“Buy or Bye”™ – Daily Fantasy Football Plays for Week 3 2024 Cash Games

By Ha Kung Wong 

Twitter: @FBGarbageTime

In 2023, we were over 70% for cash lineups again and we’re back with more Daily Fantasy Football advice for Cash Games for Week 3 of the 2024 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!

Let’s get to winning you some CASH in Week 3 of the 2024 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.

Also, starting this season, Fan Duel will be giving yards bonuses similar to Draft Kings.

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 3 contests.

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 3 is to pay up at QB, TE and one WR, then go value for the remainder of the lineup since there’s tons of value around the league, particularly at RB.
• The “Free Square of the Week”™ is Cam Akers.  With Joe Mixon doubtful to play and Dameon Pierce already ruled out, Akers will likely get all the run he can handle so long as he doesn’t put the ball on the ground again.  Call it a value and opportunity play more than anything else.  Plus, how can you forget the #Revenge narrative with Akers going up against one of his former teams.  He’s basically minimum price across industry so lock him and in and enjoy the savings.
• I also still like Jerome Ford as a reasonable value play with Nick Chubb on the PUP list, particularly against a Giants defense that has allowed the 5th most rush yards to opposing offenses this season.
• And Zach Charbonnet has a great opportunity again with Kenneth Walker doubtful to play this weekend against a Dolphins defense that just allowed James Cook to roll up 95 total yards and 3 TDs.
• The Philadelphia Eagles @ New Orleans Saints game has the second highest over/under of the main slate (49.5), so I’m in on most of the skill players here, particularly Jalen Hurts, DeVonta Smith and Saquon Barkley for the Eagles and Alvin Kamara, Chris Olave and Derek Carr for the Saints. With AJ Brown out again, Hurts, who has a nice rushing floor with 59 yards per game, should continue to target both Smith and Barkley throughout the game to keep up with a Saints team that has scored the most points of any team in the NFL this season.  Which in turn explains why I like the Saints skill players, and in particular Kamara, who has the 6th most rush yards per game this season and the most rushing TDs of any RB in the NFL.