Week 8 DFS Player Pool
After a week off the player pool is back with week 8's best plays on Draftkings.
This week brings a difficult approach to game stacks because there really aren't a lot of full game stack opportunities. Rather, there's more opportunity for 1v1 correlation or team stacks but the Vegas implied totals have me straying from a lot full game stacks this week. Rob and I dove into this quite a bit on the Week 8 DFS Podcast and the process allowed us to fully eliminate several games and teams this week.
Top Game Stack on Draftkings
I think the only game that offers full stack potential is Tennessee vs Indianapolis. The Colts are beginning to find their footing this season and are desperate for a win to keep pace with a Titans team who plays up or down to their competition. We've seen both ends of the spectrum from this Titans team which makes the Game theory in this one extremely opportunistic. If you think King Henry runs right over another town full of peasants then you know what to do. Lock him in and bring it back with Hines or Pittman. If you want to get really cute for a low ownership play then take a look at stacking one of those, or both, pass catchers with Carson Wentz. He's playing well and is hovering in the 18-20 point range on a regular basis. Plus he's only $5700 on Draftkings and should easily come in at less than 5% owned presenting a nice opportunity at leveraging the higher owned pieces in this game.
On the flip side, there's a world where the Colts, who are solid against the run, completely sell out to stop Henry which forces Ryan Tannehill to win with his arm. With Julio unlikely to play, AJ Brown will look to continue his mid season run as he continues to get healthier. A nice little Taylor/Brown stack will fit nicely into any lineup as these two players create correlation alongside explosive, big play potential to speed up the game. Similar to the Wentz play, you can plug in Tannehill to stack with Brown but at $6600 I would much rather roll with Wentz in this game or another QB altogether which you will see below.
The final thought on this game is simply fade the stud running backs in efforts to leverage yourself into a great spot for tournaments if both teams successfully sell out to stop the run. You could correlate Pittman and Brown in that scenario since the explosive plays expected in this matchup are going to come from somewhere. Some cheaper pieces are, of course, Hines or Pascal but I'm not personally interested in the secondary players here.
The Rest of the Player Pool for Week 8
Rounding out the player pool will be a number of one off plays, team stacks and 1v1 correlations. As mentioned above, the overall stacking opportunities are not quite as exciting as the DFS team typically likes so we have to pull individual plays from a number of games.
Quarterbacks
Jalen Hurts is easily the best value play of the week. With Miles Sanders out of the picture and a porous Lions Defense on the dock, he should continue his streak of 21 or more Draftkings points dating back to last year. When it comes to the other guys, check out Burrow at $7100. With Hurts getting all the attention, he should come in low owned and with Cincinnati's pass rate over expectation increasing with each healthy week, he is becoming more valuable and explosive. If you need a cheaper option outside of Wentz, then grab Matt Ryan or Teddy Bridgewater and hope they break that 20 point mark, which they should given their matchups.
Running Backs
This position will certainly swing depending on the outcome of the Taylor/Henry battle but beyond that, there are actually a number of directions you can go. Harris at $7500 is basically a WR2 at this point and in a PPR format, it's critical to have that in your lineup which is why Deandre Swift is looking like another great play as well in a plus matchup against the Eagles. Taylor is still my favorite in this 7k range but it's only by a hair. Dropping into the 6k range, Darrell Henderson is in a great spot and should be highly owned. He's a top play this week but in tournament's I like pivoting to Chuba Hubbard. The volume has been there for him and I think they try to feed him in attempts to survive another week of happy feet Darnold dancing around in the backfield. Kenneth Gainwell at 5k will be the highest owned player this week with Sanders on IR but there are plenty of outcomes where Hurts does his thing and steals the work we expected for Gainwell. He's in a prime spot and should meet value but just keep in mind what Hurts can do.
Wide Receivers
Kupp and Woods are phenomenal plays against the Texans and you can even bring it back with Cooks if you wanted to correlate that situation as much as possible. Tyrod Taylor's return should boost Cook's ceiling. DJ Moore and Calvin Ridley are great for correlation but shouldn't be forced into lineups given the QB situation on both sides. Diontae Johnson is as consistent as they come along with Chris Godwin who is a top play this week since Evans should receive the Marshon Lattimore shadow. In that lower mid range I'm a big fan of looking at Devonta Smith, Jarvis Landry, Jerry Jeudy and Beasley or Sanders. I will likely have 2 of those guys in each of my lineups this week but won't dip much lower since I'm really not having to spend up for expensive RB and WR pieces like I normally have to.
Tight Ends and Defense
Sometimes I don't know why I even write this section because you know what to do by now. If you aren't grabbing the stud in Pitts (some weeks it's Kelce) then just pay down and hope your guy falls in the endzone. We discussed Tommy Sweeney from the Bills but there's a world where he gets no catches so I like ponying up for Ricky Seals Jones at $3800 who has double digits in both starts without Logan Thomas. Pat Freiermuth is also a great play at $3600 since Ebron is out and we know he's a great target in the RedZone so he comes with plenty of upside at that price. As for defense, just do me a solid and try not to spend 5k on the Rams, that's really all I ask. I also ask that you don't obliterate my mentions if/when they go for 30 points. Regardless, the process would have been correct... I think.