Getty Gallery: 1/5
Following a busy Week 17 of the NFL season which features plenty of games with major playoff implications, the nightcap provides a crucial matchup as well. The Indianapolis Colts and Tennessee Titans are both battling for a playoff position and the two meet in primetime to decide who goes dancing.
As long as there isn't a tie, then one of the two teams playing on Sunday Night Football this week will be heading to the playoffs. While the Titans would have an immediate edge due to the home-field advantage, some bad news came to light ahead of the matchup. As ESPN's Adam Schefter revealed, quarterback Marcus Mariota will miss this game due to a nerve condition caused by a "stinger" which could impact him long term if it gets worse.
"Mariota is officially listed as questionable and reportedly will test his arm in pregame warm-ups. But one source told ESPN that an independent spine specialist has warned the Titans that further damage would put Mariota's ability to throw the football at significant risk beyond this weekend." Schefter stated.
This means Blaine Gabbert will get the nod as the team's starter in Week 17 and sets up an interesting situation. Not only do the Titans' chances of winning this game decrease with Mariota out of the lineup, but it impacts the fantasy football outlook as well. Obviously, season-long leagues that are still playing won't feature Gabbert in starting lineups more than likely, but daily games will be worth talking about.
And that's what we'll cover here, as the Sunday night matchup is a good one and we're taking a deep dive into the DraftKings showdown slate. It's the final regular-season showdown slate, so there should be plenty of interest in this matchup.
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 which I'll evaluate as we move forward with different options.
To cover this game I'll lay out the top picks and three different DraftKings lineups. As always, there is a range of different game options for this matchup, including single-entry tournaments, multi-entry events (150-max, 20-max and others) as well as additional choices beyond that. In order to cover each base, the lineups offered will be an optimal, 150-max and single entry.
Before the picks and lineups, I'll first lay out how DraftKings showdowns work and then evaluate the bonus spot. 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
First up I'll break down the captain spot in this game and also the thought process for which players to build around.