Making Money in the Monday Million: Playing Both Sides
I’ll go more in depth and include my bonus lineups who have players in tonight’s game, in tomorrow’s What’s Wrong. We had some really close lineups this week. To get into the money we would’ve needed 130.18 points.
This Week. I’m playing both sides.
Monday Million Lineup 1:
The Ravens run all over the Browns.
Lamar Jackson: The last time the Browns and the Ravens dueled was in week one of this year. Lamar completed 20 of his 25 attempts for 275 yards and three touchdowns adding 7 carries for 45 rushing yards. JK Dobbins is certainly exploding in the backfield, but Jackson is out carrying the Ravens running backs with his 116 rushing attempts on the season. That puts him 30th in the league in rushing attempts. With Edwards (101 carries) and Dobbins (83 carries) closely behind. Dobbins may be more efficient with his carries, but he won’t see as much fantasy relevant situations as Lamar will.
Kareem Hunt: Hunt’s fantasy value has fallen in the last couple of week because he hasn’t been seeing the targets that he’s used to getting. In their last outing against the Ravens, Chubb in PPR only received 5.6 fantasy points, while being out carried by Hunt 13 to 10. The Browns are likely to abandon the run game early in the game, much like they did the last time they played, leaving more work for their receiving back Kareem Hunt.
Mark Andrews: Andrews is the only person that Jackson has been able to connect with on his targets. The Browns have been torn up defensively by the Tight End position all season, being ranked currently 31st against Tight Ends. The Browns 4-3 scheme creates pressure without them having to Blitz Lamar. The makes it so Jackson can’t hold onto the ball for too long and it makes it more difficult for Jackson to throw the ball down field. When faced with pressure Lamar will either run, throw the ball to Andrews or dump it off to his running backs.
Baker Mayfield: Baker much like Derek Carr or Kirk Cousins has seen his fantasy production wane heavily throughout the season because they play for teams that want to run the ball first. Baker has also played differently throughout the season, missing Chubb and Odell for different parts of the season. Tonight game script should be more pass than run heavy, making Mayfield a more promising piece.
Devin Duvernay: This one is pretty simple. Duvernay is really cheap. He has played worse recently, because of Dez Bryant’s addition to the Ravens, but with Dez out Duvernay will see more opportunities. Duvernay just need to have an okay fantasy day to be a great option in your line up.
Monday Million Lineup 2:
The Browns Stifle The Ravens
Jarvis Landry: Jarvis has done a serviceable job at replacing Odell this season. I think the Browns have a good chance to upset the Ravens who are (-3) favorites to win the game. The Ravens have an amazing defense, but that doesn’t matter if they can’t move the ball. The Browns actually have a better rushing defense than Ravens do, meaning that this game would become a nightmare for Lamar should they not be able to move the ball.
Rashad Higgins: When Mayfield is on fire, its a gas flame. Everybody else on the team starts to heat up with him. Due to weather, there isn’t a large sample size of Higgins without Odell. Last week Higgins was able to catch 6 of his 9 targets for 95 yards and a touchdown, while Landry caught 8 of 10 for 62 yards and a touch down and Donovan Peoples-Jones caught 2 of 3 for 92 yards and a touchdown. When it rains it pours for Mayfield as long as he’s able to throw more than 25 passes.
JK Dobbins: Dobbins is very talented and should be running next to Lamar for a long time. Dobbins is able to catch the ball which will help Lamar when faced with defensive pressure. Dobbins has taken over this Ravens backfield and should be the premiere options outside of Lamar.
This was written before I heard about reports about the game’s projected windy weather. Both teams will be running the ball a lot. You should be replacing my receiving options, outside of Andrews, with running backs.
Here’s a bonus DraftKings lineup that takes the weather into account.
