Mike’s Player Grid 10.25

Mike Johnson (MJohnson86) has racked up over $500,000 in DFS profit as an NFL tournament player with success in all styles of contests.

Welcome back to my (Mjohnson86) Player Grid. The format will vary slightly from JM’s Player Grid, as we each see things slightly differently and play in slightly different contests, but should complement his thoughts and content very well for those looking to build their lineups for the week. The format of this article will vary slightly from my FanDuel Player Grid, which will be more direct in terms of which players I like. Enjoy!!

The Core

This is a list of players that stand out to me at each position from using my “Checking the Boxes” criteria outlined in my course you can find in our Marketplace. This list is a starting point, from which I build out lineups using game theory and roster construction concepts (which we will also touch on) with the mindset being to find the best plays with big ceilings. Low ownership is a bonus, but not a must. This section will focus primarily on three positions – running back, tight end, and defense – as the other two positions (quarterback and wide receiver) tend to have more dependent tendencies which I try to attack from other angles (which we will get into in the other sections):

Running Back ::

• Rico Dowdle – Elite matchup and game script as the Panthers are likely to be able to impose their will on the Saints. The backfield is officially his now, and it is hard to argue with 30+ points in all three of his starts.
• Christian McCaffrey – CMC struggled against the Texans elite defense two games ago, but he has 23+ DK points in every other game this season and should be plenty active this week in a potential shootout.
• De’Von Achane – The matchup is terrific here and Achane’s ability as both a runner and receiver should be heavily utilized as the Dolphins work to keep pace with Josh Allen and the Bills.
• Bears RB – D’Andre Swift is apparently back healthy after a full practice on Thursday, but a personal issue puts his status for Sunday in question now. The Giants’ run defense has been awful in recent weeks and the Bears running game has been dominant since their Week 5 bye. This article is posted on Friday evening, so we will have to wait to see how things play out. I fully expect the Bears backfield to produce a lot of points in this matchup, which means Monangai would be a smash play once again if Swift misses while both Monangai and Swift would be elite GPP options if he plays.
• Kyren Williams – Elite game environment and modest price tag. Smashed the 49ers the first time around and no Fred Warner this time. 

The five players/situations listed above stand out to me above everything else this week at the running back position. There are a lot of other intriguing options, but in the spirit of recent focus on narrowing down a player pool, I think it is important not to try to play all of these guys. I will probably end up with exposure in my large-field MME play to 2 to 4 players from the below, while X-ing out the rest. I would recommend you do the same and accept that you might miss out on someone.

• James Cook – Smashed the Dolphins the first time and set up for another solid game. I am somewhat worried about the Bills playing it smart with Cook and limiting him, especially since they play on Thursday of Week 12 (which means he will play two games in five days at that point).
• DET RBs – Similar to Cook, this is a spot that I expect there to be success but it is hard for me to wrap my head around how to play it. It feels like Gibbs scoring 20 and Monty getting a touchdown and scoring 15 could easily be a way this plays out.
• Derrick Henry – The matchup isn’t great, but we know Henry can go off for 30+ points with Lamar on the field. 
• Quinshon Judkins – Hard for me to leave him off against a Jets defense that lost their two best players. Judkins has a very clear path to ceiling, but I will probably get most of my exposure to him on FanDuel.
• TreVeyon Henderson – Henderson logged a 75% snap share last week and should get the chance to do the same this week against the Bucs pass-funnel defense that theoretically could play to his skill set (outside runs and screens/short passes). Similar to Judkins, his salary is much better on FanDuel.

Tight End ::