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DraftKings’ $1.5M NFL Thursday Night Special Showdown is open for entry now. The contest features an AFC North divisional battle between the Cleveland Browns and the Cincinnati Bengals.
The first place prize winner of the Showdown will receive a hefty $300M 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: Baker Mayfield $15,300
- FLEX: A.J. Green $9,000
- FLEX: Odell Beckham Jr. $8,200
- FLEX: Nick Chubb $7,600
- FLEX: Kareem Hunt $7,400
- FLEX: Harrison Bryant $200
Why This Lineup?
Baker Mayfield is likely the least sexy captain selection possible at the moment, but hear me out. The former No. 1 overall pick averages 34-plus pass attempts per game and has topped 20.0 fantasy points in three of his four career games against the Bengals. While Cincinnati did limit Tyrod Taylor a week ago, they also finished 2019 allowing the fifth-most fantasy points to opposing quarterbacks.
Last Sunday marked A.J. Green‘s first game appearance since December of 2018. Despite the extended time off, the 32-year-old wideout quickly cemented himself as a favorite of quarterback Joe Burrow, collecting nine targets on the day and outpacing the next closest Bengals wide receiver by four. The last five opposing WRs to receive nine-plus targets against Cincinnati have averaged 21.58 fantasy points.
Odell Beckham Jr. outpaced Jarvis Landry in targets 10-to-6 this past weekend. We could potentially see even more of a disparity in those stats tonight with Landry hobbled by injury. Beckham has scored in two of his last three games, including a 2019 Week 17 bout against Cincinnati where he finished with 17.1 fantasy points.
The backfield in Cleveland is looking more and more like a timeshare by the day. With that said, Nick Chubb has dominated the Bengals during his NFL career, averaging 100.6 rushing yards over three of his four career matchups against Cincinnati, including two 100-plus yard performances.
The second part of that timeshare in Cleveland, Kareem Hunt, is quickly starting to look like option 1-A in the Browns backfield. Since returning from suspension a season ago, Hunt has actually out-snapped Chubb 272-to-263. He’s also averaged nearly six targets per game as a receiver over that span.
Harrison Bryant is a widely unknown mid-round draft pick out of Florida Atlantic. However, he enjoyed a brilliant training camp over the summer, so much so that he found himself listed ahead of former first-rounder David Njoku on the team’s unofficial Week 1 depth chart. Speaking of Njoku, the tight end landed on IR earlier this week, opening up even more opportunity for Bryant, who already manned 42-percent of the team’s offensive snaps a week ago. At $200, he’s well worth a flyer.
Final Thoughts & Obvious Omissions
Joe Burrow impressed during his NFL debut, yet still mustered up just 193 passing yards, zero passing touchdowns and one interception. Were it not for his 23-yard touchdown scamper in Week 1, he finishes tied as the 31st-highest scoring fantasy quarterback with just 9.02 fantasy points.
Joe Mixon is worth a look based solely on volume alone, evident by his 20 touches in Week 1. With that said, he’s now averaged 3.9 yards per carry or fewer in seven of his past 12 games.
Reminder, Thursday night’s game kicks off at 8:20 pm ET. Be sure to set your lineups and good luck!
- *Check out our Week 2 Start ‘Em, Sit ‘Ems to further optimize your lineups
- Start-Sit [QBs | RBs | WRs | TEs | DEF | Ks]
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