DraftKings & FanDuel NFL DFS Week 5 Cash Strategy & Picks

Oct 05, 2024

Jeff Hanisch-Imagn Images

This is a cash game article. The goal is to make sound decisions for 50/50s and Double Up contests on DraftKings and FanDuel. These are difficult contests. If you can win 60% of your cash games over the course of the season, you are playing like a professional.

A few things to keep in mind before we get to the best plays of the week:

If you can enter low-dollar contests–$1 to $3 contests–start there. Many pros won’t be able to play in those contests.

Enter Single Entry contests before the huge contests that allow mass multi-entry (MME). Generally, you can expect the cash line to be lower in Single Entry contests, because a larger portion of the field will be made up of pros in MME contests.

The goal of these contests is not to win first place. The goal is to min-cash. Thus, the focus is more on players with high floors (generally a result of projectable volume) than players with high ceilings (boom-bust players).

Do not be afraid to late swap. A lock before the 1 PM ET games is not necessarily a lock before the 4 PM ET games. If your players in the early games dud–especially players who are not played by a majority of the field–you may be playing from behind, and a swap to more boom-bust type players may be viable.

Editor's Note: Check out Week 5's Tournament Plays!

Cheat Sheet

“Locks” are players that would almost certainly be mistakes to leave out of your lineup.

“Options” are players you should seriously consider to fill out the rest of your roster after adding all “Locks.” Generally, your lineup should probably include all Locks, and should be filled out almost exclusively with players listed as Options.

For further details on any plays listed here, read below.