“Buy or Bye”™ – Daily Fantasy Football Plays for Week 2 2026 Cash Games

September 18, 2026

By Ha Kung Wong

In 2025, we were over 70% for cash lineups again and we’re back with more Daily Fantasy Football advice for Cash Games for Week 2 of the 2026 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 2 of the 2026 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 2 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 Christian McCaffrey 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 2 is to anchor with 2 stud RBs or WRs and then go mid-priced throughout the remainder lineup with a punt at TE and defense.
The “Free Square of the Week”™ is Aaron Jones. The Bears allowed 125 rushing yards and 2 rushing TDs on 22 carries to the Panthers. Last week, Jones had 12 carries and Jordan Mason had 15 carries against the Packers totaling 2 rushing TDs. With Mason on IR due to broken finger, Jones gets the lion’s share of backfield touches against the Bears this week. He’s also significantly discounted across industry, so it doesn’t require much more to slot him in and save yourself some cap space.
- Although not nearly as cheap, the matchup here with the Bears bend-sometimes-break defense, which allowed 361 receiving yards in Week 1, also supports playing Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison.
The Washington Commanders @ Dallas Cowboys game has the highest over/under of the main slate (50.5), so I’m in on most of the skill players here, including Terry McLaurin & Stefon Diggs for the Commanders and CeeDee Lamb, George Pickens & Dak Prescott for the Cowboys. The Cowboys just allowed 230 receiving yards and 3 receiving TDs to the New York Giants, so I like McLaurin and Diggs’ chances to score. And the Commanders just allowed 203 receiving yards (with 3 completions of more than 30 yards) and 3 receiving TDs to the Philadelphia Eagle, so, similarly, Lamb, Pickens and Prescott should have plenty of TD upside as well.

The Dolphins’ defense was embarrassed by the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 1 allowing them 21 first downs, 290 total yards, 27 points and a 10-minute advantage on time of possession. I’d love to say it was because the Kirk Cousins-led Raiders were really good, but that just wasn’t the case. The Dolphins couldn’t stop anything and in Week 2, they get to face the San Francisco 49ers who just completed dismantling the Los Angeles Rams in Melbourne. That means I’m all in on the 49ers and particularly on Brock Purdy, Christian McCaffrey and George Kittle. Purdy threw for 3 TDs against the Rams and that sounds like the floor against the Dolphins. And I don’t really have to sell you on CMC against a bad defense early in the season, do I?

Christian McCaffrey Rushing and Receiving Stats
			Rush	Rush	Rush	Rush	Rece	Rece	Rece	Rece
Season	Team	G	Att	Yds	TD	Y/G	Tgt	Rec	Yds	TD
2017	CAR	16	117	435	2	27.2	113	80	651	5
2018	CAR	16	219	1098	7	68.6	124	107	867	6
2019	CAR	16	287	1387	15	86.7	142	116	1005	4
2020	CAR	3	59	225	5	75.0	19	17	149	1
2021	CAR	7	99	442	1	63.1	41	37	343	1
2022	2TM	17	244	1139	8	67.0	108	85	741	5
2022	CAR	6	85	393	2	65.5	43	33	277	1
2022	SFO	11	159	746	6	67.8	65	52	464	4
2023	SFO	16	272	1459	14	91.2	83	67	564	7
2024	SFO	4	50	202	0	50.5	19	15	146	0
2025	SFO	17	311	1202	10	70.7	129	102	924	7
2026	SFO	1	10	68	0	68.0	8	5	20	0
10 Y	10 Y	113	1668	7657	62	67.8	786	631	5410	36
17 G	17 G	17	251	1152	9	67.8	118	95	814	5

CAR	CAR	64	866	3980	32	62.2	482	390	3292	18
SFO	SFO	49	802	3677	30	75.0	304	241	2118	18

Provided by Pro-Football-Reference.com: View Original Table

As I’ve mentioned before, the Cleveland Browns are a steaming dumpster fire. They just allowed 360 total yards, 23 first downs and 34 points. So the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are all on my radar including Baker Mayfield (4th-most dropbacks in 2025 with 680), Emeka Egbuka (11th in the NFL with 127 targets in his rookie year) & Chris Godwin. Loving the upside, and with some decent values this week after a subpar Week 1 performance, it’s not hard to include them in your lineups.
Saquon Barkley is projected for high touches (~18–22 carries + 3–5 targets) playing for the Eagles as strong road favorites that heavily favors second-half ground work. Even with Jalen Hurts taking QB sneaks, Barkley’s share of inside-the-10 touches provides massive multi-touchdown ceiling, particularly on FanDuel’s half-PPR scoring format where TDs carry premium weight, not to mention that the Titans defense struggles to contain edge-bounce runs and standard zone-blocking, setting up Barkley for big explosive plays downfield. He’s a great stud play at RB this week. DeVonta Smith also deserves some attention serving as the clear WR1 in the Eagles’ passing attack and projecting to a ~25-30% target share. The Titans’ Secondary struggles against sharp route runners on deep-in and intermediate routes so Smith should have plenty of opportunity to rack up fantasy points on yards and receptions.
I’m generally punting at TE with either Mike Gesicki or Michael Mayer. Both showed significant upside and involvement in their respective offenses in Week 1 and are near minimum pricing for Week 2. Just keep an eye on Brock Bowers to see if he comes back, which would deep six any value in Mayer. Bowers is currently listed as doubtful for Week 2, so it shouldn’t be an issue, but you never know.
Coming off a monstrous Week 1 performance where he racked up 102 rushing yards along with six receptions for 45 yards and two receiving touchdowns, Ashton Jeanty demonstrated absolute bell-cow usage in Klint Kubiak’s run-heavy offensive scheme. His heavy involvement in the passing game provides a massive PPR floor and his dominant share of red-zone carries and goal-line targets elevates his multi-score ceiling. As the clear centerpiece of the Raiders’ offense, Jeanty’s elite volume, game-script resistance, and dual-threat versatility make him a a great play across all DFS formats without absolute premium pricing.
On defense, I love taking value and paying down, and mysteriously, some of the better defenses of the weekend, the Carolina Panthers Defense against the Cooper Rush-led Atlanta Falcons on FanDuel and Yahoo while going with the even cheaper Jacksonville Jaguars Defense against the underperforming Denver Broncos on Draft Kings.
UPDATE – September 20 – With Nico Collins ruled OUT, Kayshon Boutte is an interesting punt play for WR or FLEX.