NFL Prime Time Games: Showdown Week 2 Monday Night Football | DraftKings + FanDuel

Greetings Gamers! Welcome to the Awesemo NFL DFS Single-Game Prime Time series for FanDuel and DraftKings Showdown slates. For each of the featured games, typically Sunday, Monday and Thursday nights, we will be providing a free analysis for the single-slate action on DraftKings and FanDuel. This will include team capsules as well as player rankings and comments for all of your daily fantasy needs. We have loads to get into on this Monday Night slate between the New Orleans Saints and Las Vegas Raiders, with thoughts on Alvin Kamara, Josh Jacobs and more picks for your NFL DFS lineups.


Don’t forget to check out the NFL DFS Live Before Lock Show with Your Ol’ Pal EMac and Kyle Dvorchak at 7:20 p.m. ET. Every single-game slate we’ll have a live before lock show for you for the 2020 season.


NFL DFS Picks: New Orleans Saints at Las Vegas Raiders (+5.5), O/U 48.5

The Saints lost Michael Thomas with an ankle injury that may keep him shelved for a couple of weeks. Though there are whispers today that he could play, it does not make sense to risk him in a very winnable matchup. On the other side we saw coach Jon Gruden stay true to his word by letting Jacobs carry the offense in Week 1.

New Orleans: 27.0

Quarterback

Drew Brees certainly looked like a 41-year old quarterback last week, but Tampa Bay has a much improved defense. Over the last three seasons it should be no surprise to learn that Thomas and Kamara absolutely dominated the target share. After that dynamic duo, Brees is content to spread the ball around and take what the defense gives him. We know that the Saints are also content to run the ball when they have a lead, so it is hard to get overly excited about the veteran of 20 NFL seasons.

Taysom Hill was in on 17 plays and had three rushes for 13 yards while also completing his only pass for another 38. He was not targeted in the passing game, but we know that is in play as he has 23 receptions for 252 yards in his career. Correction: Taysom Hill caught his only target for 18 yards.

Running Back

Just as expected, the bulk of the opportunities went to Kamara. However, it is a bit startling to see how active Latavius Murray was while on the field. With Thomas on the shelf, we could see Kamara even more active in the passing game while Murray shores up the rushing workload. There will be enough opportunity for both backs to find success.

Player Snaps Snap % Rush Att Routes Rushing Targets Receiving
Alvin Kamara 45 66.2 12 21 12/16/1 8 5/51/1
Latavius Murray 23 33.8 15 1 15/48/0 1 0/0/0
Ty Montgomery 4 5.9 1 3 1/-4/0 0 0/0/0

Wide Receiver

It is my opinion that there is not a direct beneficiary for the targets vacated by Thomas and that they will be spread around to the various secondary options. Please note that Kamara and tight end Jared Cook are what I consider the primary options.

Player Snaps Snap % Target % Targets Receiving
Jared Cook 44 65.1 23.3 7 5/80/0
Emmanuel Sanders 33 48.5 16.7 5 3/15/1
Michael Thomas 55 80.9 16.7 5 3/17/0
Deonte Harris 7 10.3 3.3 1 1/17/0
Tre’Quan Smith 44 64.7 3.3 1 1/4/0
Ty Montgomery 4 5.9 0 0 0/0/0
Bennie Fowler 7 10.3 0 0 0/0/0

The default analysis will be that Emmanuel Sanders is the next man up, but this will be just his second game with the Saints. Tre’Quan Smith is more of a burner than a receiver, but just one play can land him in the winning single-game lineup. For their respective prices on both sites, I easily prefer Cook over any of the other options, and it is a coin flip between Sanders and Smith.

Tight End

As I mentioned above, I want to have Cook on a majority of my lineups. Josh Hill is an afterthought, and we really do not need the savings for the likely one or two opportunities he will see tonight.

Defense/Special Teams

This is a formidable Saints defense, and we know they can put a lot of pressure against opposing signal-callers. While Carolina did not record a sack of Derek Carr last week, during the second half of last season the Raiders allowed multiple sacks in seven of eight games. The Raiders short passing game does not allow many opportunities for interceptions, but that doesn’t mean one of Carr’s wounded ducks can’t get returned for a pick-six.

Las Vegas: 21.5

Quarterback

On a positive note, Carr is one of the two best starting quarterbacks tonight. On a negative note, most projections have him as a bottom-five option for the full slate. Despite averaging 32.1 pass attempts per game last season, Carr did not have a 300-yard game until Week 17, and he had zero or one aerial touchdowns in 10 of his 16 starts.

Running Back

That was a fine performance last week by Josh Jacobs.The second-year man had 25 carries for 93 yards and a trio of touchdowns. He also saw six targets with four receptions and another 46 yards. Last here he had 28 total targets for 20 catches and 166 yards with no touchdowns. While this is nice, we still cannot be 100% sure that he will be a three-down back if the Raiders are playing from a two-score deficit.

Player Snaps Snap % Rush Att Routes Rushing Targets Receiving
Josh Jacobs 49 77.8 25 14 25/93/3 6 4/46/0
Devontae Booker 8 12.7 4 2 4/29/0 3 3/23/0
Jalen Richard 7 11.1 0 3 0/0/0 1 1/15/0

Despite getting a two-year guaranteed contract extension, veteran Jalen Richard basically split the work with offseason acquisition Devontae Booker. While we may see them get more time if Las Vegas abandons the run, it is hard to know who will be the preferred option or if they will basically be interchangeable.


Editor’s Note

Awesemo’s Player Prop Stat Projections are predicting Josh Jacobs to have considerably more receiving yards than his Vegas totals suggest. Lines vary a bit across sportsbooks, so take your pick with this possible money-making player prop.

*Betting odds as of Monday, Sept. 21 at 11:15 EST


Wide Receiver

Rookie Henry Ruggs is dealing with a strained/bruised knee and has been very limited in practice only going through Saturday’s walkthrough. While he will be chomping at the bit for a prime-time game, it would be prudent if the Raiders use an abundance of caution and hold him out.

Player Snaps Snap % Target % Targets Receiving
Bryan Edwards 48 76.2 3.6 1 1/9/0
Henry Ruggs 42 66.7 17.9 5 3/55/0
Hunter Renfrow 31 49.2 7.1 2 2/21/0
Nelson Agholor 12 19 3.6 1 1/23/1
Zay Jones 9 14.3 0 0 0/0/0

The Raiders have plenty of options with veterans Zay Jones and Hunter Renfrow having been key contributors last year. Rookie Bryan Edwards is the most interesting option, though he saw just one target last week on 20 routes. In fine trolling fashion, Nelson Agholor caught the lone touchdown among this group last week.

Tight End

Fifth-year tight end Darren Waller was solid, turning eight targets into six catches and 45 yards. He will likely benefit the most if Ruggs is out. Dad Runner Jason Witten caught his only target for two yards, though he played on 44% of the snaps.

Defense/Special Teams

In his last 43 games, Brees has thrown 17 interceptions and lost six fumbles while being sacked 50 times. There is not much to see here.


Related NFL DFS Content


MNF NFL DFS Showdown + Single Game Strategy

At least we now have one week of data, but it not much to predict with any confidence.

The rankings below are best utilized for building out single-entry and three-max lineups and also for head-to-head and three-man formats. They provide a nice barometer for player value, but for those of you who are taking the MME approach, remember that correlation with your lineups is key.

This means matching a receiver or two if you have a quarterback in the Captain/MVP slot. This also works conversely with pairing a Captain/MVP pass catcher with their signal-caller.

EMac’s Single Game NFL DFS Rankings

Notable Inactives: no surprises – Michael Thomas, Dwayne Washington, Rico Gafford

Top 10

  1. Alvin Kamara: Duh. However, in tournaments on FanDuel there is merit to going in a different direction. On DraftKings we can still use him as a Flex play and not have to pay the 50% premium that comes with the Captain designation.
  2. Jared Cook: We get a nice price on FanDuel, and I am willing to pay a little bit of a premium on DraftKings for the full-PPR with Thomas out.
  3. Darren Waller: Could flirt with double-digit targets tonight. He saw that volume three times last year.
  4. Josh Jacobs: He should get 20 touches, it still remains to be seen if he will be used in the passing game if the Raiders are down big.
  5. Latavius Murray: Take the discounted price tag and run!
  6. Drew Brees: These days he seems to never be flashy, but he is always productive.
  7. Tre’Quan Smith: Boom or bust, but he comes with a substantial savings from Sanders at 20% on FanDuel and 30% on DraftKings.
  8. Derek Carr: If you ask the Saints, they will probably rate Carr as the third-best quarterback in this matchup.
  9. Emmanuel Sanders: This is the 11th season for the 33-year old, and he has just three 1,000-yard performances to his name.
  10. Bryan Edwards: Slides into the top 10 assuming Ruggs is out. He would head up the next section if Ruggs is in.

Secondary Plays

  1. Wil Lutz/Daniel Carlson: It feels like we will see more extra points than field goals in this matchup.
  2. Taysom Hill: A true wild card, but on DraftKings the price is right at $2,200. For FanDuel at $7,000 it does not seem to be necessary.
  3. New Orleans D/ST: they would top this section if Carr were more turnover prone.
  4. Henry Ruggs: If he plays, in-game aggravation of his knee strain is a real concern.
  5. Hunter Renfrow: Volume concerns at his price point on both sites. He is returning punts.

Lottery Tickets

  1. Deonte Harris: This will be the ninth career game for the undrafted free agent. He has caught all seven of his targets for 41 yards and carried the ball five times for another 40 yards. He is listed as the punt and kickoff return man.
  2. Devontae Booker/Jalen Richard: It all depends on how much you trust Gruden to keep Jacobs in the game on passing situations. If you don’t trust him, move this duo above Taysom Hill and then flip a coin. Theoretically Richard is returning kickoffs — there were six touchbacks last week.
  3. Nelson Agholor/Zay Jones/Jason Witten/Ty Montgomery: Yikes.
  4. Las Vegas D/ST: I will set the over/under on sacks + turnovers at 2.5 and take the under.
  5. Josh Hill: He will at least be on the field for around half of the snaps.
  6. Jameis Winston: Anything can happen in 2020.
  7. Michael Burton, Foster Moreau, Marquez Callaway: Go buy a lottery ticket.

As always, you can reach out to me in Awesemo.com Premium Slack or Twitter @EMacDFS if you have any questions.


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Eric "EMac" MacPherson won the 2007 Fantasy Baseball grand prize (trip for two to the MLB All-Star game) in the Roto format on ESPN. He won again in 2008, this time in the H2H format. As one of the early adopters of daily fantasy sports, EMac has been providing content for baseball and basketball as well as both professional and college football since 2012 for a variety of websites including DraftKings Playbook, FanVice, RotoWorld, Daily Fantasy Bootcamp, and RotoGrinders. He is well into his third decade of fantasy sports and has a wealth of knowledge and experience. Follow him on Twitter @EMacDFS or contact EMac by emailing [email protected].

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