“Buy or Bye”™ – Daily Fantasy Football Plays for Week 13 2023 Cash Games

December 1, 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 13 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 13 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 13 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 13 is to pay up for at least one WR and/or RB to anchor your team and fill up on value at WR and DEF with an upper mid-priced QB option.
The “Free Square of the Week”™ in Week 13 is Zack Moss. Jonathan Taylor is going to miss 2-3 weeks with a thumb injury and we know that Moss has averaged ridiculous 24 touches and 93.3 yards per game without Taylor. He’s priced near minimum across industry, so just lock him in, enjoy the extra cap space and move on.
The Miami Dolphins @ Washington Commanders game has the highest over/under of the weekend slate (49.5) and a spread of 9.5, but if you remember the Dolphins game against the Broncos, the Dolphins aren’t likely to stop scoring even if their by multiple scores. That means I’m in on almost every Dolphins skill player against the Commanders 30th ranked pass defense and 17th ranked run defense, including Tyreek Hill, Jaylen Waddle, Tua Tagovailoa, Raheem Mostert and De’Von Achane, in that order. I’m staying away from the Commanders, though. I have no idea how they’ll do as they’re awfully inconsistent.
The San Francisco 49ers @ Philadelphia Eagles game is tied for the 2nd highest over/under of the weekend slate (47.5) and a spread of just 3 and is likely the most interesting game of the weekend for both playoff implications and fantasy football. Both defenses have been solid, but they also have allowed some significant scoring, in particular the Eagles who have just the 29th ranked pass defense in the NFL this season. Thus, I prefer the 49ers skill players, including Brock Purdy, Brandon Aiyuk, Deebo Samuel, George Kittle and Christian McCaffrey, in that order. The 49ers defense is 2nd against the run, but 12th against the pass, so there’s some potential there for the WRs, including AJ Brown and Devonta Smith. I don’t mind Jalen Hurts, but he’s very expensive across industry, and particular so on FanDuel.
The Denver Broncos @ Houston Texans game is the other game tied for the 2nd highest over/under of the weekend slate (47.5) and a spread of just 3.5 and, as usual, I’m in on using the Texans, including C.J. Stroud, Tank Dell and Nico Collins, in that order. The Texans have the second most passing yards per game of any team this season (276.2), and rookie CJ Stroud now has the most passing yards (296.91) and 8th most passing TDs (1.73) per game this season among all QBs in the league. Dalton Shultz has been ruled out this week, so I like the opportunity for the remaining pass catchers. For the Broncos, I’m probably staying with just Russell Wilson versus the Texans defense that’s just 27th against the pass.
I’m in again on Trey McBride facing the Steelers defense that’s just 24th against the pass. 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 (521) on the 8th most receptions (48) on the 8th most targets (65) among TEs this season. He’s caught 20 of 25 targets from Murray since Murray returned from injury, so the chemistry is definitely there.
I know Derrick Henry has been disappointing this season, but last week was almost vintage Henry with 76 rush yards and 2 TDs. But he’s still got the 5th most yards (739) and 6th most rushing TDs (6) form the 5th most carries (176) of any RB this season. He should be able to repeat against the Colts 26th ranked run defense.
With Demario Douglas ruled out, I don’t mind taking a shot at Devante Parker who’s essentially minimum cost across industry and who had 5 targets last week, and is facing the Chargers league worst pass defense.
The same goes for AT Perry with Rashid Shaheed ruled out and Michael Thomas on IR and Chris Olave questionable with a concussion, particularly with near minimum pricing and facing the Lions 20th ranked pass defense.
On defense, I love taking value and paying down, which means I like the Los Angeles Rams Defense, which is discounted on all sites, but particularly FanDuel and Yahoo, and gets to face Joe Flacco subbing in under center for the Browns. On Draft Kings, I’m looking at the reasonably priced and solid San Francisco 49ers Defense even facing the league leading Eagles, who do have 16 giveaways while the 49ers have the 2nd most takeaways (21) this season.