“Buy or Bye”™ – Daily Fantasy Football Plays for Week 16 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 16 of the 2024 season!  Yes, it doesn’t always work out, but we’ve cashed 13 out of 15 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 16 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 16 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 16 is to either pay up or go all the way down for value at QB but pay up for RB and get value at WR and TE.
• The “Free Square of the Week”™ are Brenton Strange and Patrick Taylor.
  • Strange is coming off a a career day with Evan Engram out grabbing 11 of a whopping 12 targets for 73 yards.  The Raiders allow the 4th most PPR fantasy points to opposing TEs this season, so this is another great opportunity for him.  Strange is almost minimum salary across industry, so lock him in and free up cap space elsewhere.
  • With Isaac Guerendo ruled out this weekend, and CMC and Jordan Mason already out for the season on IR, it’s next man up in San Francisco, and that next man is Patrick Taylor.  There’s no guarantee he’ll get every carry, but he’s been on the roster and most likely to get the first opportunity to be the lead back in an offense that can apparently make any back productive.  For his minimum price, he’s a worthy punt at RB or Flex.
  • An honorable mention goes to Malik Washington. With Jaylen Waddle essentially ruled out and Tyreek Hill still fighting a questionable designation, there should be some targets to go around for Washington, who managed to catch 5 of 6 for 52 yards after Waddle went out last week.
• The Detroit Lions @ Chicago Bears game has the highest over/under of the main slate (48.0), so there’s plenty of opportunity here.
  • For the Lions, my favorite play is Jahmyr Gibbs, who has 6th most rushing yards (1,047), 6th most rushing TDs (11), 5th most receiving yards (395) and 4th most receiving TDs (3) among all RB in the NFL this season.  And now, Gibbs gets the entire backfield to himself with David Montgomery on IR and faces the Bears 22nd rank run defense.  This is about as chalky as it gets.  As far as Lions pass catchers go, I like Amon-Ra St. Brown and Jameson Williams.  I prefer squeezing in Gibbs if you can, but feel free to sprinkle in the WRs.
  • For the Bears, I’m in on Caleb Williams, DJ Moore and Keenan Allen.  The Bears offense hasn’t been great recently, but the Lions have allowed the 7th most passing yards per game (234.5) this season and have allowed 82 points over the last two games due to a ridiculous rash of injuries on defense.  Williams threw for 3 TDs (2 to Allen and 1 to Moore) the last time they met, and the Lions defense is even more depleted now.  With the discounted pricing, and almost certain negative game script with the Bears playing catchup, I think you can get some value out of the pass attack.
• The Eagles have been En Fuego recently.  The Eagles have the 6th most yards per game (373.2) and 8th most points (26.4) among all teams in the NFL this season.  Jalen Hurts is a big part of that with a whopping 8 TDs in the last 3 games.  And AJ Brown has been a major beneficiary averaging 82 yards and 0.5 TDs over the last 4 games.  Both are pricy, but I like both this week facing the Commanders 16th ranked pass defense.
• Puka Nacua leads the Los Angeles Rams in target share (34.4%), air yards share (37.3%), redzone target share (35.7%), yards per route run (4.02), receptions per game (8), and receiving yards per game (108.4) in the 7 games he’s completed this season. The New York Jets aren’t an ideal matchup, but they did just allow 285 passing yards to Mac Jones in Week 15, so there’s plenty of upside here for Nacua.
• 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.
• Carolina’s defense is giving up the 2nd most rushing TDs (19), the most rushing yards per game (173.0) and the most rushing yards per attempt (5.02) to opposing RBs this season.  James Connor, with Trey Benson ruled out and Emari Demercado already on IR, should have the entire Cardinals backfield essentially to himself.  That equals a smash spot Connor who’s averaged 130 yards per scrimmage and 1.5 TDs over his last two games.  I also like Kylar Murray with an increased chance of rushing yards this week.
• Malik Nabers caught 10 of 14 targets for 82 yards and a TD in Week 15, proving that it doesn’t matter who is being center for the Giants, he’s going to get targets.  The Falcons defense has given up the 4th-most PPR fantasy points to WRs this season, so there’s plenty of upside for Nabers.
• 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 Las Vegas Raiders Defense facing the Jaguars and the Cincinnati Bengals Defense facing a Browns team not starting Dorian Thompson-Robinson under center and the Tennessee Titans defense facing the Colts.