NFL Lineup Walkthrough - Week 14
Notorious gives a detailed walkthrough of how he built his main cash-game lineup on DraftKings for NFL Week 14. He’ll offer his entire lineup and explain the thought process behind each pick.
Week 14 NFL DraftKings Lineup
Andrew Luck – Throughout the week, I was 100% on Ben Roethliberger. I continued to monitor the weather in Pittsburgh and with an 80% chance of heavy rain and heavy winds, I decided to take a different route. Luck has been terrific all season long and is typically a lock for the 300-yard bonus on DK. He had a solid matchup against the Bengals, who do not have a great pass rush. While he only finished with one touchdown, he had a respectable 23.84 fantasy points.
Josh Harris – The reasoning behind this pick was pretty simple. Le’Veon Bell was ruled out and Josh Harris was expected to start in his place. He was also “expected” to handle the bulk of the touches in the backfield. The matchup against the Ravens was not ideal, but at $3,500 he didn’t have to have a huge game to reach value. Unfortunately, Harris finished with a disappointing 5.1 fantasy points.
Daniel Herron – At the beginning of last week, I was a little hesitant to use Herron. He hadn’t had that breakout game and he was still splitting carried with Trent Richardson. However, the more I researched throughout the week, the more I expected the Colts to let Herron be their bell cow running back against the Bengals. He ended up being the difference maker, as if you faded him, your lineups were likely in trouble. He finished the wildcard game with 29.1 fantasy points.
T.Y. Hilton – It was a bit scary fading all of the big names at wide receiver this week (Brown, Johnson, Bryant), but it didn’t end up hurting me. I felt that Hilton had just as much upside as any other wideout given the rainy conditions in Pittsburgh. Hilton was a few drops away from having a monster fantasy outing, but he still finished with a respectable 6 receptions for 103 yards. He just managed to hit the 100-yard mark, which gave him an additional 3 fantasy points on DK.
Mohammed Sanu – I was back and forth between Sanu and Martavis Bryant all week long. In retrospect, I factored in the weather in Pittsburgh a little more than I should have. The only exposure that I had to that game was Josh Harris, who as we know, was a disappointment. With A.J. Green out, I was “hoping” that Sanu would dominate the targets against the Colts. I knew that he came with some risk, as he’s basically been invisible over the last few weeks. Going with Bryant here would have been the better choice, but Sanu luckily managed to scrounge up 6.1 fantasy points.
Golden Tate – I targeted Tate this week because he has a high floor and he was very affordable on DK. Tate’s production has taken a hit with a healthy Calvin Johnson in the lineup, but he still sees 7-10 targets per game. He drew a favorable matchup against a Cowboys secondary, who had been repeatedly burned by Johnson in the past. Tate caught a long touchdown pass early and then coasted to a serviceable fantasy outing of 20.9 fantasy points.
Greg Olsen – Olsen was an easy play for me this week. He didn’t end up producing as I had hoped, but looking back, I would make the same decision every single week for cash games. Olsen was the most talented tight end in the wildcard round and he had the best matchup as well. His price was sitting at a reasonable $5,500 and I was expecting Newton to lean heavily on his most trusted target. I wasn’t expecting the Panthers to be able to shred the Cardinals on the ground.
Jeremy Hill – Hill got off to a very quick start, but his workload was dictated by game flow. The Bengals were playing from behind the entire game, which led to Giovani Bernard seeing most of the second-half snaps. Luckily, Hill scored a touchdown early to salvage his fantasy outing. Either way, Hill’s ownership was around 80% in cash games, so he wouldn’t have hurt me to bad even if he would have put up a dud.
Panthers D/ST – The Panthers, like Olsen, were an easy pick for me this week. They had the most talented defense of any wildcard team and they had the best matchup of the bunch as well. The Cardinals offense had been sputtering for the better of a month now and the Panthers were playing at home in front of their crowd. The Panthers defense played well and finished with 11 fantasy points.