Borg’s DFS Cash Lineup Review for Week 12 (Fantasy Football)

Week 12 went off! With the chalk hitting like never before, you can’t use the “I normally score this much” argument at all. Every week is a different context.

• Looking at the last 3 years, Week 12 was the highest cash line (190ish) for double-ups by far.
• This year we’ve had the cash line hit 160+ FIVE times. In comparison, the previous two years had 4 times combined.

The goal of this article is neither to boast nor wallow in “shoulda, woulda, couldas” but rather give a transparent look at my thought process for the week. Hopefully, this will help DFS & Betting Podcast listeners and DFS Pass subscribers get a deeper window into the ups and downs of playing DFS and help you in your selections each week. On Tuesdays, Betz and I review our cash lineups, and this week we’ll give some common overreactions we see and hear.

For cash, I specifically play 50/50s, Double-Ups, and H2Hs on DraftKings. I’ll share my unfiltered gut reaction, and the thought process behind this lineup construction, and at the bottom, I will post my weekly results including the cash line and H2H record to stay accountable with you.

If you want to go back to the drawing board, we did an overview podcast before the season on DFS Cash Game Strategy + Creating Player Pools. I also published an article on DFS Strategy for Beginners and another entitled: How to Approach Each Position in DFS & Gain an Edge.

Week 12 Cash Lineup

Draft % and cash lines each week will be from DraftKings’ $10 Single-Entry Double-Up with roughly 5,000 entries. This is a slightly elevated price point from the $1 and $5 double-ups and I think gives a solid idea each week of double-up roster percentages.

The Thought Process

Cash Locks (In My Opinion)

• In our Week 12 DFS Best Plays (which comes out on Saturdays for DFS Pass subscribers only), I shared the pool of players and this week was blatantly obvious who the top plays were.
• Honestly, I bet 6-7 pieces of your lineup were built out for you this week.
• Locking in Trey McBride yet again in cash was the first click. The question was whether I utilized 12-personnel in cash or go 3RB with him?
• Once we received news Josh Jacobs was out, Emanuel Wilson was a lock based on pricing and workload. I also had Chase Brown comfortably in with Samaje Perine ruled out.
• I never really dabbled with expensive QBs this week knowing how popular Jacoby Brissett would be.
• Michael Wilson also received a free pass based on what he did last week. It’s wild that the second coming of Jerry Rice was only $4800.
• The Browns DST was also our top play from the beginning of the week when we talked on Tuesday.

Gut-Wrenching Decisions

My goal in this section is to discuss the pool of players I considered for cash and how I arrived at my final lineup.

• Perhaps the toughest decision was going back and forth about how to handle the Lions. Amon-Ra/Gibbs/Jameson Williams were all on the table and no matter which way you spun it, they all looked like they were in incredible spots vs NYG.
• At the other WR spots, I loved Rashee Rice ($7700) but DeVonta Smith ($5600) was my favorite early in the week. I loved the matchup against the Cowboys secondary (as I detailed in Pace of Play) and perhaps got a bit too attached to those statistics. Wan’Dale Robinson ($5500) was one spot ahead in my WR Best Play ranks when factoring in the outcomes but I went with my heart (Smith) over my head (Robinson). Whoops!
• Travis Kelce at $5K was on my radar a lot of the week moreso as a tournament play. But when I compared him to the other WRs in that price range, it felt like Kelce was so much further ahead. We often use phrases like that one as a chance to zoom out and not get so locked in on positional takes. I, however, did the opposite and zoomed further in on “wow this 12-personnel build is great”. Unfortunately, once I knew I was going with Kelce + McBride, it removed Gibbs from consideration.
• Betz and I went back and forth about Amon-Ra and Gibbs.

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• I certainly was VERY wrong about how much Gibbs would be played as you’ll see below.

What Did the Field Do

My goal in this section is to discuss the pool of players used the most in cash style contests. You can compare the roster percentage, DK outputs, and how much of their salary they X’ed this week.

Mistakes Were Made …

Every week I’ll highlight my biggest mistakes which range from not weighing low-end outcomes to assuming, to not thinking, and ultimately moving away from plays I started with. We’ve all been there… stay water. Don’t try to justify yourself or make things sound better than they were. You made a decision, now deal with it.

• It’s crazy that a WR 4xing on his salary was a bad thing. The Amon-Ra > Gibbs decision cost this lineup.
• I seemed very committed to the idea of 12 personnel which came back to bite me.
• Playing DeVonta Smith > Wan’Dale in hindsight hurts .

2025 Results

Each week I’ll post my head-to-head (H2H) win percentage here to give you an idea of what type of week I had. Keep in mind there are varying price points, competition, and players who take my H2Hs in the lobby that have no rhyme or reason. The volume of my H2Hs differs each week due to my feeling of the slate and my weekend activities with my family. Every week I will also post the “cash line” from the $25 Double-Up from DraftKings.

Welp, when the chalk hits, the chalk hits. I luckily played a lower volume in Double-Ups this week.