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For the uninitiated, playing daily games on DraftKings can be an enjoyable experience, but equally sobering is the fact that season-long knowledge does not always translate to success in the daily space. Footballguys will bring you a series of value- and strategic-based selections from a number of seasoned daily veterans throughout the NFL season. Herein is another edition of “Tipandpick’s Tips and Picks,” where we will examine the salaries of players at each position on DraftKings and make value-based recommendations for both your cash games and tournaments.

Below you will find a list of recommended players for both formats. GPP players generally have high-upside, but are too risky for cash games; cash game players are consistent with high fantasy floors. In some instances, the value for a player is so strong, he may fall into both categories…let’s have a look.

Updated Sunday, September 20th @ 9 AM (EST)

TIPS AND PICKS

Let's take a deeper look into some of the players who I will be targeting for my cash game and tournament rosters this weekend. A short summary follows each respective table to fill in the gaps that led to the respective recommendations; that text represents only an overview of the methodology and rationale that goes into each recommendation. If you have questions about any of the recommendations or the process that led to them, please email me at john.lee@footballguys.com.

CASH GAMES

Quarterbacks: If the opportunity cost is not prohibitive (i.e., you have to roster risky no-name receivers to do so), feel free to roll with Lamar Jackson as your cash game running back this week against the Texans. But because salary/value drives all DFS decisions, you should certainly give consideration to both Dak Prescott and Kyler Murray in their respective matchups. Prescott gets a soft matchup against a porous Falcons secondary that allowed Russell Wilson to complete nearly 90% of his passes last week, including 4 for touchdowns; this one looks to be a barn-burner on paper and Prescott has all the weapons necessary to post a solid floor with upside at home. Alternatively, feel free to save $700 from Prescott and roster Kyler Murray in his place. Murray will be the beneficiary of Kliff Kingsbury's ultra-fast offense that was discussed in this column last week. As expected, the Cardinals ran 78 offensive plays and Murray collected over 27 DK points along the way, including nearly 100 yards and a touchdown via his legs. DraftKings, for reasons unbeknownst to this author, dropped Murray's price against Washington this week, which makes him even more attractive.

Running Backs: The general roster build on DraftKings' cash game lineups this weekend will be heavy on expensive running backs and cheaper with receiving options. At the high-end of the price scale for running backs, both Ezekiel Elliott and Derrick Henry are the likely candidates for the bulk of cash games. Elliott looked splendid in his season-opener against the Rams, dicing through the offense and collecting nearly 130 all-purpose yards with a pair of touchdowns on 26 opportunities. Meanwhile, Derrick Henry delivered similar yardage numbers (sans the touchdowns) on 34 touches against the Broncos on Monday night. Both of these running backs are bellcow options playing for sizeable home favorites, which further supports their place in your cash game rosters. Dropping down in price, Kenyan Drake and Jonathan Taylor offer savings without a dramatic uptick in risk. Taylor is probably the safer option because he will appear in > 50% of all cash game rosters and if he were to falter, you would not lose ground on those competitors. Drake, however, is also intriguing for both cash and GPP consideration. Coming off tough sledding against the Niners' solid defensive front, Drake still managed 18 touches and score to collect 14.5 DK points last week; as a touchdown home-favorite against Washington this week, he offers a similar floor with upside in the Cards' fast-paced offense.

Wide Receivers: Until DrafKings moves Davante Adams' salary into the 2019 Michael Thomas stratosphere, he is as close to "must-play" at the position as anybody. Aaron Rodgers is locked-in with Adams, as evidenced by Adams' league-high 17 targets last Sunday; there is no reason to expect less output this weekend against a Lions' defensive backfield that yielded 3 passing touchdowns to Mitchell Trubisky on opening weekend, demonstrating how much they will miss Darius Slay in 2020. Elsewhere, Mike Evans and Amari Cooper are similarly priced options on teams slated to score > 28 points this weekend. With Chris Godwin expected to miss this week with a concussion, Evans should get as many targets as he can handle against the Panthers. Amari Cooper amassed double-digit (14) targets last week and should be expected to see similar action against a weak Falcons secondary on Sunday. For cheaper options, look to Diontae Johnson ($4.5K) who looked to be rounding into form in his sophomore season against the Broncos on Monday night; his salary was unaffected due to the late game, which means he is discounted from where he should be based on that game. Lastly, Breshad Perriman is not for the faint of heart, but the Jets have almost no options with Jamison Crowder (hamstring) already announced as 'out' and a gamescript that will heavily favor the passing game.

Tight Ends: To afford the pricier running back options, it will likely be necessary to punt again this week with tight ends for cash games. At the top of the list is Chris Herndon, who was the Jets' second most-targeted receiver last week behind Jamison Crowder. With Crowder sitting this one out due to a hamstring injury and LeVeon Bell also on injured reserve (hamstring), Sam Darnold has limited options with which to move his offense. Look for Herndon to help move the sticks and, in the process, deliver 3x on his modest $3.4K salary in a gamescript that favors his involvement. Opposite Herndon is the concussion-prone Jordan Reed at a bargain-basement price point. Reed will absorb the TE1 role with George Kittle resting an ankle injury suffered in Week #1. In relief of Kittle last week, Reed caught a pair of passes for 12 yards on a team that is heavily in need of receiving options. With Deebo Samuel, Jalen Hurd, and now Kittle sidelined, Reed should get ample opportunity to deliver 3x value on his pittance of a salary. **We learned overnight that Head Coach Kyle Shanahan has hinted that Jordan Reed will still be limited despite George Kittle's absence today. If we take his comments at face-value, you have to remove Jordan Reed from all DFS plans this weekend because he would have to do too much with limited opportunities to justify the risk. He is no longer recommended especially with names like Herndon, Thomas, and Mo Alie-Cox in a similar price range.**

Team Defenses: DraftKings has started 2020 by pricing the elite defenses approaching $4.0K, which renders those defenses more difficult to justify for cash games due to the scoring volatility of the position. Here, the recommendation is to save a few dollars and go with either the Cardinals against Dwayne Haskins at home or to roll with a total punt option in the form of the Jets at home against the 49ers. With the Cardinals, you get upside baked into your selection with Haskins' propensity to throw interceptions (7 picks versus 8 touchdowns in his short career) and a decent scoring floor given Washington's general lack of talent on offense. Clicking on the Jets may be painful, but they allowed 27 points to the Bills last week and still managed 7.0 DK points, which would be more than 3x value on their site-minimum salary against the Niners, who injury-depleted offense is far from intimidating.

TOURNAMENTS

Quarterbacks: It goes without saying, but Patrick Mahomes II is a GPP candidate every week. With momentum around names like Dak Prescott, Kyler Murray, and Matt Ryan entering Sunday, Mahomes' popularity within DFS circles will likely go too low--get double-digit exposure to Mahomes because of his elite skill-set, surrounding talent, and low projected rostership. In Miami, Josh Allen is an intriguing contrarian option who only needs to capture lightning in a bottle to deliver a GPP-worthy performance. Last week, he overthrew his receiver in the endzone on two separate occasions and still managed to finish with 33.2 DK points; nestled squaring between Matt Ryan and Dak Prescott, Allen is going unnoticed despite 100-yard rushing and 300-yard passing upside. Going cheaper, take a few stabs with low-rostered quarterbacks in games where they could be expected to throw often. Mitchell Trubisky is playing for his job and it was evident last week against the Lions, when he tossed three touchdown passes, none of which went to Allen Robinson (see below); his matchup against the Giants is not intimidating after watching Ben Roethlisberger throw for three touchdowns after not playing a snap in nearly a year. Definitely a minority opinion, but I am not ready to throw in the towel on Tyrod Taylor after a single game...particularly when his next game is against the Chiefs, who will force the Chargers to throw the ball in catchup mode for the bulk of the game. One of my bolder calls of the week, Taylor will appear on 8-12% of my GPP lineups because of the matchup, low crowd exposure, and cheap receiving options from which to stack.

• Sleeper: Daniel Jones posted 19.4 points on Monday night against a talented Steelers defense that rates higher than the Bears' defensive unit that allowed 27 points to a Kenny Golladay'less Lions team last Sunday. Newly implemented Offensive Coordinator, Jason Garrett, implemented a no-huddle offense in Week #1 that operated on nearly 60% of the Giants' snaps and resulted in one of the faster-paced offenses of the week. Add in the fact that the Giants defense is suspect, this game has sneaky high-scoring potential and Jones has a series of underrated receivers to help bolster his chances at surpassing 20+ points to achieve GPP value.
• Fade: We got our first look at Tom Brady last week and we can probably expect to see him play better than he exhibited against a strong Saints defense as the season progresses. At present, we foresee him on ~ 4% of lineups, but it would not be surprising to see that number double by the time lineups lock on Sunday. With Chris Godwin (concussion) expected to miss and the Panthers continuing to be a Swiss-cheese unit against the run, this could be a situation where the Bucs lean on Ronald Jones II and save Brady's 44-year old arm for another day.