Our Sunday DraftKings cash lineup steered through an early injury to Sony Michel and skidded to a competitive landing at 132.56 DraftKings points, which isn't bad for a lowest mark of the season at 2.65X value on a down day for offenses. Still, if we're battling at the cash line in 50/50s in NFL DFS contests, then I'm not satisfied with it -- even if it was fun watching Todd Gurley and Joe Flacco try to pull us across the finish line with a couple 3X values in the late afternoon games. Hopefully we get that whole Sunday featured daily fantasy football slate lineup to 3X value in with our Week 8 lineup picks.
The basic strategy: Mini game-stacks from the Packers-Rams, Colts-Raiders, and Broncos-Chiefs, plus some high-volume one-offs that should carry us to a profitable finish.
Week 8 Rankings:
Quarterback | Running Back | Wide Receiver | Tight End | D/ST | Kicker
NFL Week 8 DraftKings Cash Lineup
For DraftKings cash games on the Sunday 10-game featured slate.
QB Jared Goff, LAR vs. GB ($6,000): LA and KC are neck-and-neck for top Vegas implied total, and Goff saves us $1K compared to Patrick Mahomes II. Going against Aaron Rodgers invites the type of game flow that should return Goff's floor to around 20 DK points like earlier this year.
RB Kareem Hunt, KC vs. DEN ($7,100): We'll get Chiefs exposure here instead of at QB on the assumption that the two-score favorites find negative game script that gets Hunt double-digit carries and another six targets for the third consecutive week. Since Week 6, there are only three running backs with more catches and four with more rushing yards than Hunt.
RB Marlon Mack, IND @ OAK ($5,400): Mack ranks among four backs with more rush yards than Hunt over the past couple weeks. Resurgent Indy just quietly trampled a Bills D that had stifled both Houston and Minnesota. We don't love Nyheim Hines eating into target share, but Mack's three targets on Sunday do track with a typical game for the most expensive David Johnson.
WEEK 8 DFS CASH LINEUPS: Yahoo | FanDuel
WR Davante Adams, GB @ LAR ($7,900): Adams led the league in targets during the three weeks ramping into his bye. The Packers may emerge from that break with Geronimo Allison and Randall Cobb good to go, but Green Bay's offense has run through their alpha WR for a month and the prospect of keeping up with the Rams bodes well for him.
WR Tyler Boyd, CIN vs. TB ($6,700): 1 p.m. home Dalton > prime-time road Dalton. It's really a thing. For DFS purposes, I like to just look past the recent albatross of a night game if Dalton then lands in a get-right spot, i.e. against Tampa's 31st-ranked defense in yards per pass allowed. I'm also looking at Boyd's 22 catches from Weeks 4-6, good for sixth among receivers over the span.
WEEK 8 DFS GPP LINEUPS: Yahoo | FanDuel | DraftKings
WR Michael Crabtree, BAL @ CAR ($4,800): Crabtree's smash week was followed by a shadow from Marcus Lattimore on Sunday. Carolina shadow CB James Bradberry allows the 12th-most yards-per-coverage snap among 74 CBs with 50-plus percent snaps, per Pro Football Focus data. Crabtree gets a cheaper price and better matchup this week while ranking 10th among WRs in targets.
TE Eric Ebron, IND @ OAK ($4,900): We thought about getting up to Kelce at $6,800 but opted for Ebron since the Colts are still underpriced after ripping a good Bills defense on Sunday. Ebron's 37 targets since Week 3 lead all TEs on the slate, with Kelce and David Njoku tied for second at five back.
MORE WEEK 8 DFS: Values | Stacks | Lineup builder
FLEX David Njoku, CLE @ PIT ($4,600): Yup, we're rolling out a double-tight end package in DraftKings cash this week (something that hit in last week's perfect DK lineup). Ebron and Njoku's aforementioned volume over the past month would actually rank both among the top 15 at WR, placing Ebron just two targets behind DeAndre Hopkins and Njoku four ahead of Keenan Allen.
D/ST Chiefs vs. Broncos ($2,600): Case Keenum trails Sam Darnold by one for the league lead in interceptions. He now visits Arrowhead, where the Chiefs have managed 22 and 14 DK points, respectively, in their past two games, driven by seven sacks and five picks in the two games combined. We'll take them at $1,500 off the D/ST ceiling.