“Buy or Bye”™ – Daily Fantasy Football Plays for Week 12 2023 Cash Games

November 25, 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 12 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 12 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 12 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 12 is to pay up for at least one RB to anchor your team and fill up on value at WR and DEF with a mid-priced QB option.
No “Free Square of the Week”™ in Week 12, but plenty of value below.
The Jacksonville Jaguars @ Houston Texans game has the 2nd highest over/under of the weekend slate (47.5) and a spread of just 1.5, so I’m in on most skill players here, including Christian Kirk, Calvin Ridley and Travis Etienne, in that order, for the Jaguars and C.J. Stroud, Tank Dell, Nico Collins and Dalton Shultz, in that order, for the Texans.
- The Texans have the second most passing yards per game of any team this season (277.7), and rookie CJ Stroud is on a heater over the last 3 games, averaging a ridiculous 387.3 passing yards and 3 TDs over that span. That’s a lot of yards and TDs to go around. Nico Collins, Tank Dell and Dalton Shultz are healthy, and Noah Brown has already been ruled out, so I like the opportunity. Dell is particularly high on my radar after scoring a TD in 3 straight games having been targeted a whopping 35 times over that stretch.
- Christian Kirk has somewhat quietly moved up to having the 21st most receiving yards (672) and 18th most receptions (52) among WRs this season, and he’s averaged 76 yards on 4.5 receptions from 8.5 targets over his last 2 games, so his floor is pretty solid in a game where he faces the Texans defense that’s just 25th against the pass. I like Calvin Ridley due to the matchup as well, and he perhaps has the higher ceiling, I prefer to get the higher floor for cash games.
I’m in on the Cardinals again with Kylar Murray and Trey McBride facing the Rams defense that’s just 17th overall. Murray has had back-to-back solid games after returning from injury with 231.5 pass yards, 44 rush yards and 3 total TDs over that time. The rushing yards provide a solid floor along with the TD upside. McBride has been super solid since Zach Ertz went on IR. He hasn’t been starting the entire season and is already up to the 7th most receiving yards (461) among TEs this season. He’s caught 13 of 16 targets from Murray since Murray returned from injury, so the chemistry is definitely there.
I know Derrick Henry has been disappointing over the last two weeks. But he’s still got the 7th most yards (663) form the 5th most carries (158) of any RB this season. The Panthers defense should be able to help break the mini-slump as they have the 5th best pass defense but only the 24th ranked run defense. I can see the Titans get back to their roots and go run-heavy this weekend to take advantage of that.
Over the last 3 games (and notably with Dorian Thompson-Robinson in as QB over the last 2), Jerome Ford has averaged 16.3 carries for 60.7 rush yards and 2.7 receptions on 4.3 targets for 14.3 receiving yards. Averaging over 20 touches a game is good news now that he gets to face a Broncos defense that’s ranked last at defending the run.
Demario Douglas has been the one bright spot for the New England Patriots in a completely lost season and his price across industry has barely moved, probably because the Patriots are so bad. Over the last 4 games, however, Douglas has had at least 4 receptions and at least 5 targets, averaging 5 receptions on 7.25 targets for 54.5 yards per game. He hasn’t caught a TD yet, but that might be rectified this weekend facing the 28th ranked New York Giants defense.
On defense, I love taking value and paying down, which means I like the Houston Texans Defense, which is discounted on all sites, but particularly FanDuel and Draft Kings, and gets to the afore mentioned Jaguars who have had the second most fumbles lost (11) this season. On Yahoo, I’m looking at the solid Philadelphia Eagles Defense facing a struggling Bills team and priced very reasonably.