Best Daily Fantasy Football Plays for Cash Games – Wild Card Playoffs

January 4, 2019

By Ha Kung Wong

We were 33 for 41 (80.5%) in cash lineups over the last 8 weeks, and we’re back for more cash in Wild Card Weekend!

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 Wild Card Weekend 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. 🙂

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

UPDATE: Hunter Henry will NOT be activated this week from the PUP list. So go ahead and pivot to Antonio Gates, Blake Jarwin (who had a break out Week 17) or Mark Andrews (who’s had consistent targets from Lamar Jackson over the last three games), all of which are around the same price point.

UPDATE 2: Trey Burton is now QUESTIONABLE to play, so be prepared to pivot off of him if he’s out. Feel free to use any of the above, plus Adam Shaheen since he’ll be the feature TE in Chicago if Burton sits.

FanDuel

Draft Kings

Yahoo! DFS

Game Notes:

Feel free to check out my breakdown of the Eagles @ Bears game and the Chargers @ Ravens game. The Cliff Notes are that I like Tarik Cohen, Allen Robinson and the Bears defense on the Chicago side and prefer to stay away from everyone on the Eagles side. Zac Ertz is always in play, but I’d prefer to pay up elsewhere due to the matchup and the cost. If you’re looking for value, I don’t mind an Anthony Miller punt if he’s healthy, Taylor Gabriel as a punt at the Flex or Trey Burton as a punt at TE. After all, no team allowed more receptions (6.4), faced more targets (10.3) or allowed more receiving yards per game (90.3) to opposing lead receivers than the Eagles this season, so why can’t others get into the action? As for the Chargers, I like Melvin Gordon and Hunter Henry (and if he doesn’t play, then Antonio Gates). Otherwise, I’m staying away from the rest of the Chargers in a tough matchup. On the Ravens side I like Lamar Jackson if you’re looking for value (though his price is pretty high on most sites, in which case I’ll fade him) and the Ravens defense (only if you don’t want to pay up for the Bears). If you want to punt at RB/Flex, I don’t mind rolling the dice with Gus Edwards or Kenneth Dixon. I’m off all the pass catchers in Baltimore.
My favorite value plays this week are Keke Coutee and Hunter Henry (assuming both return from injury). Coutee is a target monster when healthy, and put up 109 yards on 11 reception in Week 4 against the Colts, plus he’s basically minimum price on all sites and Demaryius Thomas is on IR. Henry is in a similar situation, and although he’ll be on a pitch count, the Ravens are only 22nd defending TEs, so even a limited number of snaps could be good for the price. Just remember to double check his availability and pivot to Gates if he doesn’t play.
The Indianapolis Colts and the Houston Texans have the highest over/under of the week (48) with a very close spread as the Texans are favored by only 2. So I expect plenty of back and forth scoring. The Texans have the 7th best defense in the NFL, but are only 18th against the pass. So I really like Andrew Luck and T.Y. Hilton this week, and to a slightly lesser extent, Eric Ebron. The Colts are the 10th best defense in the league, but are only 20th against the pass, so I really like DeAndre Hopkins and the aforementioned Keke Coutee. I also don’t mind Deshaun Watson, but prefer Luck if you’re paying up, or getting value elsewhere.
The Cowboys have a challenging matchup, but they excel at home, where they are 7-1 this year. Ezekiel Elliott makes my love list, as he leads all RBs at rush yards per game this year, while I don’t mind using Dak Prescott or Amari Cooper if you’re looking for value, but keep in mind their volatility. Michael Gallup is worthy punt play as well. I’m generally staying away from Seattle because of Dallas’ strong defense and because it’s hard to predict if Doug Baldwin or Tyler Lockett will get the most targets week-to-week. Chris Carson is fine just based on usage, but I like prioritizing Elliott more.