Antonio D'Arcangelis 
The Thursday night showdown kicks off the Week 14 NFL DFS contests, and we’ve got the picks to help you win big tonight and make some serious green!
NOTE: For a refresher on showdown general rules and strategy and how it relates to Week 14 NFL DFS showdowns, see the Week 1 TNF showdown article.
Week 14 NFL DFS MVP candidates (1.5x points)
Some notes on the differences between MVP on FanDuel and DraftKings: The 1.5x point boost on FD comes with no salary penalty, while and DK also bumps the salary to 1.5x – a crucial factor in deciding who we can and cannot afford on both sites. We can use this to our advantage on FD by occasionally targeting non-QBs to establish more variance and more unique lineups, and on DK it allows us to build more hearty overall stacks when we punt the MVP position with a cheap but high-upside player.
Week 14 NFL DFS Chalk: Justin Jefferson (FD $13,500, DK $16,500)
Pivot: Najee Harris (FD $14,000, DK $15,000)
DK Value Pivot (Steelers): Ben Roethlisberger (FD $15,000, DK $13,500)
Contrarian #1: Diontae Johnson (FD $13,000, DK $15,300)
Contrarian #2: Chase Claypool (FD $10,000, DK $11,100)
Contrarian #3 (DK only): Steelers DST (DK $6,300)
A couple of weeks ago the outlook for this matchup may have been a lot different, but in that time, Dalvin Cook was injured (but should return for this game), the Steelers bounced back in a huge way and the Vikings lost to the Lions — the first win for Detroit in the 2021 season. With the Steelers defense around full strength and tied for the fourth-lowest red-zone conversion rate in the NFL and Adam Thielen out for this one, I’m eliminating Kirk Cousins from the majority of my builds and focusing on the Steelers and Justin Jefferson, who will probably end up being the chalk at CPT with Cook’s shoulder somewhat of a question mark.
Steelers notes: Ben Roethlisberger could have enormous value against a banged-up Vikings defense, and he’s got a near-full complement of weapons (minus JuJu Smith-Schuster, of course). I’m inclined to stack up Roethisberger at CPT in Steelers-heavy builds with Pat Freiermuth and Diontae Johnson, though it’s a good bounceback spot for Najee Harris, who had his most effective stretch between weeks 3-8 but has slowed down a bit in his rookie season. Both Freiermuth and Chase Claypool offer big-time value given their upsides, though Claypool has been relatively quiet in 2021 with just one TD.
Vikings notes: Jefferson and ook should pace the offense tonight, but we can mix in some shares of Tyler Conklin and K.J. Osborn, both of whom have some aditional value with Thielen out. Since Cook is expected to play, we can probably eliminate Alexander Mattison from the majority of our builds, though I’m not opposed to getting some shares in case Cook is limited or takes a big hit and is forced to leave the game. I have much less interest in the Vikings DST but will have some shares of kicker Greg Joseph considering how the Steelers tend to stall drives in the red zone.
Remember to build your team based on an NFL DFS narrative that makes sense.
Week 14 NFL DFS Final thoughts (and some DOs and DON’Ts)
DO: Build a trio (or quartet) of offensive weapons for a team that makes sense together
DON’T: Worry about spending every dollar.
DO: Use the projected team totals to shade one way or the other with your selections.
DON’T: Forget to watch the inactives.
Now that we’ve established some Week 14 NFL DFS narratives and MVP candidates, the best way to round out this piece is with a list of my favorite options in descending order, based on overall value (a combo of salary and projected points):
- Justin Jefferson
- Ben Roethlisberger
- Najee Harris
- Diontae Johnson
- Dalvin Cook
- Kirk Cousins
- Pat Freiermuth
- Tyler Conklin
- Chase Claypool
- Steelers DST
- Greg Joseph
- K.J. Osborn
- Chris Boswell
- Alexander Mattison
- James Washington
- Vikings DST
- Ray-Ray McCloud
- Benny Snell, Jr.
- Dede Westbrook
- Zach Gentry
Don’t forget to read the rest of WinDaily’s excellent football articles this week as you prep for Week 14 action!
