DFS guide: Week 9 in DraftKings cash games

This is our weekly DFS look at the top strategies and approaches to DraftKings cash games.

It’s been a wild start to Week 9.

Between the flurry of activity at the trade deadline, Ezekiel Elliott’s suspension, the season-ending injury of Deshaun Watson, and tight pricing once again by DraftKings, it’s going to be another difficult week to construct cash lineups. Last week was a popular one for flexing a second tight end. I don’t think it’s a crazy move to go back to it. Let’s take a look position-by-position at how we should be approaching the Week 9 slate from a cash game perspective.

(For the DraftKings tournament guide, click here)

Quarterbacks

The Deshaun Watson news changes things immensely. We no longer have the guaranteed garbage time for us to load up on Colts players, but I don’t believe it takes Jacoby Brissett ($5,200) out of cash game consideration if you need to save money. The Texans’ defense can be exploited, as evidenced by what Russell Wilson did to them last week. Brissett just needs to hit the 15.6-point mark to reach cash value. Houston has allowed that in 4-of-7 games to start the year, but they’re also no stranger to complete meltdowns (Alex Smith: 29.9 DK pts. Russell Wilson: 39.1. Tom Brady: 39.7). The Texans have allowed the fourth-most passing touchdowns to opposing quarterbacks so far this year and this team has been decimated by injuries. We can now add Jadaveon Clowney (knee) and Johnathan Joseph (shin) to the questionable list after both were DNP’s Wednesday. Brissett has struggled lately, but he has also rushed for 30 yards and/or a touchdown in four of his last six games. I’ll take that rushing upside against a depleted defense in a week where value is once again hard to come by.

The popular move this week is going to be to pay up at the position. If I’m not saving money with Brissett, the quarterback I’m eager to play is Dak Prescott ($6,700). Excluding last week’s outing, Prescott had averaged 26.8 DK points over his previous four games. He’s got a terrific home matchup against the Chiefs defense, who have allowed the fourth-most passing yards and fourth-most passing touchdowns to start the year. They’ve also allowed the fourth-most red-zone trips to opposing offenses. The Cowboys currently rank top-three in most red-zone trips this year. We should see a lot of scoring opportunities here for Dallas and Prescott’s versatility allows him to score in a myriad of different ways.