• Jayden Daniels breaks the rookie standard: Rookies are not supposed to perform well on the road in the playoffs, but Daniels broke that trend last weekend, and he will look to take advantage of the injury-riddled Detroit Lions defense this Saturday night.

• Kyren Williams doesn’t offer the upside that is needed due to his pricetag: Williams has scored 20-plus fantasy points in only three games this season, as his only 25-plus point performance came all the way back in Week 3. Plus, the Philadelphia Eagles defense is not one to target when trying to find high-upside DFS tournament plays.

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Estimated Reading Time: 9 minutes

The regular fantasy season is over, but that doesn’t mean your fantasy football fun is over. Get your DFS lineups submitted to enjoy the NFL playoff games to the fullest! And I can help you make the best lineup! Below you can find my top fire (boom) and ice (bust) players at each position for Divisonal Round Weekend. Plus, the top sleeper (risky but high upside) at the wide receiver and tight end positions. Don’t miss my Fire & Ice chart at the bottom of this page. There, I have listed out all of my fire, good, sleeper and ice plays for Divisional Round Weekend.

Note: I used FanDuel's Saturday-Sunday tournament slate for player pricing. FanDuel uses half-PPR scoring so I used half-PPR data in my below writeup.

Quarterbacks

Fire QB Start of the Week: Jayden Daniels (at DET)

FanDuel Cost: $8,500 – Third among QBs

Jayden Daniels isn’t like a regular rookie quarterback, he’s a cool rookie. Not only was Daniels the first rookie to win a road playoff game in over a decade, but he also became the first rookie to throw multiple touchdowns in a road playoff win in NFL history. Daniels is the total package, as he is a huge threat on the ground but also excels as a pocket passer.

Daniels has now scored at least 22 fantasy points in six straight full games played and has a chance to put up another huge game in a favorable matchup this weekend. The Detroit Lions defense came to play against Sam Darnold in Week 18 … but that now doesn’t seem too impressive after his miserable performance in the wild-card round. In the weeks leading up to Week 18, the Lions allowed Josh Allen (41.3), Brock Purdy (30.3) and Caleb Williams (26.1 and 22.8) to all have massive games against them.

Ice QB Start of the Week: Patrick Mahomes (vs. HOU)

FanDuel Cost: $7,700 – Sixth among QBs

This price is a bit too hefty considering the production that Patrick Mahomes offered this season — he scored fewer than 17 fantasy points in 11 of 16 games played in 2024. The Kansas City Chiefs have been awesome in the playoffs throughout Mahomes’ career … but last postseason, Mahomes only hit 19 fantasy points in one of four games (the Super Bowl — and he only got there because he scored 8.4 points in overtime).

The Houston Texans have held opposing quarterbacks to just 16.3 fantasy points per game this season, including Justin Herbert’s 5.7-point performance against them in the wild-card round. No defense has allowed a lower comp percentage than the Texans this year, and only the Philadelphia Eagles have allowed fewer passing yards per dropback than the Texans.

Running Backs

Fire RB Start of the Week: Jahmyr Gibbs (vs. WAS)

FanDuel Cost: $8,900 – Third among RBs

David Montgomery is returning to the field, but that shouldn’t scare off DFS players from paying up for Jahmyr Gibbs. I expect Montgomery’s workload to be limited in his first game back, and Gibbs has been an absolute beast for the Lions offense in his absence. Gibbs has put up over 150 scrimmage yards and at least one touchdown in three straight games.

The Washington Commanders have allowed the third-most yards per carry and fifth-most rushing touchdowns to running backs this season. Other elite running backs, such as Saquon Barkley and Bijan Robinson, have recently dominated the Commanders defense.

Ice RB Start of the Week: Kyren Williams (at PHI)

FanDuel Cost: $7,700 – Fourth among RBs

Kyren Williams has been an extremely steady, reliable fantasy producer this season, but he has not had many week-winning performances. Williams has scored 20-plus points in only three games this season, with 25-plus points in just one game (Week 3). He gets a super hard matchup against the Philadelphia Eagles, who have allowed the fewest fantasy points per game to running backs since Week 6.

Even with a touchdown, Williams still had a mediocre fantasy day against the Eagles in their Week 12 matchup, scoring just 11.2 fantasy points. His upside is not worth his cost, especially in large tournaments.

Wide Receivers

Fire WR Start of the Week: Terry McLaurin (at DET)

FanDuel Cost: $7,600 – Fiftth among WRs

McLaurin has hit 16-plus fantasy points in five of the last seven games while catching a touchdown eight times over that span. McLaurin’s fantasy ceiling is just as high as the wide receivers priced higher than him this week — Amon-Ra. St. Brown, Puka Nacua, Nico Collins, A.J. Brown — but he has the best matchup of them all.

The Lions allowed the most receiving yards and third most fantasy points to wide receivers in 2024. Before Sam Darnold’s Week 18 collapse, the Detroit Lions let Keenan Allen and Ricky Pearsall each put up exactly 141 receiving yards and one touchdown against them in Weeks 16 and 17.

Sleeper WR Start of the Week: Keon Coleman (vs. BAL)

FanDuel Cost: $5,300 – 18th among WRs

It hasn’t been the most inspiring season for Buffalo Bills’ rookie WR Keon Coleman, who they took at the top of the second round, but he has made some big catches throughout the year. He has averaged 18.7 yards per reception in his first season in the NFL and will have the opportunity to come down with some more splash plays this Sunday night.

The Baltimore Ravens defense allowed the third-most downfield receiving yards in the NFL in the 2024 regular season, behind only the Jacksonville Jaguars and Detroit Lions. When the Bills faced the Ravens in Week 4, Coleman had multiple receptions of 20-plus yards and dropped a 40-yard target right in his hands. If any of the Bills wide receivers come through with a big performance this weekend, I would put my money on Coleman.

Ice WR Start of the Week: Puka Nacua (at PHI)

FanDuel Cost: $8,600 – Second among WRs

The Rams offense has been inconsistent over the last month, and Puka Nacua has not caught a touchdown in any of his last four games played while putting up fewer than 60 receiving yards in two of his last three games. Nacua had a big game against the Philadelphia Eagles earlier in the season, but that was in Los Angeles.

The Eagles have allowed just two wide receivers to score more than 12 fantasy points against them at home since their Week 5 bye … and one of them was Malik Nabers, who did it in Week 18 when the Eagles were resting most of their starters.

Tight Ends

Fire TE Start of the Week: Dallas Goedert (vs. LAR)

FanDuel Cost: $6,100 – Second among TEs

Dallas Goedert led the Philadelphia Eagles with six targets in Wild-Card Weekend while putting up a solid fantasy day with 47 yards and a touchdown. He gets a favorable matchup this weekend against the Los Angeles Rams, who allowed the second most fantasy points to tight ends in the 2024 regular season and then allowed T.J. Hockenson to score 15 points against them in the first round of the playoffs.

The Rams' have allowed a tight end to score 14-plus fantasy points against them in each of their last three games— Hockenson (14.9), Trey McBride (24.3) and Noah Fant (14.8).

Sleeper TE of the Week: Dalton Schultz (at KC)

FanDuel Cost: $5,300 – Seventh among TEs

The Houston Texans came into the season with a plethora of receiving options, but now, in the biggest game of their season, it's up to Nico Collins and Dalton Schultz to carry the passing game. The Kansas City Chiefs have allowed the most receiving yards to tight ends in 2024. In their Week 16 matchup, Schultz recorded eight targets, five receptions, 45 yards and a touchdown.

Also, teammate TE Cade Stover has been stealing some snaps and targets from Schultz as of late, but he was placed on injured reserve this week and will miss the rest of the season.

Keep an eye on Schultz's practice status because he is also banged up. If Schultz does not play, Irv Smith Jr. would become a very sneaky, cheap DFS option with high upside.

Ice TE Start of the Week: Zach Ertz (at DET)

FanDuel Cost: $5,500 – Fifth among TEs

Not only is Zach Ertz dealing with a rib injury, but he also has a very tough matchup in the divisional round. The Detroit Lions allow the fewest fantasy points to tight ends this season while allowing the third-fewest receiving yards and only three receiving touchdowns to the position. Only two tight ends scored more than 11 fantasy points in a matchup against the Lions this year.

Jayden Daniels should be able to take advantage of the Lions’ weaker CB group and target his higher-ceiling weapons in McLaurin, Dyami Brown and Olamide Zaccheaus.

Fire & Ice Fantasy Football Plays

Here, I categorize every relevant fantasy player into five different buckets: (1) fire starts (best starts of the week); (2) thumbs up (good starts); (3) Risky players with upside (sleepers); (4) Ice starts (predicting bad performance from good player); (5) Stop (must sits).

Note: If a player/defense is not listed, I either expect them not to play in the Divisional Round or am not considering starting them in fantasy lineups.

Fire & Ice: Top starts, sits and sleepers in fantasy football and DFS for NFL divisional round