Andrew Erickson 
Week 2 of the XFL DFS season is here on DraftKings! XFL DFS looks here to stay and we have got a whole bunch to cover before next week on DraftKings. We finally have a sample size to work with, so it will be interesting to see whether things remain trending from Week 1, or Week 2 is just full of more surprises. These leagues were made for offenses. For all stats on the games, you can click here for live XFL stats. Make sure you check Nick’s XFL breakdown as well!
Game lines via DraftKings Sportsbooks
- New York at D.C. (-6.5)
- Tampa Bay at Seattle (-3)
- Dallas at LA (+4)
- St. Louis at Houston (-8)
Wide Receivers
There are no tight ends in the XFL DFS as they are lumped together with the wide receiver position. Receivers dominated Week 1 in DFS, and I expect that to continue so using a wide receiver heavy approach is a strategy that I would recommend. The best part as well is you do not even have to play running back at all in DraftKings. Nick Holley ($4,800) is listed as RB for Houston but is a starting WR for the team. He led the team in yards per route run (1.85) with anyone with a minimum of four targets.
Pay – Up Wide Receivers
In cash games, it is really hard to get away from Nelson Spruce ($10,400) after his 15-target performance a week ago. I could see getting away from him in GPPs however because there are more question marks at quarterback. Chad Kanoff who started the game last week and hyper-targeted Spruce is not going to play, and Josh Johnson is questionable. If Jalan McClendon starts in this game you need to get off these LA pass-catchers. He is absolutely terrible. He never even started at the college level and looked pretty bad in limited action last week. The pivot off Spruce in GPPs would be Guardians’ Mekale McKay ($10,200). He led the team in receiving yards, and yards per route run (2.00) in Week 1.
With New York’s Joe Horn ($3,400) also chalky with his high target share last week (29%), I think McKay is a great leverage play. D.C. gave up some big passing plays last week to the Seattle Dragons.
Other high-priced wide receivers include for cash games are Eli Rogers ($9,700), and Cam Phillips ($8,400). They both saw a 23%+ target market share last week. Sammie Coates ($9,500) is the perfect GPP-target with his high price. He still had eight targets last week and is going to be surely less owned after he disappointed a week ago. Austin Proehl ($9,200) I am not as high on this week – his stats were heavily inflated by two touchdowns and he only caught 50% of his targets (Brandon Silvers is not a great QB). Seattle was also trailing the majority of the game, so I just prefer some of the guys around him at similar prices with better QB/game scripts. Seattle should be leading when they host Tampa Bay on Saturday. Keenan Reynolds ($6,300) actually led the team in routes run (41) and saw just three fewer targets.
If you are looking to save salary the Tampa Bay receivers are lower-priced. Dan Williams ($7,600) and Jalen Tolliver ($3,900) both saw massive target shares last week. Be aware though that TB is playing a new quarterback this week and could run the ball more with more threat with a running signal-caller. That’s why I love their starting running back this week.
Running Backs
De’Veon Smith ($7,500) is the most expensive running back on the DraftKings slate, but I think he is a very strong play. The combination running upside of Quinton Flowers and Taylor Cornelius under center is going to open up a ton of holes for Smith. Just last week when Flowers was in the game, Smith was averaging well-over five yards per attempt. Smith rushed for 79 yards last week and saw a lot of usage in the red zone. He should plenty of opportunities to find the end zone this week.
Again the focus should be away from running backs – the offensive lines are not as good as they are in the NFL and teams do not need to run the ball to keep the clock running due to the different rules in the XFL. The other running backs that need to be strongly considered are James Butler ($6,300) Houston, Kenneth Farrow ($6,100) for Seattle, and Jhruell Pressley ($7,000) on D.C. The other Houston RBs are all banged up so Butler should see the majority of touches on the high-powered Houston offense. Farrow sees work in both the passing and running game for Seattle.
Pressley had 15 touches overall last week, and I do not see why that would change in Week 2. Lance Dunbar ($4,600) is a cheaper RB option that sees a ton of work in the passing game which is often used in the air raid offense for Dallas. Also, he roomed with Landry Jones during training camp so #showernarrative.
Quarterbacks
For me, the order of quarterbacks is as follows: Phillip Walker ($10,600), Cardale Jones ($10,200), Landry Jones ($9,500), and Jordan Ta’amu ($8,900). The basic approach you should do here is just to do whatever you can to get Walker into your lineup, and if your lineup does not do great on the Saturday games you pivot off Walker before the Sunday games start. Walker will surely be the highest owned QB so pivoting off him to Landry Jones or Ta’amu makes a ton of sense from a leverage perspective.
I love Jones to really capitalize under the air-raid as he can actually throw the ball deep downfield. Receiver Jeff Badet ($8,700) has been basically been giving the underlying message on Twitter is very excited to get his starting QB back. As for Ta’amu, the guy is extremely mobile and I expect any game versus Houston to be a shootout at this point in the season. He is the cheapest QB I feel comfortable going with.
Defense/Special Teams
We are always looking to save salary so I am looking at the Seattle Dragons ($3,000) who will be facing two backup quarterbacks at home where they expect over 30,000 fans at Centurylink Field. DFS does not have to be hard. As a note the three best teams DSTs from last week from scoring were all playing at home, so maintain the focus there. After the Dragons, the Defenders ($4,400) are my next pick at home versus New York. I am not afraid of Matt McGloin, especially in his first road start. Both of these DSTs play on Saturday so it gives you the opportunity to make any late-swaps for the later games at other more predictable positions.
