With Monday Night Football wrapped, it means fantasy football players are locked in on what lies ahead. First up, of course, is Thursday Night Football and the always-exciting DraftKings showdown games. While a game between the New York Jets and Cleveland Browns may not move the needle a ton of the generic NFL fan, the daily fantasy football options for this one have my attention.
It's almost consistent at this point that Thursday Night Football doesn't offer overly-exciting matchups, which is why we're all thankful for showdown games. This week, DraftKings has upped the offering, rolling out a $10 game which features $1 million guaranteed and $250,000 to first place.
If you're more of a single entry, three-max, or higher-dollar player, they have you covered as well. There's a $180 game with $50,000 guaranteed, a $12 single entry with $25,000 guaranteed and plenty of other options.
With the site offering such a wide range of options, I'm going to offer a few different optimal lineups. There will be two optimal lineups, a single entry/cash lineup, and a 150-max lineup. The two optimal lines will simply offer two different ways to approach my favorite plays while the single entry is safer and features player with higher floors and the 150-max game includes more risk.
Before we dive into the lineups, let's first break down how showdown games work and offer some insight to the strategy behind building these lineups.
DraftKings Showdown Rules and Strategy
– Six total players (one captain, five flex players)
– Captain selection costs 1.5 times standard salary but scores 1.5 times the standard points
– Can choose from any position (QB, RB, WR, TE, K, DST)
– $50,000 salary cap
– You can use more than one quarterback
When building showdown lineups, filling out just six spots means that games which allow players to enter up to 150 teams wind up with a lot of ties. In turn, you'll need to differentiate your builds by either adding a player expected to have low ownership or getting unique with your captain spot.
The captain spot is key, as the 1.5x bonus can add up, even if you wind up adding a defense or kicker in the spot. Which player(s) you choose to focus on as captains will largely depend on the actual NFL game itself and how you believe game-flow will go.
As for the single entry games fantasy games, this is a spot for you to use more of the top plays and worry a bit less about ownership. I'd still recommend adding one or two plays to make your lineup different, but you can play it safer with the bulk of the choices.
Finally, the optimal lineups I offer are a mixture. They can be played in single entries and 150-max games, as I do my best to make them unique. With that said, it's important to note there is a lot of variance in these games, and one touchdown can literally jump you from being near the top of the leaderboard to barely cashing, and vice-versa.
Let's kick things off with the first optimal lineup, featuring a few of my favorite plays.
Optimal Lineup No. 1
– CAPTAIN: Quincy Enunwa ($14,700)
– Tyrod Taylor ($11,000)
– Jarvis Landry ($10,800)*
– Duke Johnson ($5,600)
– Terrelle Pryor ($3,800)
– Jason Myers ($3,400)
*If Jarvis Landry is out pivot down to Sam Darnold. Lineup will be updated if that is the case.
It probably seems a bit outlandish that I have Terrelle Pryor with Duke Johnson and the New York Jets kicker in Jason Myers in an optimal lineup. It's fair and completely understandable, but there's a reason for it.
First, this lineup is going to likely be pretty different, but it won't be as different as you think. On the surface, it seems crazy, but the way the pricing is set up on this Thursday night slate, building a lineup with multiple high-upside players isn't as easy as you'd think.
I'll start with Pryor because his names stick out, but even more than that his price jumps off the page. While it was expected Robby Anderson would be the offensive force, it seems rookie Sam Darnold is gravitating to Quincy Enunwa and Pryor. After Week 1 when Pryor caught all three targets that came his way for 49 yards, he followed that up with a four-catch, 84-yard showing in Week 2.
Pryor has outproduced Anderson and is earning more playing time because of it. After seeing the field for 40 percent of the offensive snaps in the opener, Pryor was out there for 68 percent of them last week, per Football Outsiders. As long as the workload doesn't decrease, which there's no reason for it to, the wideout is going to receive targets.
Duke Johnson is the real wild card here. He's going to garnish ownership after Browns coach Hue Jackson said the team needs to use him more. While it's an unknown how much more he'll get used (he totaled 11 touches over the first two weeks), the fact that he can catch passes is a big plus here. Johnson had 74 receptions last season and even just involving him in the passing game would make him worth rolling out this week.
I went with Quincy Enunwa in the captain spot on my first optimal due to his high floor, but fairly high upside as well. The price doesn't break the bank either and allows you to get a few other big names in. Enunwa has seen 21 targets over two games and has at least 16.2 DraftKings points in each. If he finds the end zone there's a high probability he winds up as the highest-scoring player on the slate.
The Tyrod Taylor stack with Jarvis Landry is going to receive a lot of love. I'm a big fan of targeting quarterbacks at home on primetime and Landry should see a massive number of targets. This duo let me down last week in a great matchup against the New Orleans Saints, but even a mediocre showing from Taylor resulted in him scoring 15.44 fantasy points. Landry only caught five passes but still managed 11.9 after receiving 15 targets in a weather-impacted Week 1 game against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Based on upside, there's no stack more intriguing than Taylor and Landry, and my hope is that adding Johnson as the third member gives us the potential for quite a few big plays.
Single Entry/Cash Lineup
– CAPTAIN: Rashard Higgins ($4,800)
– Tyrod Taylor ($11,000)
– Jarvis Landry ($10,800)*
– Sam Darnold ($10,000)
– Quincy Enunwa ($9,800)
– Jason Myers ($3,400)
*Note: Watch Jarvis Landry's injury status ahead of game. If ruled out, this post will be updated with the pivot.
While a ton of love will understandably go to Antonio Callaway (more on him later), I love using Rashard Higgins at his low price tag. Even prior to the Josh Gordon trade, Higgins played 60 percent of the offensive snaps in Week 1. That number jumped to 74 percent last week, and while Callaway received a few more snaps, it's apparent the Browns have a set trio of wideouts.
Higgins caught 5-of-7 targets in Week 2 against the Saints and finished with 47 yards. The numbers aren't incredible, but he's trending upward and is almost a lock to see 7-9 targets, especially if the Browns wind up falling behind. At a $3,200 base price ($4,800 for captain), that's a great spot for a cash play.
I'll once again roll out the Tyrod Taylor-Jarvis Landry pairing in my cash lineup, barring something scary on the update relating to Landry's questionable tag. They're both paired up in my optimal line and I expect a heavy workload for the wideout and a high floor for Taylor, both of which bode well for single entry and cash game lineups.
Quincy Enunwa was a lock for this style of game (and almost all formats), but I'm pairing him with Sam Darnold as well. The Browns aren't bad against opposing quarterbacks but have allowed 578 yards and three touchdowns through two games. Enunwa is the go-to target for Darnold, who's fresh off a 334-yard passing game last week.
The Jets have no issue letting their rookie quarterback air it out, as he nearly doubled his pass attempts from Week 1 to Week 2, finishing with 41 attempts. Although Darnold only threw one touchdown with two interceptions in the Dolphins game, he finished with a solid 18.46 DraftKings points, which would be more than fine in a cash game.
I know it seems incredibly boring to use a kicker in daily fantasy football. But there are going to be quite a few drives between these two teams that stall short of the end zone. If we're able to get a few field goals from Jason Myers (he's 4-of-4 with six extra points), he'll easily pay off his price tag. Myers is averaging 10.5 fantasy points over the first two weeks and get his fair share of chances.
150-Max GPP Lineup
– CAPTAIN: Antonio Callaway ($9,900)
– Tyrod Taylor ($11,000)
– Jarvis Landry ($10,800)*
– Quincy Enunwa ($9,800)
– Rashard Higgins ($3,200)
– Cleveland Browns DST ($4,000)
*Note: Watch Jarvis Landry's injury status ahead of game. If ruled out, this post will be updated with the pivot.
In the 150-max guaranteed prize pool games, you need to be different. And in this spot, I'm essentially projecting the Browns to use the home field advantage and dominate. It may be a bit of a longshot, but I'm confident very, very few fantasy players will have a lineup which features three Browns wide receivers.
Tyrod Taylor threw 10 fewer passes last week than in Week 1, but Jarvis Landry and Rashard Higgins both had seven targets while Antonio Callaway had four. Callaway has the home-run hitting ability you look for in 150-max games, which is why I opted to put him in the captain spot. If he can get over the top once or twice, he could break the slate open for this lineup.
And we have the potential for Landry to always turn into a high-upside play if he's able to see a high volume of targets and find the end zone, which is realistic. The Jets defense isn't bad, but think back to Week 1 against the Detroit Lions, and a triple wide receiver stack doesn't seem so outlandish.
In that game, Kenny Golladay (seven catches for 114 yards), Golden Tate (7-79-1) and Marvin Jones (4-54) all had solid games. Obviously, the Lions were behind thanks to an incredible third quarter, but if we can get Higgins to have a solid showing and then big games from Callaway and Landry, this lineup will look good.
I won't be straying from Quincy Enunwa in this lineup, even though I'm expecting high ownership for him. If the game flow works out as planned, then the Jets will be throwing quite a bit and Enunwa should end up with a large number of targets and receptions. Truthfully, an outcome of the Browns getting a big lead early would benefit Enunwa even more than if it were a close game.
While I believe Sam Darnold has a very bright future, he's still a rookie quarterback playing on the road in a primetime game. He's thrown at least one interception in both of the first two games and the Browns defense has seven sacks, five fumble recoveries and three interceptions over that span. Defenses typically don't garnish heavy ownership so we could pick up an easy 10-14 fantasy points here to go with our high-upside offensive approach.
Optimal Lineup No. 2
– CAPTAIN: Jarvis Landry ($16,200)
– Tyrod Taylor ($11,000)
– Bilal Powell ($8,200)
– Antonio Callaway ($6,600)
– Cleveland Browns DST ($4,000)
– Terrelle Pryor ($3,800)
*Note: Watch Jarvis Landry's injury status ahead of game. If ruled out, this post will be updated with the pivot.
I'm making my second optimal lineup a bit different from any other. The thought process here is that if the Browns jump out to a lead and hold that lead, the Jets will be playing catch up the entire game. If that proves to be the case, we're going to see a lot of Bilal Powell at running back for the Jets, who caught five passes last week for 74 yards and one touchdown. The Browns have allowed 12 catches to opposing running backs this season so it could work out nicely for Powell.
And then there's the Terrelle Pryor play again. Not only does it save me money against using Enunwa, but it's more of an upside play. I think he could find the end zone potentially and if that happens, he just destroyed his low salary. Pryor has some risk, but he's getting more and more involved in the offense and I like the spot.
Opting to pair Jarvis Landry and Tyrod Taylor in most places is going to remain a focus for me. I think the situation is a good one for both players and either could easily wind up as the highest-scoring player on the slate.
To break down the thought process a bit on how much I plan on using those two, they're not only among my core plays but will likely be in the bulk of lineups. If I were to make 20 different lineups, for example, the Taylor-Landry pairing would be in at least 17-18 of them.
Antonio Callaway offers me the high upside spot on this roster with Powell. His big-play ability is worth consideration for multi-entry games and optimal lines you plan on using in a few places. I'm fine also using him in single entry tournaments, but if you create just one cash line, I'd probably go a different direction.
Other Options to Consider
I'll be using these names scattered throughout lineups as well, but they didn't make any of the builds from above.
– Carlos Hyde ($8,000)
– David Njoku ($4,600)
– Chris Herndon ($1,800)
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