Yahoo DFS Picks Week 18: NFL DFS lineup advice for daily fantasy football GPP tournaments

We’re heading into Week 18, and we’re building our final main slate around a Saints stack as they aim for the final playoff spot in the NFC. We also want to do our best to feature players who will receive a full complement of snaps in our Week 18 Yahoo DFS tournament picks. The final week of the NFL regular season can be tricky to navigate in DFS, but we see it as an opportunity to take advantage. As always, we’ll have some sleepers and under-valued dart throws with high upside for GPP tournaments.

We’re largely avoiding chalky plays, so we’ll have enough differentiation to make some noise in this type of format.

WEEK 18 FANTASY RANKINGS (PPR & STANDARD):
Quarterback | Running back | Wide receiver | Tight end | D/ST | Kicker

Before we break down our picks, just a reminder of some key rules for Yahoo DFS. It’s essentially the same as FanDuel, with four-point passing TDs and half-point PPR.

Yahoo DFS Picks Week 18: NFL DFS lineup for GPP tournaments

Sunday main slate, $200 budget, no more than six players from the same team.

• #1

  QB Taysom Hill, Saints @ Falcons ($32)

  We’re chasing upside with Hill’s rushing and big play ability, and picking on the Falcons in this spot. Hill has eclipsed 24.0 fantasy points twice over his last four games, and even though the Falcons won the first matchup between these two in Week 9, we like the Saints to prevail in a must-win spot.

• #2

  RB Alvin Kamara, Saints @ Falcons ($30)

  We’re going to stack Hill with Kamara, who found the end zone on a reception last week. He totaled over 100 yards and scored a touchdown against the Falcons earlier in the season, and we like his odds of delivering another strong showing on Sunday.

• #3

  ​RB Devin Singletary, Bills vs. Jets ($23)

  Singletary has increased his output each week since scoring 11.9 fantasy points against the Buccaneers in Week 14. He’s coming off a two-touchdown, 23-point effort, and another strong performance should be in the cards against the Jets. The Bills still have work to do if they want to clinch the division, and they’ll likely continue to feed their third-year back.

• #4

  ​WR Darnell Mooney, Bears @ Vikings ($21)

  Mooney got back on track to an extent, drawing 13 targets on Sunday. His final line left a little to be desired (seven catches, 69 yards), but he did score a touchdown. The Bears are eliminated from playoff contention, but Mooney is 71 yards shy of logging his first 1,000-yard season. It doesn’t require a vivid imagination to envision the Bears feeding Mooney in an attempt to push him to this personal milestone.

• #5

  WR Michael Pittman Jr., Colts @ Jaguars ($19)

  While we’d love to see Pittman dominate targets to a larger degree game-to-game, we can’t be much more excited about a matchup than we are for this one. The Colts are still scratching and clawing for a ticket to the tournament. Meanwhile, it’s fair to wonder how many Jaguars players have shifted focus to their respective upcoming vacations. The Colts should be able to smother the Jags from the outset, and that could include them leaning on their best players early and often.

• #6

  ​WR Brandon Aiyuk, 49ers @ Rams ($17)

  Aiyuk’s season will be remembered as a little more disappointing than it ultimately was. He certainly fell short of lofty expectations, but there have been a lot of nice things he’s accomplished. For Sunday specifically, we’re primarily attracted to his price tag, but we also like that he’s scored double-digit fantasy points in five of his last seven. It would be splendid if he’d cap an up-and-down season with a score, but we’re just asking him to hold the fort as this week’s cheapest player.

• #7

  ​TE Rob Gronkowski, Buccaneers vs. Panthers ($21)

  No Chris Godwin (127 targets). No Leonard Fournette (84 targets). No Antonio Brown (62 targets). That’s 40.2 percent of the Buccaneers passing game volume. Lesser-known players will certainly need to step up but expect Gronkowski to pick up as much of the slack as he can handle. He finished Sunday’s contest with a team-leading 10 targets, and he’ll be in position to pace the team once more to end the regular season.

• #8

  ​FLEX (RB) Saquon Barkley, Giants vs. Football Team ($18)

  We’re taking one more shot on Barkley here because he’s cheap and offers ability that nobody else in this price range can match. Sunday’s matchup between the Giants and the Football Team carries little significance — at least in terms of inspiring team-wide motivation — so we’re hoping that Washington lacks a little bit of whatever defensive gusto they’ve demonstrated this season.

• #9

  DEF Bills vs. Jets ($19)

  The Bills have clinched a playoff berth, but they will still want to claim the division crown as well. They’ve come under some fire defensively in recent weeks, but a date with the moribund Jets should allow them to rediscover the unit that scored at least 17.0 fantasy points in three of their first five games.