“Buy or Bye”™ – Daily Fantasy Football Plays for Week 18 2025 Cash Games

January 3, 2026

By Ha Kung Wong

In 2024, we were over 70% for cash lineups again and we’re back with more Daily Fantasy Football advice for Cash Games for Week 18 of the 2025 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 18 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 and player props for Week 18 contests.

FanDuel

Draft Kings

UPDATE: Nico Collins is a HEALTHY SCRATCH in Week 18. DO NOT play Nico Collins in your lineups.

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.
The hardest part of Week 18 is figuring out who is going to play, with many playoff clinched teams choosing to rest key players or put players on unpredictable snap counts. So, my approach to DFS in Week 18 is avoid any team that has pulled or might pull starters and anchor my lineup with at least 2 stud WRs or RBs and divide up entries at QB between Drake Maye and Jaxson Dart, getting value everywhere else.
- UPDATE: Note that there are lot regular starters resting in Week 18:
  - Packers resting starters vs. Vikings
  - Eagles resting starters vs. Commanders
    - Jahan Dotson is decent punt play
  - Chargers resting at least Justin Herbert & Omarion Hampton vs. Broncos
  - Texans resting at least Nico Collins vs. Colts
    - Jayden Higgens becomes an interesting punt play
  - Dolphins resting at least Jaylen Waddle & De’Von Achane vs. Patriots
    - Jaylen Wright is another good punt play
“Free Squares of the Week”™ are Audric Estime, Kevin Austin Jr. and Jayden Blue.
- Audric Estime and Kevin Austin Jr. are the last men standing in New Orleans with essentially every running back as well as Chris Olave ruled out. Estime just came off a Week 17 where he totaled 98 scrimmage yards while Austin caught 4 of 5 for 52 yards and a TD. The Falcons have been middle-of-the-road on defense allowing 24.0 points per game this season, so the opportunity is there, and both Estime and Austin are near minimum salary.
- Jayden Blue is set to lead the Cowboys backfield in Week 18 with Javonte Williams (shoulder/neck) and Malik Davis (calf/eye) ruled out. The rookie fifth-round pick hasn’t had much time on the field this season, being active only Weeks 5-8, but his only his only backfield competition will be FB Hunter Luepke and potentially 2025 seventh-rounder Phil Mafah (shoulder), who even if he gets activated from IR on Saturday has no on field experience. The Giants have allowed the 3rd most rush yards (145.4) per game to opposing RBs and Blue is essentially minimum price across industry, so I like him as a cost saving play with upside.
Speaking of the Cowboys and Giants, they also have the second highest over/under of the slate (49.5), so I like lots of players on both sides. The Giants don’t only allow yards to RBs, they also allow yards to WRs allowing 235.3 yards per game and 25 total TDs to opposing receivers. So I’m in on both CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens as they garner the lion’s share of targets for the Cowboys. On the other side, the Cowboys allow most passing yards (253.6) per game and the most total passing TDs (33) to opposing QBs this season, so I love playing Jaxson Dart and Darius Slayton, especially with Wan’Dale Robinson out. The best thing about this is game is that there’s no danger of starters getting pulled, so it should be bombs away for both teams.
The New England Patriots have the highest implied total of the slate (28.5 – over/under of 45.5 with a -11.5 spread) playing against the Miami Dolphins, and the Pats have to win to have a chance at the AFC 1 Seed, so there’s lots of options here as well. I’m all in on Drake Maye and Stefon Diggs for the Pats. Maye needs no explanation with the 4th most passing yards (4,203) and 3rd most passing TDs (30) of any QB this season and facing the Dolphins exploitable pass defense. I like Diggs coming off a huge Week 16 where he caught 9 of 10 targets for 138 yards and Week 17 where he caught all 6 targets for 101 yards and a TD.
Bijan Robinson has had a big year with the 4th most rushing yards (90.31) and 2nd most receiving yards (50.63) per game of any RB in the league. I love the cushy soft matchup against the Saints 30 ranked run defense to close out the season and expect him to get plenty of opportunities.
Ja’Marr Chase has had the most targets (175), the 2nd most receptions (117), 4th most receiving yards (1,316) and 10th most receiving TDs (7) of any WR this season, and with Joe Burrow firing on all cylinders, I expect no less against the Browns. In his last 3 games, Chase has averaged 8.7 receptions on a whopping 12 targets for 100.3 yards and 0.67 TDs. Lock him in.
On defense, I love taking value and paying down, so I’m in on the Minnesota Vikings Defense against the Green Bay Packers who are already sitting Jordan Love, and likely most of their other starters after locking up the NFC 7th seed for the playoffs.