“Buy or Bye”™ – Daily Fantasy Football Plays for Week 15 2020 Cash Games

December 19, 2020

By Ha Kung Wong

In 2019, we were over 70% for cash lineups and we’re back with more Daily Fantasy Football advice for Cash Games for Week 15 of the 2020 season! We’re 68.0% on lineups so far this year, but we’re looking to win even more in 2020!

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 a few 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 2020 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.

As per usual, 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 Week 15 contests, along with they’re prices on FanDuel (“FD”), Draft Kings (“DK”) and Yahoo! Daily Fantasy (“Y!”).

FanDuel

Draft Kings

Yahoo! DFS

Game Notes:

For those new to this column, note that I never advocate against you paying up at any particular position. We all know that the likes of Patrick Mahomes is probably going to have the most consistent upside in terms of potential fantasy points from week to week. But remember that DFS is a salary cap game. You can feel free to sprinkle high priced players into your lineups, but you can’t pay up at every position because there’s simply not enough salary to go around. I try my best each week to provide my thoughts on how you might want to balance your cash lineups in terms of points potential and salary.
The “Free Square of the Week”™ is Russell Gage. With Julio Jones out again, Gage steps in to the WR2 spot for a Falcons team that will have to throw to keep up with the Buccaneers, as the Bucs have the best run defense in the league, but only rank 22nd against the pass. In Week 14, Gage caught 5 of 7 targets for 82 yards and had 39 yard passing TD. Importantly, for the price, you get a nice floor with upside.
The Jaguars have the worst defense in the league, which means I’m on the Baltimore Ravens this week, particularly after an impressive comeback victory over the Browns in Week 14. Lamar Jackson bounced back making huge plays on the ground and over the air, and Trace McSorley looked less than adequate, so I don’t think he sits this week if this becomes a blowout. With no Marquise Brown, I also like Mark Andrews who should get plenty of targets. And finally, JK Dobbins has some good value after leading the Ravens in carries in Week 14 with 13 for 53 yards and TD.
If you’re looking to save cap space on your QB, I’m in on Jalen Hurts against the Arizona Cardinals. Hurts just headed up an upset against a Saints’ defense that’s been on fire, throwing for 273 yards and a TD and tacking on a whopping 106 rush yards. The rushing floor is huge, particularly at his price across industry.
Believe it or not, the Bears offense may be relevant again after big blowout against the Texans. So I don’t mind using Mitchell Trubisky, Allen Robinson and David Montgomery in what’s suppose to be a very close game against a 23rd ranked Vikings defense and with just a 3 point spread. Over the last 3 games, Montgomery is averaging just over 136 scrimmage yards and has 4 total TDs. I’m buying in on more of that. On the other side of the ball, I don’t mind using Adam Thielen or Justin Jefferson, but I’m fading Dalvin Cook because of the high price and the substandard results the last time.
Speaking of a Texans beat down, guess who gets to play the 31st ranked defense this week? The Colts do, and we’ve seen two skill players breakout (or re-breakout) over the last couple weeks, Jonathan Taylor and TY Hilton. I like both this week, and particularly Taylor since the Texans allow around 180 yards from scrimmage per game to RBs.
Believe it or not, JD McKissic has the 2nd most receptions and receiving yards among RBs in the NFL this year. With Antonio Gibson likely to be out again, I don’t mind sprinkling him in.
The Kansas City Chiefs @ New Orleans Saints game should be an interesting one with the highest over/under of Sunday (52.5), and has significant playoff implications, so I’m in on players on both sides. I’m probably fading Drew Brees, but I like Alvin Kamara a lot, and don’t mind saving some cap space with Emmanuel Sanders or Jared Cook with Mike Thomas out. On the other side, Patrick Mahomes, Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce are in place if you have the cap space.
At defense, I usually just take value, and there are a couple good choices this week depending on the site. As you can see, I like paying down for the Washington Football Team defense, who have the 4th most sacks this season (40) against the Seahawks, who have the 7th most INTs this season (12) or really pay down for the Dallas Cowboys defense against the Falcons, who have the 10th most INTs this season (11) and will be without Julio Jones.
UPDATE – With Jakeem Grant out and Devante Parker at best playing injured, Lynn Bowden surfaces as a sneaky punt option at WR. Last week he had 7 of 9 for 82 yards, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see a similar line for essentially minimum price.
UPDATE – With Zeke Elliott out, Tony Pollard is a really interesting Flex punt today as well.