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 your daily fantasy needs. We have loads to get into on this Monday Night slate between the Giants and Eagles, with thoughts on Saquon Barkley, Carson Wentz and more for your NFL DFS lineups!
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Check out the Sunday’s NFL Live Before Lock at 7:30 p.m. EST with Your Ol’ Pal EMac and Nolan Kelly as they break down tonight’s matchup for Single Game contests.
NFL DFS Picks: New York Giants at Philadelphia Eagles -8.5/44.5
In his career as a starter, Eli Manning has a regular season record of 116-116 so this is a pivotal game. Additionally, in 14 seasons as the main starter, he led the Giants to the playoffs six times. Two of trips culminated in Super Bowl victories over the Patriots. The other four were losses.
New York Giants NFL DFS Picks
18.0 implied points
Quarterback
An Ode in Code to Eli: 399, 434, 403, 431, 429, 450, 510, 420, 386, 391, 305, 312, 371 and 352. Most of you have figured this out or came close, but these are the single-game high water marks for each season since the youngest Manning brother became a full-time starter.
Of course, those numbers have no influence on tonight’s yardage total, which is set at 249.5, but they are fun to look at. Philadelphia has the 13th overall DVOA coming in at eighth against the rush and 15th against the pass. While the Eagles have allowed multiple passing touchdowns in half their games, we know that Manning is pretty much washed at this point. Daniel Jones is dealing with a high-ankle sprain that could keep him out for the rest of the season.
Running Back
For the season, only Rashaad Penny (14/129/1 Week 12) and Ezekiel Elliott (22/111/1 Week 7) have topped 100 rushing yards against the Eagles. That is a milestone that Saquon Barkley has not reached since Week 2. We know that a lot of his work is done in the passing game and he tallied 100-plus combined yards in Weeks 8, 9 and 13. For the season, he has reached the end zone only three times, though keep in mind, he was out in Weeks 4 through 6 with an injury.
On a positive note, Barkley has played 96% and 97% of the snaps each of the last two weeks with the other running backs combining for 14 total snaps and nine of those going to Elijhaa Penny. It would seem that Barkley will be shut down at some point, but probably not tonight. The Giants play at home in both Week 15 and 17 to warp up the season.
Wide Receiver
Golden Tate has completed the concussion protocol and is expected to be a full go tonight. Evan Engram is out again with a foot injury, so the receiving options will be Tate, Sterling Shepard, Darius Slayton and Cody Latimer along with Barkley. We know that Manning tends to prefer the short pass these days, so that bodes well for Tate.
Tight End
As mentioned above, Engram is out and it sounds like Rhett Ellison may still be in the concussion protocol. That leaves Kaden Smith, who actually was solid last week with eight targets for 6/70/0 against Green Bay.
Defense/Special Teams
For the season, the Giants have the sixth-fewest sacks with 26 and their 14 turnovers are the third fewest. They are in play as a lottery option with the Eagles allowing multiple sacks in nine of 12 games and seven turnovers in their last three games.
Philadelphia Eagles NFL DFS PicksÂ
26.5 implied total
Quarterback
For the full week, Carson Wentz is a fringe top-five quarterback in most projection systems. Three of the last five quarterbacks to face the Giants have thrown for at least three touchdowns (Matt Stafford, Dak Prescott and Aaron Rodgers). Over this stretch of games, New York has allowed the second-most fantasy points to opposing signal-callers and they have the third-worst passing DVOA this season.
Running Back
Jordan Howard (shoulder) is expected to miss tonight’s game and there is no reason to rush him back against the Giants. Of course, the Eagles are 5-7, but just half a game behind the 6-7 Cowboys for the NFC East lead. For as bad as they are against the pass, New York has been solid against the run with the 11th-best rushing DVOA and allowing the third-fewest fantasy points to the position over the last month.
Miles Sanders slips just inside the top 10 in most projection systems for both full- and half-PPR scoring. Last week, Sanders had 82 snaps and Jay Ajayi was the only other back who saw the field on offense with nine snaps. The two weeks prior to that, it was a similar story for Sanders, who played 84% and 86% of the snaps in the absence of Howard. He should be in the 20-touch range tonight with a decent chance of reaching 100 combined yards and a 50/50 shot to score.
Wide Receiver
Alshon Jeffery came back last week and announced his presence with authority. He had a season-high 16 targets (compared to the 19 he had in his three games prior to his ankle injury) for 9/137/1. Nelson Agholor (knee) is a game-time-decision tonight and he has not practiced this week. If Agholor is out, we can look to Greg Ward and J.J. Arcega-Whiteside for some salary savings.
Keep in mind that Jordan Matthews was waived just before Thanksgiving.
Tight End
Zach Ertz and Dallas Goedert are both outstanding plays who get a boost with Nelson Agholor unlikely to play. Over the last three games, they are averaging 10.3 and 7.0 targets respectively and the Eagles have not been shy about running two-tight end sets in that time frame. Yes, we can play both on the same roster.
Defense/Special Teams
Who is excited for the chance to see the Manning Face one more time? It could be after a turnover or even a commercial break, but we should all celebrate this potential opportunity to bring joy back to our lives. The Giants have 28 turnovers on the season which is the second most in the league and they are allowing just shy of three sacks per game.
SNF NFL DFS Showdown Strategy
For both FanDuel and DraftKings I am going to be looking at Miles Sanders as my Captain/MVP in my main lineup and then trying to get in both Carson Wentz and Dallas Goedert. Sadly, we are required to play at least one Giant.
Single Game Ranking (taking into account projected production, pricing and popularity)
NFL DFS Top 10
- Miles Sanders: as long as Jordan Howard is out, and he should be, I will be looking to Sanders as my main Captain/MVP for tonight. He is favorably priced for his 20ish touches.
- Carson Wentz: this is a decent way to consolidate the Eagles touchdowns by going with their top two play-makers.
- Dallas Goedert: yes, Zach Ertz is more talented with a larger target share, he is also priced for those elements.
- Kaden Smith:Â this is a steal on DraftKings, more of a popularity swerve on FanDuel where he is priced like a player who saw 14 targets in his last two games.
- Jake Elliott and Aldrick Rosas: if we use Kaden Smith and a kicker, we can get pretty much anything else we want.
- Saquon Barkley:Â seems to be wearing down and there is no reason for him to have an epic workload tonight.
- Eli Manning:Â he is one of two starting quarterbacks in this game.
- Alshon Jeffery and Zach Ertz: similarly priced on both sites, let your personal preference be the deciding factor.
- Golden Tate: not much touchdown equity so he needs to turn a low aDOT into some yards after the catch.
- Philadelphia D/ST: #ManningFace
NFL DFS Showdown Picks: Secondary Plays
- Greg Ward:Â how is he $200 on DraftKings after getting 10 targets for 7/45/0 the last two weeks?
- Sterling Shepard and Darius Slayton: I expect Eli to approach 40 passing attempts, but not many will be 15-plus yards down field and/or accurate.
- J.J. Arcega-Whiteside: similar production yet 10 times the cost of Greg Ward on DraftKings. Both are $6,500 on FanDuel so give Arcega-Whiteside the nod there.
- New York D/ST:Â we could always get lucky with a return touchdown.
- Jay Ajayi: could get a carry or two backing up Miles Sanders.
NFL DFS Showdown Picks: Lottery Ticket
- Javorius Allen and Elijhaa Penny: something needs to happen to Saquon Barkley or they luck into a touchdown.
- Cody Latimer: returns kickoffs and gets the occasional offensive target.
- Boston Scott:Â sees some action returning punts and kickoffs.
- Scott Simonson: backup Giants tight end… enough said…
- Wayne Gallman: sorry pal, you are behind waiver claim Buck Allen now.
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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Good Luck in tonight’s Showdown Slate NFL DFS Gamers! ~ EMac
Thanks for the preview. If Greg Ward is a potential steal at $200 on DK, why did he not crack your Top 10? It sounds to me like you are projecting him to have an extremely high Pts/$, and if he somehow scores a TD, it would be astronomically high.
Excellent question! Ward was a “steal” because he allowed you to get an “all-star” type lineup. However, by playing him we would need to realize that there is a high likelihood that we end up with a zero from him.
Most gamers are not ready to assume that type of risk in their “main” lineup.
The rankings are based on building one primary lineup with a reasonable chance to do well in 3-mans, triple ups, etc.
EMac