Getty Ezekiel Elliott of the Dallas Cowboys
DraftKings NFL $1M Thursday Night Football Showdown is open for entry now. The contest features a battle between two NFC teams looking to make their final push to the playoffs as the Dallas Cowboys travel to Chicago to face off with the Bears.
The first place prize winner of the Showdown will receive a generous $250K payout. Let’s see how to optimize our lineups below.
Rules & Scoring:
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- Six total players (one captain, five flex players)
- Captain selection costs 1.5x standard salary
- Captain scores 1.5x fantasy point values
- Can choose from any position (QB, RB, WR, TE, K, DST)
- You can use as many players at the same position as you’d like
- $50,000 salary cap
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Roster Construction
- Captain: Ezekiel Elliott $16,800
- FLEX: Dak Prescott $10,800
- FLEX: Anthony Miller $7,000
- FLEX: Tarik Cohen $6,600
- FLEX: Randall Cobb $6,400
- FLEX: Blake Jarwin $2,200
Why This Lineup?
Ezekiel Elliott has taken some hate from the media (cough, cough, Skip Bayless) over recent weeks for perceived poor play. Yet, from a fantasy perspective, he’s continued to churn out points. Zeke has averaged 20+ touches and 19.3 fantasy points over his last three games.
Chicago just allowed David Blough to put up 18+ fantasy points against them a week ago. With that said, I think I’ll take my chances with Dak Prescott. Prescott has averaged 27.23 fantasy points over five of his last six games.
The Anthony Miller breakout may have come a bit late for standard fantasy owners. However, we DFS players will be happy to grab the budding slot-receiver. There has been a seismic shift in the Bears offensive gameplan over the last three weeks, and that includes getting Miller involved early and often. Miller has averaged 11 targets over his last three games. Wideouts to record double-digit targets against Dallas this year have averaged 14+ fantasy points.
Tarik Cohen saw his three-game span of 12+ fantasy points come to an end on Thanksgiving. Mainly due to game script and the fact that David Blough was manning the offense on the other sideline. With Dak and the high-powered Cowboys across from them this week, Chicago will likely need to shy away from their run game more, leading to more looks for Cohen. Since Dallas’ Week 8 bye, they’ve allowed six-plus receptions twice, and 38+ receiving yards four times to opposing running backs.
Randall Cobb has seen seven-plus targets come his way in four of his last five games. Since Week 9 he’s averaged 17.75 fantasy points. Chicago has allowed four receiving TDs to opposing wideouts over their last four games. This after allowing receiving TDs to the position in just two games prior all season.
Blake Jarwin is a bit of a flyer, but one that we feel good about. Chicago allows the eighth-most fantasy points to tight ends this season. Jason Witten has scored just one touchdown since Week 2, while Jarwin, has found the endzone twice since Week 7 and recorded 35+ receiving yards three times.
Final Thoughts & Obvious Omissions
The most obvious omissions for Thursday night’s lineup is Amari Cooper. While he showed some promise on Thanksgiving day amid his recent slump, he’s still failed to score a touchdown in five of his last seven games. We like Cooper, just not at his current price.
Reminder, Thursday night’s game kicks off at 8:20 pm ET. Be sure to set your lineups and good luck!
- *Check out our other Week 14 Start ‘Em, Sit ‘Ems to further optimize your lineups
- Start-Sit [ QBs | RBs | WRs | TEs | DEF | Ks]
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