NFL Week 18 DFS lineup advice feat. Dak Prescott, Travis Kelce, Amon-Ra St. Brown, and more

Week 18 in DFS is like the Wild West. You don’t know who is coming or going. People you’ve never heard of become “must starts.” You lay down a month’s salary on a third-string quarterback who sold you a car last year. It’s just insane. But we can have some fun and hopefully craft winning lineups if we just follow the breadcrumbs on who is playing and for what.

There are several players with large monetary incentives for the season who desperately want to achieve them. I’m looking at those guys. There are also players in spots that are must-wins for their teams. Also, it is a good place to start. Finally, there are players who we assume will get massive volume. That’s the best place to place your bets. It’s not easy and trust me it could change. But let’s look at the main slate on DraftKings for my core players to build around.

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Quarterback

Dak Prescott (DAL) $6800 – I love this spot for Prescott against a horrific Giants secondary. There’s no real monetary incentive for Prescott to play and the fact that the game is meaningless gives me pause. What I do think is in play though is Prescott currently leading the NFL in passing yards and his desire to finish with that title. He’s currently just 34 yards ahead of Matthew Stafford who plays in the late window on Sunday. The Rams have stated their players will play versus Arizona, so we aren’t sure if Stafford is going to chase down Prescott to try and take the passing title and potentially MVP. Prescott is a tournament play with upside for several touchdowns. Running back Javonte Williams has been ruled out so it wouldn’t shock me if the Cowboys just let Prescott chuck it a ton in the finale.

Tanner McKee (PHI) $4500 – Now we’re talking. McKee is a very competent backup who will be looking to earn himself a starting role next season. I fully expect the Eagles to let McKee rip against a hapless Commanders squad. Washington has allowed the third-most passing touchdowns this season and with nothing to play for shouldn’t put up much of a fight. The Eagles want to showcase McKee so they can trade him this offseason for a first or second round pick. With mostly backups going for Philly this will have all the feelings of preseason game, but with the exception of McKee keeping his foot on the gas to land himself a pay day. Great price and spot.

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Running Back

Tank Bigsby (PHI) $5400 – Saquon Barkley won’t suit up for the Eagles, so we’ll get a heavy dose of Bigsby who in replacement duty has shown well. On just 42 carries, Bigsby is averaging 6.4 yards per carry. He’s a physical runner who can get downhill and eat up yards in a hurry. His opponent, Washington, allows over 145 yards per game on the ground. I love Bigsby to get 100 yards and a touchdown this week. He’s not a total zero in the passing game either and could collect a few checkdowns. He’s someone I want in lineups.

Audric Estime (NO) $5000 – Last week’s coming out party for Estime was a long time coming. Running as the main ball carrier for the Saints, he piled up 94 rushing yards and a touchdown. The Saints are one of the hottest teams in football. They’ve won four games in a row and face a Falcons team that is dead. Atlanta is a bottom-seven run defense and if Estime gets 12+ carries I like him to return decent value. What we need is a touchdown of course and a few catches to really boost his output.

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Wide Receiver

Keenan Allen (LAC) $4600 – Allen is old and slow, but he’s got a lot on the line this week. With six catches he could pocket another $750K. He can gain another quarter of a million dollars for a pair of touchdowns. While the starters for the Chargers won’t see the field much, Allen isn’t much of a starter anymore. His playing time and snap shares have dwindled so it’s not crazy to think the Chargers could leave him out there to stat pad in a game they don’t care about. Having Trey Lance at quarterback is never reassuring though.

Amon-Ra St. Brown (DET) $7700 – I have no doubt in my mind that the Lions want to ruin everything they can for their rivals the Bears. Chicago is trying to lock up the two seed while Detroit plays out the string on a disappointing season. That said, Detroit is playing all of their starters including bringing back offensive lineman that have missed prior games. St. Brown is a stud and can easily go off against his former offensive coordinator, Ben Johnson’s team. Chicago is bottom twelve in passing yards allowed and has given up the fifth most touchdowns through the air. In September when these teams first met, St. Brown ripped Chicago for 115 yards and three touchdowns. Fire him up again this weekend.

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Tight End

Travis Kelce (KC) $4700 – I must get Kelce into at least one lineup in his final NFL game. There’s a chance the Chiefs pepper their future Hall of Famer with 15 targets and let him go out on top. In reality, what else is there to do? I think they’ll do everything they can to get him in the endzone and send him off on a high note. His quarterback play is ungodly bad, so don’t put all of your eggs in this basket.

Greg Dulcich (MIA) $2600 – You can do a lot with this salary. Dulcich is actually a very capable player who’s run across some bad injury luck. Last week, Miami fed him the rock as he collected five of six targets for 58 yards and a score. At this bargain basement price, he’s worth the flier. Over his last two games, Dulcich has caught eight passes for 104 yards and a touchdown. For $2600 that’s exactly what you’re looking for. Miami will be facing a Patriots team that could still push the pace and force a shootout.

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Defense

With so many players out, this is nearly impossible to accurately project. I’d lean on teams going against bad quarterbacks like the Bills ($3500) vs the Jets, Broncos ($3800) vs Trey Lance and the Chargers, and the Vikings ($3000) going up against Clayton Tune and the Packers.

Edited by Brian Drake