Week 7 DraftKings Picks: NFL DFS lineup advice for daily fantasy football cash games

Jacob Camenker

Week 7 DraftKings Picks: NFL DFS lineup advice for daily fantasy football cash games image

The Week 7 NFL DFS slate is shaping up to be a good one for tournaments, but it's a trickier one for cash game lineups. There are plenty of high-floor players on the slate, but many of them are on the expensive side. If you want to get them, you're going to have to spend up. That will mean settling for some mid-/low-tier values and taking on some risk. That's not necessarily ideal, but it's the strategy we're going with in our DraftKings cash lineup. 

Usually, it's better to spread money around in cash lineups. You can spend up a bit at some positions, but taking the top overall player at RB or WR usually creates a lineup hole. However, we are doing just that this time around thanks, in part, to an excellent matchup for the top receiver on the slate and some good value at TE and QB. Spending down there helped us to afford a couple of top players while avoiding playing too many boom-or-bust options.

MORE WEEK 7 DFS: Best stacks | Best valuesLineup Builder

DraftKings Week 7 Picks: NFL DFS cash lineup

QB Gardner Minshew, Jaguars @ Chargers ($5,900). Minshew has been one of the most consistent quarterbacks in fantasy all year, and in five of his six games played, he has totaled multiple TDs. He has also averaged 280 passing yards per game, so he has a very high floor. The Chargers have a solid defense, but they have, surprisingly, allowed the third-most fantasy points per game (FPPG) to QBs this season (24.5). Minshew should take advantage of that and is a good spend-down option for cash games.

RB Alvin Kamara, Saints vs. Panthers ($7,900). Alvin Kamara is averaging over 30 DK FPPG this season, and he's fresh coming off a bye. The Panthers have given up the fourth-most DK FPPG at a mark of 33.5, and they're one of three teams to give up nine TDs to RBs so far this season. This could be a big day for Kamara, as the Saints should lean on him as a top producer in this matchup with Michael Thomas (hamstring) and Emmanuel Sanders (COVID) out.

WEEK 7 DFS TOURNAMENT LINEUPS: DraftKings | FanDuel

RB D'Andre Swift, Lions @ Falcons ($5,400). Swift was one of our sleeper picks in DK tournaments last week, and this week, we're trusting him as a high-floor option in cash games. It's hard to predict what Matt Patricia will do with his RBs, but Swift had 17 touches, 123 total yards, and two TDs against the Jaguars last week. This week, he gets to face a Falcons team that has allowed a league-high four receiving TDs to RBs. That makes him a better fit than Adrian Peterson to produce in this one given his versatility, so he should get a big workload once again even if he is only playing about 40 percent of the offensive snaps.

WR DeAndre Hopkins, Cardinals vs. Seahawks ($8,200). We're trusting D'Andre and DeAndre is this one. Hopkins hadn't had two or fewer catches since 2016 before being stymied most of the night against the Cowboys. He still put up 9.3 DK points, but it was a disappointing outing for him considering the matchup. That said, Hopkins now gets to take on a Seattle team that is giving up a whopping 64.2 DK FPPG to WRs this year. That's nearly 15 more than the team that allows the second most, the Vikings. Hopkins should bounce back, and Kyler Murray will continue to look his way often during the contest (Hopkins averages 10.2 targets per game).

WR Tee Higgins, Bengals vs. Browns ($5,300). Higgins is averaging 7.6 targets per game in his past five outings and has been able to log double-digit DK points in all of those outings. He's fresh off his first 100-yard game as a pro, and he should have a chance to continue to do well moving forward. The Browns have allowed the fourth-most yards to WRs this year, so Higgins could be in for a big week.

WEEK 7 DFS CASH LINEUPS: FanDuel

WR Keelan Cole, Jaguars @ Chargers ($4,700). Per usual, we're stacking our quarterback with one of his top receivers. While DJ Chark is probably the better of the two Jaguars starters, Cole has averaged 6.3 targets per game and is coming off a 143-yard outing against the Lions. The Chargers have been middle-of-the-pack against receivers this year, and if they focus more on slowing down Chark, Cole could have another nice game.

WEEK 7 PPR RANKINGS:
Quarterback | Running back | Wide receiver | Tight end | D/ST | Kicker

TE Dalton Schultz, Cowboys @ Washington ($3,900). Washington has allowed five TDs to tight ends this year, tied for the fifth most in the NFL, and overall, it's allowed the fifth-most DK FPPG to TEs (17.3). Schultz has to compete with the likes of Amari Cooper, CeeDee Lamb, and Michael Gallup for targets, but even in the Cowboys' blowout loss to the Cardinals, he put up 7.5 DK points. Schultz is a bit of a boom-or-bust option at TE, so we'll take a chance on his upside for less than $4K.

FLEX Jamaal Williams, Packers @ Texans ($4,500). With Aaron Jones (calf) out, we're trusting his backup Jamaal Williams as a low-cost replacement that lets us spend up to acquire the services of Alvin Kamara. Williams will get to handle a bulk of the work against a Texans team that has allowed 969 rushing yards to RBs, which is 151 yards more than the next closest team (Cowboys, 818).

WEEK 7 STANDARD RANKINGS:
Quarterback | Running back | Wide receiver | Tight end | D/ST | Kicker

D/ST Buffalo Bills @ Jets ($4,700). Paying up for top defenses doesn't always work, but this is a situation in which it should. The Jets have been awful this season and were just shut out by the Dolphins in Week 6. The Bills have had their share of struggles in recent weeks against the Titans and Chiefs, so they should be motivated to end their losing streak and should do so against the Jets, especially if linebacker Matt Milano returns to action.

Jacob Camenker

Jacob Camenker Photo

Jacob Camenker first joined The Sporting News as a fantasy football intern in 2018 after his graduation from UMass. He became a full-time employee with TSN in 2021 and now serves as a senior content producer with a particular focus on the NFL. Jacob worked at NBC Sports Boston as a content producer from 2019 to 2021. He is an avid fan of the NFL Draft and ranked 10th in FantasyPros’ Mock Draft Accuracy metric in both 2021 and 2022.