“Buy or Bye”™ – Daily Fantasy Football Plays for Week 15 2024 Cash Games

December 13, 2024 Leave a comment

By Ha Kung Wong

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 15 of the 2024 season! Yes, it doesn’t always work out, but we’ve cashed 12 out of 14 weeks this 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 15 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 for Week 15 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 Lamar Jackson and Saquon Barkley 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 mostly pay up at RB and get value at WR and TE. I’m either paying all the way up at QB for Josh Allen or I’m going mid-priced with Tua or Bo Nix.
The “Free Square of the Week”™ are Stone Smartt. The third year former QB/WR out of Old Dominion hasn’t had a ton of playing time so far, appearing in 34 career games with just 21 receptions for 270 yards and a TD. But with Will Dissly leaving last week with a shoulder injury and Hayden Hurst already on IR, Smartt stepped in had the 3rd most receptions on the team catching all 3 targets for 54 yards. Dissly is expected to be out this week, leaving Smartt to face a Buccaneers defense that gives up the 6th highest target rate (21.2%) and 6th most yards per route run (1.37) to opposing TEs. Smartt is minimum salary across industry, so lock him in and free up cap space elsewhere.
The Buffalo Bills @ Detroit Lions game has the highest over/under of the main slate (54.5) by far with a narrow spread of 2.5, so there’s plenty of opportunity here.
- The Bills are pretty expensive, but Josh Allen is again my favorite QB of the slate. If you need to be reminded, he just came off a ridiculous performance totaling 342 passing yards, 82 rush yards and 6 total TDs. He’s the first player ever to have scored 3 passing and 3 rushing TDs in a single game. As far as Bills pass catchers go, I like Amari Cooper and Khalil Shakir, in that order because Cooper is a lot cheaper on most sites.
- For the Lions, my favorite play is Jahmyr Gibbs as the Bills allow the most receptions (74), most receiving yards (579), third-most receiving TDs (5), highest target rate (24.6%), most yards per route run (1.50) and the 3rd most yards per carry to opposing RBs. Gibbs gets more targets than David Montgomery, which is why I prefer him, but feel free to mix it up. As far as Lions pass catchers go, I like Amon-Ra St. Brown and Jameson Williams. St. Brown is pricey so he’s hard to fit in, but Williams is pretty reasonably priced so he’s a solid WR play.
Bo Nix has been fantasy gold of late, averaging 266 passing yards and 2.2 TDs per game over his last 6. Now he gets to face the 26th ranked Colts pass defense coming off a bye and is priced very reasonable across industry. If you’re looking to save a little at QB this week, Nix is a solid choice.
The Miami Dolphins @ Houston Texans game has is tied for the 2nd highest over/under of the main slate (46.5) with a narrow spread of 3, so there’s also plenty of opportunity here.
- For the Dolphins, I’m in on Tua Tagovailoa, De’Von Achane and Jaylen Waddle. Tua has the 2nd most pass attempts (36.11), most pass completions (26.67) and 2nd most passing yards (272) and 7th most passing TDs (1.89) per game among all QBs in the NFL and gets to face the Texan’s middle of the road 17th ranked pass defense this week. Tua loves target Waddle, so regardless of yards, he’s been racking up receptions of late averaging 7 receptions for 98.7 yards per game over his last 3. And Achane is essentially a receiver in the backfield with the 2nd most receptions (4.85) for the 3rd most receiving yards (36.46) and most receiving TDs (0.46) per game of any RB in the NFL.
- For the Texans, I like Joe Mixon and Nico Collins. Mixon has the most carries (20.5) for the 3rd most yards (88.7) and most rushing TDs (1.1) per game of any RB this season and gets to face the Dolphins 25th ranked run defense. Collins is back to be CJ Stroud’s number one target, averaging 10 targets and over 100 receiving yards over his last 2 games.
Adam Thielen is healthy and, after just 3 games back, lo and behold the Panthers look like they have an offense. Since returning to the team, Thielen has led the Panthers in target share (23.4%), receptions per game (6.7), receiving yards per game (86), and yards per route run (2.80). With the Cowboys are allowing the 6th most yards per route run (1.73) to opposing receivers and Thielen is being heavily targeted by Bryce Young. I’m not great at match, but that looks like it equals huge opportunity for a reasonable price across industry.
Since being named the starter for the Cowboys 3 games ago, Rico Dowdle has averaged 110.5 scrimmage yards and 23.5 touches per game. Carolina’s defense is giving up the most rushing TDs (15), the most rushing yards per game (170.1) and the 3rd most rushing yards per attempt (4.99) to opposing RBs this season. Dowdle is reasonably priced across industry which makes for a great value considering the matchup and opportunity.
Do I really have to convince you to play Derrick Henry? Henry is on pace for a historic season with the most rushing yards (108) and 2nd most rushing TDs (1) per game in the NFL this season. He’s refreshed coming off a bye and gets to face the Giants, who suck. Sometimes it’s as easy as that. He’s pricey, but he’s worth squeezing in if you can.
As for defense, you know I love paying down and getting value to spend more of the cap space elsewhere, and this week we got some decent cheap options with the Dallas Cowboys Defense facing the Panthers and the Miami Dolphins Defense facing the Houston Texans.