Chiefs vs. Bills: Daily Fantasy Sleepers, Lineup Picks for FanDuel, DraftKings
The most anticipated matchup of the NFL divisional round comes with a ton of familiarity.
The Kansas City Chiefs and Buffalo Bills will face off for the third postseason in four years and for the seventh total time in that span on Sunday night.
The winning side in five of those six head-to-head meetings scored at least 24 points and at least 17 points were scored by the loser in every matchup.
That is a beautiful statistic in the eyes of daily fantasy football players, who will likely load up on the matchup's top players in two-game contests on FanDuel and DraftKings for Sunday's slate.
Kansas City and Buffalo's abundance of offensive options make the single-game DFS strategy a bit more difficult.
Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes are both solid options at quarterback, and each player comes with in a built-in mini-stack with Stefon Diggs or Travis Kelce.
The key to DFS success will be finding the correct role players who step up on Sunday. Each roster has multiple options to fit that role.
Build Around One of Two Star Pairings
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The easy start to a Chiefs-Bills DFS lineup build is to pair either Mahomes and Kelce together or Allen and Diggs.
Kelce earned 10 targets in each of his last three meetings with the Bills. He could be utilized more in the passing game by Mahomes since the Chiefs are on the road.
Kansas City has not played a true road playoff game in the Mahomes era, so that is the new wrinkle to the familiar AFC matchup.
Diggs did not perform well in the regular-season meeting at Arrowhead Stadium, as he caught four balls for 24 yards.
The Bills should get creative to find ways to get Diggs the ball, but his matchup with L'Jarius Sneed is more difficult than Kelce's battle with the depleted Bills linebacker corps.
Kelce's matchup may lead to a Chiefs mini-stack to start your lineup, but Allen carries value with his rushing abilities and Diggs averages 68.3 yards per game in the postseason.
Target James Cook
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James Cook has to be the preferred running back option over Isiah Pacheco.
Cook ran rampant against the Chiefs defense on December 10 and he could be vital to his team's offensive strategy.
Cook ran for 58 yards on 10 carries and caught all five of his targets for 83 yards last month.
Since then, Cook earned at least 13 carries in five straight games. He is coming off a 79-yard performance against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Buffalo needs Cook to shine to keep the ball out of Mahomes' hands and to avoid an offensive shutdown if Diggs can't break loose from Sneed.
Pacheco will be used a good amount by the Chiefs as well, but Cook carries more value because of what he just did to the Chiefs and his potential to explode in the passing game.
Sleeper Options Widely Available on Both Sides
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The Chiefs and Bills rosters have a fascinating amount of potential DFS sleepers on them.
Mahomes only trusts Kelce and Rashee Rice, but if he spreads the ball around, Justin Watson or Mecole Hardman could pick up a good amount of yards.
Hardman was the target of a few deep passes that did not convert in the wild-card win over the Miami Dolphins.
Mahomes could look to Hardman again on Sunday to break open the Buffalo defense. Watson could fit that role as well. He is typically used on longer passes and in the red zone.
Buffalo's second-tier wide receivers may see more work than usual if Diggs is covered up in his matchup.
Khalil Shakir and Deonte Harty are the sleeper options in that matchup. Each wide receiver had over 30 receiving yards against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Neither wide out will have a massive workload because Dalton Kincaid and Dawson Knox will work across the middle, but Allen will have to target Shakir and Harty at points in attempt to replace Gabe Davis' playoff production.
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