Week 17 Sunday Night Football features the Washington Football Team and Philadelphia Eagles. Washington is favored by 3.5 points, and the game has a 43-point total. As with all of my NFL DFS Showdown Strategy pieces for DraftKings and FanDuel, you can find the data that backs the takes in this article with Nolan Kelly kicking off the breakdown in his own NFL Showdown piece. All showdown NFL DFS picks and trend data can be found in this sheet that will be updated after each full NFL week concludes.
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NFL DFS Picks: Sunday Night Football | Packers vs. Titans
Showdown Captain
Jalen Hurts
Hurts is likely to come in as the most popular play at Captain. If playing Hurts, the goal for the rest of your lineup should be finding ways to increase the leverage and uniqueness. In his three NFL starts, he has posted 12.7 carries for 79.3 yards per game to go along with one score. He’s also averaging over 280 yards passing and 1.7 scores per game through the air. Play Hurts as the leader of a 5-1 stack or a 2-4 stack.Â
Antonio Gibson
The preferred plays for tournaments come from the Washington side and start with Gibson. Before injuring his toe in Week 13, Gibson was averaging 15 carries for 80.4 yards to go along with 2.6 catches for an additional 17.2 yards in his previous five games. Washington is favored by 3.5 points this week, which should give Gibson a solid lead to run on.
Terry McLaurin
McLaurin hasn’t topped 100 yards since Week 9 but still has at least six targets in every game this year. He is second in the NFL in air yards share at 47.1% and seventh in the league in target share at 26.9%. He is facing an Eagles defense that is sixth in DraftKings points allowed to wide receivers.
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NFL DFS Picks: Showdown Flex Considerations
Alex Smith
Not only is Hurts likely to come in as the preferred choice at Captain, but he’s also likely to lead the slate in Flex ownership. Our projections have him marginally out-scoring Smith for $1,600 more. Getting Hurts in any lineup is easy but does draw some ownership. Using Smith over him or at least in conjunction with him appears to be the optimal build this week.
J.D. McKissic
McKissic is in the interesting position of being a receiving weapon that doesn’t need his quarterback to find success in order to have a good day. He has five games with 10 or more targets in the second half of the season but no games with more than 100 yards receiving. He has two scores in that span. This all makes McKissic the ideal run-back in an Eagles stack. He can also be played with Gibson to build a unique lineup.
Logan Thomas
Thomas is averaging 6.9 targets for 4.6 catches and 42.2 yards this season. He also has five scores. Because of his low aDOT, Thomas is likely a player who needs to see 7-10 targets to make the optimal lineup. That could negatively correlate his ceiling with someone like McKissic, who has a similar win condition.
Boston Scott
Scott is simply one of the more mispriced players to grace a Showdown slate this year. With Miles Sanders out in this game, Scott projects to easily dominate the backfield touches for the Eagles. His role as a pass catcher also makes him resistant to game-script flows. At $1,400, Scott looks like someone to simply lock in and move on from.
Eagles Receivers
The breakdown of Hurts’ passing volume has been less than appealing across his three starts:
- Jalen Reagor – 19.7% target share, 27.3% air yards share
- Greg Ward – 13.7% target share, 13.3% air yards share
- No player above 11% in either market share metric
Reagor is the only obvious choice but Ward could come in lower owned than his modest role warrants.
Zach Ertz
Ertz has been arguably the least efficient tight end in the NFL this year, but chasing opportunity is typically the best approach to find fantasy points. With Richard Rodgers and Dallas Goedert out for the Eagles, Ertz could operate as the team’s top receiver once again. He has a particularly high ceiling if Philadelphia goes down early and he’s able to rack up catches.
Defense and Kicker
Washington’s defense, which is second in the league in sacks per game, acts as a solid leverage play off of the Hurts-Captain lineups. Washington is top-10 in field goal attempt per game while the Eagles are 31st in the NFL. Along with a 3.5-point edge from his team total, that Makes Dustin Hopkins the preferred kicker.
Low-Owned NFL DFS Picks
Cam Sims
Sims has operated as the No. 2 receiver for Washington in recent weeks. He is averaging seven targets per game over the past four weeks and has two games with more than 90 yards receiving this year.
Corey Clement
If the Eagles aren’t giving the ball to Scott on the ground, it will likely be going to Clement. He has typically functioned as Scott’s backup when Sanders is out and is only $200 this week.
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