Updated: Sunday, 1/04 at 9:45am

Welcome to the NFL Week 18 DFS Playbook!

Here we go. One last hurrah. While there will be NFL DFS throughout the playoffs, this is our final week with a full slate of games. DraftKings and FanDuel may have a full six-game slate to open the Wild Card round of the NFL playoffs, but typically, they leave their bigger money games to the shorter slates on the individual weekend days. Not that we even remotely want to be involved in every game being played this week, but you get what I'm saying. One final main slate with a bevy of options to build some winning DFS lineups. As always, I implore you to please remember to read the DFS positional coaches and catch up on all the latest in NFL news, including the NFL Injury Report. If you've already read this week's DFS Watch List, you know the pitfalls we are trying to avoid this week, so let's start finalizing this week's Playbook.

 

 

As a reminder, all of our content, our tools and everything else that has made us the leading site for all of your fantasy football needs – seasonal and daily – are here and even more accessible. 

We have also made some enhancements to our NFL tools. We continue to crunch the numbers and tweak our algorithms so that our daily fantasy football projections are the best in the industry and that, in turn, has improved things like our Lineup Generator/DFS Optimizer and our NFL DFS Ownership Projections. Again, all right here on one site for your convenience.

If you are new to the #FAmily, welcome! All the aforementioned tools are, obviously, at your disposal as well, but please allow me to point you towards more of the content and tools we provide to help you crush your DFS contests each week. It also makes for a nice introduction to our DFS team.

 

 

In addition to the positional coaches, you also have plenty of other research content to use like the weekly DFS Watch List, where I provide you with a daily-updated list of players I am looking at throughout the week. Typically, Jon Impemba and I do a DFS Show where we discuss lineup builds, but we weren't able this week dud to the fact that we had to wait until fairly late on Friday to get all the news and updates regarding teams that are likely to be sitting players this week. I covered most of it inside this week's Watch List, but as a reminder, here are some of the concerns/situations we are monitoring.

Los Angeles Rams – Sean McVay is saying that he is playing his starters, but has Kyren Williams, Blake Corum and Davante Adams listed as questionable. If the 49ers beat the Seahawks on Saturday, the Rams will stay where they are as the No. 6 seed. If the Seahawks win, then the Rams can move up to the fifth seed with a win. We're seeing a lot of ownership on Matthew Stafford and Puka Nacua right now, but if the 49ers win, I could easily see McVay pulling his starters.

Buffalo Bills – Currently the No. 7 seed, but the Chargers seem to be conceding this week by resting Justin Herbert for the playoffs. That means, a win for Buffalo with a Chargers loss pushes them to the No. 6 seed. If the Houston Texans also lose and the Bills beat the Jets, then there's a chance the Bills move up to the No. 5 seed. Unfortunately for Buffalo, their fate may already be determined as the Texans play the Colts at 1pm ET. With Josh Allen's foot issues, we may just see the Bills go with their back-ups.

New England Patriots – The concern here is scoreboard-watching. The Patriots could earnt he No. 1 seed if the Broncos lose to the Chargers and the Patriots beat the Dolphins. But the Chargers are sitting Herbert, so if New England sees Denver up by a few scores at halftime, they may just pull the starters. However, there is a slight wrinkle. If the Jaguars beat the Titans at 1pm ET, the Patriots need a win to secure the No. 2 seed still. It could be a situation where we see the Patriots go up early and try to coast through the second half to secure the win. Miami has already ruled out De'Von Achane who is their only legitimate asset.

So with all of this, keep in mind that THERE WILL LIKELY BE CHANGES TO THIS PLAYBOOK FOLLOWING THE SATURDAY GAMES. I do not want to invest in the Rams if the 49ers win. I'm unlikely to invest in anything Buffalo-related as well. The Patriots get a look still, but we certainly don't want to risk over-investing.

Clear as mud? Welcome to Week 18! Now let's get to the NFL Week 18 DFS Playbook picks!

 

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