“Buy or Bye”™ – Daily Fantasy Football Plays for Week 4 2023 Cash Games

September 30, 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 4 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 4 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 4 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 4 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 Adam Thielen. Over the last two weeks, Thielen has averaged 9 receptions from 11.5 targets and has back-to-back TD games. This weekend he faces Vikings a defense ranked 25th against the pass and allowing a 76.6% catch rate and 9.86 yards per target to opposing wide receivers (3-most in both categories). On top of that, there’s a nice #Revenge narrative against his old team. For his discount price, I love the play.
The Buffalo Bills @ Miami Dolphins game has the highest over/under of the weekend (53.5) and just a spread of 3, so I’m in on most of the skill players here, it’s just that most of them are pretty expensive. If you have the cap space, I particularly like Stefon Diggs, Gabe Davis, James Cook and Tyreek Hill, but feel free to sprinkle any of the skill players in this game.
I’ve been on Justin Herbert from the beginning of the season and he’s scored the second most DFS points among QBs through Week 3. That doesn’t end here against the 16th ranked Raiders pass defense. Keenan Allen has also been amazing this season and will likely get even more targets with Mike Williams out for the season. He currently has the most receptions (10.66) on the 2nd most targets (13) for the 3rd most yards (134) per game of any WR this season. He even had a passing TD in Week 3. Is there anything he can’t do?
Justin Fields has been a huge letdown this season, but we do know the one thing he does well is run. The Broncos were just decimated on the ground for nearly 350 yards and five rushing TDs. On top of that, the Broncos have allowed at least two passing TDs to each QB they have faced this year. If there’s a time to take advantage of Fields depressed salary, it’s now. And if you’d like to save a little cap space, I also don’t mind playing Roschon Johnson, who’s been one of the few brights spots on the Bears offense this season and is pretty cheap across industry. He’s averaging 9 touches per game, and he should have plenty of room to run with increased opportunity this week.
Tony Pollard has the 4th most carries and 4th most receptions per game among RBs this season and his carries within the opposing team’s 5-yard line leads all RBs in the league. Plus, he has a nice matchup in Week 4 against Patriots defense that is more vulnerable against the run than the pass.
Alvin Kamara is back from his suspension, and call it a hunch, but he’s cheap across industry and will likely have plenty of opportunity with Jamaal Williams on IR. He gets to face the 24th ranked Bucs defense for his return.
Jakobi Meyers has quietly had the 8th most receptions (8) on the 7th most targets (11) per game since rejoining former Patriots offensive coordinator and current Raiders head coach Josh McDaniels. Now he gets to face a Chargers defense ranked last at defending the pass and that has allowed the 2nd most fantasy points to wide receivers this season.
George Kittle had a big game in Week 3 with Brandon Aiyuk on the sideline catching 7 of 9 targets for 90 yards. Aiyuk looks like he’s on track to return, but Deebo Samuel has missed practice all week and remains questionable. Either way, Kittle should continue to have extended opportunities against a Cardinals defense that’s only 21st against the pass and had trouble defending against TEs this season.
On defense, I love taking value and paying down, and one of the surprisingly better defenses this season, the Houston Texans, is priced down across industry and gets to face a Steelers offense that’s ranked just 27th overall.
UPDATE 9/30/23 – With literally a third of the defensive starters now ruled out for the Bears this week, I’m on most Broncos skill players, including Russell Wilson and Javonte Williams.
UPDATE 10/1/23 – With Deshaun Watson out, I don’t mind gambling with Dorian Thompson-Robinson and filling up with premium players at other positions from the Bills v. Dolphins game and elsewhere.