Getty Gallery: 1/5
With Week 16 nearly in the books and a few teams gearing up for a frantic playoff pushes, there's one game left on tap. This would be Monday Night Football and a matchup between two underwhelming teams who both fell short of expectations. The Denver Broncos and Oakland Raiders have both been eliminated from playoff contention, but there are storylines beyond that in this game.
There's a very real chance this could be the last game the Raiders play in Oakland, even with their move the Las Vegas not coming for over one more year. The current standoff between and the city points to them potentially playing elsewhere in 2019. In turn, there's a reason to believe the players could look to send their fans off with a strong showing and potentially a win over a Broncos team with questions on their future.
On the Denver side, it's the future outlook of Vance Joseph that's a looming question right now. Although the Broncos still have their head coach under contract, rumors are swirling that he may be on his way out the door sooner than later. Whether or not that happens is a question we likely won't have an answer to until after Week 17, but it's a big storyline.
Although this Monday Night Football matchup isn't the most appealing in terms of playoff implications or anything along those lines, there's still a lot to talk about. And of course, we have the fantasy football angle for it as well. If you are/were playing in a fantasy championship for a season-long league, whether you won or lost, having one more game to wrap up the week is the best way to roll into the final regular-season finale.
So, with an interesting game on Monday night, we're going to take a deep dive into the DraftKings showdown slate. Interestingly, the final primetime matchup of the week includes some big contests and bigger paydays set to be awarded. So the plan is to cover the game by offering a few different ways of breaking it down.
For those who haven't played a showdown before, these are single-game options which feature a different set of rules (to some extent) than regular DFS games. In turn, you'll want to take a different approach to building lineups for these games.
To cover this slate and the matchup, I'll lay out a mixture of top picks, three different lineups and players to consider. As always, there is a range of different game options for this matchup, including single-entry tournaments, multi-entry events (150-max specifically) and additional choices beyond that. In order to cover each base, the lineups offered will be an optimal, 150-max and single entry.
Prior to diving headfirst into the picks and lineups, here's a quick look at how DraftKings showdowns work. It's worth noting that these games feature a captain spot which is one player who costs 1.5-times the regular amount. You choose one player to go in this spot per lineup and it comes with a bonus of 1.5x as well.
– 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
Although the Broncos (6-8) and Raiders (3-11) don't have a chance at making the playoffs, I do have a sneaky suspicion that we may wind up getting some excitement from this game. Even if it's for a bit of a different reason than we're all accustomed to. A rivalry game in primetime is always fun, but when it's a situation like the one Oakland faces, it only adds to the intrigue.
'll begin by breaking down the captain spot in this game and also the thought process for which players to build around.