make sense to target the Bengals defense this week.

Week 3 Strategy: The Josh Allen Dilemma

This week is fun. The big dilemma this week is what to do about Josh Allen as this is the first time this season that we’re able to start the quarterback. Through two weeks, he’s on a completely different level than the rest of the NFL. While he’s thrown for an average of 290 yards per game and 2.5 touchdowns, it is the rushing that separates him from the competition as he’s averaging 46 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns per game.