Antonio D'Arcangelis 
The NFL DFS season continues with this week’s Thursday night showdown, and we’ve got the breakdown to help you win big in the first Week 7 NFL DFS contests!
Introduction to Single-Game Showdowns
DraftKings calls them “Showdowns,” and FanDuel doesn’t really have a name for them other than “Single-Game Contests,” but whatever we call them they require an understanding of game narratives and game theory – which means we need to target low-ownership players that will give us the best opportunities within the narratives and game outcomes we’re expecting.
My picks will focus almost exclusively on finding GPP-winning combinations that have a chance at taking down the contests you’re entering, be they single-entry or MME. While we can’t cover all the possible combos or provide full lineups for you to deploy, the goal here is to give you the tools to win and highlight some names that will help make for profitable results.
If I enter five lineups in a large-field GPP, at least three of those lineups will focus on the most likely game outcome (based on Vegas odds, props and totals), with one or two contrarian builds. As we know, late-breaking news can have a significant effect on full slates, and that’s just amplified with single-game contests. If you have any questions leading up to lock, please consult our NFL DFS experts in Discord.
Let’s get to the game!
Week 7 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.
Chalk: Carson Wentz (DK $16,200, FD $15,500)
Pivot: Daniel Jones (DK $15,600, FD $14,500)
Contrarian #1: Darius Slayton (DK $13,800, FD $12,500)
Contrarian #2: DeSean Jackson (DK $8,700, FD $8,000)
While both the Giants and Eagles defenses have not been the teams’ main issues this season, it’s hard not to like both Carson Wentz and Daniel Jones in this showdown, and there are probably a few ways to fit both of them into your lineups – especially if we use one of the defenses in the hopes of a pick six. With all the injuries facing the Eagles, it’s not hard to see a low-salary player for them emerging with a viable fantasy performance and being worth the juice of using in the Captain spot on DraftKings.
On FanDuel, it’s going to be very hard to get away from Boston Scott at the still-depressed price of just $6,500 – although using him at CPT may not be advisable. Scott and Corey Clement are the Philly backs who’ll get the touches this week, with Scott in the starting role and Clement likely handling goal line work and about 8-10 touches. Both are capable of monster days if they get the proverbial “hot hand.”
DeSean Jackson is expected to make his return for the Eagles this week and could be an interesting CPT on DK, where he’s sub-$9K. Jackson headlines a group of capable receivers that has seen the emergence of Travis Fulgham in recent weeks. Fading the popular Fulgham might be one way to get some leverage on the field, especially since we don’t have any idea how much he’ll contribute with D-Jax back in the fold.
The Giants will rely on a slightly hobbled Darius Slayton, TE Evan Engram (great bounce-back candidate this week) and a relatively inexpensive Devonta Freeman (handling most of the touches at RB) to move the ball on offense, with Golden Tate checking in as a solid low-price option – especially if Slayton is rendered less effective because of the lingering foot injury. While Slayton doesn’t have an injury designation ahead of this matchup and has more multi-TD upside than probably any other non-QB on TNF, he’s still a risk. There’s even talk of activating Sterling Shepard (toe, just back from IR) before this game, but he’s still a GTD – so stay tuned.
Week 7 NFL DFS Utility options (and some DOs and DON’Ts)
Remember to build your team based on a narrative that makes sense, and utilize the WinDaily fantasy toolbox for cheatsheets and projections that can help you tremendously with lineup building.
DO: Build a trio (or quartet) of offensive weapons for a team that makes sense together
DON’T: Be afraid to play the Giants defense, especially since they have some playmakers, Wentz has been erratic, and the Eagles offense is pretty banged up.
DO: Check the injury report and chatter before lock to determine who’s healthy and who’s not. Football is one sport where players below 100 percent can be active and used as decoys.
DON’T: Forget about Eagles TE Richard Rodgers. He’s cheap and will be the starter with both Zach Ertz and Dallas Goedert out.
Now that we’ve established some 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):
- Carson Wentz
- Daniel Jones
- Darius Slayton
- Boston Scott
- DeSean Jackson
- Evan Engram
- Devonta Freeman
- Travis Fulgham
- Golden Tate
- Giants DST
- Eagles DST
- Richard Rodgers
- Corey Clement
- Graham Gano
- Greg Ward
- Jake Elliott
- Dion Lewis
- Sterling Shepard (GTD)
- JJ Arcega-Whiteside
- Jason Croom
