Best Daily Fantasy Football Plays for Cash Games – Week 13

By Ha Kung Wong  Daily Fantasy Football

Twitter: @FBGarbageTime

So the streamlined approach to my column worked so well last week, and was so popular with all of you, that I figured we’d give it another go.  And heck, you’d rather I stop babbling and just get to my picks, right?  Of course you do!

As with last week, I’m going to give you my favorite cash lineups for FanDuel, Draft Kings, and Yahoo! DFS, and I’ll also note a few others you might consider for your lineups.

So without further to do, let’s get to winning you some CASH in Week 13 of the 2016 NFL season!

Daily Fantasy Football

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 for Week 13 contests, along with they’re prices on Fan Duel (“FD”), Draft Kings (“DK”) and Yahoo! Daily Fantasy (“Y!”).

FanDuel

fan-duel-week-13-lineup

As you can probably tell, I’m a fan of both Russell Wilson and Colin Kaepernick this week at QB.  I know, I know, Wilson really let us down last week.  Luckily the rest of the lineup picked up the slack (I’m looking at you, Terrelle Pryor and Tyler Eifert), or you diversified with my other favorite Week 12 QB, Derek Carr, to win cash.  But Wilson, in my opinion, just had an off day in the office.  We’ve all had them.  You know, like that time you accidentally photocopied your butt and all your colleagues decided it would be funny to pin it up in the cafeteria bulletin board?  No?  OK, maybe that was just me, but trust me, it was really off day in the office for me.

At any rate, both Wilson and Kaepernick have terrific matchups, and minus the miss for Wilson in Week 12, have been doing great over the last couple weeks.  Most importantly, they’re priced significantly lower than other “elite” QB options.  You’re probably saying “What?? Kaepernick is elite?”, to which my answer is, “For Fantasy Football he is.”

Colin Kaepernick Flex

Colin Kaepernick

In Week 12, Kaepernick completed 29 of 46 passes for 296 yards, three TDs, with an INT, plus a whopping 113 rush yards.  And this isn’t totally out of the blue, as he’s averaged a little over 62 rush yards per game since taking over under center.  And now he gets to face the tattered Bears defense (ranked 21st by Football Outsiders) that has absolutely nothing to play for this season, except for maybe the 2nd pick in the 2017 NFL Draft (because, honestly, no team is going to be worst than the Browns this year).

As for Wilson, he was playing great and averaging just over 300 yards and 2 TDs per game in his 3 games prior to Week 12, and now has a great home matchup against a completely obliterated Panthers defense (4th worst in the NFL against the pass).  And although Wilson did nothing through the air in Week 12, he did have 80 rush yards, the most he’s had in a game all season.

You’ll also notice that since AJ Green is still out this week, I’m still a fan of Tyler Boyd.  The Eagles have a decent pass defense, but Andy Dalton has to throw the ball to someone and Boyd has been the recipient of 17 of those targets in the last two weeks.  He’s better on Draft Kings because of full PPR, but I like him as a cheap option with a nice floor and solid upside.

David Johnson is still a beast, and is my favorite RB once again this week if you have cap space.  He has the 3rd most rushing yards (921), 3rd most rushing TDs (10) and most receiving yards (613) of any RB in the NFL this year.  Plus the Redskins have a bottom 10 run defense.  He dislocated his finger in Week 12, but didn’t warrant listing on the injury report this week, so he’s good to go.

David Johnson

David Johnson

I doubted Jordan Howard last week and won’t ever make that mistake again.  He’s basically all they got in Chicago, now helmed by Matt Barkley.  Howard is involved no matter what the score is, and the 49ers have the 3rd worst run defense in the NFL according to Football Outsiders’ DVOA.

Mike Evans is another one you should never doubt.  He doesn’t always go off for game-breaking point totals, but he does have the most targets (132), 3rd most receptions (73), 2nd most receiving yards (1020), and most receiving TDs (10) of any WR in the league.  Plus, the Chargers have a bottom 5 pass defense, so there should plenty of production for Evans.

As for TE, I have to go with Vernon Davis, based on opportunity and price alone.  It’s looking pretty clear that Jordan Reed won’t suit up on Sunday, which means Davis is the number 1 TE in Washington.  What does that mean?  Well, with Reed in and out of the game in Week 12, Davis caught 5 of 7 for 68 yards.  So doubling that in Week 13 isn’t out of reach.  He did put up a goose egg in Week 11, but caught 14 of 14 for 238 yards and TD in his previous 3 games.  In fact, he’s caught over 80% of his targets this year.  He’s a great value near minimum price on all sites.

UPDATE: Jordan Reed is out Week 13, so lock in Davis.

You also note that I love three defenses this week — the Baltimore Ravens against the Miami Dolphins, the Philadelphia Eagles against the Cincinnati Bengals and the Miami Dolphins against the Baltimore Ravens, in that order.  The Ravens are a solid defense and Tannehill is still Tannehill, the Bengals are down their WR1 and their most dynamic RB and the Ravens, though having a solid defense, have an inconsistent offense at best.  I just picked the one that is cheaper per site and fit my cap space.

Draft Kings

draft-kings-week-13

On Draft Kings, you’ll note that I took LeSean McCoy over David Johnson.  The reason is simply price plus a great matchup, as the Raiders have a bottom 5 run defense.  Plus, with Robert Woods, Marquise Goodwin and Percy Harvin all on the shelf, and Sammy Watkins on a snap count, I see a lot of running out of Buffalo this week.

You’ll also note that I used Carlos Hyde on Draft Kings.  I think he’s a solid value with a high usage rate, as he remains in the game whether the 49ers are ahead or behind.  And, as I mentioned above, the Bears defense is nothing to be scared of.

I also used Odell Beckham Jr., which actually requires no explanation, but he’s priced more competitively on Draft Kings than the other sites.  The Steelers are bottom 10 against the pass and OBJ has been averaging about 10 targets per game.  And you all know what he can do with just one target…and one hand.

Yahoo! DFS

yahoo-dfs-week-13

Brandon Marshall had a nice week against the Patriots, hauling in 6 of 9 for 67 yards and a TD.  He’s no longer blowing the doors off, but he’s clearly the Jets’ most consistent target and is facing the Colts 3rd worst pass defense.  There’s going to be plenty of scoring here.

I liked Marquess Wilson as a regular season fantasy football pickup, and all those reasons apply equally for this week, particularly against a burnable 49ers defense, ranked 3rd worst by weighted DVOA on Football Outsiders.  Plus his price is particularly low here.

Tyreek Hill had 3 TDs in Week 12, one caught, one via running and one via kick return.  He’s a threat to score every time he touches the ball and has terrific upside for a reasonable price.  Plus the Falcons have the worst pass defense in the NFL.

Marqise Lee has broken out as a solid WR2 in Jacksonville, as he’s averaged 7 targets a game in his last 4, and all the reasons I liked him as a regular fantasy football pickup also apply here.  He has a tough matchup against the Broncos, but the Jaguars will have to throw to stay in the game, so Lee will have plenty of opportunity for essentially minimum pricing.

Alternative Options

Feel free to use any of the players that I’ve selected on one site in any other site if you have cap space.

In addition, you’re welcome to use:

  • QB Drew Brees vs. DET (FD: $9300 / DK: $7600 / Y!: $40) – He’s my top QB option if you have extra money this week.
  • QB Tom Brady vs. LA (FD: $8500 / DK: $7500 / Y!: $39)
  • QB Matt Stafford @ NO (FD: $8300 / DK: $7000 / Y!: $33)
  • RB Le’Veon Bell vs. NYG (FD: $9300 / DK: $9200 / Y!: $41)
  • RB Darren Sproles @ CIN (FD: $5500 / DK: $4400 / Y!: $17)
  • WR Antonio Brown vs. NYG (FD: $9000 / DK: $9100 / Y!: $39)
  • WR Julio Jones vs. KC (FD: $8300 / DK: $8700 / Y!: $36)
  • WR Doug Baldwin vs. CAR (FD: $6900 / DK: $6700 / Y!: $30)
  • WR Michael Thomas vs. DET (FD: $6900 / DK: $6900 / Y!: $22)
  • TE Kyle Rudolph vs. DAL (FD: $5400 / DK: $4100 / Y!: $17)
  • TE Martellus Bennett @ NYJ (FD: $5100 / DK: $4800 / Y!: $15) assuming he plays, since Rob Gronkowski is likely out for the season after back surgery.

UPDATE: Bennett will play in Week 13.

  • TE CJ Fiedorowicz @ GB (FD: $5000 / DK: $3800 / Y!: $16)
  • TE Vance McDonald @ CHI (FD: $4900 / DK: $2900 / Y!: $14)

UPDATE: Since Jordan Matthews is likely out this week, Dorial Green-Beckham is now an interesting punt play at WR.

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