“Buy or Bye”™ – Daily Fantasy Football Plays for 2023 Divisional Round Playoff 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 Divisional Round Playoffs!

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 Divisional Round Playoffs!

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 Divisional Round Playoff 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 the Divisional Round Playoffs is to pay up for at least one high end RB and at least one mid/high end WR to anchor your team and fill up on value for the rest.  I’m generally paying down at QB in good matchups and no significant weather issues.
• Check out my AFC Divisional Round Playoff Preview & Predictions and my NFC Divisional Round Playoff 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 Green Bay Packers @ San Francisco 49ers game has the highest over/under of the weekend slate (51.5) and a spread of 9.5, not to mention that this game is being played in good weather, so I’m in on skill players on both sides.  The Packers have the 17th ranked defense and the 28th ranked run defense this season, so I see big time opportunity all over the 49ers skill players, including Christian McCaffrey, Brandon Aiyuk, Deebo Samuel, Brock Purdy and George Kittle, in that order.  The 49ers are a much better defense, but the Packers will likely have to keep up, so I’m in on some value with Christian Watson or Tucker Kraft.
  • Christian McCaffrey has gone over 100 yards on the ground 7 times and scored 14 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 against the Packers sub-par run defense.
• The Tampa Bay Buccaneers @ Detroit Lions game has the 2nd highest over/under of the weekend (49.5) and a spread of 6.5 in favor of the Lions and will be played in a dome with no weather impact.  The Bucs have the 27th ranked pass defense and the Lions have the 29th ranked pass defense, so plenty of opportunity to go around.  For the Lions, I’m in on Jared Goff, Amon-Ra St. Brown, Sam LaPorta and Jameson Williams, in that order.  For the Buccaneers, I’m in on Baker Mayfield, Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, Rachaad White and Cade Otton, in that order.
  • Jared Goff has averaged 284.4 passing yards and totaled 23 TDs over all his home games this season, that level of output shouldn’t change against the Bucs, which makes him a terrific value at his price across industry.  And his top target is Amon-Ra 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.
  • Baker Mayfield is also a great value at his price across industry. Mayfield demolished the Eagles’ defense piling up 337 passing yards and 3 TDs.  The Lions just allowed Matthew Stafford to rack up 367 yards 2 TDs, and it wouldn’t be surprising for Mayfield to do the same.  Mayfield also has 2 terrific WRs including Mike Evans, who was 5th highest scoring fantasy WR this season, and Chris Godwin, who is cheaper and has the 6th highest target share inside the 10-yards line (37.9%).
  • Rachaad White has been incredibly solid in the rushing and receiving game during the second half of the season.  Prior to Week 17, White had at least 77 total yards and a TD in 4 straight weeks, and he managed to put up 93 total yards in Week 18 and 75 total yards in the Wild Card game.
• Isiah Pacheco had at least 89 total yards in 5 of his last 6 games played and has 6 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 wekeend.
• Devin Singletary has some opportunity this week as he’s getting over 70% of the RB snaps and faces a Ravens defense that’s better at defending the pass (6th) than the run (14th).  In fact, the Ravens allow 4.5 yards per carry good for 4th most in the NFL.
• Although I’m not adverse to investing in the Bills offense, they seemed to be priced up, except for Khalil Shakir, who’s operating as the 3rd target in Buffalo with Game Davis out.  He had 105 receiving yards in Week 18 and followed that up with 3 receptions for 31 receiving yards and a TD in the Wild Card game.  I can see him doing something similar in what should be a competitive game against the Chiefs.
• I really like Lamar Jackson, but since I’m prioritizing CMC, it’s really hard to fit him into lineups.  So, I like Isaiah Likely to get exposure to this offense, who will be the top TE again with Mark Andrews not yet activated off IR.  The Texans have allowed the 3rd most receptions and 5th most yards to TEs, so I love the upside while saving a good amount of cap space.

Good luck everyone with your Divisional Round Playoff Cash Lineups, and I’ll see you next week for some Conference Championship Lineup suggestions!