Divisional Round NFL DFS Cash Game Breakdown

NFL cash games have evolved significantly over the years. As the popularity of fantasy football has grown, the players have gotten better and the contests have been getting tougher to win on a consistent basis. The vast majority of people who cash these contests on a regular basis don’t only know the cash viable players, but most importantly, they know how to whittle down the player pool to create the best possible lineup. With the constant growth and availability of quantifiable data examining every component that goes into the analysis of professional football, we at FTN are providing you with all of the necessary tools to succeed.

This weekly article is going to provide a unique perspective on how to tackle these cash games, by highlighting the top cash game plays through our own proprietary NFL rostership projections tool, and dissecting those plays with the goal of helping all FTN subscribers take down their 50/50, double-ups and head-to-head matchups.

I have been playing cash games every single week on DraftKings, entering most of the single-entry double ups that are $10 or less and a ton of 100-entry single entry 50/50’s and have had very good success this season. Every single lineup is built with a core of plays that are built using the “best option” in my articles. I promise you that if you plug in the best options at each position and work from there, you’ll be in a position to success. Below is a table of my week-to-week performances in DraftKings cash games.

2022 NFL Cash Game Tracker Week Date Score Result Week 1 9/11/2022 170.56 Win Week 2 9/18/2022 140.28 Win Week 3 9/25/2022 114.70 Loss Week 4 10/2/2022 146.52 Win Week 5 10/9/2022 150.86 Loss Week 6 10/16/2022 145.26 Win Week 7 10/23/2022 160.94 Win Week 8 10/30/2022 139.04 Loss Week 9 11/6/2022 139.40 Loss Week 10 11/13/2022 157.38 Win Week 11 11/20/2022 89.32 Loss Week 12 11/27/2022 159.46 Win Week 13 12/4/2022 164.14 Win Week 14 12/11/2022 146.00 Win Week 15 12/18/2022 142.10 Win Week 16 12/24/2022 158.20 Win Week 17 1/1/2023 101.60 Win Week 18 1/9/2023 93.90 Loss WC 1/14/2023 161.88 Win For the playoffs, I’m making the player pool a lot smaller. Our consideration set should be very focused, and frankly, more obvious, with far less games in play, and every team and every player in a must win situation.

Quarterbacks Highest project rostership as of Thursday

Quarterbacks DraftKings Player Team Salary Rostership% Jalen Hurts PHI $7,600 21.78 Josh Allen BUF $7,800 19.82 Patrick Mahomes KC $8,000 16.50 FanDuel Player Team Salary Rostership% Jalen Hurts PHI $9,000 23.67 Josh Allen BUF $9,000 22.44 Patrick Mahomes KC $9,200 18.49 Best option: Patrick Mahomes (DK/FD) I truly think all three of the main options are perfectly acceptable plays, but in my eyes, the one and only thing we need to avoid is the potential land mine, and I feel there’s very little possibility outside of injury for Patrick Mahomes to be the land mine. We don’t need the highest scoring of the three, but if we avoid the one that puts up a poor performance, we’ll be in a great position to success. Mahomes at home in the playoffs is going to come with a very safe floor, and we have plenty of data dating back to 2018 of that being the case.

Worst option: Josh Allen (DK/FD) Of the three main options, I think Allen is the one who brings the biggest downside. He has legitimately been a turnover machine for a big chunk of the season, and his giveaways almost gave away the Wild Card game against the Dolphins last week. If you’re feeling Allen, you can absolutely go with it, but I just don’t think this is a week where you want to go with the most volatile player.

Possible curveball option: None It’s the playoffs, so it’s pretty unlikely to find too many realistic options for cash games beyond what’s obvious.

Running Backs Highest project rostership as of Thursday

Running Backs DraftKings Player Team Salary Rostership% Christian McCaffrey SF $8,000 35.71 Travis Etienne JAX $6,400 29.61 Saquon Barkley NYG $7,900 29.30 Miles Sanders PHI $5,700 21.59 Joe Mixon CIN $6,500 20.81 FanDuel Player Team Salary Rostership% Travis Etienne JAX $6,800 41.84 Saquon Barkley NYG $8,500 31.64 Christian McCaffrey SF $9,200 30.01 Isiah Pacheco KC $6,400 26.12 Jerick McKinnon KC $7,000 22.95 Best option: Travis Etienne (DK/FD) We definitely need to find value throughout our lineup if we’re going to roster one of the three top QB’s, so I think Travis Etienne is basically a lock. Regardless of how the game flow goes, “ETN” is going to play a very big part of the Jaguars game plan. I think the choice is obvious, he’s a lock-button play in cash games, so don’t overthink it.

Worst option: Saquon Barkley (DK/FD) If I am paying up at RB this week, I am going to play Christian McCaffrey . I don’t think there’s any reason why we should play Saquon Barkley over McCaffrey. Barkley has played three games against the Eagles since 2019 and has yet to rush for more than 40 yards and has yet to land in the end zone. Hard pass on Barkley in cash games.

Possible curveball options: Jerick McKinnon (DK: $6,000) and None (FD) I would rather play Jerick McKinnon on DK than play Miles Sanders . The big reason for that is because of McKinnon’s big usage in the passing game right now. Week 13 was when everything started coming into place for McKinnon. He has caught at least two passes while averaging 4.5 catches over the last six games of the season. Mahomes has more trust in McKinnon than just about any pass catching back that’s been with him since he started his career, and I think that’s going to result in him providing tremendous value at $6k.

Wide Receivers Highest project rostership as of Thursday

Wide Receivers DraftKings Player Team Salary Rostership% Zay Jones JAX $4,700 26.55 Ja'Marr Chase CIN $7,800 26.49 Stefon Diggs BUF $7,700 24.69 Christian Kirk JAX $6,000 22.28 Gabe Davis BUF $4,800 21.32 Deebo Samuel SF $5,900 20.05 Brandon Aiyuk SF $5,000 17.68 JuJu Smith-Schuster KC $5,100 17.67 FanDuel Player Team Salary Rostership% Stefon Diggs BUF $8,200 30.16 Ja'Marr Chase CIN $8,500 26.73 Darius Slay ton NYG $5,700 23.13 Deebo Samuel SF $7,100 22.97 Zay Jones JAX $6,500 22.21 CeeDee Lamb DAL $7,800 20.04 Brandon Aiyuk SF $6,500 19.91 Gabe Davis BUF $6,600 19.74 Best option: Ja’Marr Chase (DK/FD) I am all about the safe play, and even though Ja'Marr Chase is legitimately the highest-priced WR available, I think he’s also far and away the safest option at the WR position. Over his last five games, he has seen at least 11 targets and made at least 7 catches in each game, and he’s caught 4 total touchdowns. I am very comfortable rolling with Chase as my WR1, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s lesser rostered than what’s suggested in the projections.

Worst options: JuJu Smith-Schuster (DK) and Deebo Samuel (FD) JuJu Smith-Schuster is just a little too hit-or-miss right now to be cash game viable. There are other options around his price point on DK that I feel more comfortable playing. As for Deebo Samuel , I would be very cautious with him in cash games. There are so many weapons available for the 49ers now that Deebo is just not the big target monster that he was last season. At $7,100, we can find much better options to spend our funds on FanDuel.

Possible curveball option: Isaiah Hodgins (DK: $4,900, FD: $6,700) Daniel Jones loves Isaiah Hodgins and the eye test suggests there’s plenty of reasons why he should love him. He has become the Giants’ most dependable receiver and should be heavily targeted if Saquon gets contained by the Eagles again.

Tight Ends Highest project rostership as of Thursday

Tight Ends DraftKings Player Team Salary Rostership% Travis Kelce KC $7,700 31.65 Evan Engram JAX $4,300 21.95 Dallas Goedert PHI $4,500 19.98 FanDuel Player Team Salary Rostership% Travis Kelce KC $8,000 38.47 Evan Engram JAX $6,000 22.92 Dallas Goedert PHI $6,300 20.78 Best option: Travis Kelce (DK/FD) I have not tried to put a lineup together with Travis Kelce and Chase, but I think in any scenario, Kelce is going to be the best option at TE. The Jaguars gave up the eighth-most points per game to the TE position throughout the regular season and like Mahomes, he has been a very consistent performer in the playoffs throughout his career.

Worst option: Dallas Goedert (DK/FD) No offense to Dallas Goedert , but I am truly considering playing Evan Engram as a second TE as is. One way or another, the Jaguars are going to have to throw the ball, and Engram is emerging as one of Trevor Lawrence ’s most dependable weapons.

Possible curveball options: Dalton Schultz (DK: $4,200, FD: $6,400) I do not understand why Dalton Schultz isn’t in play. It’s as obvious as anything in existence that Schultz is one of Dak Prescott ’s favorite targets and that alone should be enough to rank him ahead of Goedert. He offers a much higher ceiling to go with what I believe is a higher floor.

Defense/Special Teams Highest project rostership as of Thursday

Defense/Special Teams DraftKings Team Salary Rostership% Buffalo Bills $2,900 24.32 Cincinnati Bengals $2,400 17.69 San Francisco 49ers $3,300 14.03 FanDuel Team Salary Rostership% Buffalo Bills $4,100 18.50 New York Giants $3,000 16.98 Cincinnati Bengals $3,400 14.02 Best option: Cincinnati Bengals (DK/FD) The Bengals defense has really been able to step up the last few weeks of play. Over their last six games, they’ve generated 13 turnovers and get a turnover prone Josh Allen .

Worst option: Buffalo Bills (DK/FD) All things considered, I think the Bills are the worst option of the top three on each site. They will likely be the most rostered, but the Bengals offense has been scoring at will throughout the season. Joe Burrow is also far less turnover prone than Josh Allen has been, so if I want to play someone from that game, I think it’s going to have to be the Bengals.

Possible curveball options: Philadelphia Eagles (DK: $3,200, FD: $4,800) The Eagles deserve much more love than what they’ve been getting. They have largely dominated this matchup against the Giants and have been able to do so in grand fashion on defense. They are legitimately the best option on defense this week and should be considered if your lineup builds leave enough funds on the DST spot.

Other Rules When Creating a Cash Game Lineup Gone are the days where you don’t stack at all in cash games. Just throw that out the window. You need to create the best lineup possible regardless of stacking; however, if you compare two options and see that they are the same cost, have the same risk, and have the same potential value, then go with the option that doesn’t lead to the stack. Play around with hypotheticals. You may have an eye on a particular QB or a particular flex option, but you have to try different things to really test out all possibilities. The easiest way to flip the switch is to replace a non-essential expensive option with a value play and see what that opens up for you at other positions. There are pros and cons to playing on DraftKings and FanDuel. Both are scored differently, but the biggest difference, in my eyes, is the competition. I think it’s tougher to cash on DK, but I’ve found that there’s less lineup duplication. It might be easier to cash on FD, but I’ve found that there are a ton of duplicate lineups (lineup trains). Regardless of whether it’s DraftKings or FanDuel, if your ultimate goal is to seek a profit, I highly recommend sticking with one or the other. The pricing and scoring are so different between sites that cashing on both sites on the same slate is going to be very difficult. Use all of your resources and time and energy to create the best possible lineup on one site. You’ll naturally make a better lineup that way because you won’t have any biases (e.g. feeling like you need to roster someone on FD because you also have him on DK and vice versa). Avoid multi-entry contests when possible. Stick with single entry. Cash lines are almost always lower.

Divisional Round NFL DFS Cash Game Breakdown

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