While the season-long fantasy football season has come to an end, NFL Week 18 presents the DFS community with another fantastic opportunity to win some money and start your 2025 on the right foot. 

We have a robust 13-game Sunday main slate on DraftKings and a monster 14-game slate on FanDuel that culminates with the Minnesota Vikings and Detroit Lions battling for the NFC No. 1 seed on Sunday Night Football. With so many options, the best NFL DFS Week 18 Watch List is going to be paramount to helping you whittle down the player pool.

 

 

 

While we will be exploring a variety of players on non-playoff teams, our priority is to invest in players with something on the line for the 2024 NFL playoffs. 

Starting with the AFC -- the battle for the AFC North division will be hashed out on the two-game Saturday slate so we don’t get to tap into any Cincinnati Bengals, Pittsburgh Steelers or Baltimore Ravens (no one cares about the Cleveland Browns), but on Sunday, we will definitely be interested in what is happening for both the Denver Broncos and Miami Dolphins. 

The Broncos are in a “win and they’re in” scenario, regardless of what the Bengals do on Saturday. The Bengals need a win and a loss for both Denver and Miami. The Dolphins don’t care about Cincinnati. They need to win and have Denver lose to advance. The Chargers are somewhat involved here as there is a slight chance to earn the No. 5 seed, but they’re more likely to stay as the sixth seed. Clear as mud? I thought so.

The NFC playoff picture is much easier to sort out. The Lions and Vikings are playing for the NFC North title and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. This game is only available on the FanDuel main slate, and you can expect the players to be extremely chalky. For contests on DraftKings, the other two teams to watch are the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Atlanta Falcons who each need a win to secure the NFC South. 

The winner advances to the playoffs as either the No. 3 or 4 seed and the loser goes home. The Los Angeles Rams are likely the No. 3 seed but if they lose and the Bucs win the South, Tampa owns the tiebreaker, so they would drop to the fourth-seed, so I expect them to push on for the victory. Cooper Kupp, anyone? I’m just kidding…sort of… 

We’ll dive into it all throughout the week, but for now let’s get our first look at the best NFL Week 18 DFS Watch List!

 

 
 

 

Best NFL DFS Week 18 Watch List For 2024

Before we dive into the NFL DFS Week 18 Watch List, I always like to go back and check in with our hits and misses from the previous week’s Watch List. Remember, this list is still very fluid, and some names will make it to the final DFS Playbook and DFS Dart Board while others will be removed. It always depends on the latest NFL Injury Report and other news. Sometimes a great value opens up and bumps someone off.

Last week, we had Anthony Richardson on the cover of the Watch List, but a foot and back issues kept him out. While it opened up some value with Joe Flacco at quarterback, it was even more interesting with the values of both Josh Downs and Michael Pittman. We had Downs for cash games and Pittman for GPP tournaments with the latter actually coming through for us. 

We also missed with the Rachaad White GPP call and Darnell Mooney was hindered by the rain. But we nailed Sam Darnold, Jonathan Taylor, Calvin Ridley and T.J. Hockenson for you. Each one made it to the final Playbook and each one surpassed value for us in our lineups. But enough about last week. Let’s talk about the upcoming weekend and let’s get to the best NFL DFS Week 18 Watch List.

 

 

 

Top DraftKings DFS Week 18 Watch List

Baker Mayfield, QB Tampa Bay Buccaneers ($7,000)

He’s going to be super-chalky what with the five touchdowns last week, the Bucs needing a win for the NFC South title and a match-up against a Saints team that was packing it in for the season weeks ago. 

I could dive into metrics, but we know the drill here and we know what we want to do.

Saquon Barkley, RB Philadelphia Eagles ($8,600)

While the Eagles are locked into the No. 2 seed for the playoffs, the team is not going to stop until Barkley breaks Erric Dickerson’s single-season rushing record. He needs 101 rushing yards to break it and if last week’s season-high 31 carries were any indication of how badly the Eagles want him to break it, you know every starter will be on the field blocking for him until it happens. 

It’s a high price to pay off, but if we know he’s clearing the century mark, that’s half the battle. I’m sure he’ll find his way into the end zone at least once on his way. 

Tyreek Hill, WR Miami Dolphins ($6,700)

While there’s no guarantee that Tua Tagovailoa plays, we’re fine using Hill against a hapless Jets team even if Tyler Huntley is under center. We saw the passing attack focus on him and he caught all nine of his targets for 105 yards. 

Given how the Jets have quit on the season, how depleted their secondary is and how the Fins need the win to make the playoffs, you can probably expect an abundance of targets once again. And a player of Hill’s caliber, at this price? Yes, please. 

Kyle Pitts, TE Atlanta Falcons ($4,000)

There’s not a lot to love about the tight end position this week, but if you don’t want to invest in Trey McBride or Brock Bowers, you can look to Pitts and hope that last week’s five-target game was a promise of things to come as Michael Penix gets more comfortable in this offense. 

The Panthers rank 31st in DVOA against the tight end and allow the second-most fantasy points per game to the position. If the Panthers try to play spoiler, maybe Penix has to throw a little more.

 

 

 

Best FanDuel DFS Week 18 Watch List

Sam Darnold, QB Minnesota Vikings ($8,100)

For those playing on FanDuel, I expect a lot of people to load up on players from this game. But given how crazy the week could be with so much untapped value likely to hit, I might just limit myself to Darnold and just ensure a slice of everything that happens through the air for the Vikings. 

We’ll double check with DFS Ownership projections when they launch for the week. But if it’s between Darnold and Jared Goff, I’ll probably lean towards paying the extra $200 because the Lions can always sit on the run even in this match-up. The over/under on this game is 57 which is beyond laughable that Vegas has to put it that high. 

Emanuel Wilson, RB Green Bay Packers ($5,300)

You didn’t think we weren’t going to mine for value, did you? The Packers don’t have anything to play for. They can get the No. 6 seed which would match them up with probably the Rams instead of the No. 7 seed and face the Eagles, but they would also need Washington to lose to Dallas for that to happen. 

Either way, I don’t see a heavy workload for Josh Jacobs, if any at all, which means Wilson is running up against this Bears run-funnel defense that gives up the sixth-most rushing yards per game and the seventh-most fantasy points per game to the running back position. For this price, I’m going to lock in a guy like Wilson who has been strong in every opportunity he’s been given.  

Jalen McMillan, WR Tampa Bay Buccaneers ($6,100)

Most of the targets will funnel to Mike Evans to ensure he reaches 1,000 yards for the 11th-straight season, but as we’ve witnessed over the last few weeks, Mayfield has finally tabbed McMillan as his trusty replacement for Chris Godwin. 

I expect the trend to continue this week against a soft and depleted Saints secondary.

Jonnu Smith, TE Miami Dolphins ($6,300)

As I stated above, the tight end position is looking pretty mid right now. Bowers and McBride are the pay-ups, but if you want someone who has true incentive to play – remember, Bowers got his records, and McBride got his TD last week – then Jonnu is your guy. 

He’ll see more targets if Tua is under center, but he did catch a touchdown from Huntley last week, so it was a solid effort.

 

 
 

 

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