Fantasy

10/22/22

15 min read

Play Derrick Henry and Other Week 7 DFS Cash Game Advice

By Kyra Wiaterowski

Quarterbacks

Lamar Jackson - (DraftKings: $8,000 / FanDuel: $8,800)

I want to err a bit of caution when suggesting Lamar Jackson this week because I don’t know that I want to go here with him in cash if Mark Andrews isn’t playing this Sunday. So stay aware and pay attention to the injury reports that come out to see if Andrews is available. But, if Andrews is able to go then Jackson is an automatic start for me this week. If he has Andrews, Bateman, and Duvernay at his disposal then we will see a much different Lamar Jackson than what we have in the last couple of weeks. He is just a different quarterback when he has Rashod Bateman in the lineup. The 33rd Team’s own Jordan Vanek broke this down a bit for us in a tweet this week relating to Lamar Jackson against the blitz with and without Bateman.

We also need to take a look at this matchup as a whole. The Cleveland Browns have been a terrible defense against the run, giving up an average of 179.3 yards over their last three games. Despite his position as the team's quarterback, Lamar Jackson is the Ravens' leading rusher. So he will get his in the run department along with getting a fully healthy receiving core for the first time really since Week 3 and should redirect the ship back down a QB1 path. He can easily give you the safe rushing floor combined with a good game environment and a healthy 26-point team implied total, then can easily go for more with Cleveland’s 30th-ranked scoring defense. It also helps that both of these teams rank in the top 10 offenses for points per game, so I like this matchup to turn out better than even Vegas projects it.

We also love a good home-favorite quarterback here in cash, and Lamar Jackson provides us with the home insurance we need. He’s averaging 28.8 DK points at home over the last two seasons. The slate itself is lacking the heavy hitters at the quarterback position with no Josh Allen or Jalen Hurts. We only have Patrick Mahomes sitting at the tippy top in salaries amongst the best fantasy quarterbacks so far this season. While Mahomes is a bit cheaper I just don’t like his game environment compared to Jackson’s this week. Jackson's ceiling is undeniably the highest on the slate, so long as all the dominoes fall into place and his core is healthy, then I’m plugging Jackson into all my lineups.

Joe Burrow - (DraftKings: $6,900 / FanDuel: $8,300)

Last week you saw Burrow and Ja'Marr Chase get back on track in what I expected to be a stellar matchup for them both, and thankfully that came to fruition for us. Now, this week we get another banger going up against the Atlanta Falcons. They’re giving up major points to opposing wide receivers, tight ends, and quarterbacks. Honestly, they even made Jimmy G look pretty good last week putting up nearly 300 yards and two scores. They simply just can’t get any pressure on the quarterback, and as a result rank at the very bottom of the league in pressure rate. That’s great news for Joe Burrow, who has a much improved offensive line. In the first two weeks this season Joe Burrow took 15 freakin' sacks. It looks like a disaster. But, over the last four weeks they’ve only given up eight, so they should be able to keep Joe Burrow clean here. That’s the major key because what Joe Burrow can do when he’s standing upright vs. with his back on the ground will make all the difference in this matchup.

Joe Burrow has gone from Week 1 Joe Burrow who threw four interceptions and couldn’t play from a clean pocket to now only having one turnover since that horrific performance. He’s protecting the ball, and it's starting to reflect in his fantasy production. Now he gets a matchup where the Bengals have the third-highest implied team total on the slate (27), and we get ourselves another home favorite with Cincinnati where Joe has played much better at home. In 13 games where Burrow has scored 20 DK points or more since last season, eight of those have been at home. I think he’s going to have himself a day against this Falcons' passing defense that allows the most yards in the league. Play Joe Burrow with the same confidence he has in his gameday outfits.

Honorable Mention: Geno Smith - (DraftKings: $5,600 / FanDuel: $6,800)

Deep Sleeper: Davis Mills - (DraftKings: $5,000 / FanDuel: $6,300)

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Running Backs

Derrick Henry - (DraftKings: $8,200 / FanDuel: $9,200)

I have interchangeably gone back and forth amongst Ekeler, Henry, and Barkley here. So I think it’s just safe to say in cash you can pick your poison this week. All of them have great matchups with a 100+ yard bonus and touchdown upside. There are just so many great plays for running backs here that honestly its hard to pick just one, but for the sake of the article I’ll talk about Derrick Henry going up against his division rival, the Indianapolis Colts.

It wasn’t all that long ago these two teams faced off and King Henry erupted for 22 carries, 114 yards, and a touchdown. The Colts are still without one of their defensive lifelines in Shaquille Leonard and have become this run funnel of a defense. It also seems to me like the Titans are getting back to the basics and just riding Derrick Henry off into the sunset. He leads the league in carries and has even got involved in the passing game again. I know he can be a bit scary at times because he feels like a bust if he doesn’t score a touchdown, but Henry has scored in all but one bad Week 1 contest so far this season. He’s getting plenty of red zone usage and that doesn’t concern me. If anyone is going to score on this offense I’d have to think it’s going to be Derrick Henry here this week, and I’ll be playing him in a lot of my lineups.

Josh Jacobs - (DraftKings: $6,500 / FanDuel: $8,600)

There is so much chalk dust coming up off my keyboard as a type this, but it’s with good reasoning. Josh Jacobs has been lighting the world on fire over the last couple of weeks and Josh McDaniels is going to beat the brakes off this guy in his final season here as a Las Vegas Raider. You would be a fool to think this wasn’t an absolute smash spot for Jacobs, who has really seemed to light a fire up under himself over the last two weeks. He has 49 carries, 298 yards, and three touchdowns. He’s even got a little action in the receiving game over the last three weeks, and that's not really an area we’ve seen him thrive in before. Over those three games, he’s averaged five receptions for 33.6 yards, and it’s reassuring to see him add that to his game to give us a safer floor. 

The stock should only trend up from here going against one of the league's worst rushing defenses in the Houston Texans. The Texans are allowing 164.8 rushing yards per game and the most fantasy points per game to opposing running backs. Las Vegas is also a heavy home favorite, and if you read these articles often then you know we love us a good home favorite, especially at the running back position. In case you haven’t gotten to read it yet, you can circle back to my cash game lineup construction article to help better understand why we're such big fans of a home favorite here for running backs: DFS Cash Games: Lineup Construction | The 33rd Team. Lock Josh Jacobs in as a top 5 upside running back this week!

Honorable Mention: Breece Hall - (DraftKings: $6,200 / FanDuel: $7,600)

Deep Sleeper: Ken Walker - (DraftKings: $5,800 / FanDuel: $7,300)

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Wide Receivers

Amon-Ra St. Brown - (DraftKings: $7,100 / FanDuel: $7,500)

So a guy has one little injury scare and we just write him off? Is that what we’re doing here? I am old enough to remember Week 2 Amon-Ra St. Brown blowing up for 42.4 DK points and a guy seeing a consistent 12 targets a game. I mean, shit, we have a game here where people want to save a horse and ride all the Cowboys but don’t expect the Detroit Lions to fight back? Come on now people with the recency bias! The Detroit Lions were lighting the world on fire with the highest-scoring offense in the NFL before they put up a big fat dud in Week 5. They were without basically every core player who made their offense have a pulse, and now they are apparently just reduced to chopped liver. No, that’s not fooling me. I want to fire up my St. Browns and D’Andre Swifts of the world in this matchup Sunday, and you can’t convince me otherwise.

I know, I know… the terrifyingly scary Dallas Cowboys' defense. The busted ankle. There’s plenty to scare people away, and that’s why I want to target Amon-Ra this week because I think he has the gusto to outscore his price tag as he has in several contests this season before. The matchup doesn’t scare me because for one the game environment should be great. I expect a healthy Dak on Sunday, and I expect them to put up a lot of scores on a terrible Detroit Lions' offense. With that territory, you have to expect a heavy dosage of St. Brown in return. You have D.J. Chark ruled out, Josh Reynolds logged one limited practice so he is in question, and even Swift is still not a sure bet. It’s going to be the Amon-Ra show. He logged a week of practice as a full participant and got the extra rest with the bye; even if Dallas has a stout defense I’m ignoring that and betting on his talent. You can’t let every tough matchup scare you off because talent is likely to prevail. Enough rambling, plug him into your lineup as a bring back with my next wide receiver!

CeeDee Lamb - (DraftKings: $6,800 / FanDuel: $7,700)

I should’ve written the Josh Jacobs and CeeDee Lamb portions of the article at the same time to eliminate the amount of chalk dust swirling in my room. But like I’ve said before chalk isn’t always bad, and in cash it's honestly no big deal at all so long as it is of the good kind. This is another one that is of the good kind. We get a healthy Dak Prescott back this Sunday, and he has all of his weapons at his disposal in Lamb, Gallup, and even Dalton Schultz. If there is any perfect matchup to come back to, it’s this one with the Detroit Lions. The Lions are giving up so many points to opposing positions and Dak is going to put his boy CeeDee Lamb in the best position to have a day!

Lamb has held his own over these last couple of Dak-less weeks, and has yet to see under eight targets in a game this season. Getting Dak back into the fold makes these targets a whole hell of a lot more valuable. His matchup is also just so juicy with the Cowboys having the second-highest implied team total (27.75) this week and the Lions making it even easier seeing as they are ranked dead last in points allowed this season. The defense is plain bad. There’s no nice way to put it. They rank at the absolute bottom of the barrel in pass defense DVOA, and while they held it down vs. Justin Jefferson they are still just 26th against number one receivers. The Cowboys are home favorites in this one, and lucky for us they do play much better at home than they do away. I expect this game to find its way into a sneaky shootout territory, and I will need to have Lamb in a couple of my cash game lineups just in case.

Honorable Mention: Chris Godwin - (DraftKings: $6,300 / FanDuel: $7,000)

Deep Sleeper: Allen Lazard - (DraftKings: $6,100 / FanDuel: $6,600)

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Tight Ends

George Kittle - (DraftKings: $5,300 / FanDuel: $6,600)

Alright, I think at this point we can just chalk it up and say you should always consider Travis Kelce or Mark Andrews in cash games. They are a tier above the rest and if you can find a way to pay up for them then you should do it. So let’s talk about some different options at tight end for those of us wanting to get different, and George Kittle is in the perfect spot to do just that. I know it’s been a while but Kittle used to be one of the guys listed amongst the top tier of tight ends in ability and fantasy scoring. He still has that in his wheelhouse, and the only thing that is holding him back is that he’s so good at the position that he’s also an excellent blocker and needs to be used as such sometimes. Especially more so lately when the 49ers lost star offensive lineman Trent Williams and Kittle had to slot in for some extra help. Well, guess what people?! Williams is back! Rejoice and be glad in it, because now we can see Kittle out there running routes and getting more involved in the offense as a result.

The matchup against Kansas City is perfect because the Chiefs' offense is so good that it makes its opponents elevate their level of play as well. I know the 49ers have a shiny new toy in Christian McCaffery, but he just walked onto this team a couple of days ago and the chemistry needs some time to build. Jimmy G is going to go to his safety nets to gain yards in this one, and lucky for Kittle the Kansas City Chiefs are allowing the third-most receiving touchdowns to tight ends. I think he finishes the day with a touchdown and gets plenty of usage in the passing game as well. I wouldn’t be surprised if this game finds itself in a sneaky shootout because the 49ers' defense is pretty banged up and that 49ers' offense is underrated.

Gerald Everett - (DraftKings: $4,000 / FanDuel: $6,300)

It’s the revenge game narrative for my last three tight ends. Everett vs. Seahawks, Hurst vs. Falcons, and Engram vs. Giants. What a story to write itself on National Tight Ends Day! But in all seriousness, I really do love Everrett this week. As of right now with me writing this on Friday I am still unsure if Keenan Allen is playing this game on Sunday or not. My hunch, which has no professional backing or insider information, is that he isn’t going to suit up. If he does then I am less likely to pivot to Everett as a cash game play. But if Keenan Allen is out again for another week then I am pushing all my chips in on Everett. 

To put it lightly, the Seahawks are absolute garbage on defense against opposing tight ends. They are allowing 23.9 points per game to the position, and Everett has been a reliable target for Justin Herbert this season. His target share is at 15.1%, and that should see an uptick if Allen is out. You already have wide receiver Joshua Palmer ruled out as well. The Seahawks are second in receiving yards and third in touchdowns allowed, so expect Everett to have a productive day with Herbert's lack of options on his injury-riddled receiving core.

Honorable Mention: Hayden Hurst - (DraftKings: $3,500 / FanDuel: $4,900)

Deep Sleeper: Evan Engram - (DraftKings: $3,300 / FanDuel: $5,200)

Defense / Special Teams

Baltimore Ravens  vs. Cleveland Browns - (DraftKings: $3,500 / FanDuel: $4,400)

Denver Broncos vs. New York Jets - (DraftKings: $3,300 / FanDuel: $4,800)

Honorable Mention: Jacksonville Jaguars vs. New York Giants - (DraftKings: $3,100 / FanDuel: $4,600)

Deep Sleeper: New York Jets vs. Denver Broncos - (DraftKings: $2,600 / FanDuel: $4,300)

Watch More: Cover 5 Show with Jamie Calandro

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Tags: cash games, Daily Fantasy, DFS See More

Kyra Wiaterowski

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