We lose five games from the main slate thanks to Christmas Day and Saturday’s two-gamer, but there’s still plenty of matchups to work with this week.
Aaron has your top NFL DFS cash game picks to build around, and I’ll hunt down some tournament pivots that will be low-owned but project decently or offer a nice ceiling. Let’s see how stands out the most going into week 17 at DraftKings:
Josh Allen, QB, Bills ($7k)
The Buffalo Bills still have a shot at winning the AFC East, so Josh Allen is going to be out there giving the Eagles hell this week. He was a total dud last week, but with incentive to give it a go and nobody on him, he looks like a very compelling tourney play.
I know it will be tough to kick that “this dude scored 6 fantasy points last week” thought from your head, but this dude also scored 37 fantasy points two weeks ago and 49 fantasy points in a game earlier in the year.
Allen has the highest ceiling of anyone on this slate, and he’s a direct pivot off of a chalky Drake Maye. Oh, and he isn’t going to be remotely owned in a meaningful home game with the Eagles.
Philip Rivers, QB, Colts ($4.7k)
Want to save some cash but tap into some ceiling? Let’s get real sick with it and fire up some Philip Rivers. The 44-year old let it fly last week and ended up putting up some pretty good numbers, and now he’s in another must-win situation against the Jaguars.
This feels like a pretty murky play if Houston wins on Saturday and ends Indy’s season. However, if the Colts are still alive going into a date with Jacksonville, I have some interest in an unowned Rivers.
Saquon Barkley, RB, Eagles ($7.6k)
Barkley continues to remind us of his potential, as he’s churned out 17+ fantasy point outings in each of his last three games. The Eagles are still jockeying for position in the NFC, and this week they get a soft matchup against a poor Bills run defense.
Barkley enters week 17 with the 5th best projection amongst running backs and yet he continues to be somewhat discounted and isn’t garnering crazy ownership.
Kenneth Walker III, RB, Seahawks ($5.8k)
Walker is a more appropriate tourney play due to price. Ashton Jeanty is understandably one of the best NFL DFS cash game plays this week, but Walker is almost a direct pivot at $300 less.
Jeanty is a fantastic play, but Walker is still interesting due to the ceiling he can flash. We saw it last week when he popped off for 28 fantasy points in a seemingly impossible spot against the Rams.
This week Walker gets the Panthers, who rank 25th against fantasy RBs on the year.
Alec Pierce, WR, Colts ($4.7k)
I like Pierce for a few reasons. For one, he won’t be owned. He also crushed last week, catching two touchdowns from Old Man Rivers. This is an elite athlete with the size and big-play ability to nuke a slate, while the matchup with a beatable Jaguars secondary looks pretty good on paper.
With Indy tentatively coming into week 17 in must-win mode, Pierce is a sub-$5k GPP dart with a high ceiling.
Brian Thomas Jr., WR, Jaguars ($5.2k)
On the other side of that game is BTJ, who took a bit of a backseat to Parker Washington last week, but still offers a ceiling in a very winnable spot. We saw what Brock Purdy did to this lifeless Colts defense last week, so just imagine what a red hot Trevor Lawrence is about to do.
BTJ hasn’t always been “that dude” this year, but he flashed his upside two weeks ago with 17 fantasy points. Considering the matchup and the groove T-Law is in, I am very down to take a shot on BTJ going off this week.
It’s risky, but he is a strong GPP pairing with a chalky Lawrence and gets you leverage against what figures to be a very chalky Jakobi Meyers.
Taysom Hill, TE, Saints ($2.7k)
It seems I was a week or two early on the Taysom Hill breakout. I probably should have seen it coming, of course, as the Saints are severely depleted in their backfield and finally opted to unleash their Swiss Army Knife.
That looks like a real possibility again this week, so the sub-$3k Hill stands out as a fun (albeit risky) punt at a pretty top-heavy tight end position. This is a risky play, but if last week’s role was any indication, the Saints have zero qualms about giving this guy the ball.
Oh, and he faces the Titans, who aren’t the least bit scary. Is that the “double tight end punt” music I hear? Maybe. I still have eyes for Trey McBride, but playing two TEs with one of the obvious (and yet not very owned) punts does sound appealing.
Michael Mayer, TE, Raiders ($2.5k)
The other TE punt is obviously Michael Mayer, as Brock Bowers is officially done for the year. Mayer is even cheaper than Hill and is an actually tight end, so in theory, he should have a more reliable role.
There’s nothing reliable about Raiders players, but hey, he projects very well for his price, Bowers has been put out to pasture, and Las Vegas gets to face the weak ass Giants. New York is bad at everything these days, so taking a shot on a bare minimum TE against them feels like a no-brainer.
Playing DFS since the days of DraftStreet, Kevin knows the ins and outs of DFS, specifically for NFL and NBA. He’s also been helping people win in fantasy football leagues for 15+ years and is one of many experts featured at FantasyPros.
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