Getty Denver Broncos WR Emmanuel Sanders
Week 7 of the NFL season gets underway with somewhat of a brutal matchup between the Denver Broncos and Arizona Cardinals. Fortunately, there’s still a DraftKings showdown slate, right? Of course, and while the daily fantasy football site is offering some big games, we have to go about it a bit differently for this slate.
With this game likely to have a massive amount of chalky plays, I’ve decided to build one optimal lineup and swap a few players in and out around it. So, I’ll first break down the optimal lineup for this game and then explain why I approached this the way I did.
Before diving into the lineup, here’s a quick look at how showdown games on DraftKings work.
- 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
Broncos vs. Cardinals DraftKings Showdown Optimal Lineup
- CAPTAIN: Emmanuel Sanders ($16,200)
- David Johnson ($11,200)
- Case Keenum ($10,000)
- Christian Kirk (7,200)
- Ricky Seals-Jones ($4,000)
- Chad Williams ($1,200)
*Note: This slate is going to have an incredible amount of chalk, so this is essentially a major boom-or-bust lineup. If you want to be safer, I think you can take a more balanced approach by putting Emmanuel Sanders in the flex and someone like Christian Kirk as the captain.
Beginning with the Case Keenum and Emmanuel Sanders, I’ll be honest with the fact that I’m not overly excited by the Broncos quarterback. With that said, he offers the potential to have a high ceiling and a price tag of $10,000 which is more than reasonable. Pairing him with Sanders was a great spot overall, as he’s targeted him at least seven times in five of six games this season. Plus, over the past four games, the Broncos top wideout has seen 39 targets.
David Johnson has been more than a bit frustrating at times this season for fantasy owners, but it’s tough to blame his hit-or-miss play due to the poor offensive play. But the Broncos have allowed 903 rushing yards and seven touchdowns on just 154 carries which is brutal. Johnson should have his way with Denver and I think there’s an easy case to be made for him as a captain.
I’m a big fan of Christian Kirk’s spot tonight. While Larry Fitzgerald is expected to draw Chris Harris in a bad matchup, Kirk will have an opportunity to continue his upward trend. The rookie wideout has actually seen more targets from Josh Rosen than Fitzgerald (19-18) this season. For good measure, he’s also totaled 77 or more receiving yards in three of the last four games with 24 targets in that span.
Finally, we’ll round out my boom-or-bust lineup with two players I’m hoping are at least somewhat lower owned. Ricky Seals-Jones is likely going to get some love from fantasy players after catching 5-of-6 targets last week for 69 yards. He also draws a matchup with a Broncos defense who’s given up 422 receiving yards to the position on just 27 catches.
Chad Williams is basically one of those “close your eyes and swing” picks. He has big-play potential and with a price tag of just $1,200, I’m happy to take a flier on him. Williams has seen 12 targets since Rosen took over at quarterback, good for four catches for 50 yards and one touchdown. If those two could actually link up, he’d find the end zone a few times.
Here’s to hoping one or two of those times comes this week, and I don’t think it’s out of the question.
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