“Buy or Bye”™ – Daily Fantasy Football Plays for Super Bowl LIX Cash Games

By Ha Kung Wong 

Twitter: @FBGarbageTime

In 2023, we were over 70% for cash lineups and we’ve cashed on 19 of 22 weeks this season, so we’re back with more Daily Fantasy Football advice for Cash Games for Super Bowl LIX!

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 Super Bowl LIX!

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.

All the Super Bowl lineups this year are of the “Single Game” or “Showdown” variety.  This means slightly different things on FanDuel, Draft Kings and Yahoo.

• FanDuel – You have $60,000 total salary to fill 1 MVP and 4 regular spots. MVP scores 1.5x but does NOT cost more. The average amount you have to spend per player is $12,000.
• Draft Kings – You have $50,000 total salary to fill 1 Captain and 5 regular spots. Captain scores 1.5x but COSTS 1.5x more. The average amount you have to spend per player is $10,000. But since you have to pay more for your Captain, assume you’re paying around $15,000 for a Captain leaving you with around $7000 for each of the 5 remaining slots.
• Yahoo – You have a $135 total salary to fill 1 Superstar and 4 regular spots.  Superstar scores 1.5x but does NOT cost more. The average amount you have to spend per player is $27.

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 Super Bowl LIX contests, along with their 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.  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 everywhere 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.
• Check out my comments on Super Bowl LIX on the Football Garbage Time Podcast and on DSPN with Marty Devlin!  And don’t forget to check out our Super Bowl Player Prop Bets we dare to make for more info! 
• No “Free Square of the Week”™ for Super Bowl LIX, but still some value options available.
• For Super Bowl LIX, I’m absolutely trying to get 2 of the 4 top players in every lineup.  That includes Saquon Barkley, Patrick Mahomes, Jalen Hurts and Travis Kelce.
  • Saquon Barkley is pretty expensive, but he’s the focus of the Eagles offense.  The Chief’s run defense is top 8 in the NFL, but Barkley has the most rush yards (125) and 9th most rushing TDs (0.81) per game of any RB this season, plus has receiving upside with 43 targets. He’s rushed for at least 118 yards in each postseason contest, averaging 147.3 rushing yards in the playoffs and whopping 5 total TDs.  This isn’t a smash spot as usual for Barkley, but with all the extended opportunity he’ll get, along with the homerun upside, I think he’s worth paying up for.  I like playing him in the MVP/Captain/Superstar slot if you have the cap space, but its tough to squeeze him in on Draft Kings since the Captain spot costs you 50% more.
  • Patrick Mahomes isn’t as explosive as he’s been in the past, but he’s still averaging almost 250 passing yards and 2.3 TDs per playoff game, plus rushing upside, and is well worth the pricing.  As we’ve seen throughout the season and postseason, Mahomes isn’t afraid of throwing the ball when necessary and he’s fantastic at avoiding sacks, so he rarely puts the Chiefs in negative yardage positions.  With the postseason experience he has, I like considering Mahomes for the MVP/Captain/Superstar spot, particularly in Draft Kings where pricing is 50% higher for this spot.
  • Jalen Hurts has the rushing TD upside with the “Brotherly Shove”.  It only takes one or two for him to exceed his expected value, and he has fantastic passing options in AJ Brown, Devonta Smith and Dallas Goedert.  Add in the great rushing yards floor and its easy to see why he can carry your entry.  He’s had a whopping 7 TDs in 3 playoff games and I don’t see that stopping in the Super Bowl.
  • Travis Kelce is Mahomes’ go-to outlet and has averaged 68 yards in two postseason games.  Kelce has continuous TD upside along with a relatively solid floor in terms of receptions and yards.  He’s my least favorite of the top 4, but he still deserves that top 4 consideration in your lineups seeing as how he has the 3rd most receptions (5.89) and 4th most receiving yards (53.28) per game of all TEs in the regular season.  And don’t forget the Taylor Swift factor which must be worth at least 10 bonus fantasy points.
• After you add your two studs, I love playing Dallas Goedert as a cheap complementary play for DFS.  Goedert has quietly had the 6th most receiving yards per game among TEs this season and has 2 TDs over the last 5 games.  Over the postseason, Goedert is averaging 62.7 yards per game on an average of 5 receptions and has more than 45 yards in every single game.  The tight end was third on the team in receptions and receiving yards during the regular season, but he’s been Jalen Hurts’ top option this postseason.  The Chiefs allow the 6th most fantasy points to opposing TEs as well as allowing an average of over 6 receptions per game to opposing TEs.  I love the opportunity and matchup combined with reasonable price across industry.
• If you’re going to play the Chiefs ground game, Kareem Hunt is probably the best play.  Hunt has out touched Isiah Pacheco 18 to 12 and has both of the Chiefs rushing TDs in the postseason.
• Obviously, Xavier Worthy is also in play but is a little pricy in a mostly unpredictable Kansas City WR room, so if I have to save more cap space, I’m looking to gamble with Hollywood Brown instead.  Taking out the stinker in the Divisional Round Playoffs, in three games back from injury, Brown had 12 receptions on a whopping 20 targets.  The opportunity is there for Brown to make and impact, and he’s cheap across industry.
• I love playing both kickers to the extent their available, as both teams have solid defenses that can cause offenses to stall.  And both kickers, Jake Elliott and Harrison Butker, have been incredibly solid of late.  I slightly prefer Butker for his consistency, but both are definitely in play.
• And if I’m going really cheap, I’m targeting JuJu Smith-Schuster.  Smith-Schuster caught 2 of 3 targets for 60 yards in the Conference Championship, and I can see Philly keying on taking away Kelce and Worthy, leaving single coverage for the likes of Smith-Schuster.  Smith-Schuster has been here before in 2022 where he caught 7 of 9 targets for 53 yards, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Mahomes goes back to well on this one.

Thanks for reading all season long, and good luck with your Super Bowl Cash Lineups!  Hope you had fun and won some money, and I’ll see you again next season!