“Buy or Bye”™ – Daily Fantasy Football Plays for Divisional Round Playoffs 2022 Cash Games

By Ha Kung Wong 

Twitter: @FBGarbageTime

In 2021, we were over 70% for cash lineups and we’re back with more Daily Fantasy Football advice for Cash Games for the Divisional Round Playoffs!

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 the Divisional Round Playoffs!

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 the Divisional Round Playoffs 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.
• For the Divisional Playoffs, feel free to try a couple different slates.  The Main Slates are typically just the 2 Sunday games, but there are also slates for just Saturday as well for the entire weekend.  I’m providing sample lineups for both Saturday and Sunday so you can see how I’ve prioritized players, so definitely mix your entries among the different slates.
• No real “Free Square of the Week”™ this week but if you’re looking to punt at RB or Flex, I still like both James Cook and Elijah Mitchell.
  • James Cook’s role in the Bills backfield has been steadily increasing throughout the season.  He’s essentially the 1B to Devin Singletary’s 1A.  He hasn’t been consistent, but he’s been much more efficient with his touches, and unlike Singletary, he doesn’t fumble.  He managed to come through in the Wild Card game with 12 carries for 39 yards and TD.  His heavily discounted price and decent upside gives you a chance to fit in more expensive players elsewhere.
  • Elijah Mitchell returned from injury in Week 18 to join Christian McCaffrey in the backfield and still put up 55 yards and 2 TDs.  And in the Wild Card game, Mitchell came through again with 4 touches for 27 total yards and a TD.  The 49ers are still a run first team with Brock Purdy under center and will continue to keep CMC fresh through what they hope to be a deep playoff run, so I like Mitchell to get his fair share of carries at a very discounted price, which should meet value against a Dallas defense that allowed the 11th most yards per game to opposing RBs during the regular season.
• The Jacksonville Jaguars @ Kansas City Chiefs the highest over/under (53.0) this weekend, which makes sense when you have the highest scoring team in the regular season in the Chiefs coming off a bye against a scrappy Jaguars team that just came off an amazing comeback against the Chargers.  The Jaguars defense is mediocre, but they’re better against the run than they are against the pass, where they allowed the 5th most passing yard per game in the regular season.
  • So I’m in on the entire Chiefs passing offense including Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce and, if you’re looking to punt at WR, Kadarius Toney.  I’m not sure I trust the rest of the receiving options as it’s impossible to predict who will be most involved.  I do also like Jerrick McKinnon, who has caught a TD in 6 games in a row, will have a fair share of targets out of the backfield and is priced down across industry.
  • For the Jaguars, who will have to throw to keep up, I like Trevor Lawrence, Christian Kirk, Zay Jones, Evan Engram and Travis Etienne.  I really like Engram since his price is reasonable throughout industry and he’s set new career-highs in receptions (73) and receiving yards (766) this season. He also caught 4 TDs and had two 100-yard receiving games in December, and caught 7 of a whopping 11 targets for 93 yards and a TD in the Wild Card game, so he’s definitely trending up.  Also don’t forget that Lawrence Lawrence faced Kansas City in Week 10 and was 29 of 40 passing for 259 yards and 2 TDs, along with 26 rush yards.  There’s some value to be had here, so go ahead and mix and match.
• The New York Giants @ Philadelphia Eagles game has an over/under of 48, but I expect there to be plenty of offense here as well.  The Eagles are favored but health could be an issue.
  • That being said, it’s hard to pass up on Jalen Hurts because of his high rushing floor and his TD upside.  He probably has the most upside of any QB this weekend since he’s facing a Giants defense that’s allowed the 5th most rush yards per game during the regular season.  And that means I also really like oft-overlooked Miles Sanders, who should have plenty of room to run too.  I like sprinkling in some AJ Brown and Devonta Smith as well, but not as much as Hurst and Sanders.
  • The Giants are coming off a big performance against the Vikings and Daniel Jones showed his rushing upside with 78 rush yards on whopping 17 carries.  The Eagles have a solid defense, but are also more vulnerable on the ground, so along with Jones, I like Saquon Barkley as well, if you have cap space to fit him in.  For the Giants, though, I prefer to get value from Isaiah Hodgins, who has become the default WR1, and Richie James Jr. instead of paying up on the others.
• The Cincinnati Bengals @ Buffalo Bills is the game that everyone will want to see and it has the 2nd highest over/under (49) this weekend and both pass defenses right in the middle of the pack during the regular season (Bills are ranked 15th and the Bengals are ranked 22nd).  Unfortunately, both teams also had lackluster performances in Wild Card Weekend.
  • For the Bills I’m in on Stefon Diggs, Gabe Davis, Dawson Knox and Josh Allen, in that order.  I think the receiving options should be fine, but Allen gave up 3 turnovers last week and I’m not keen on the elevated pricing.
  • For the Bengals, I like Ja’Marr Chase, Joe Burrow and Tee Higgins, in that order.  Chase will likely get target frequently in what looks to be a shootout, and Burrow did have the second most passing TDs per game (2.18) this season, so I don’t mind playing him.  I’m not big on any RBs in this game, but for punting with Cook which I mentioned above.
• The final game of the weekend is the Dallas Cowboys @ San Francisco 49ers.
  • We saw Dak Prescott put on a show last week, but he’ll have a tougher road against he 49ers who have the number 1 defense in the league.  That being said, there’s some potential for the 49ers to be beat through the air as they like to rely on their pass rush, leaving WRs 1-on-1, something that CeeDee Lamb absolutely loves.  Dalton Schultz put on a show too, but the 49ers are better against TEs than the Bucs, so temper expectations.  I’m likely to fade both Cowboys RBs though as I don’t see much running room against a stout 49ers defense.
  • If you’re looking to save some cap space, I actually really like Brock Purdy, who’s been terrific since taking over under center for the 49ers and put up an impressive 302 yards passing and 3 TDs in his Wild Card game against the Seahawks.  The Cowboys defense is better than that, but we saw them abused by the Washington Commanders and Sam Howell in Week 18, and Purdy just has so many weapons on offense to choose from.  Speaking of weapons, let’s talk Christian McCaffrey and Deebo Samuel.  I think both will be heavily involved as the Cowboys are more vulnerable on the ground than in the air, and both contribute with carries and catches.  I’m probably fading George Kittle though, as I see him being used as a blocker to slow the Cowboys pass rush.
• Feel free to play the cheapest defense available, but note that the Bills have surprisingly had the 3rd most giveaways during the regular season, and Josh Allen had 2 INTs and a fumble in Wild Card Weekend.  So the Cincinnati Bengals Defense may be a cheap play with upside.

Good luck everyone with your Super Wild Card Weekend Cash Lineups, and I’ll see you next week for some Divisional Playoff Cash Lineup suggestions!