This article is part of our Yahoo DFS Football series.
The NFL regular season is over, but Yahoo DFS football will continue to run throughout the postseason, with contests available for every day on which playoff games will take place. The largest slate on wild-card weekend falls on Sunday, with three games on the docket: Steelers-Bills at 1 p.m. EST, Packers-Cowboys at 4:30 p.m. and Rams-Lions at 8 pm. The biggest Yahoo NFL DFS contest for Sunday's wild-card round main slate is the $75K Wild Card Baller, which pays out a guaranteed prize pool of $75,000 to the top 1,175 finishers, including $15,000 to the winner. You can submit up to 133 entries into this contest, which has a maximum total capacity of 4,450 entries but will still run if it doesn't fill, potentially providing you with enhanced odds of winning, also known as overlay.
Playing in guaranteed prize pool (GPP) contests is about chasing upside, while lineups geared toward head-to-head, 50/50 or double-up formats should prioritize high floors. The players you want to target for these different contest types aren't mutually exclusive, but winning a GPP tournament usually requires finding a hidden gem or going against the grain in a spot or two, while building a solid base of the same chalk plays you would use anywhere. Against-the-grain plays typically consist of big-name players in tough matchups or boom-or-bust types with uncertain roles.
Keep in mind that Yahoo DFS contests use 0.5 PPR scoring rather than full PPR, which lowers the comparative value of wide receivers and running backs (in that order) while especially affecting high-volume pass-catchers. Your NFL $75k Wild Card Baller lineup will consist of one QB, two RBs, three WRs, one TE, one FLEX (RB/WR/TE) and one D/ST unit. Sunday's suggested plays include a QB-WR stack facing a vulnerable secondary, a RB who heated up down the stretch and a WR looking to find his game after a pedestrian finish to the regular season.
QUARTERBACK
Matthew Stafford, LAR at DET ($33): The Lions allowed the sixth-most passing yards in the regular season and the second-fewest rushing yards, so the Rams will likely have to go with a pass-heavy approach to move the ball in Stafford's first game at Ford Field as a visitor. LA should be just fine with that approach given both Stafford's recent form and playoff history. Over his last six starts, Stafford posted a 15:3 TD:INT while averaging 284.2 passing yards per game. The former Lions quarterback has thrown for more than 300 yards in four of seven playoff starts, and he tossed multiple touchdown passes in all four of his playoff games with the Rams en route to winning Super Bowl LVI.
Honorable Mentions:
Josh Allen, BUF vs. PIT ($40); Dak Prescott, DAL vs. GB ($33); Jared Goff, DET vs. LAR ($29)
RUNNING BACK
Najee Harris, PIT at BUF ($24): Pittsburgh's running game struggled for most of the season but got going just in the nick of time. Harris' production down the stretch was crucial to the Steelers sneaking into the playoffs, as he rumbled for 312 yards and four touchdowns on the ground during Pittsburgh's three-game winning streak to close out the regular season. Even as significant underdogs, the Steelers will want to lean on their running game for a couple reasons. Running the ball keeps the clock moving and leads to fewer possessions, thus providing fewer opportunities for the more talented Bills to pull away. More importantly, keeping the ball on the ground is the best way to beat Buffalo's defense, as the Bills' 4.44 YPC allowed to RBs in the regular season was eighth-most in the NFL.
Tony Pollard, DAL vs. GB ($22): With the Cowboys favored by more than a touchdown at home, Dallas is likely to play from ahead and thus rely more on the ground game against a Packers defense that allowed the 11th-most rushing yards (1,626) and seventh-most rushing touchdowns (13) to running backs this season. While CeeDee Lamb will almost certainly remain productive after a prolific regular season, Pollard could well be the better value on Dallas' offense at just over half of Lamb's valuation. Pollard rushed for at least 60 yards and a TD in four of the last eight games after hitting both benchmarks in the same game only once in the first nine, and the 85 percent snap share he saw in the important and competitive Week 17 win over the Lions is likely a good indicator of his postseason usage after Pollard played fewer than 80 percent of snaps in all but three regular-season games.
Honorable Mentions:
Kyren Williams, LAR at DET ($38); James Cook, BUF vs. PIT ($27); Aaron Jones, GB at DAL ($24)
WIDE RECEIVER
Amon-Ra St. Brown, DET vs. LAR ($34): The Lions and Rams were the two stingiest fantasy defenses against RBs in the regular season, and Detroit TE Sam LaPorta (knee) is likely to miss this game, so an even larger share of Detroit's offense than usual could flow through St. Brown in what could turn into a pass-heavy game. St. Brown finished third in the NFL with 1,515 receiving yards and tied for second with 119 receptions while being one of seven WRs to catch double-digit touchdown passes this season, while the Rams allowed the 10th-most receiving yards (2,851) to his position.
Puka Nacua, LAR at DET ($28): It's a close call between Nacua and Cooper Kupp ($30), and you could certainly justify starting both in a Rams stack with Stafford, but the record-setting rookie gets the edge here due to the slight cap savings compared to LA's other standout wideout. Nacua set NFL rookie records in both catches (105) and receiving yards (1,486), ranking fourth in the NFL in the latter category. In 11 games which all three of Nacua, Kupp and Stafford played, Nacua posted more receiving yards than Kupp seven times. Detroit allowed the third-most yards (3,081) and third-most TDs (22) to wide receivers in the regular season, so both star Rams WRs are likely to be productive in the wild-card round.
Stefon Diggs, BUF vs. PIT ($24): Diggs wasn't much of a factor in Buffalo's five-game winning streak to close out the regular season, as his 87 receiving yards in the season finale represented his highest total since Week 6. Despite the second-half slump, Diggs still topped 1,100 receiving yards for the fifth consecutive season, thanks to five 100-yard performances in the first six weeks. He remains the clear No. 1 WR in Buffalo's offense, and Diggs is a proven playoff performer, with four 100-yard outings in 12 playoff games, including three in seven games with Josh Allen as his QB. This is a nice buy-low opportunity on the star wideout, who's likely to see plenty of attention from Allen against a Steelers defense that allowed 2,776 receiving yards to WRs (11th-most).
Honorable Mentions:
CeeDee Lamb, DAL vs. GB ($40); Jayden Reed, GB at DAL ($26); Diontae Johnson, PIT at BUF ($19)
TIGHT END
Dalton Kincaid, BUF vs. PIT ($13): Kincaid's two highest yardage totals came in the last two games of his rookie season, as the 2023 first-round draft pick posted 87 yards in Week 17 and 84 yards in Week 18. He's a low-risk, high-reward play at just $13, and while Kincaid scored only two TDs in the regular season, he has a nice opportunity to get into the end zone against a Steelers defense that tied for the sixth-most TDs allowed to TEs, with seven. Assuming LaPorta doesn't play for Detroit against a Rams defense that has been ravaged by TEs, Kincaid has the best combination of production and matchup among players at his position taking the field Sunday.
Honorable Mentions:
Jake Ferguson, DAL vs. GB ($18); Tyler Higbee, LAR at DET ($11); Brock Wright, DET vs. LAR ($10)
DEFENSE
Dallas Cowboys vs. GB ($19): Dallas' defense should be worth paying up for in a game the Cowboys are poised to win handily based on their regular-season home/road splits. The Cowboys went 8-0 at AT&T Stadium while scoring 37.4 PPG and allowing just 15.9 PPG. If they can get ahead early and force the Packers into passing situations, Dallas' Micah Parsons-led pass rush should feast against mistake-prone young QB Jordan Love, whose 11 interceptions tied for 10th-most in the NFL.
Honorable Mentions:
Buffalo Bills at PIT ($18); Pittsburgh Steelers at BUF ($15); Detroit Lions vs. LAR ($10)
