Best Daily Fantasy Football Plays for Cash Games – Week 17

By Ha Kung Wong  Daily Fantasy Football

Twitter: @FBGarbageTime

I hope you followed my advice last week for your cash games, because if you did, you won money.  But hey, I don’t judge, I’m giving you all another chance in Week 17!

Cash Games, for those who don’t know, are essentially the lowest risk games.  They include “50/50” games, in which half the entrants win about 1.8x the entry fee, and “Double Ups”, in which slightly less than half the entrants win 2x the entry fee.

Since there’s so many different sites, and I can’t cover them all, I’ve decided to cover just the most popular sites, including Fan Duel, Draft Kings and Yahoo! Daily Fantasy.

First of all, as a general rule for 50/50 Cash Games, there’s a basic target of points per salary cap spent that you’d like to look for:

• For Fan Duel try to target at least 2 fantasy points per $1000 spent.
• For Draft Kings, try to target at least 2.5 fantasy points per $1000 spent.
• For Yahoo! Daily Fantasy, try to target at least 0.6-0.7 fantasy points per $1 spent.

Remember, this article is not focused on GPP (Tournament) Games, JUST Cash Games.  Feel free to use a few of these suggested players as a base when constructing a GPP lineup, but you’ll have to take some chances on a few low cost, upside players as well.

So, without further to do, here are my suggestions for the Best Daily Fantasy Football Plays for Cash Games in Week 17, along with they’re prices on Fan Duel (“FD”), Draft Kings (“DK”) and Yahoo! Daily Fantasy (“Y!”).

Quarterback

Being the last week of the regular season, I’m a little cautious about QBs on playoff bound teams.  But there are two in particular with great matchup that have something to play for and are worth paying up for.  But if you don’t want to pay up for QB, I also have my favorite value option.

Tom Brady vs. MIA (FD: $8900 / DK: $7400 / Y!: $36)

• The Dolphins have completely fallen apart on defense, as Ryan Fitzpatrick, Eli Manning and Philip Rivers led their respective teams to 30+ points against the Dolphins in recent weeks.  The Patriots can sew up the AFC 1 seed with a win this week, and were able to hang 36 point on the Dolphins in Week 8. Brady should have plenty of motivation to keep the changes moving in what should be blowout.  Brady has the most passing yards of any QB in the NFL this season, and we know the Pats love blowouts.

Cam Newton vs. TB (FD: $9100 / DK: $7500 / Y!: $36)

• Tampa Bay hasn’t been good against the pass recently.  And they’ve allowed the 6th most passing TDs (29) this year.  Newton had a lackluster performance in Week 16 against the Atlanta falcons, but has been feasting of late both in that air and on the ground.  Plus, the Panthers need the win to seal the NFC 1 seed.  Fantasy goodness abound.

Brian Hoyer vs. JAC (FD: $6900 / DK: $5100 / Y!: $31)

• He’s cleared the concussion protocol and will play on Sunday.  The Jaguars have been more like kittens on defense.  They’ve allowed the 4th most passing yards per game (270) this year and Hoyer has been solid with multiple TDs in 7 of his 10 games.  He’s a great value option whose price was depressed due to being out with injury.

Running Back

There are again a lot of value plays at RB this week, so don’t pay up for the big names.  These options will allow you to pay up elsewhere.

Darren McFadden vs. WAS (FD: $7200 / DK: $4900 / Y!: $24)

• McFadden has quietly effective without any backfield competition.  He’s averaged 7.05 yards per carry the past 3 weeks totaling touches of 18 and 20 in his last two.  Washington has allowed the 7th most rushing yards per game (124.1) in the NFL.  Cowboys have nothing to play for, but this is a great spot for McFadden.

Tim Hightower vs. ATL (FD: $7000 / DK: $5500 / Y!: $20)

• Hightower has touch totals of 29, 16, and 30 over the last three games.  CJ Spiller was never a threat, but now he’s completely out of the picture on IR.  Atlanta has allowed the most rushing TDs in the NFL (19).  There’s huge potential here for Hightower and he’s still reasonably priced.

Frank Gore vs. TEN (FD: $6600 / DK: $4000 / Y!: $21)

• Gore had a (re)breakout game last week against Miami with 95 total yards and 2 TDs.  He also has a 1,000 yard benchmark which he’s currently 109 rushing yards short.  Without Hasselbeck, it looks like Freeman or Lindley will be at QB this week, so the Colts may have to rely on Gore more than usual.

Chris Ivory vs. BUF (FD: $6500 / DK: $4400 / Y!: $19)

• Looks like Powell is out, leaving little competition for Ivory in the backfield. Ivory’s touches in the four games Powell has missed this season are 19, 18, 26, and 20. Ivory had 135 total yards into he Week 10 game against the Bills when Powell was out.  Another good opportunity play at a reasonable price.

Karlos Williams vs. NYJ (FD: $5800 U / DK: $4800 / Y!: $23)

• With LeSean McCoy out, it was a timeshare between Mike Gillislee and Karlos Williams.  Before last week, Williams had 7 TDs and 489 yards in just 76 touches.  So that’s 6.4 yards per touch and a TD every 11 touches.  And in Week 16, Williams out-snapped (62%) and out-touched (19) Gillislee (35%, 11). I’d be shocked if he didn’t get something similar against a tough Jets run defense, which still means he has at least a 50/50 chance of hitting about 70 yards and a TD this weekend.

Rashad Jennings vs. PHI (FD: $5800 / DK: $3700 / Y!: $14)

• The Eagles have been terrible on defense.  They’ve allowed the 5th most fantasy points to opposing RBs this year.  Jennings has totaled 24, 17, and 16 touches over the last three games.  If the trend continues, which there’s no reason to believe otherwise, this is a great value option.

UPDATE

Tre Mason vs. SF (FD: $4600 / DK: $3000 / Y!: 10)

• With Todd Gurley listed as Doubtful and unlikely to play, the 49ers circling the drain for weeks with a lame duck head coach, and Mason being close to minimum pricing on all sites, this might be the play of the week.  Keep your eye on Gurley’s status, just in case.

Wide Receivers

If you saved money on RBs as suggested, you’ll have money to pay up for some WRs this week.  I’d recommend at least taking two of these.

Julio Jones vs. NO (FD: $9300 / DK: $8500 / Y!: $34)

• The Saints give up the 3rd most receiving yards in the NFL.  And Julio Jones is leading the Falcons in targets.  Enough said.

Antonio Brown vs. CLE (FD: $9100 / DK: $9300 / Y!: $36)

• Brown is basically matchup proof with Big Ben at the helm.

DeAndre Hopkins vs. JAX (FD: $9000 / DK: $8400 / Y!: $31)

• Jacksonville has allowed the 4th most receiving yards to opposing WRs per game this year (285.3). Nuk Hopkins leads the Texans in targets and Hoyer is back.

Odell Beckham Jr. vs. PHI (FD: $8900 / DK: $9000 / Y!: $35)

• OBJ has been great and will look to get going after his season crushing suspension in Week 16 against a terrible Philly defense.

Jeremy Maclin vs. OAK (FD: $7100 / DK: $6400 / Y!: $29)

• Over the last 5 games Maclin has had 36 total receptions on 47 total targets for 422 yards and 5 TDs.  I’m going to bet he continues to get looks against a subpar Oakland pass defense.  Keep your eye on what the Broncos do though, as Andy Reid says he may pull his starters if the Broncos are up big.

Tight Ends

Rob Gronkowski vs. MIA (FD: $8100 / DK: $7400 / Y!: $25)

• See Tom Brady above. And it’s Gronk.  Need I say more?

Jordan Reed vs. DAL (FD: $7400 / DK: $6500 / Y!: $23)

• Reed continues to get plenty of targets, and the Redskins will have to keep throwing the ball in light of their less-than-stellar ground game.  He’s clearly Cousins’ favorite target and has a high floor for the price, particularly against the Cowboys.

Greg Olsen vs. TB (FD: $6600 / DK: $6800 / Y!: $22)

• As I mentioned previously, Olsen’s the number one receiver in Carolina, and Cam basically locks on to him for critical down and distance situations.  Plus, he’s a huge endzone target.  It’s like converting your TE position to a FLEX and adding a WR instead.

Zach Miller vs. DET (FD: $5900 / DK: $4600 / Y!: $14)

• Since Martellus Bennett went out for the season due to injury, Zach Miller has been a resurgent TE1 in Chicago.  His price keeps creeping up but he’s still reasonable. [UPDATE – Miller is OUT. DO NOT ROSTER HIM.]

Zac Ertz vs. NYG (FD: $5700 / DK: $3600 / Y!: $17)

• Ertz has led the Eagles in targets three straight weeks (7, 13, 17).  He’s clearly Bradford’s primary target and has a plus matchup against a Giants defense that has allowed the 2nd most catches, 2nd most yards, and 5th most touchdowns to tight ends.

Defenses

Broncos vs. SD (FD: $5200 / DK: $4000 / Y!: $16)

• San Diego has been up and down, but mostly down.  Broncos have allowed the least amount of total yards per game (280.9) to opposing offenses in the NFL.

Rams vs. SF (FD: $5200 / DK: $3000 / Y!: $13)

• St. Louis was a better defense at the beginning of the year, but has looked decent of late.  San Francisco has little play for and has so many injuries that they can barely field a team.

Colts vs. TEN (FD: $4200 / DK: $2400 / Y!: $14)

• Mettenberger has not been good and the Titans have basically packed it in for the season.  If you’re looking for some value, this could be a good play.