“Buy or Bye”™ – Daily Fantasy Football Plays for Week 17 2020 Cash Games

January 2, 2021

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 17 of the 2020 season! We’re 72% on lineups so far this year, but we’re looking to win even more in 2020!

You’re welcome. ?

As usual, before we get to winning you more 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 17 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 17 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 Squares of the Week”™ are Alexander Mattison, Ty Montgomery and Malcolm Brown, in that order. With Dalvin Cook out, Mattison will be the starting Vikings RB against the Detroit Lions and their 29th ranked run defense. He’s near minimum price across industry, so makes for a terrific Flex play, or even an RB play to allow you pay up elsewhere. Ty Montgomery is the last man standing in New Orleans, with Alvin Kamara and Latavius Murray out due to COVID. Montgomery doesn’t have much of a track record, but he’s a converted receiver that has the PPR upside and will have plenty of opportunity in a game the Saints are looking to win, plus he isn’t just near minimum salary, he IS minimum salary across the industry. Malcolm Brown is my last free square, and he’s also last man standing, as Darrell Henderson is on IR and Cam Akers listed as questionable. With Jared Goff also out, I can see the Rams embracing the run in a must-win game against the Cardinals, so I like the spot for Brown at solid value pricing.
- With respect to the Saints, with Michael Thomas out on top of all the RBs, I expect Jared Cook to also get plenty of opportunities, so feel free to roster him as well.
The Tennessee Titans @ Houston Texans game has the highest over/under of the weekend (56.5) and is a game the Titans need to win. The Texans have nothing to play for, but look to end the season on a high note, and I expect this to be a shootout, with the Titans having the 15th ranked defense and the Texans having the 30th ranked defense. For the Titans, I’m in on Derrick Henry, AJ Brown and Corey Davis, in that order, and for the Texans, I’m in on Brandin Cooks, Deshaun Watson, Keke Coutee and Chad Hansen, in that order. In fact, Henry is my top RB play of the week, particularly since Henry is “only” 223 yards away from 2,000 rushing yards, and you should have no problem fitting him in with all the other RB value available.
The Ravens need a win to make the playoffs, so they should be full speed ahead against the Bengals and their 23rd ranked defense. That means I’m all in on Lamar Jackson with his rushing floor as well as his favorite target, Mark Andrews. Over the last 4 games, Jackson has averaged 174 passing yards, 83.25 rush yards and 3 TDs. I don’t see that falling off this week.
Laviska Shenault has played tons of snaps when healthy this season and has 24 targets over the past three weeks, totaling 16 receptions for 140 total yards and a TD. He should have even more opportunity this week with both Collin Johnson and DJ Chark our, plus Mike Glennon taking over under center.
Jerry Jeudy and Tim Patrick also look like solid value plays this week. Both WRs have potential for a strong finish against the Raiders 26th ranked pass defense. Jeudy has been the default WR1 since Courtland Sutton landed on IR in Week 2. He leads the team with 106 targets and has hauled in 47 catches for 716 yards and a pair of scores. He’s had some drop issues, but that should improve. Patrick is averaging 17.7% of the team’s total targets and in the red zone, both ranked 3rd most on the team. He should get plenty of work in Week 17 as well.
The Packers are always in play, particularly in a must-win game against the Bears to secure the bye week. I’m leaning towards Davante Adams and Robert Tonyan, but you can also play Aaron Rodgers if you’d like. And if you’re trying to save money on QB, I don’t mind playing some Mitchell Trubisky and David Montgomery since this is also a must-win for the Bears if they want a shot at a playoff bid.
With the Steelers and Chiefs sitting most of their key starters in Week 17, I don’t mind using players from both the Browns and Chargers respectively. In particular, I really like Mike Williams with Keenan Allen and Hunter Henry out. That being said, I’m mostly in on the Cleveland Browns and Los Angeles Chargers Defenses this week, as they’re both facing backup skill players and are extremely affordable.