“Buy or Bye”™ – Daily Fantasy Football Plays for 2023 Conference Championship Cash Games

By Ha Kung Wong

Twitter: @FBGarbageTime

In 2022, we were over 70% for cash lineups again and we’re back with more Daily Fantasy Football advice for Cash Games for the 2023 Conference Championships!

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 the 2023 Conference Championships!

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 for Conference Championship 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.
• I have two approaches to DFS in the Conference Championships.  The first is to play the two top WRs this weekend Amon-Ra St. Brown and Brandon Aiyuk, play the 2nd and 3rd best RBs in Isiah Pacheco and Jahmyr Gibbs, play Brock Purdy as a high ceiling value at QB, take advantage of value on Mark Andrews, and fill up with value everywhere else.  The second is to play the top 2 DFS plays of the week, which are also the most expensive, Lamar Jackson and Christian McCaffrey, again take value at TE with Mark Andrews, take either Pacheco or Gibbs as the second RB and fill up with value with the remainder.  Weather doesn’t appear to be a factor this week, so no need to favor one location over the other like we’ve done in previous weeks..
• Check out my AFC Conference Championship Preview & Predictions and my NFC Conference Championship Preview & Predictions for generally why I like certain players and teams based on matchup.
• No “Free Square of the Week”™ but there’s still plenty of value.
• The Detroit Lions @ San Francisco 49ers game has the highest over/under of the weekend slate (51.5) and a spread of 7.5, so I’m in on skill players on both sides particularly through the air since both defenses are more vulnerable through the air, the 49ers being 14th and the Lions being 27th.  So I love prioritizing Brock Purdy, Brandon Aiyuk, Christian McCaffrey, George Kittle, Deebo Samuel and Jauan Jennings in that order based on opportunity, matchup and value.  The Lions will likely have to keep up, so I’m in on Amon-Ra St. Brown, Jahmyr Gibbs, Sam LaPorta, Josh Reynolds and Jameson Williams, in that order.  I don’t mind dabbling with Jared Goff, but he’s not that much cheaper than Brock Purdy, so I’d rather play Purdy based on the better matchup.
  • McCaffrey has gone over 100 yards on the ground 7 times and scored 16 TDs.  He’s also received at least 3 targets in every game but 1 having 2 games with 10 targets and adding 7 receiving TDs.  Bottom line is that he has an incredibly high floor with a really high ceiling even against a solid Lions run defense.
  • St. Brown who has the 3rd most receiving yards (1,515) and 4th most receiving TDs (10) on the 2nd most receptions (119) in the league which makes him one of the safest WR plays of the weekend (and also one of the most expensive).
  • Reynolds had 5 receptions for 80 yards in the Wild Card game and caught a 9-yard TD reception in the Divisional Round.  The 49ers allowed the 9th most receiving yards to slot receivers in the league this season, which is where Reynolds has the majority of his routes.
• The Kansas City Chiefs @ Baltimore Ravens game has a decent over/under (44.5) and a spread of 4.5 in favor of the Ravens.  The key I think will be the Ravens top overall run offense versus the Chiefs 17th overall run defense.  Unfortunately, it’s tough to know if Gus Edwards or Justice Hill will get the carries, so I’m really most confident in playing Lamar Jackson.  That being said, I also like saving some cap space with Mark Andrews, who’s priced down since he’s coming off injury, but has been a full participant in practice all week.  And since you need to punt somewhere, and since this is going to be a more competitive game than last week’s drubbing of the Texans, Odell Beckham Jr. and Nelson Agholor are worth your consideration.  Agholor in particular has 4 or more targets in 4 of his last 6 games, and OBJ has been targeted downfield regularly, plus it won’t take much for each of them to reach value.  On the other side, I prefer to go with Isiah Pacheco against the Ravens 14th ranked run defense as opposed to any of the pass game options, but don’t mind using Travis Kelce and Rashee Rice, who have hogged the lion’s share of targets in the playoffs.
  • Pacheco had at least 89 total yards in 6 of his last 7 games played and has 7 TDs over that span.  Pacheco had a 92.6% snap share in Week 17 then had 25 touches and a 69.6% snap share in the Wild Card game.  He’s getting plenty of opportunity and should continue have that solid floor this weekend against a Ravens run defense that allows 4.5 yards per carry, good for 4th most in the NFL.  The only questions are his ankle and toe injuries which may keep him out.  If so, I’m in on Clyde Edwards-Hillaire.

Good luck everyone with your Conference Championship Cash Lineups, and I’ll see you next week for some Pro Bowl and Super Bowl Lineup suggestions!