“Buy or Bye”™ – Daily Fantasy Football Plays for Week 15 2023 Cash Games

December 16, 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 15 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 15 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 15 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 15 is to pay up for at least one RB and WR to anchor your team and fill up on value at WR, TE and DEF.
The “Free Squares of the Week”™ in Week 15 are Clyde Edwards-Hilaire and Ezekiel Elliott.
- With Isiah Pacheco still out with a shoulder injury, CEH is in line have every opportunity in Week 15 just like Week 14. He wasn’t particularly effective in Week 14, but that’s because the Bills game was so close. That’s unlikely to be the case against the Patriots. Add in that he’s priced near minimum across industry and it’s a no brainer to lock him in, enjoy the extra cap space and move on.
- With Rhamondre Stevenson also out this week, Ezekiel Elliott will get another start for the Patriots. In Week 14, Elliot had 22 carries for 68 rush yards and caught 7 of 8 targets for 72 receiving yards and a TD. It’ll be a little tougher sledding this week against the Chiefs, but the Chiefs defense is still only ranked 20th against the run. He’s not as cheap as CEH, but still fairly discounted across industry.
The San Francisco 49ers @ Arizona Cardinals game has the 3rd highest over/under of the weekend slate (48.0) and a spread of -12.5 so I’m in on particular skill players on both sides. The Cardinals have the 23rd overall ranked defense this season, so I see big time opportunity all over the 49ers skill players, including Brock Purdy, Brandon Aiyuk, Deebo Samuel, Christian McCaffrey and George Kittle, in that order. The 49ers defense is 2nd against the run, but 12th against the pass, so there’s some potential there for Trey McBride who’s really been on the upswing with Kylar Murray back.
Rachaad White has been one of the best running backs in the NFL over the past three weeks, as he’s totaled 286 rush yards on 60 carries in that span, that’s 95.3 rush yards per game. He’s also had 20+ carries in 4 of the past 6 games, indicating the Bucs are treating like a true bell cow back. You can bet that the Bucs, who need another win to pace the NFC South, will lean on that this weekend against a Packers rush defense that just allowed 209 rushing yards to the Giants last Monday night. In fact, the Packers have allowed the 2nd most rush yards per game (141.8) to opposing teams this season.
Bijan Robinson is finally getting significant workload as both a rusher and receiver averaging 19.5 touches over the last 4 games and has 4 TDs in his last 6 games. Now he gets to face a Falcons defense that is ranked just 22nd against the run, allowing 123 rushing yards per game and 4.5 yards per carry as well as an NFL-high 18 rushing TDs to RBs. I like the upside here.
Puka Nacua has a great matchup this week against the underwhelming Commanders defense that’s ranked last in the NFL against the pass. Nacua ranks 7th or better among WRs in target rate (27.1%) and yards per route run (2.49, YPRR), and ranks 11th for his 5.3 yards after the catch per reception. He’s having a huge rookie season and I don’t see that stopping here.
Rashee Rice has had at least 7 receptions and 64 yards in 3 straight games. If Bill Belichick remains true to form, he’ll try to remove Patrick Mahomes favorite target, Travis Kelce, and force him to look elsewhere. With the increased usage, I like the potential for Rice.
Jayden Reed has had an impressive run recently after returning from injury, particularly with some combination of Aaron Jones and Christian Watson out over that span. Reed caught 8 of a career-high 10 targets with Christian Watson out last week, and although the efficiency isn’t there, the opportunity sure is with Watson out again against a Buccaneers defense that’s ranked 30th against the pass. On top of that, both Aaron Jones and AJ Dillion are questionable this week, which means they’ll likely employ Reed in the ground game as well, upping his floor. He’s a great play for his cheap pricing across industry.
Speaking of using pass catchers against the 30th ranked Bucs defense, Tucker Kraft is also a great target. In Week 14, producing a career-best 4 receptions for 64 yards, having snagged multiple receptions during each of the last 4 games. Since Luke Musgrave has been out in Week 12, Kraft has played at least 95 percent of Green Bay’s offensive snaps. The Bucs have had issues containing TEs this season already giving up a combined 74 receptions for 776 yards and 4 TDs to opposing TEs this season.
On defense, I love taking value and paying down, which means I like the New York Jets Defense, which is discounted across the board, even though their playing the Chiefs. Other cheap options I like include the Los Angeles Rams Defense facing the lowly Washington Commanders and the Tennessee Titans Defense who will face the Houston Texans who won’t have CJ Stroud.