“Buy or Bye”™ – Daily Fantasy Football Plays for Week 17 2021 Cash Games

By Ha Kung Wong 

Twitter: @FBGarbageTime

In 2020, 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 2021 season!

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!

And this year, we’re also adding our ThriveFantasy prop picks to help you win even MORE money!

Let’s get to winning you some CASH in Week 17 of the 2021 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. ?

ThriveFantasy is actually quite a bit different.  There you have your choice of various player prop bets to pick from.  You can enter a traditional contest where you pick the Over or Under on 10 of the available prop bets, getting more points for risker picks, and compete for the most points in the contest.  Or you can just select two, three, or four player prop bets to create a custom lineup from the list of player predictions. Pick 2/2 correctly, win 3.6x your entry amount ($10 entry wins $36). Pick 3/3 correctly win 6.2x your entry. Pick 4/4 correctly win 11x your entry amount. The only limitation is that you choose athletes from more than one team to be able to enter.

I’ll be providing my 2 way prop bet picks each and every week!

If you’d like to try ThriveFantasy, go to www.ThriveFantasy.com and use code GARBAGETIME to get an instant deposit match up to $100! 

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.

FanDuel 

Draft Kings 

Yahoo! DFS

ThriveFantasy

Game Notes:

• For those new to this column, note that I never advocate against you paying up at any particular position for DFS.  We all know that the likes of Josh Allen and Davante Adams are 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.
• I don’t have a “Free Square of the Week”™, but I do think there’s some value to be had at WR and RB positions.
  • Ronald Jones looked great playing for the injured Leonard Fournette, and that should continue this week against the lowly Jets defense who allow the 2nd most rush yards per game (141.3) this season.  His price remains depressed for some reason so keep playing him.
  • Darrel Williams will get the start in Kansas City with Clyde Edwards-Hillaire ruled out but will have to share the backfield with Derrick Gore.  I still like him as a value play, mostly on FanDuel.
  • Rashaad Penny is also a decent mid-value play coming off a 135-yard plus a TD performance in Week 16 and now facing the bottom-5 Detroit Lions run defense.
  • I actually like Jaret Patterson a little more as a value play all-around with Antonio Gibson ruled out for Washington.  He should have plenty of targets and opportunity for near minimum price.
  • With Corey Davis and Elijah Moore out, Braxton Berrios has stepped up big as a WR/Flex punt play to open up cap space elsewhere as he’s garnered 17 targets over the last 3 games and a return for TD.  He’s still near minimum pricing across the industry, so I love playing him this week if you need cap space.
• At QB, I’m in on Matt Stafford rebounding and I love the fact that his price has been depressed due to a sub-par Week 16 performance.  He’s facing a Ravens defense that has allowed the most passing yards per game (280.5) this season, a perfect setup for a get-right game.  If you can squeeze in Cooper Kupp as Stafford’s number 1 target, I wouldn’t hesitate to do that as well, but his price make it pretty tough.  I don’t mind betting on Dak Prescott either in an important game against the Cardinals, which has the highest over/under of the weekend at 51.5, or paying down to take Tyler Huntley who is priced down on Draft Kings and has a great rushing floor.
• Mark Andrews now has the most receiving yards (79.13) on the most receptions (6.2) and most targets (8.8) per game of any TE in the NFL this season.  It doesn’t matter who’s throwing him the ball, Andrews will get his. I don’t mind pivoting to Travis Kelce since he’s cheaper if you need the cap space, but I think the drop off on upside and floor gets pretty big after the top 2 TEs.
• On defense, I love taking value and paying down, which means that I like the San Francisco 49ers defense against the Atlanta Falcons and the Denver Broncos defense against the Cincinnati Bengals.  The 49ers have 9 sacks and 5 takeaways over the last two games and has a plus matchup against a Falcons offense that averages just 18.8 points.  The Broncos face a Bengals team that have the 6th most giveaways (21) and have allowed the 3rd most sacks (41) this season.  Feel free to mix and match.
• With regard to ThriveFantasy, I’m in on the Matt Stafford passing TDs + INTs prop and Davante Adams receiving yards prop.  Want to know why?  Check out our “Scares & Dares”™️ podcast episode, and also get Joanne’s player prop bet picks of the week!

Good luck everyone with your Week 17 Cash Lineups, and I’ll see you next week for some Week 18 Cash Lineups!