It's amazing that we've already flown through five weeks of the 2018 NFL season. And to begin Week 6, it's an always-interesting NFC East matchup between the Philadelphia Eagles and New York Giants. Both of these teams need to get back in the win column and hope to do so on Thursday Night Football.
While this game means a surprising amount for an early-season matchup, it means DraftKings is rolling out the red carpet with its showdown options once again. After a solid showing on Monday Night Football with optimal lineups, we'll hope to roll that success into Week 6 now.
The popular daily fantasy sports site is offering quite a few huge showdown games this Thursday. With the Eagles-Giants drawing plenty of attention, DraftKings is first offering the always-popular $10 game with $1,250,000 guaranteed. First place in this 150-max game will win $250,000.
Along with the headliner, DraftKings is offering a lower buy-in option with their 20-max game that has $200,000 guaranteed and a $3 entry fee. Other games worth noting include a $12 single entry with $30,000 guaranteed and multiple other single-entry and 150-max games.
Before we dive into the action for Week 6 and the Thursday Night Football game let's offer a quick insight into how showdown games 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
When building lineups, there are a variety of ways to go about it, and while you typically would think kickers and defenses aren't worth using, that isn't always the case. Much of how you build lineups will depend on how you think the game will play out. Kickers and defenses, along with players further down the depth chart are quite a bit less expensive, and if you use the right one it allows you to free up salary cap for other spots and big names.
I'll break down a few different lineups which will include a variety of players in the captain spot. There will be one optimal lineup (mix of high-owned players, one or two risky plays), a lineup for 150-max games (more risk), and one for single entries/cash games (high-floor players). Before diving into that, though, I'm first going to hit on showdown strategy for this week's game. Every week the strategy will be different, as choices for captain spots will vary.
Let's dive in by first evaluating the captain spot and then rolling through lineups.
Eagles vs. Giants Showdown: Captain Choices & Strategy
The captain spot has proven to have the potential to be a big difference maker if handled correctly. In some instances, paying up for high-dollar captains makes sense, especially if you believe one or two players are primed for huge games.
On the opposite side of the argument, you can easily build a lineup which is balanced and features 4-5 expensive plays if you find a value option for the captain spot. Just like the decision on whether to use kickers or defenses, much of this comes down to how you believe the game flow will play out.
For the Eagles and Giants game, I'm expecting there to be 1-2 less-expensive captain options who most will look to use. With that being the case, fantasy players are likely going to push those names into the top spot to free up money in the other five spots. I'm on board with doing that to some extent, but in order to be different, moving away from that can be a massive differentiator.
This week, the popular options in the captain spot will be Eagles running backs Corey Clement and Wendell Smallwood. Both are inexpensive and should garnish high ownership after starter Jay Ajayi suffered a torn ACL. There are a few ways to still use these two and make your lineups different but I'll dive into that while building the lineups.
Personally, I select 4-5 players to consider for the captain spot, which feature both expensive and cheaper options. From there, you can spread those players across multiple lineups and mix in the other top plays with them.
Here's a look at the options I'll be targeting for the captain spot in Week 6 (with captain pricing of 1.5x more):
– Odell Beckham Jr. ($16,200)
– Eli Manning ($14,700)
– Zach Ertz ($14,400)
– Sterling Shepard ($11,700)
– Corey Clement ($6,600)
– Wendell Smallwood ($5,700)
Favorite expensive captains: Odell Beckham Jr., Zach Ertz
Top value-saving captain: Corey Clement
Now, I'm going to break down the lines I'll be using, starting with the optimal lineup, then the 150-max lineup, and lastly the single-entry breakdown.
*Note: If any players currently listed as questionable are ruled out, but are in lineups, I will update this BEFORE lock Thursday.
Optimal Lineup
– CAPTAIN: Corey Clement ($6,600)
– Odell Beckham Jr. ($10,800)
– Saquon Barkley ($10,400)
– Zach Ertz ($9,600)
– Sterling Shepard ($7,800)
– Wendell Smallwood ($3,800)
To be clear, I almost always want at least one quarterback in my lineups and that will almost certainly be my approach in most builds – except this one.
Since I opted to use so many chalky players here, my way to differentiate the line was to put both Corey Clement and Wendell Smallwood together and also not use a quarterback. I debated going down to Eli Manning from Saquon Barkley, and I think you can make that argument based on how the Eagles defense has been against opposing running backs.
The Clement and Smallwood topic is one that can leave you with a nice headache. No Ajayi should result in the duo splitting work somewhat evenly. Ajayi missed Week 3 due to injury and Clement saw 45 offensive snaps to Smallwood's 29, per Football Outsiders. With Clement just returning from injury, that number should even out a bit more, and the Giants have had an issue with running backs, but specifically ones who catch passes.
Simply put, I believe Saquon Barkley has both a higher floor and ceiling than Manning, even though the Giants quarterback has had success against Philly. Barkley does have a tough matchup against an Eagles defense that's allowed just 211 rushing yards on 76 attempts, but they've given up 30 catches, and we know the rookie is going to get the ball in any and all ways. Let's also not forget that Barkley has scored 22 DraftKings points every week, so it's hard to beat that consistency.
I like this spot for Zach Ertz quite a bit, even though the Giants haven't given up a touchdown to a tight end this season. What they have given up to the position are big plays. Opposing tight ends have totaled 264 yards on just 15 catches, which bodes well for Ertz, who totaled 14 catches and two touchdowns over two games last season against the Giants.
Finally comes my two favorite plays on the slate. Odell Beckham Jr. broke out in a big way last week and I don't believe the Eagles secondary will be able to slow him down. The man lives for the spotlight, and primetime games are right up his alley. The Eagles have had tough go against receivers this season, allowing seven touchdowns to this point, and Beckham should add to that number Thursday.
As much as I love Beckham in this spot, Sterling Shepard's price and upside is something I'm massively interested in. I'll be overweight on Shepard on this slate, as the Giants wideout has destroyed the Eagles over the past two years. In the four-game stretch, he's totaled 28 catches, 95.8 yards per game and four touchdowns.
And while there will certainly be additional attention on Beckham (which is unlikely to matter), it'll allow Shepard to rack up stats all game long.
*All player vs. team statistics courtesy of StatMuse.
150-Max Entry Lineup
– CAPTAIN: Wendell Smallwood ($5,700)
– Odell Beckham Jr. ($10,800)
– Eli Manning ($9,800)
–Zach Ertz ($9,600)
– Sterling Shepard ($7,800)
– Corey Clement ($4,400)
*NOTE: Due to bad weather for this game, I've moved off Jake Elliott. I replaced him with Corey Clement and shifted Smallwood to captain. It's similar to the optimal line, but I believe Smallwood will be less-owned at captain than Clement and pairing them together should be a unique approach but one that makes sense in this weather.
I was originally on Jake Elliott in this spot, but updated due to poor weather. If by some chance we get the all-clear on weather, I'd have no problem using the Giants kicker in showdown games.
As outlandish and random of a stat as this is, the Giants have actually given up the most made field goals (and tied for most attempts) in the entire NFL. Obviously, their special teams have no impact on whether or not a field goal goes through the uprights, but they do have the ability to force attempts.
Elliott could be looking at quite a few kicks in this game and he's coming off games with seven, 11 and eight fantasy points. If he's able to land around 11-14 points, he could prove to be a nice surprising bit of salary relief that allows us to get other studs other players can't fit.
Enough about the kicking game, and I've already heaped praise over Zach Ertz's ridiculous dominance when it comes to the Giants. Whether or not that stands true again in Week 6 is unknown, but he's been on fire the past few weeks. Ertz has seen double-digit targets in every game this year and has totaled 20 catches and an absurd 54.2 DraftKings points in the last two weeks.
While Eli Manning and either Odell Beckham Jr. or Sterling Shepard will be a strong pairing, putting the three together will help differentiate a little. It won't be a ton, but I'm also hoping people stick with the whole "Eli is terrible" argument while building lineups (finger's crossed he doesn't Thursday).
Per StatMuse, Manning has averaged 353.3 yards per game over his past four against the Eagles while throwing 11 touchdown passes in that span. Nearly three touchdowns per game and 350 yards for the fourth-most expensive player? Yes, please.
Honestly, the Wendell Smallwood spot, as previously mentioned, is brutally tough to gauge. I do think that although he's less expensive, Smallwood will have a lower ownership than Clement. He certainly has upside, though, and that's what we want in 150-max entry games. Twice over the past three games, the young back has totaled 18.1 DraftKings points and is a solid pass-catcher, hauling in nine passes in a three-game span.
Single Entry/Cash Lineup
– CAPTAIN: Corey Clement ($6,600)
– Carson Wentz ($11,600)
– Odell Beckham Jr. ($10,800)
– Zach Ertz ($9,600)
– Sterling Shepard ($7,800)
– Philadelphia Eagles DST ($3,600)
I desperately wanted to get Sterling Shepard in the captain spot here, but the way it turned out based on the players I wanted, it just wasn't happening. And to go along with that, Eli Manning doesn't necessarily scream "safe" in fantasy football at this point. But regardless, I had to get Shepard in my lineup based on his history against the Eagles and Philly's struggles against wideouts.
Speaking of the Philadelphia defense, who I've spent a fair amount of time calling out, I do believe their floor is safe and they have an intriguing ceiling. The Eagles have hit double-digit sacks in all but one game this season and intercepted a pass in three of those spots. Now they draw Manning, who's been sacked 16 times this season and we know is capable of tossing a pick or two.
I have no doubt the Giants are going to score points on the Eagles defense, but if they manage 3-4 sacks and an interception, it's a safe floor even if they allow 28 points. And if that interception goes the other way for six? We're in business.
As you can see, the fact that Manning winds up getting sacked and my lack of belief in the Giants offensive line doesn't change my love of Odell Beckham Jr. in this game. Too much talent, playing at home, opposing secondary struggles – it's just a nice spot for him. I'll have Beckham and Shepard as my two highest-owned players more than likely.
I really want to make sure I have a Carson Wentz and Zach Ertz stack somewhere and adding in a pass-catching back in Corey Clement makes plenty of sense. The Giants haven't been bad against opposing quarterbacks, but they've allowed 1,185 yards and six touchdowns. If Wentz locks in on his backs and Ertz in the passing game (very possible) he could have a nice night.
The decision between Clement and Smallwood wasn't easy, as I think both have an equally high ceiling, but do believe the former has the higher floor. In turn, Clement makes for a solid cash and single-entry play in this spot.
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