“Buy or Bye”™ – Daily Fantasy Football Plays for Week 3 2023 Cash Games

September 23, 2023

By Ha Kung Wong

In 2022, we were over 70% for cash lineups again and we’re back with more Daily Fantasy Football advice for Cash Games for Week 3 of the 2023 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 as we did last year, we’re also adding our top two player prop picks to help you win even MORE money!

Let’s get to winning you some CASH in Week 3 of the 2023 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 3 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 and Christian McCaffrey 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 3 is to rely on at least one solid RB and TE to anchor my team, take a mid-ranged QB and fill up the remainder with value, particularly at WR.
The “Free Square of the Week”™ is Jerome Ford. Nick Chubb is unfortunately out for the season and the Browns have declared that they have confidence in Ford being their lead back. They did bring back Kareem Hunt, but keep in mind that Hunt was let go in the off season because the Browns thought that Ford was better, so I don’t think that changes now. In Week 2 he had 16 carries for 106 rush yards and 3 receptions for 25 receiving yards and a TD. Even with Chubb in Week 1, Ford got 15 carries, so the Browns definitely see him as a significant part of the offense. Although he has a tougher matchup against the Titans, there’s some upside here for hugely discounted pricing.
The Los Angeles Chargers @ Minnesota Vikings game has the highest over/under of the weekend (54.5) and just a spread of 1.5, so I’m in on most of the skill players here, particularly Justin Herbert, Keenan Allen, Mike Williams and Joshua Kelley for the Chargers and Kirk Cousins, Justin Jefferson, T.J. Hockenson and Jordan Addison. I’ve been on Herbert from the beginning of the season and he’s scored the second most DFS points among QBs through Week 2. That doesn’t end here against the 16th ranked Vikings defense. And guess who scored the most DFS points through Week 2? That’s right, Kirk Cousins. So I’m loading up on both sides.
Tony Pollard has the 4th most carries and 3rd most receptions per game among RBs this season and his 12 carries within the opposing team’s 5-yard line leads all RBs in the league. Plus, he has a nice matchup in Week 3 against Arizona’s 18th ranked run defense that’s already allowed 3 TDs to opposing RBs this season.
Kenneth Walker had 67% of Seattle’s rushing attempts and just scored 2 TDs against the Lions in Wek 2. Now he gets to face the Panthers 31st ranked run defense that has allowed 4 TDs over 2 weeks.
There’s not much I have to say about Travis Kelce. He’s clearly in a tier of his own, but DFS ownership has been lower due to coming off an injury and a mediocre performance in Week 2. He still got a team-high nine targets in Week 2, which put his target share on top of all other TEs that had at least 25 routes, so his opportunity is locked in. And let’s face it, the Bears defense has not be good.
I love Nico Collins. He’s extremely cheap and saw the 5th most targets (11) among WRs in Week 1 and followed that up with catching 7 of 9 targets for 146 yards and a TD in Week 2. And now he gets to face 25th ranked Jaguars pass defense in a game where Houston is likely to be chasing points.
Michael Pittman has seen an average of 11.5 targets per game this season, which ranks fourth in the NFL. Pittman should be fine regardless of who is throwing him the ball facing a Baltimore pass defense that has allowed the 8th-most receiving yards this year.
Odell Beckham Jr. will miss Week 3 with an ankle injury and Rashod Bateman is still on a snap count, so Zay Flowers has some opportunity in Week 3. Flowers’ 7.9 yards after the catch per reception is top 10 among outside WRs. He’s already averaging 6.5 receptions on 7.5 targets for 70 yards over two weeks and gets a great matchup in Week 3 against the Colts 29th ranked pass defense.
On defense, I love taking value and paying down, and one of the better defenses of the weekend, the New York Jets Defense, is priced down FanDuel and Draft Kings. They face the Patriots this week who allowed 6 sacks and 4 giveaways over the first two weeks. On Yahoo I like the Seattle Seahawks Defense, who are essentially minimum priced and get to face Andy Dalton under center for the Panthers with Bryce Young ruled out.