What’s up everyone and welcome to Ben’s Building Blocks! If you’ve never read my content before, welcome. To those that have, welcome back. I truly appreciate everyone that reads and supports during NFL season. This article is designed for me to highlight the top plays of the week, and my overall player pool for the main slate. Obviously, things can change rapidly in the NFL with injury news on the weekends, so I would be sure to subscribe to our premium package for access to my Final Thoughts cheat sheet, our premium discord channel and my core plays. Our Core Plays product gives you the ability to tail all of our analysts in your contests each week. We do the work for you, and you simply plug and play with our premium Core Plays. With that being said, let’s hop into the Week 5 slate…
Quarterback
This is the most hilarious week of all-time. With tons of value throughout DraftKings pricing, the “correct” cash game build is evident and it includes Josh Allen at QB. He’s the number one play on the slate in an expected shootout against Kansas City — a team he has owned for fantasy purposes throughout his career. He is over 4 points ahead of the next QB in our Projections Portal, a massive gap and I don’t think we need to overthink this. Allen will be included in my main team.
Outside of the obvious, the two stacks I really like this weekend are anchored by Tom Brady and Lamar Jackson. Brady has now thrown the ball 50+ times in back-to-back games and will face an insanely thin Pittsburgh secondary down multiple starters. Everyone was on Brady for the breakout game last weekend — and he should of had it. He threw for over 350 yards, but was held back by only one TD pass. If he runs hot with touchdowns we could be looking at a 300 yard + 3 TD game here and this is a better match-up than last weekend — I’m back in on Brady against the Steelers.
As for Jackson, he matches up with his old DC Wink Martindale and the Giants. Martindale notoriously leans on a man-heavy defensive scheme which we know you can attack with mobile QB’s. Jackson has shredded a few man-heavy schemes already this season and looks to be un-owned in DFS. He is the only player on this slate with a ceiling that can rival Allen’s, and he’s going to be a fraction of the ownership.
Core: Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson
Pivots: Tom Brady, Kyler Murray
Running Back
Week 6 at the RB position is unlike anything we’ve seen since Week 1. After three slates in a row with little to no good value, we are bombarded with four RB’s at $6,000 or under projecting well and expected to be high-owned. I’ve spoke in discord this week about this being the worst cash game week of all-time on DraftKings. While part of me is kidding, the build is very clear this week and it’s basically going to come down to a bunch of 1v1’s in your lineup which is never a good thing. That’s mainly because there’s so much good value at RB, it’s easy to build a lineup after plugging in a few of them. Assuming Damien Harris is out for New England — I would rank them Eno Benjamin, Rhamondre Stevenson, Ken Walker and Darrell Henderson in that order. Eno is the one guy I will have on pretty much all of my builds this weekend. I worry less about his high-ownership since he’s almost min-price and I love his expected role. Walker vs Henderson is something I didn’t think we would need to debate, but everything changed on Friday when Cam Akers was ruled out. It actually looks like more people will be playing Henderson than Walker now, which I find funny. I prefer Walker, and I’m actually hoping this lowers the ownership on him. Walker is the better player, and I don’t think it’s close. Walker ripped off a 60+ yard TD run last week and I don’t think Henderson has that type of big-play ability. Can he get there if he finds the end-zone? Of course, but I think Walker is the better player and I’m not as worried about DeeJay Dallas as others. Overall, these are the four running backs you choosing from in cash games, and it’s really that simple.
Anyone other than multiple of those backs is going to give you a unique build in small-field, single-entry contests on Sunday. Spending up to be contrarian is fine, and there are definitely more guys in play than I’m listing in my pool. I’m only building around three lineups this week so my pool is a bit tighter than usual. I love Alvin Kamara again this week, and I find it amazing that his ownership will be held in check by the $5K guys. He was back to being Kamara in Week 5, he just didn’t find the end-zone. He out-snapped Ingram 56-17 and commanded five targets which was the second-highest number on the Saints. Dalton looks comfortable checking it down to him, and if he scores he’s going to destroy this price tag. Keep in mind, he was a few yards away from getting the 100 yard bonus for both rushing and receiving yards last week. Cincy’s run-defense has crumbled without DJ Reader and Kamara is a GPP conviction play for me this weekend. I also love Breece Hall, especially in a mini-stack with Romeo Doubs.
Core: Eno Benjamin, Ken Walker, Rhamondre Stevenson, Darrell Henderson
Pivots: Alvin Kamara, Breece Hall, Jeff Wilson, Joe Mixon
Wide Receiver
Receiver isn’t quite as concentrated as RB, but there’s a very clear path to the cash game pool. Given that you can lock in multiple sub-$6K backs, that will force ownership onto Stefon Diggs as the top spend-up option as correlation with Josh Allen. We also have a pair of Seattle receivers in Tyler Lockett and DK Metcalf that will be owned, along with Rondale Moore in that same game. I won’t dive into this too much because everyone knows they are great options. It’s unlikely Metcalf makes my cash game build but he is an option. I really like Moore in the slot against the Seattle, and am comfortable with him and Benjamin in the same lineup at their prices.
Outside of the high-owned plays — I have some real conviction around a few of these guys this week particularly Mike Evans and Ja’Marr Chase. Pittsburgh has been surrendering big plays all season, and now they are without multiple corners and Minkah Fitzpatrick in the secondary. Evans is still the deep threat in this offense and I think he is due for a massive game in Week 6. Chase is returning home to Louisiana both where he was born and played his college ball. Tee Higgins is listed questionable for this week, but I think Chase is an amazing play regardless of if he plays or not. Chase’s route tree hasn’t been great, but he’s still seeing the usage and is top-ten on the slate in target-share. Marshon Lattimore is out for New Orleans, and I didn’t have any confidence in his ability to cover Chase anyways. Chase is one of my favorite plays this week and he correlates well with Kamara. I actually hope Higgins is active, so it keeps his ownership in check.
Core: Stefon Diggs, Gabe Davis, Tyler Lockett, DK Metcalf, Rondale Moore, Romeo Doubs
Pivots: Mike Evans, Ja’Marr Chase, Devin Duvernay, Christian Kirk
Tight End
Tight end is as straightforward as it’s ever been in Week 6. For cash games, we have a crucial decision on our hands — whether not to spend-up for Mark Andrews or save money with Tyler Higbee. My lean in cash is always to save money, but Andrews definitely makes it an interesting conversation this week — given that we have the value at RB to stuff him in. He’s dominating offensive numbers at this position, and averages over a 30% target-share with Rashod Bateman off the field. That being said, Higbee is actually tied for the league-lead in targets at his position and will continue to hog looks from Stafford along with Kupp. The Rams offensive line is so poor right now, it skews targets heavily towards the low-aDOT looks for Higbee and Kupp. He also has a really strong red-zone role, but has yet to find the end-zone — which should change soon. I have no idea which side I’ll end up on, but I love both options this week. I will be stacking Andrews on my Lamar tournament team, as well.
For GPPs, it seems like everyone spending up on DraftKings is siding with the savings and Andrews. Kelce is a great play and fits well against the Bills zone-heavy scheme. He has three touchdowns in his last two games against the Bills. Hurst would get a nice bump if Higgins were to miss — while Gentry jumps into play with Freiermuth out. He correlates well on the opposite side of a Brady stack, and can be used in all formats as a punt.
Core: Mark Andrews, Tyler Higbee
Pivot: Travis Kelce, Hayden Hurst, Zach Gentry, Zach Ertz
Bold Call of the Week
Mike Evans explodes for 200+ receiving yards — the second time he’s done this in his career.
Written by Ben Hossler (Follow @BenHossler on Twitter)
