“Buy or Bye”™ – Daily Fantasy Football Plays for Week 17 2022 Cash Games

December 31, 2022

By Ha Kung Wong

In 2021, 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 2022 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!

Let’s get to winning you some CASH in Week 17 of the 2022 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 and player props for Week 17 contests, along with they’re prices.

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 for DFS. We all know that the likes of Patrick Mahomes 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.
My approach to DFS in Week 17 is either to pay up for QB or WR and TE and to get value at RB and the remaining WRs.
No “Free Square of the Week”™ this week, but there’s plenty of value, as you’ll note below.
The Chicago Bears @ Detroit Lions game has the highest over/under (52.5) this weekend, and both teams have subpar defenses (Bears being 24th and the Lions being 32nd in the NFL) so I’m on board with both offenses. For the Bears, I like Justin Fields, David Montgomery and Cole Kmet in that order. Fields threw for 167 yards with 2 passing TDs and a whopping 147 rush yards with 2 rushing TDs the last time he faced the Lions. I can see him repeating, particularly playing indoors without weather factoring in. For the Lions, I like Amon-Ra St. Brown, Jared Goff and D.J. Chark, in that order. St. Brown in particular caught 10 of 11 targets for 119 yards last time he faced the Bears, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he did that again as well. The Lions RBs are in a 3 way time share, so I’m likely fading them.
The Minnesota Vikings @ Green Bay Packers game has the 2nd highest over/under (48.5) of the main slate, and the game is meaningful for both sides as playoff berths and seeding are at stake, so both sides have some solid plays. For the Vikings, I like Justin Jefferson, T.J. Hockenson, Dalvin Cook and Kirk Cousins. For the Packers, I like Alan Lazard, Romeo Daubs and Christian Watson, if he plays. I favor Lazard over Daubs because Lazard was targeted 11 times last week catching 5 of them for 61 yards, so he looks to be getting the most targets, but all Green Bay pass catchers are in play with Minnesota’s pass defense ranking last in the NFL allowing at least 300 passing yards to 6 of their last 7 opponents. The Packers RB usage has been mystifying, so I’m not keen on spending cap space on Aaron Jones or AJ Dillon, but you’re welcome to roll the dice in a few lineups.
Gardner Minshew is back in play again against the New Orleans Saints, after putting up 355 passing yards, 2 passing TDs, 5 rush yards and a rushing TD. His price is slightly elevated, but he’s still a good deal with all the weapons around him.
- As corollary to the above, Miles Sanders should get plenty of work on the ground, so I like playing him as well.
Tyler Allgeier is heating up while Cordarrelle Patterson appears to be cooling off. Last week, Allgeier received 59% of the snaps while Patterson only had 37%. The Falcons rush at the second-highest rate in the NFL, the Cardinals are 27th in rush defense and allow the 2nd highest touchdown rate in the red zone. It’s time to fire up Allgeier at his discounted price.
Drake London had 70% of Desmond Ridder’s passing yards in Week 15. Of course, that’s only 70 receiving yards, but London’s 29.1% target share is impressive and ranks 4th in the NFL. London followed that up in Week 16 by catching 7 of 9 targets for 96 yards. It’s pretty clear than Ridder likes to lock on to London, and the Cardinals defense are only 26th against the pass, none of which isn’t reflected in London’s pricing, so lock him in.
Don’t forget that the Atlanta Falcons Defense gets to face the Arizona Cardinals with David Blough under center, their 4th string QB who just joined the team a little over 2 weeks ago. Also, don’t forget that the top end San Francisco 49ers Defense is facing the Las Vegas Raiders who have just benched Derek Carr in favor of Jarrett Stidham. Both have great matchups.