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We had some more fun in Week 3 of XFL DFS on DraftKings! It looks XFL DFS is here to stay and we have got a whole bunch to recap of the weekend to go into Week 4 on DraftKings. I for sure will be looking back at my process and contest selection to see what mistakes I made in Week 3 (yes they were made 😒…AGAIN), and how I can change the outcome in XFL DFS Week 4.
With more of a sample size to work with, we will review what continued trending from Week 1-3 and what changed. Let’s dive back into the four games from XFL DFS Week 3. For all stats on the games, you can click here.
Cash Lineup – XFL DFS Week 3 Review
DraftKings Cash Lineup Review
Defense/Special Teams
My most popular plays were the Dragons, Renegades, and the Battlehawks defense. Seattle forced multiple turnovers and Dallas made it tough on the Dragons’ offense. The Battlehawks special teams came up huge with a 90-yard kickoff return for a touchdown. Overall targeting home DSTs continues to work successfully, That was seen even in the LA Wildcats game despite them being 8.5 point underdogs going into the game. Home field advantage is huge in the XFL. The Battlehawks DST was over 72% owned in the $25 XFL Double Up contest.
Quarterbacks
Not enough Philip Walker for me personally. He was the most expensive quarterback on the slate. If you did not play him he made you pay with a 40+ point-plus performance. His connection with Cam Phillips is just too good right now and it will be interesting to see how high DraftKings decides to raise their prices. Next week versus Dallas on the “road” in what looks like to be a wild Texas shootout, most lineups are going to start with Walker from the start. Phillips could have had an even bigger game if that is even possible as well because Walker did miss him a few times.
I played Jordan Ta’mau in cash with the mindset being that he had a safe floor because of his rushing upside. I did not love his ceiling for GPPs because I thought the Battlehawks were in a spot to blow-out the Guardians as ten-point home favorites. We knew they were a run-heavy team going in so I should have strongly considered that outcome that St.Louis got up big and just ran the ball in the second half. He was the highest owned QB in cash games.
The New York Guardians’ offense is an utter mess right now. The only hope I can see for them is to get Luis Perez under center full-time. When he came in he immediately drove the team down for a touchdowns score. At 1-2 New York can’t afford to lose welcoming a hot Wildcats team.
Cardale Jones was an absolute disaster in his first road start of the season. He scored a whopping 2.02 points. They will be back on the road in Week 4 versus the Vipers so at least the Defenders will be back on the east coast.
Josh Johnson was Javi’s pick at the beginning of the week and he looked great in his second start; especially with his deep ball accuracy. He scored 25.72 fantasy points. However, LA will have to make the long trip to the east coast to face the Guardians in Week 4.
Running Backs
Lance Dunbar was one of my favorite cash play running backs for the reason being that he is involved in the passing game. Well, that reigned true in Week 3 where he had nine reception on a team-high 11 targets. Cameron Artis-Payne also saw six targets and had six receptions so with Landry Jones under center expect these Dallas running backs to be heavily featured in the passing game. CAP has now had back-to-back weeks with at least 100 yards from scrimmage. He is starting to solidify himself as the RB to pay up for in DFS. CAP (7) and Dunbar (4) have combined for the most rushing attempts over 10 yards this season.
James Butler for Houston was averaging ten yards a carry but just had seven carries and three catches. Butler continues to be tough to figure out because is pass-game role is minimal. The June Jones offense is not too keen on running the football.
XFL Week 3
DeLeon Smith looked to be back as the starter for Tampa Bay with 15 carries. Jacques Patrick was still involved with 10 carries of his own. However, the problem here is that these touches are not great from a fantasy standpoint. Smith averaged 3.3 yards per carry and Patrick a meager 1.8. Smith did see a season-high four target catching one deep for 25 yards.
All the St.Louis receivers were horrible fantasy options because their run game was so strong. No receiver had more than 36 receiving yards. This could happen again versus the Dragons next week again. I would lean again towards the St.Louis running backs. Seattle gave up 6.2 yards per carry to CAP in Week 3. Matt Jones had 15 carries and Christine Michael had 13 carries in Week 3. Jones was the much more efficient runner going for 6.3 yards per carry for 95 yards. Michael was just at 3.4 yards per carry.
Elijah Hood was deemed inactive before the start of the game. It was basically a two-man committee with Larry Rose and Martes Carter. Both scored rushing touchdowns.
Donnel Pumphrey was my other favorite running back cash play and being down so much that D.C. as he was heavily used in the passing game. That did not translate to much as he finished with just two receptions and 40 rushing yards.
Wide Receivers
Sammie Coates routes run continue to decrease as a whole for the Roughnecks while Sam Mobley saw a season-high 19 routes run and was tied for the second-most receiving yards on the team (41). He out-snapped Coates. Not sure even in GPPs we can have any confidence in Coates moving forward unless his price goes down substantially. The Nick Holley process play was good as he led the team in routes run. He ended the day with three targets despite leading the team in snaps played.
For Tampa Bay, Jalen Tolliver dominated the target share wit 12 targets, eight receptions, and 104 receiving yards. Reese Horn was a cash play for me and he did end up second on the team with five receptions on six targets but just had 34 receiving yards. Tolliver did have the majority of his yards (71) from the slot so still targeting slot receiver versus Houston is a trend that you should continue to target.
With Dallas playing Houston next week the primary slot receiver I will be targeting is Flynn Nagel and Donald Parham. Nagel played 100% of the snaps from the slot in Week 3 and saw all six of his targets there. Parham played 84% of his snaps from the slot and had his two touchdowns coming from the slot. Did not play Parham in Week 3 despite his team-high eleven targets the week prior. If a guy gets double-digit targets to lock him in the next week.
XFL DFS Week 4
The same cannot be said for Jeff Badet who continues to disappoint despite the amount of playing time. I have to wonder if there is an injury lingering with him as he has been on the injury report every week. He led the team in routes run in Week 3 but had just two receptions. He has the most targets at the wide receiver position over the past two weeks for Dallas, but it has just not translated to fantasy production. If Dallas needed to get him going you’d have to imagine it would happen in a shootout versus Houston.
Keenan Reynolds led the Dragons in targets again, but this team offensively can only support one fantasy wide receiver per week and it is whoever scores the touchdown. Week 1 was Austin Proehl, Week 2 Reynolds, and Week 3 it went back to Proehl. I do not like the game script projection next week versus the Battlehawks who like the Dragons are a run-first team.
Tre McBride, I was on last week, but again his injury scared me off in Week 3. Injuries are always a tough evaluation but considering his availability was less in question than last week, he clearly was in much better shape in Week 3. If the player is coming down to a very close game-time decision I think it’s better to fade them in cash like McBride last week was versus this week where he was clearly more ready to play. Guys to monitor this week for injuries are Jeff Badet and L’Damian Washington. Keep tabs throughout the week on the injury report for XFL DFS Week 4. Washington was owned in just 2.7% of cash games and that was because of his injury. It was not a good cash play.
