Best Daily Fantasy Football Plays for Cash Games – Week 15 2018

December 15, 2018

By Ha Kung Wong

We were 20 for 26 in cash lineups over the last 5 weeks, and we’re back for more cash in Week 15!

As usual, before we get to winning you bragging rights (and DFS cash), remember, the point of this article is not just to give you one or two lineups for each site, it’s to give you examples of one or two POSSIBLE lineups. Getting exposure to a few different lineups is always a good idea, so don’t forget to mix and match additional lineups from my suggestions below. Trust me, it’s a lot more fun that way AND you’ll improve your chances of cashing!

Let’s get to winning you some CASH in Week 15 of the 2018 NFL season!

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.

And this year, I’m trying something different. I’m going to provide you with a few sample lineups on each site and give you a few notes to consider. You’re welcome. 🙂

And don’t forget to check out this week’s Podcast where Ryan, Joey and I discuss some of our DFS thoughts at the end of the episode!

So, without further to do, here are my suggestions for the Best Daily Fantasy Football Plays for Cash Games for Week 15 contests, along with they’re prices on Fan Duel (“FD”), Draft Kings (“DK”) and Yahoo! Daily Fantasy (“Y!”).

FanDuel

Draft Kings

Yahoo! DFS

Game Notes:

The New England Patriots and the Pittsburgh Steelers have the highest over/under of the weekend (53.5). Both defenses are nothing special, with the Steelers having the 16th and the Patriots 21st ranked defenses in the NFL per DVOA, while both offenses are top 10 with the Steelers having the 5th and the Patriots having the 6th best overall offense in the NFL per DVOA. The Steelers are slowly imploding at the end of the season, but their now home in an important AFC matchup, so I’m in on Ben Roethlisberger, Antonio Brown and JuJu Smith-Schuster, and I don’t mind punting on Vance McDonald if you need to save cash. And if James Conner doesn’t play (which seems likely at this point), I don’t mind going back to the well with Jaylen Samuels. The same is true for the Patriots, so I’m in on Tom Brady (particularly at a discount on Draft Kings), Julian Edelman, Josh Gordon and Rob Gronkowski. This one promises to be a shootout, so I’m prioritizing this game for DFS this week.
Ezekiel Elliott has the most rush yards per game (97.1) of any RB in the NFL this year so far and has at least 135 yards per scrimmage in his last 5 games also totaling 5 TDs over that stretch. The Colts aren’t a pushover on the ground, but Elliott is matchup proof. I also like Amari Cooper, as he’s really fit in well with the Cowboys of late as their top receiving target.
Oakland has the 27th ranked defense against the run and Joe Mixon has quietly had the 5th most rush yards per game (78.7) of any RB in the NFL. He comes at a slight discount, so I like him as a solid play this week. And I also don’t mind punting with C.J. Uzomah at TE since he’s averaged 4.25 receptions on 6.5 targets in his last 4 games, so the opportunity is certainly there to produce at the dirt cheap price.
I don’t love the Giants offense, but with OBJ out again, I don’t mind looking to Sterling Shepard as a WR punt play. Tennessee has a decent defense, but their 3rd worst defending WR1s per DVOA, so perhaps Shepard gets it going this week.
The Lions have the second WORST defense against the pass per DVOA. They’re best against WR1s (24th), which isn’t saying much, and their abysmal against WR2s (30th). So if you’re looking at value, I’m not opposed to punting with Zay Jones or Robert Foster.
The Ravens have one of the best defenses in the NFL, but are surprisingly just 26th against TEs, which means that Cameron Brate is a nice cheap play this week if you’d rather pay up elsewhere.
With Rashaad Penny out this week, I like Chris Carson even more. I probably would have played him even if Penny was in, as he’s been a total work horse for the Seahawks. He’s quietly averaged the 10th most rushing yards (72.2) on the 9th most carries (16.3) this season, and is coming off a whopping 22 carries in Week 14 against the Vikings.
If Dante Pettis plays, I like him as a equal cost pivot from the Bills WRs, but the foot injury does concern me. Seattle has been stout on defense recently, but their only 26th against WR1s and 20th against WR2s. If Pettis doesn’t play, George Kittle is a lock and load option at TE. Even if Pettis plays, I still like Kittle if you want to pay up as he’s averaged the most receiving yards per game (84.8) on the 3rd most receptions per game (5.3) of any TE in the NFL this season.
As for defense, I’d just take the best value on each site in this order: (1) Jaguars, (2) Ravens, (3) Vikings, (4) Bears (5) Bills and (6) Titans. Vikings are the best value on FanDuel, the Ravens on Draft Kings and the Jaguars on Yahoo DFS.
UPDATE – I added one more sample lineup on FanDuel and Draft Kings and made some modifications in light of the fact that Jaylen Samuels is likely to start today and Dante Pettis has been cleared to play.
UPDATE – With LeSean McCoy and Chris Ivory out, you’re welcome to punt at RB with Marcus Murphy if you’re really strapped for cap space.
In case you want to continue with the RB punt approach, Jordan Howard is a ridiculously low $3900 on Draft Kings coming off a 100 yard rushing game and facing a Packers team that allows the 7th most rushing yards per game this season (126.2).