Borg’s DFS Cash Lineup Review for Week 9 (Fantasy Football)

This week is going to be fairly brief in terms of what the normal cash review looks like. Instead, I thought I would take a new approach at looking at what the field did.

From Friday to Sunday, I was away from everything on a family cabin weekend getaway with my extended family. We’re talking 40+ family members and a bunch of kids under the age of 8. It was a great time and yet I did not open an app or my computer the entire time. Knowing this, I played an extremely low amount of volume for DFS.

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 9 Cash Lineup

Draft % and cash lines each week will be from DraftKings’ $25 Single-Entry Double-Up with roughly 5,000 entries. This is a slightly elevated price point from the $1, $5, and $10 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 9 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.
• With Zack Moss out with a neck injury, Chase Brown became our clear RB1 on the slate. I couldn’t fathom not putting him in your lineup this week as a TD favorite at home against the lowly Raiders.
• To double down with Bengals, I made it clear in Best Plays: “With Tee Higgins is out, I am punting with Mike Gesicki in cash. It’s not the sexiest play but on a full PPR site, he should see solid volume. He’s seen 4, 9, and 8 targets in the 3 games that Higgins missed this year. The $3100 price tag is perfect for our stars and scrub build this week.“
• I also locked in the Giants at DST early this week. At $2,300, I also convinced Betz that they were a good play at their price point and even threw out there that Giants ML was enticing. Narrator: But it was not enticing. They scored as many points as you and I.

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.

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• Every week I try to give an in-depth look at my decisions… I’m going to let you in on a little secret: there was little thought given to
• At QB, I only really considered the cheap options of Daniel Jones and Gardner Minshew. I became obsessed early in the week with being able to spend up and get multiple studs at the other positions. Spending down was the right move compared to the field… however, Gardner pooped the bed and the entire offensive coaching group of the Raiders was fired as a result. Heck, Desmond Ridder came into the game it was that bad!
• Because of the massive savings at QB, RB1, TE, and DST, I had a ton of money to play around with. Playing 4 relative studs is not normal in DFS cash lineups: CeeDee Lamb, Alvin Kamara, Malik Nabers, and Drake London was a dream. However, two of those players dealt with injuries in the game and despite Nabers catching 9 receptions, the Giants had a rough time sustaining drives.
• I likely should’ve stayed away from the punt WR pick of Jake Bobo but I wanted to fit in Nabers. Before going off the DFS radar, I briefly considered Olave + Cedric Tillman but stuck with Nabers out of the sheer fun of it.
• As you can tell, I don’t have a ton of deep thoughts about this roster after mailing it in on Friday before leaving for a weekend away. On the podcast, I can give greater detail but I also don’t want to give off some persona like I only ever play DFS and don’t have a life outside of it :)

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.

• I’ve noticed that I don’t play well if I’m not looking at projections over the weekend. Whoops! I’ve also noticed that my real life often intersects with DFS and it is much easier for me to NOT play a large volume if I feel unsure. For clarity, I played ONE tournament contest lineup. ONE.

2024 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.