Playoffs!? Yes Coach Mora, playoffs. We've made it to the Wild Card round of the NFL playoffs, and even with an eight team slate you better believe we've got DFS games to play.

Let's peek at the Vegas lines for these four games. The highest projected point total is the 46 spot for the Pittsburgh-Cincinnati matchup. The Green Bay-Washington matchup has seen it's line settle at 45. Kansas City-Houston and Seattle-Washington are both hovering around 40, with Kansas City and Seattle being the favorites who should get the biggest piece of those low totals.

None of these games are sending up signals for fireworks, but rest assured there is still plenty of value calling far down on the player lists in DraftKings player pool. Let's get to it.

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Cheap Wild Card DraftKings Quarterbacks

Brian Hoyer (QB, HOU): $5,400 - vs. KC

Hoyer is going to have to be the man for Houston against a formidable Kansas City defense that is coming into the playoffs having built some serious momentum. Kansas City's yearly totals are still pretty skewed by their early struggles, but there is also no answer for DeAndre Hopkins in the end. Hoyer will hope to have Cecil Shorts back on Sunday (Shorts has said that he hopes to be ready for the Wild Card weekend), as Nate Washington is banged up (though not ruled out himself either), and if neither can really go then it'll fall on Jaelen Strong to step up and be the team's #2 receiver out there.

Houston's running game is nothing special, and it may very well be shut down early and leave the game on Hoyer's arm. While Kansas City's pace of play is the second slowest in the league behind only Dallas, that still isn't enough to dissuade me as Houston ranks as the third quickest team and could very well fall into that spot where they need to put up points in the second half unless J.J. Watt runs a few back. At near minimum price, taking him might get you an affordable stack with Hopkins if that tickles your fancy.

AJ McCarron (QB, CIN): $5,200 - vs. PIT

This is as cheap as I'm comfortable going, as Teddy Bridgewater against Seattle (and honestly Teddy in general) gets a *hard pass* shake of the head from me. AJ McCarron may very well make a mess of things, but he's put some drives together and seems to grasp that he has two very talented and sizable receivers out there that he can trust in A.J. Green and Tyler Eifert. His other complementary pieces ain't half bad either. Pittsburgh should look to push things with their aerial assault, and the strong possibility exists that McCarron will need to go out there and keep pace. This pretty much hinges on how well the Bengals defense can perform against Big Ben, but for tournaments this is a solid play, and again leaves you with a good opportunity to stack with Green and not blow your wallet.

 

Cheap Wild Card DraftKings Running Backs

Eddie Lacy (RB, GB): $4,500 - @WAS

I know, no one is going to feel good about this play. Aaron Rodgers and his arm are the best bets on the team, and then you've got John Kuhn always lurking in the shadows to take that one yard plunge into the endzone. All the same, this Washington defense isn't going to keep the Packers to single digits this weekend, they've been giving up plenty of yards by their own right (including 435 to Kellen Moore this past Sunday). This means that Lacy still makes for a decent play and pray option at this price point.

Fitzgerald Toussaint (RB, PIT): $3,900 - @CIN

Mike Tomlin was talking about how well Toussaint has stepped up for Pittsburgh, and while his on-field performance didn't look like anything special (and have led people to think that Jordan Todman is the play here, which I respect but we're talking Toussaint here), I like Toussaint the most for being a hair cheaper than Todman and also the favorite for the heavy work. Will Johnson could come in I suppose, but we're under $4,000 here and out of the entire backfield, I'd want Toussaint above the others and hope he gets a cheap plunge or two like DeAngelo Williams did in Week 16 off of the two pass interference calls.

Alfred Morris (RB, WAS): $3,700 - vs. GB

With Matt Jones still not at 100%, this leaves Alfred Morris as the favorite for leading the Washington backfield in a matchup with a Packer defense that has ranked 6th in passing DVOA and 19th in rushing DVOA according to FootballOutsiders. In the past four weeks we've seen both backs for Dallas put up 10+ points on them, as well as David Johnson and Adrian Peterson eclipsing the mark. At this price, I'm going after that ceiling of 18-100-2 with a good shot at a 16-60-1 line.

 

Cheap Wild Card DraftKings Wide Receivers

DeSean Jackson (WR, WAS): $4,500 - vs. GB

I'm not sure why DeSean Jackson is this cheap, but it plays very well into the boom or bust tournament sort of option that he is. If he catches that long touchdown, you've made your nut. If he busts, at least you didn't have to drop over six grand on him or anything. Besides, we want that ceiling on our teams anyway. Two weeks ago against Buffalo he dropped that 6-153-1 line. That is what we're after, and for $4,500 that is almost an automatic play for me.

Markus Wheaton (WR, PIT): $4,000 - @CIN

Martavis Bryant appears to be losing ground to Markus Wheaton as of late, as Bryant's toughness and dedication have been called into question by Ben Roethlisberger as Bryant sat out last weekend's second half against Cleveland with a stiff neck. Combine this with Wheaton's own uptick in play recently and the subsequent increase in targets from Roethlisberger, as well as the running game taking a serious ding with DeAngelo Williams' injury, and the recipe looks decent for Wheaton to put your $4,000 to work this weekend.

Nate Washington/Cecil Shorts/Jaelen Strong (WR, HOU): $3,600/$3,300/$3,000 - vs. KC

Look, one of these guys is going to be Houston's #2 receiver against the Chiefs. Nate Washington had a good set up last week with Cecil Shorts ruled out, but injured his hip and left the game, leaving Jaelen Strong to be in on 60 of 76 snaps, catching six balls for 56 yards. If all three of these guys can go, you're taking them in the order listed (and ignoring Strong totally if both Washington and Shorts are active). Washington benefits greatly from Shorts' being absent, so you're going to want to keep an eye on the Texans' practice reports as the week progresses. Regardless, as noted in Hoyer's blurb, I don't trust the Houston running attack to carry them to victory here, and while it may all go through DeAndre Hopkins, getting that secondary option is not a bad idea.

 

Cheap Wild Card DraftKings Tight Ends

Kyle Rudolph (TE, MIN): $3,500 - vs. SEA

The Vikings have Adrian Peterson and then some other guys who have shown flashes. Seattle destroyed the Vikings the last time out (though Minnesota was without quite a few key guys on defense) and took Peterson out of the game by jumping out to a healthy lead. Peterson finished the game with eight carries for 18 yards. Yeesh. The entire Viking offense failed, with Rudolph himself only catching three balls for 13 yards. The hope here is that a more complete Minnesota squad can put up an actual effort against Seattle at home. This would give Rudolph a chance to operate against Seattle's only real weakness, as they are 26th in DVOA against opposing tight ends (it's the only position where they aren't in the top ten). Reach for the stars.

Heath Miller (TE, PIT): $3,300 - @CIN

The Steelers aforementioned struggling running game that should be missing DeAngelo Williams is going to need its passing game in full swing to win. In the last two games against the Bengals, Heath Miller has caught 20 of 23 targets for 171 yards. The Steelers will need to rely on a voluminous passing attack in lieu of a true RB1 to carry the load, and Miller should be heavily involved. The Bengals have also given up decent lines to players like Blake Bell (8 targets-4-43) and Maxx Williams (10 targets-6-63), so with Heath's low cost he seems like a shoo in for consideration.

Cooper Helfet (TE, SEA): $2,500 - @MIN

Let's throw a minimum price guy in who has a good chance at giving you at least 10 points, and Seattle's latest tight end fits the bill. Cooper Helfet and Chase Coffman were Seattle's tight ends in Week 17 with Luke Willson dealing with a concussion (he is getting in limited practices thus far this week). Keep an eye on Willson's status, but Helfet has played 52 snaps in each of Seattle's past two games, catching four passes in each game for 43 and 42 yards, respectively. Chase Coffman is $2,800, probably due to his catching a touchdown in Week 17, but Helfet is the minimum price guy to chase if you need to. Knowledge is power.

 

Cheap Wild Card DraftKings Defenses

The favored teams in the lowest scoring games are your two most expensive options (Seahawks and Chiefs), and no team even comes close to the $2,000 floor we've always had in past weeks. Ah well, there's still relative value to be examined.

Pittsburgh Steelers, D/ST: $3,700 - @CIN

As we discussed before, AJ McCarron is a risky play and the Steelers defense may very well get a few opportunities to prey on an inexperienced kid in a playoff game who needs to engineer a comeback as the more experienced Roethlisberger-led Steeler offense puts points on the board. That's more than enough for me to take a chance on them for this price. The Steelers have preached a defensive philosophy that relies on sacks and turnovers, even if it means being vulnerable on the back end. Sounds like a great tournament style attitude to have.

Green Bay Packers, D/ST: $2,800 @WAS

The cheapest defense on the board is one that could actually pay off. Washington's roster is heading into uncharted waters here for the most part, and while Green Bay is not playing like they're used to, they've still got a heavy experience edge here and we've seen Washington just implode plenty of times before. They should be fired up, but I think if Green Bay can come out and control the game at first, show Washington that an initial wave of emotional charge won't be enough to carry them to the next round, it might just be enough to jar Washington into making some mistakes.

 

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