NFL FanDuel: Week 5 top plays (Early only!)

GLENDALE, ARIZONA - DECEMBER 23: David Johnson #31 of the Arizona Cardinals catches a 32 yard touchdown pass from wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald #11 in the first half of the NFL game against the Los Angeles Rams at State Farm Stadium on December 23, 2018 in Glendale, Arizona. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images) /

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HOUSTON, TX – DECEMBER 30: Houston Texans defensive end JJ Watt (99) is introduced before the football game between the Jacksonville Jaguars and Houston Texans on December 30, 2018 at NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Daniel Dunn/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) NFL FanDuel /

Got your Week 5 NFL FanDuel lineups all set and looking for a good reason to avoid tinkering with them? Make some more lineups on some smaller slates! This article will focus on the top plays for the early only slate on NFL FanDuel.

Welcome once again to FanSided Fantasy for your DFS research. This article covers the early only slate on NFL FanDuel, and it is a big one this week with 10 games total. I will highlight my favorite plays at each position, focusing on a mix of GPP and cash game targets.

After breaking down each position, a sample cash game lineup focusing on the safest, and sometimes the highest owned plays on the slate will follow on the last slide.

For the newbies, NFL FanDuel cash games are simply the games in the lobby that are 50/50 or close to that to win. These are basically all of the games other than the tournaments, and guaranteed prize pool tournaments (GPP’s). Head-to-Head’s (H2H), 50/50, and double-ups would best summarize cash games. In these contests, we generally want to target volume from the skill positions and the safest combination of high-floor players we can possibly roster.

NFL DFS is such a strange beast. Watching how the slates will develop from the course of Monday night right after the game and into Tuesday morning is always interesting, as some chalk for the upcoming week is already obvious. We all look to see which TE is starting against Arizona at this point, as you can pretty much guarantee yourself a touchdown there. Then there is always a crop of slightly underpriced WR who are maybe coming off of a bad week or two but have an incredible match-up on paper this week.

After that, we have the guys who we think are our hidden gems for the week, but as the week goes on, you start to find out through your research that your GPP pivot might end up chalk by Sunday morning. Finally, we have the week-to-week decision of whether or not the Patriots defense and Christian McCaffrey are must-haves in cash games.

It’s already the weekend and we have the main slates covered from every angle here on FanSided Fantasy. Let’s dig into this early slate.