DFS Cash Game Breakdown 2019 Week 15

By Kyle Dvorchak
Kyle Dvorchak

Quarterback

Deshaun Watson, Houston Texans

With no Lamar Jackson on the main slate, Deshaun Watson is as close as we're going to get to him this week. For any good quarterback I look at in cash, I really only want two things, rushing equity, because all good floors are built from hand-cut oak or rushing yardage, and a game that is conducive to fantasy points.

The matchup between the Texans and the Titans currently has the highest total of the main slate at 50-points and that total is up 1.5-points since it opened. The sharps are calling for a shootout.

Deshaun Watson is the number-four quarterback in most rushing stats:

  • Carries - 68
  • Red zone carries - 13
  • Rushing yards - 344

The bonus is touchdowns, of which he has seven, second for all passers.
 

Running Back

Patrick Laird, Miami Dolphins

After doing everything we could have hoped for in his debut as the start in Miami, Patrick Laird hardly had his price adjusted across the DFS industry. He's $4,500 on DraftKings and $5,500 on Fanduel.

Laird and Myles Gaskin were the only two running backs to get touches in Miami last week. Gaskins was given four carries and caught a single pass while Laird got 15 carries and caught four passes.

Over the past four weeks, Laird has 14 catches to his name. He's tied for the ninth-most receptions among running backs over that span. Laird's a three-down back for dirt cheap. Take the free points.
 

Christian McCaffrey, Carolina Panthers

If you're not playing Christian McCashFree in cash by this point, I just don't know what to tell you. Instead of telling you all of the boring stats about how McCaffrey leads the league in yards, touches, touchdowns, etc. here's a fun one:

McCaffrey became one of three running backs to record three games with 10 catches in a season last year. He became the only running back with four such games this year.

CMC is putting up historic numbers as a receiver out of the backfield and he's also third in the NFL with 246 rushing attempts. Keep jamming him in.
 

Wide Receiver

Chris Conley, Jacksonville Jaguars

D.J. Chark is going to be out this week and may not return at all in 2019. His absence boosts both Chris Conley and Dede Westbrook are going to see an increase in target and both are also good values. However, Conley plays a much more similar role to Chark than Westbrook and is more likely to see the majority of his vacated targets.

Chark and Conley run deep routes from the outside while Westbrook is almost exclusively a slot player running shallow routes. Chark and Westbrook couldn't be less similar players while Chark and Conley are surprisingly similar.
 

Chris Godwin, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

No two players have been more negatively correlated at a high level than Chris Godwin and Mike Evans. The duo have eight games of 25 DraftKings points this season and neither have occurred in the same outing.

Evans is now out for the season with a hamstring injury leaving Godwin as the lone No. 1 receiver in Tampa Bay.

Evans' absence vacates 139.5 air yards per game and 9.1 targets per game. Those marks are first (by a comical margin) and seventh in the NFL.

With so much volume up for grabs, Godwin has to be in consideration for cash.
 

Tight End

Ian Thomas, Carolina Panthers

Despite reports of a tight end by committee approach, Ian Thomas was the guy for Carolina last week:

  • 61/71 offensive snaps
  • 10 targets
  • 24% target share


Thomas was a stud tight end but he remains extremely cheap on DraftKings and Fanduel. This week the Panthers play Seattle in a game with a 48.5-point total.

It's a great spot to play free-square Ian Thomas again.

 

 

Defense

 

 

Arizona Cardinals

We're punting at defense per usual this week as Godwin isn't the only receiver worth paying up for. Deandre Hopkins and Julian Edelman are both underpriced for their projection this week.

Arizona is the cheap option this week as they get to host the Cleveland Browns. Cleveland has turned the ball over 22 times this season, sixth-most in the NFL, and they have allowed a sack on 7% of their dropbacks. That mark is in the bottom half of the league as well.

Bet against a Baker until he proves that you shouldn't.