“Buy or Bye”™ – Daily Fantasy Football Plays for Divisional Round Playoffs 2025 Cash Games

By Ha Kung Wong 

Twitter: @FBGarbageTime

In 2024, we were over 70% for cash lineups again and we’re back with more Daily Fantasy Football advice for Cash Games for 2025 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!

Let’s get to winning you some CASH in the Divisional Round Playoffs of the 2025 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.

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.

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 Josh Allen and Jahmyr Gibbs 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.
• For Wild Card Weekend, I’m paying up for QB and RB and getting my value from the WR and TE positions.
• No “Free Squares of the Week”™ this week, but there’s still plenty of value.  We’ll touch on that in each of the games.
• The Buffalo Bills at Denver Broncos has the 2nd highest over/under of the slate (45.5), so I like lots of players on both sides.  The Bills have a top 5 pass defense but a bottom 5 run defense, so RJ Harvey is solidly in play.  And I’m OK with Courtland Sutton as he averaged over 10 targets per game from Weeks 14 to 17 and he has potential get around that many targets again. The Broncos defense is a pretty tough matchup in Denver, so I’m not paying the premium on Josh Allen or James Cook, but I do think that there’s potential for Khalil Shakeer and Dalton Kincaid to be busy in light of all the injuries on the Bills roster.
• The San Francisco 49ers at Seattle Seahawks has the 2nd lowest over/under of the slate (44.5) and spread of -7 in favor of the Seahawks, so I like the Seahawks in particular with an implied total of about 25 points.  The 49ers have allowed the 6th highest passer rating to opposing QBs, so I’m on board with Sam Darnold (assuming he plays) and Jaxson Smith-Njigba.  I’m also good with Kenneth Walker who has thrived of late and can take advantage of a 49ers defense that allowed Saquon Barkley over 100 yards in the Wild Card game.  I’d assume the 49ers will need to keep up, so I like also playing Christian McCaffrey who has the most receiving yards (924) and receiving TDs (7) of any RB this season.  Add on the 2nd most carries (311) this season and it’s clear that CMC is not only the work horse for the 49ers, but probably their best hope of winning this game.  And with George Kittle out, Jake Tonges makes for a nice punt at TE.
• The Houston Texans at the New England Patriots have the lowest over/under of the slate of 40.5 which means I’m staying away of most of the options in what will likely be a defensive focused game.  For the Texans, I’m in on Christian Kirk since Nico Collins is out and Kirk is coming off nice performance in the Wild Card, grabbing 8 of 9 targets for 144 yards and a TD.  As for the Patriots, I actually like Hunter Henry.  The Chargers have struggled against the TE lately and Henry is averaging 4.3 receptions on 5.7 targets for 57.7 yards and 0.5 TDs in his last 6 regular season games and was 3 of 5 for 64 yards and TD in the Wild Card game.  He’s trending up and Maye might lean on him in this matchup.
• Finally, the Los Angeles Rams at the Chicago Bears has the highest over/under of the slate with 48.5, so I like playing skill players on both side.  Caleb Williams is the cheaper option at QB and does have some rushing floor against a vulnerable Rams defense.  De’Andre Swift also looks to be a good play in light of the temperature, as I can see more rushing and short dump offs in the cold.  Puka Nacua leads the way for the Rams being the top option there, but I don’t mind Devante Adams or Kyren Williams against a leaky Bears defense.
• On defense, I love taking value and paying down, so just slot in any defense you can afford.  I don’t think there are any exceptional matchups to pay up for if you need the cap space for the skill positions.

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