Sunday Night Showdown Strategy: Green Bay Packers vs Seattle Seahawks

Week 15 of the NFL season continues with a bang as the Packers take on the Seahawks at Lumen Field in Seattle, Washington. In this article, I’ll share my top DFS showdown picks and strategies for DraftKings and FanDuel, helping you build winning lineups.

For a deeper dive into general showdown rules, make sure to check out David Jones’s “Daily Fantasy Football Showdown: Strategy for Building Winning Lineups” article. It’s essential reading for anyone crafting MME lineups, as player salary and team dynamics can impact each game’s approach.

Link: https://windailysports.com/daily-fantasy-football-showdown-strategy/

Note on Quarterbacks:

I will not write up the quarterbacks because the wide receiver and tight end section tend to cover the matchups. The QB rankings are at the bottom of the article. 

Green Bay Packers

Running Backs

• Seattle is giving up 24.7 DK per game (11th Most).
• They have allowed 1423 rushing yards (8th Most).
• They have allowed 458 receiving yards (13th Most).

The Green Bay backfield is controlled by one player and that is Josh Jacobs. Jacobs is leading all Packer running backs in snaps (542), touches (273), yards (1313), and touchdowns (12). With Seattle being in the bottom half of the league against running backs in almost every category, Jacobs is one of my favorite plays on the slate. Besides their first game against the Cardinals, the Seattle run defense has struggled to contain opposing running backs.

Jacobs has two backups who have seen the field in the last couple of weeks: Chris Brooks and Emanuel Wilson. Of the two Brooks has seen the most playing time since their Week 10 bye. He has out-snapped Wilson 64-25 in those four weeks and has had double the touches over the past two weeks, 6:3. But with that being said, I don’t necessarily think you need either guy unless you are playing a lot of lineups. Jacobs will continue to be the workhorse back unless he gets injured during the game.

Tier 1: Josh Jacobs

Tier 2: Chris Brook, Emanuel Wilson

Wide Receiver

• The Seahawks have allowed 1771 yards to opposing wide receivers (8th Fewest).
• They are giving up 32.7 DK (16th Most).

The Packers wide receiver room gets a boost with Romeo Doubs being cleared to play after missing the previous two games. His inclusion will make it tougher to call who will go off this game as over the past five weeks three differentwide receivers have been the best option in a given week. Doubs, Reed, and Watson have all had their moments to shine with each having 90+ games at different points in the season. While all three are in a good spot, my lean is Romeo Doubs as he should get the best matchup of the top three GB wide receivers. He’ll see a lot of Josh Jobe who is giving up slightly more FPRR and YPRR than his teammates. Of the other two I would say Reed should have the better game. He had no receptions last week on only a single target playing 50% of the snaps. GB should try to get him involved a bit more against Seattle including using him once again in the run game. 

Dontayvion Wicks is the only other Green Bay wide receiver I have in my player pool. He has played at least 30% of snaps every game since Week 7 and played 84% of snaps in the two games Doubs missed. He is only $5400 on DraftKings and he is averaging 4.3 targets a game, you can do a lot worse in that midrange than Wicks. 

Tier 1: Romeo Doubs, Jayden Reed, Christian Watson

Tier 2: Dontayvion Wicks

Punts/Fades: Bo Melton, Malik Heath

Tight End

• The Seahawks have given 763 receiving yards to tight ends (11th Most).
• They are giving up 17 DK (12th Most).

Tucker Kraft is the main guy at tight end for the Packers. He has played 709 snaps this season meanwhile the tight end with the second most snaps played is only at 185 (Ben Sims). The only other active tight end, John FitzPatrick has only 30 snaps played this season. Kraft is going to be on the field almost every snap and has only 2 games with under 80% of snaps played, so I expect him to be able to find some success against a Seattle team that is 12th in fantasy points allowed and 11th in yards against tight ends. Kraft, like Doubs and Wicks, is a great play in the midrange.

Tier 1: Tucker Kraft

Punt/Fade: Ben Sims, John FitzPatrick 

Seattle Seahawks

Running Back

• GB is giving up 30.5 DK per game (10th Most).
• They have allowed 1147 rushing yards (12th Fewest).
• They have allowed 566 receiving yards (4th Most).

At the time of writing this Kenneth Walker has not officially been ruled out, but it sounds like he is going to miss the game so the Seahawks are going to lean on Sophomore running back, Zach Charbonnet. Charbonnet has been a solid number two to Walker this season, in the three games Walker has missed he has 369 total yards and five touchdowns. Green Bay has been good at stopping the run, but I think Charbonnet can do some damage in the passing game. He has 263 receiving yards (20.2/game) and the Packers are allowing more than double that amount of yards (43.5/game) so if Charbonnet can get free out of the backfield, it’ll be a long day for Green Bay. 

Kenny McIntosh gets the backup role with Walker out. I don’t like his price ($3K) on DraftKings this week for Showdown based on his workload. In the three games without Walker, McIntosh has averaged nine snaps played for four touches and 13.3 yards and has yet to score. So while I like him if you need a cheap option in MME, I would look at him for SE or 3max. 

Tier 1: Zach Charbonnet

FADE/Punt: Kenny McIntosh, George Holani

Wide Receiver

• The Packers have given up 1730 receiving yards to wide receivers (4th Fewest).
• They are giving up 30.7 DK to receivers (8th Fewest).

The Packers have been one of the better teams against opposing wide receivers this season. This is going to be a tough matchup for Seattle’s top two wide receivers this season, DK Metcalf and Jaxon Smith-Njigba. Those two wide receivers have combined for 41.2% of the total targets this season with JSN leading the team with a 21.8% target share while Metcalf is second with 19.4%. For this showdown, I think you need to play at least one of these two wide receivers. My lean of the two would be JSN as he gets a slightly more favorable matchup against Javon Bullard of the Packers who is giving up the most fantasy points and yards. 

Lockett is very cheap this week at $4000 on DraftKings. He plays enough snaps every game to exceed value but he hasn’t been involved in the passing game this year. In 2023 he led the team with a 21.2% target share, but that number is down to 13.1 with the emergence of JSN who has become the main threat for Seattle. If you need a value play he is worth a shot at his price since he does average 4.8 targets a game, but he is not someone I am forcing into my lineups.

Tier 1: Jaxon Smith-Njigba, DK Metcalf

Tier 2: Tyler Lockett

Punt: Jake Bobo

Tight End

• The Chargers have given up 812 receiving yards to tight ends (7th Most).
• They are allowing 14.2 DK per game (7th Most).

The main tight-end threat for Seattle is Noah Fant. He is in a good spot this week against a Green Bay defense that has struggled to contain tight ends this year. Fant has five straight games with at least four targets and has had that number in five of the last seven. Despite missing three games, Fant came back and took over the same workload he had pre-injury. Since returning two weeks ago he has played 63.2% of snaps and has seen eight targets for six receptions and 44 yards. 

AJ Barner had been solid while Fant was injured, but he has seen a drop-off in the two games with Fant back. He’s only played 39% of the snaps and has only seen three targets. With Fant being only $3600, I can’t see myself going Barner over him even at $2000.

Tier 1: Noah Fant

Tier 2: AJ Barner

FanDuel MVP and DraftKings CPT Picks—SNF Showdown 

I want a high-usage player at MVP on FanDuel like a quarterback or a workhorse running back. You need the highest-scoring player, not the best value. The salaries do not change from flex to MVP on FanDuel, so the value at the MVP is not a priority. Take the points up top. 

On DraftKings, you look for the best “value” in the mid to high price range. 

FanDuel

DraftKings

Flex Tier 1:

• Zach Charbonnet
• Josh Jacobs
• Jordan Love
• Geno Smith
• Jaxon Smith-Njigba
• DK Metcalf
• Romeo Doubs
• Jayden Reed
• Christian Watson
• Noah Fant
• Tucker Kraft

Flex Tier 2/Punts:

• Dontayvion Wicks
• GB D/ST
• Seattle D/ST
• Jason Myers
• Brandon McManus
• Tyler Lockett
• Kenny McIntosh
• Chris Brooks
• AJ Barner
• Bo Melton
• Jake Bobo
• Emanuel Wilson

Favorite prop for the game: Tucker Kraft Over 34.5 Receiving Yards (-115)