The high-flying Bengals and Bills meet in Cincinnati for Sunday Night Football this weekend, the first meeting between these teams at Paycor Stadium since Damar Hamlin almost died there in early January. Emotions will be high for this one, but the DFS scoring might be even higher. Today, we will share our optimal FanDuel single-game tournament roster with you for this AFC clash, and hopefully help you make some daily fantasy cash.
Obviously, the storylines will be plentiful for this one. Damar Hamlin and the heroes who saved him will almost certainly be featured during the pregame, but two of the three best offenses in the conference will be making the headlines this time around, with Joe Burrow and Josh Allen renewing their years-long rivalry once again.
Cincinnati started slow this season, with Burrow clearly not at 100 percent and Tee Higgins also battling injuries for the majority of the first half. But the Bengals have come on strong as of late, most recently upsetting the 49ers in commanding fashion. The Bills, meanwhile, got off to a 3-1 start but have lost two of their past four games and have a ton of question marks in the run game and on the defensive side of the ball.
We're pumped for this one, so let's get to our FanDuel lineup for Bengals vs. Bills and explain our strategy with each draft selection. Good luck, have fun, and enjoy what should be an instant classic!
Before we break down our picks and strategy, here are the most notable scoring rules for FanDuel contests: four-point passing TDs and half-point PPR.
MORE SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL:
Betting preview | Top props | DK lineup
Bengals-Bills FanDuel Picks Week 9: NFL DFS lineup for GPP tournaments
$60,000 budget, must include at least one player from each team
MVP (1.5x points) Josh Allen, QB, Bills ($17,000)
We never get cute on FanDuel, where you get your 1.5-times boost without having to pay extra salary. The name of the game is picking the top fantasy performer of the contest, and Allen seems like a very safe selection to do just that.
The MVP candidate has easily outscored the rest of the player pool so far this season, averaging 24 FD points per game while no other Bill or Bengal has averaged 18. He also has 55.3 points over the past two weeks, so don't overthink this one. Allen has struggled against the Bengals at times throughout his career, but he's still the best bet and the lowest injury risk.
FLEX Joe Burrow, QB, Bengals ($15,000)
We wanted both sides of this QB duel, as both have been awesome over the past three weeks. Joey B seems to finally be back to full health, having posted nearly 25 FD points in Arizona in Week 6 and then exploding for 27.6 last week in the Bengals' huge upset of the 49ers.
A quick glimpse at the matchup tells you that Buffalo has allowed the second-fewest FD points to QBs this season, but bear in mind that the Bills have faced Zach Wilson, Mac Jones, Tyrod Taylor, Sam Howell, and Jimmy Garoppolo this season. Sean McDermott's defense has also been ravaged by injuries, highlighted by stud cornerback Tre'Davious White's torn Achilles. Fire Joe Cool up and yell "Brrrrrrr" when he tosses each touchdown.
FLEX Tee Higgins, WR, Bengals ($10,000)
Higgins has endured a turbulent season, marred by injuries and occasionally disappearing from action when he's on the field. But his upside remains massive when he's healthy, and he demonstrated plenty of positive signs last week against San Francisco. Higgins caught 5-of-6 targets for 69 yards, a 9.4-point effort that would have been closer to the high teens if he had landed in the end zone.
With running back Joe MIxon listed as questionable with a chest injury, the Bengals will be throwing early and often in what should be a close AFC battle. We'll be rooting for an airshow this Sunday night, baby!
FLEX Tyler Boyd, WR, Bengals ($9,500)
We would love to be able to roster both Higgins and Ja'Marr Chase, but obviously we don't have an unlimited budget so we had to settle for Higgins and Boyd. But hey, the veteran slot receiver is no slouch — he has posted 25.4 FD posts over the past two weeks and remains one of Burrow's most reliable third-down and red-zone target. The floor and ceiling are there, which is all you can ask for from a skill-position player priced under $10,000.
FLEX Dalton Kincaid, TE, Bills ($8,000)
Kincaid has been balling out over the past two weeks, posting 11.5 FD points in New England and then 15 points last against the Buccaneers. With Dawson Knox on the shelf and the Bengals' pass-rush looking better and better each week, we expect the rookie tight end to remain very involved in this Ken Dorsey offense.
The Bengals have allowed more FD points to opposing tight ends than any other team in the NFL, so our eyes lit up like fireflies in the midnight sky when we saw this dude available at $8,000. Plug him into the back-end of your lineup and enjoy the results this Sunday night.
Best Bengals-Bills SuperDraft DFS Picks
As we have every week, we're also listing our favorite single-game DFS plays on SuperDraft.
For those unfamiliar, SuperDraft's DFS scoring involves point multipliers as opposed to traditional salary-capped or tiered contests. A winning lineup will likely feature a strong mix of stud fantasy contributors with 1x-1.6x boosts, as well as matchup-based sleepers with larger multipliers. Each player is assigned a scoring multiplier based on their value as determined by SuperDraft. Users can roster any player in their lineup with no restrictions.
MORE: Win BIG with SuperDraft! Join now and get a free deposit match of $20!
Here are the most notable scoring rules for SuperDraft NFL contests: Half-point PPR, four-point passing TDs, two-point bonuses for 100 rushing yards, 100 receiving yards, and 300 passing yards.
MORE SUPERDRAFT DFS: How to play SuperDraft
- Champion (+50% points): Ja'Marr Chase, WR, Bengals (1.65x)
- Super FLEX: Joe Burrow, QB, Bengals (1.75x)
- Super FLEX: Josh Allen, QB, Bills (1.5x)
- Super FLEX: Gabe Davis, WR, Bills (2.1x)
- Super FLEX: Tee Higgins, WR, Bengals (2.25x)
We couldn't resist taking Chase with a 1.65-times boost on top of the initial 50-percent Champion boost. After that, we went with a similar strategy as we employed with our DraftKings lineup: grabbing both QBs and multiple high-ceiling pass-catchers. Davis and Higgins will always have TD-upside, and getting them with 2.1-2.25-times boosts seemed too good to pass up.
