The Lineup Lowdown: NFL Week 7 Edition
Before he was the RotoGrinders.com Lead Forum Moderator, Bill Devault, aka bhdevault, was a popular RG blogger who won numerous Blogger of the Month awards – you can check out some of his past work here. He’s also a very prolific cash game player who is a top 1500 ranked Grinder (top 1000 in NFL) and I thought he’d be a good guy to get some thoughts from for this week’s Lineup Lowdown.
QB: Tom Brady
With plenty of value on FanDuel this week, it really wasn’t difficult to get the GOAT in my cash lineups this week. The Falcons have been getting picked apart, especially in the second half of games this season and I see no reason why Brady won’t continue that trend.
RB1: Ezekiel Elliott / Chris Ivory
My first lineup I built, I wanted two top RB’s and Zeke fit in nicely. He is $1k cheaper than Bell and I have him projected right under the Steelers RB. When the news of Fournette sitting hit, Ivory instantly became chalk across the industry, so I split my cash games in half, so I could get exposure to him.
RB2: LeSean McCoy
At just $7,400, McCoy was an easy play as he’s averaging 23 touches a game. Anytime you can get a RB with that sort of production at a discounted price, it’s the perfect cash game fit. I also felt pretty confident this was the game he finally reaches the endzone against a struggling Bucs team.
WR1: Adam Thielen
With Diggs ruled out, Thielen became a great cash game play again this week. Last week he was targeted 13 times by Case Keenum and should see plenty of CB Lardarius Webb, a corner that you definitely want to target as he ranks 98th according to Pro Football Focus.
WR2: Demaryius Thomas
My decision of rostering Thomas was similar to Thielen. A receiver who is fairly priced and should see a ton of passes thrown his way due to the injury to Emmanuel Sanders. While his matchup is tough, I just can’t pass up a guy who could see upside of 10+ targets.
WR3: Rishard Matthews / Michael Thomas
I was hoping Delanie Walker would sit, making Matthews an even better play, but ended up keeping him in due to his cheap price for his production. Going down to Ivory in my 2nd lineup allowed me to fit in Thomas who I loved on this slate against the Packer and their soft corners. Thomas has led the team in targets every week.
TE: Evan Engram
Engram is basically the only thing left in the Giants receiving corps, who have been decimated by injuries. I felt Manning will avoid Sherman at all costs leaving Engram with similar production to last week’s 5 catch, 82 yard performance. A TD would be shocking against this defense, but I will take it!
DST: Vikings
With all the injuries to the Ravens passing game, I locked in the Vikings everywhere. Minnesota has allowed just 4 passing TD’s this season and nobody has had a 100+ yard receiving effort against them this year. A very safe play at a decent cost of just 4.7k.
Here’s a case of where injury news had a negative impact on performance as it caused Bill to split his lineups in order to get exposure to Chris Ivory. His main lineup (the one without Ivory) cashed while his second lineup did not. Brady underperformed in what was a much lower scoring game than expected but didn’t kill him. Zeke was definitely the guy to have in cash yesterday as he exploded and fortunately Bill had him in his first lineup. Shady did also not disappoint getting into the end zone twice. Evan Engram has been a consistent TE, as Bill mentioned he’s really one of the only receivers the Giants have, and he continued to produce. Demaryius Thomas was definitely a big bust considering his expected role (and I agree with Bill’s analysis here). The same could be said for Thielen who is a target monster with Diggs out of the lineup. The Vikings D put up a solid effort but it paled in comparison to some of the monster defensive games out there.
Bonus Lineup Review
I’m not a cash game player typically as I love the chase of the big prize in GPPs. I follow the 80-20 rule… 80% of my weekly volume in GPPs and 20% in cash games and most of my cash games are in single entry and three-max 50/50’s and double ups. Here’s a quick look at my cash lineup for the week – one I entered solely in single entry double ups (it cashed in all of them).
It was between Tyrod, Beathard and Hundley for QB as I wanted a cheap QB in order to pay up at a couple spots. I thought Taylor easily had the safest floor of the three so went with him (I was right thankfully on that analysis). Zeke and McCoy were the reason I wanted a cheap QB and both put up huge games – which I would need with a couple duds from my receivers Eric Decker and Davante Adams. Those two I thought would receive a lot more work than they actually did. Bennie Fowler was merely a cheap punt that I was hoping to get 8-10 points from and he was right in that range and I loved how much Landry was getting the ball (and getting in the end zone lately) with Parker out so he seemed like a DK cash game lock. Play TE’s against the Giants – I did with one of the better ones in the game in Graham and he had a solid outing with a TD. Vikings D I thought was the safest option given their match up so went with them there.