Cracking FanDuel Week 18

Sunday Morning Update

Sunday Morning Update 6:30 AM EST

Currently no change to the Primary Cash Lineup. I did want to provide some additional thoughts on this lineup.

I fully expect Blake Corum to be popular, but I'm almost 100% certain that Michael Carter is the better play. He's the more established running back, is a much better receiver, has a better offense around him, and most importantly is not going to be missing three of his offensive linemen this week. If Corum has a big day, it would be somewhat surprising, and there's not even a guarantee that he plays the entire game as Ronnie Rivers could also see some playing time this week if the Rams get down, or if they've seen enough from Corum to feel confident in their backup running back.

Where I'm somewhat worried is the Eagles and whether Will Shipley is going to be the primary ball carrier for them this week. At $4,100, if he sees significant playing time, he's going to be a player that we otherwise would have wanted to have. However, I keep going back to 2023 Philadelphia where Kenneth Gainwell had seven carries, Rashaad Penny had six carries, and Boston Scott had three carries. The Eagles are in a complete do not care about this game as they're starter Tanner McKee insead of Kenny Pickett. 

If there is any breaking news, I mentioned it yesterday, but I will be on the road heading to Green Bay to see the Bears vs Packers. I'll certainly be able to update this article via my phone, but it may not be as immediate as normal this week. I don't really anticipate anything major breaking, I don't believe we're going to get any Philadelphia news unless Shipley is inactive due to not being cleared from the protocol. In that scenario, Michael Carter would still be slightly favored in my projections compared to Kenneth Gainwell who is $200 cheaper than Carter. 

We will be running this article throughout the playoffs. Check back next week as we will be running a giveaway as a thank you for your support of this article this season 

• QB Kyler Murray, ARI, $7,600
• RB Jahmyr Gibbs, DET, $8,800
• RB Michael Carter, ARI, $5,800
• WR Drake London, ATL, $7,000
• WR Brian Thomas Jr., Jax, $8,000
• WR Jordan Whittington, LAR, $4,200
• TE Sam LaPorta, DET, $6,000
• Flex Bijan Robinson, ATL, $9,200
• TD New York Giants, $3,200

Week 17 Recap

As great as Week 16 was, Week 17 was brutal as the Primary Cash Lineup goes to 9-8. Just a horrible second half of the season after a great start to the year. Over the course of the offseason, I’m going to need to look at everything and try to figure out what went wrong. At first glance, it seems like the pricing boxed me in for certain lineups focusing too much on targets rather than production thinking touchdowns would normalize for players like Calvin Ridley and Hunter Henry, but they just didn’t come. Putting up 126.6 last week was right in line with projections, but it just didn’t hit on some of the upside players that were needed on this slate.

Week 17 was one of those slates that I just had a feeling was going to be a terrible slate all week, and that’s exactly how it ended up. The biggest mistake was trusting the Davante Adams narrative despite him being injured. That then forced Raheem Blackshear into the lineup and while Blackshear did see a majority of the work in Carolina, the reality is that I expected him to have a much bigger role the passing game where he was non-existent.

Brock Bowers despite having 11.1 FanDuel points was disappointing, as Zach Ertz dominated at 25% rostered as he had 22.2 which crushed any chance of a Jayden Daniels heroic comeback despite Daniels’ best effort with 36 FanDuel points. Finally, taking the Browns over the Raiders was just the wrong side. The Browns had 4 sacks and were fine, but the Raiders putting up 12 points at $3,200 while being 80% rostered made life difficult.