DFS guide: Playing FanDuel in Wild Card weekend

Full NFL slates are in the rearview — or just eight months away, if you want to be a bit more optimistic — but we still have short slates to enter for the NFL playoffs.

With shorter slates, I personally eschew cash games and only play in tournaments. This article is more of a general guide, but I did want to make note of that bias before moving on.

Here’s a look at several strategies you can deploy for the Wild Card games on FanDuel.

Quarterbacks

• Jared Goff ($8,500)

If playing cash, Goff is the way to go. He has the highest floor, the highest projected points, and the highest expected return on value. So even though he’s the most expensive quarterback, we still project him to return the most bang for your buck.

• Cam Newton ($8,300)

Newton is my top GPP quarterback this weekend. He has hit 30-plus FanDuel points three times this year. Alex Smith is the only other quarterback playing this weekend who has even reached that threshold (Smith has done it twice).

• Drew Brees ($8,100)

I don’t have much interest in Brees as the third-most-expensive quarterback. He’s not going to sink your lineup, but the Brees-like ceiling we’ve grown used to just hasn’t been there this year, with only one game above 20 points since Week 3, and no games above 23 FanDuel points all season long.