Staff Thursday Cash Plays - Week 8

The great thing about Daily Fantasy (well, one of the great things) is that we’re here at Week 8 and we don’t have to say ‘halfway through the season’ because you can play through the playoffs.

Of course, we still have to deal with the same things season-long fantasy does—bye weeks, injuries, game-time-decisions—but we can recover more quickly from our mistakes and course correct more easily week to week.

As always, we’ve got a selection of staff who have put up their FanDuel lineups (which you can see here) and I’m going to cherry pick some selections and trends to help you have make sure your Thursday lineup is ready to go.

Staff Trends

Bunch of Gurley-Men

I think it’s safe to say that the simple majority of the staff (6 out of 11) like Todd Gurley. The matchup against the 49ers makes even an $8100 price reasonable. And as Jason Wood pointed out in our FanDuel Value Article he’s really somewhat cheaper than he should be still. He should be a great start today and while some of us went cheaper in at least one selection at running back, I think we’d all be confident starting him this week.

More Freeman

Even at $9100 and coming off one of his lower point games (‘just’ 14), Freeman is still in most of the staff’s lineups. Which makes sense, considering the opponent is the lowly Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Even if the Falcons run out to an early lead, Freeman should get touches.

Ram Tough

A lot of people have the St. Louis Rams as their starting defenses, and considering how unimpressive the San Francisco 49ers have been offensively, it’s a good start. They produced last week against Cleveland and it should be more of the same this week.

Glaring Omissions

Thursday night players were almost unheard of in these lineups, even Tom Brady. Normally the gang fades the top quarterbacks, and this week we see more of the same. Still, Brady has been very solid so far and Julian Edelman and Rob Gronkowski have all been reliable. Their prices have just gotten out of hand, though this could also be a sign that we expect the Miami Dolphins to be a tough defense this week.

Of them, only Edelman got any love this week.

Diamonds in the Rough

With John Brown hurt, Michael Floyd becomes a solid option and $4900 will allow you to spend more money elsewhere.

Nate Washington ($5400) got some love as well, and should be a solid option against the Tennessee Titans. It’s a tough matchup, but he should see targets with attention going to DeAndre Hopkins (who we won’t fade for the matchup because, well, the Titans aren’t that good).