FanDuel Playoff Picks: NFL DFS lineup advice for wild card GPP tournaments

Jacob Camenker

FanDuel Playoff Picks: NFL DFS lineup advice for wild card GPP tournaments image

With the first round of the NFL playoffs now here, the NFL DFS slate is much thinner than it once was. Over the next two weeks, there will only be eight teams in action, but there are still plenty of sleepers to target and strategies that can be implemented to get into the money in daily fantasy football contests. And our FanDuel lineup picks for the wild card round will try to find the best way to attack this thin Saturday-Sunday slate.

There really aren't any "automatic" plays this week, as there aren't any players at a position that are significantly better than others and in good matchups. Usually, there's at least one of those, but with many strong defenses playing in the opening week of the postseason, it's hard to find too many must-plays. That said, our strategy was to target some of the most consistent producers at QB and RB. That led us to a Colts QB-WR stack and a couple of higher-priced options at RB. Hopefully, this tournament lineup will hit. Here's our lineup for this week.

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Wild Card Round FanDuel Picks: NFL DFS tournament lineup

QB Andrew Luck, Colts @ Texans ($8,000).  In two games against the Texans this year, Luck has been an absolute monster. Granted, he has had to throw the ball quite a bit, logging 103 attempts combined in the two outings, but even still, posting a combined average of 29.11 FanDuel points in the two games is impressive. Luck will likely have to throw a lot against the Texans' leaky secondary, and he posted multiple passing TDs in 13-of-16 games this season. Luck has a high floor and a high ceiling, especially if the Colts and Texans get into a shootout. He is a solid pickup as just the third-highest priced QB option this week.

RB Jordan Howard, Bears vs. Eagles ($7,600).  In the past three weeks, Howard has scored four times while logging at least 14 FanDuel points in every outing. It's becoming clear that the Bears want to run the ball a lot on offense, and Howard's power ability will give them a chance to do that. The Eagles started the year well against the run, but they have allowed seven double-digit scorers at RB since Week 10. Howard should be in position to score once or twice more, and he will definitely get a lot of touches as the Bears look to dominate time of possession against the Eagles. 

RB Ezekiel Elliott, Cowboys vs. Seahawks ($8,800).  Elliott has been borderline matchup-proof this year, and his only dud outing came against the Redskins near the midpoint of the season. In every other outing, he has scored at least 13.2 FanDuel points, making him a safe investment here. The Seahawks have also had issues against pass-catching RBs this year, so that will give Elliott a chance to pick up a bit of extra value as a receiver in this game. With only a few viable RBs on the slate, spending up for both Howard and Elliott made the most sense for this lineup.

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Quarterback | Running back | Wide receiver | Tight end | D/ST Kicker

WR Nelson Agholor, Eagles @ Bears ($6,400).  Agholor has emerged as a favorite target of Nick Foles in the past two weeks, as he has seen 13 targets while catching 10 of them for 156 yards and three TDs. In each game, he reached a season milestone (100-yard receiving game, two-TD game). Agholor is coming on at the right time, and he may seen more targets against the Eagles. With Agholor essentially usurping the No. 2 receiver role from Golden Tate, he should be in position to take advantage of the Bears outside and in the slot, where they are missing Bryce Callahan.

WR T.Y. Hilton, Colts @ Texans ($7,700)   With Luck in my lineup, there's no way I'm surrendering a chance to stack him with Hilton. While Hilton has been banged up in recent weeks, he is still playing well, and he had logged double-digit FanDuel points in five consecutive outings before posting a mark of 7.1 against the Titans last week. In two games against the Texans this year, Hilton has 314 receiving yards and on 18 targets. His deep speed will be tough for the Texans to deal with, so even if he doesn't find the end zone, the volume should be there for him to have another big game.

WR Cole Beasley, Cowboys vs. Seahawks ($5,400).  I needed a consistent, low-budget option to allow me to spend up at QB and RB, and Beasley fit the bill. Beasley has seen 18 targets in the past three games and has caught 15 of them for 166 yards and a TD -- good for an average of 10.7 FanDuel points per game. The Cowboys will likely have to throw to beat the Seahawks, so Beasley could continue to see a solid share of action.

TE Blake Jarwin, Cowboys vs. Seahawks ($5,800).  I was really tempted to take a flier on Hunter Henry here, who is reportedly coming off the PUP list to play in his first game this season, but the risk was too great to trust him. Instead, I'm chasing points here with Jarwin. The Oklahoma State product had a massive game against the Giants last week, going for 119 yards and a ridiculous three TDs on seven catches. While he may not see that kind of production again, he has at least seven targets in three of his last four games. That's enough to make him a solid volume-based option and as the fifth-highest priced TE on the slate (and $1,800 below the positional ceiling), he is a good value.

FLEX Tyrell Williams, Chargers @ Ravens ($5,200).  Williams is a bit of a riskier pick, as he only has five targets in the past two games. That said, he's a big play threat and always has a chance to break a long TD. Williams won't get a lot of opportunities, so we're banking on the big play. And in the low-$5K price range, that's what you have to do in this type of slate. 

DEF Baltimore Ravens vs. Chargers ($4,900).  The common play here will likely be to spend up at defense and target the Bears, who get the Nick Foles-led Eagles at home this week. However, for this GPP I'm pivoting toward the Ravens, who come $600 cheaper but are still a great option. The Ravens have allowed an average of just 15.3 points per game in their past three outings, and one of those came against the Chargers where they scored 20 FanDuel points. It's no guarantee that they will have a repeat performance, but their defense at home could force Philip Rivers into some mistakes and at the very least, he will be sacked a couple of times in this contest. 

Jacob Camenker

Jacob Camenker Photo

Jacob Camenker first joined The Sporting News as a fantasy football intern in 2018 after his graduation from UMass. He became a full-time employee with TSN in 2021 and now serves as a senior content producer with a particular focus on the NFL. Jacob worked at NBC Sports Boston as a content producer from 2019 to 2021. He is an avid fan of the NFL Draft and ranked 10th in FantasyPros’ Mock Draft Accuracy metric in both 2021 and 2022.