Daily Fantasy Football NFL Playoff Picks for FanDuel and DraftKings - Championship Round

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Quarterbacks

Jalen Hurts FD 9200 DK 7200
Opponent SF
Proj Points FD - 24.45 DK - 24.45

It’s not by much, but the Eagles have the highest implied total on the two-game slate. Facing off against the 49ers defense won’t be easy, but Hurts comes into this game with the highest floor, and maybe ceiling, of any quarterback going. He had an easy time of it last week against the Giants, only needing to throw 24 times in the blowout win, but he still ran the ball nine times for 34 yards. The latter number is a welcome sign for his overall health and one would have to think this number could really skyrocket this week in a close game. Between the running upside and the high-powered offense attack, Hurts should be the cash game play on both sites.

After Hurts, I would lean towards Joe Burrow for cheaper on both sites. We know the Bengals will air it out and I’m too worried about the health of Patrick Mahomes with the ankle injury.

Running Backs

Christian McCaffrey FD 9000 DK 8000
Opponent PHI
Proj Points FD - 20.11 DK - 22.36

McCaffey played *only* 67% of the 49ers’ snaps last week, though the volume was still there with 10 carries and eight targets in the win. It was tough from an efficiency standpoint, mustering just 57 total yards, though he did find the end zone once. This is a tough matchup against a stout Eagles defense that will likely be geared up to take him out of the game. But no other running back on the slate has his kind of upside and he’s virtually game script safe even with Elijah Mitchell getting more carries last week.

Jerick McKinnon FD 6500 DK 5400
Opponent CIN
Proj Points FD - 11.98 DK - 14.06

The good news on Jerick McKinnon first: he played 65% of the Chiefs snaps last week against the Jaguars. In a close game, he sure looks like the plan in the backfield. But the bad news is that Patrick Mahomes is injured and the Kansas City situation is a bit muddied. They are home dogs to the Bengals because of the quarterback situation. A game in which they trailed would likely be good news for McKinnon in the passing game, though it’s worth noting he saw zero targets last week. All that being said, I think we can roster him here on a short slate at these current price points.

Strongly consider Joe Mixon especially if you think the Mahomes injury is a bigger deal and the Bengals can get out to a lead early.

Wide Receivers

Ja'Marr Chase FD 8600 DK 7600
Opponent KC
Proj Points FD - 20.74 DK - 24.94

I think because of the way the pricing breaks down this week, there is going to be an opportunity to play two of the stud wide receivers on this two-gamer. It starts with Chase who figures to be about as big an impact WR as we’ll see. He saw *only* eight targets last week against the Bills, but the conditions were rough and the Bengals were playing downhill almost this whole game. He went 7/97 when these two teams faced earlier in the season and has double-digit targets in eight of his previous 10 games. This is not a spot I want to fade Chase at all.

A.J. Brown FD 8000 DK 7000
Opponent SF
Proj Points FD - 18.3 DK - 21.87

He saw a 25% target share last week against the Giants and could command a lot of looks in this game. Brown should be able to get downfield against the 49ers’ secondary and is obviously the top target for Hurts in the offense. The DraftKings price actually makes things pretty easy in terms of rostering him in cash and I don’t think we actually have all that difficult a decision here. He has big play upside and will likely see major ownership on this slate.

Deebo Samuel FD 7000 DK 5700
Opponent PHI
Proj Points FD - 14.26 DK - 16.81

Deebo Samuel is still coming too cheap on DraftKings at under $6K and last week saw 24% of the team’s target share while also carrying the ball four times. He was ridiculously run hot on touchdowns for parts of his career, a rate that was unsustainable. But there is a definitive floor for Deebo with how they want to use him in the offense. He sat out practice early in the week, but it is clear that he is going to be playing here.

Kadarius Toney FD 5600 DK 3700
Opponent CIN
Proj Points FD - 10.99 DK - 13.09

Bad news on Toney is that he played only 20 snaps last week against the Jaguars. The good news is the Chiefs gave him the ball on eight of them. He finished the day with 50 total yards. With Patrick Mahomes banged up, Kansas City might have to get more gadgety than usual and Toney could play a big part in that.

Tight Ends

Travis Kelce FD 8500 DK 7800
Opponent CIN
Proj Points FD - 18.17 DK - 22.13

It’s not exactly high-level advice to write up Travis Kelce on a four-game slate. But it’s also impossible to leave him out of things with such a reduced player pool. This is a dude coming off a monster 17-target game that saw him catch 14 passes for 98 yards and two touchdowns. There are clearly major concerns around Patrick Mahomes leading into this game and the Chiefs could be in trouble. But one would think that the default option would be to go to Kelce as much as humanly possible here.

Hayden Hurst is just $3K on DraftKings and at that pricing will likely be a popular option this week. In fact, the pricing is such that you can think about running two tight ends in cash.