Week 8 NFL DFS Monday Night Showdown: Giants at Chiefs

The NFL DFS season continues with the Monday night showdown, and we’ve got the breakdown to help you win big money in the final Week 8 NFL DFS contests!

NOTE: For a refresher on showdown general rules and strategy, see my first showdown article of 2021.

Let’s get to the game!

Week 8 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 6 NFL DFS Chalk: Patrick Mahomes (FD $17,000, DK $18,000)

Pivot: Daniel Jones (FD $15,000, DK $15,300)

Contrarian #1: Tyreek Hill (FD $14,000, DK $16,000)

Contrarian #2: Travis Kelce (FD $13,500, DK $15,900)

Contrarian #3: Sterling Shepard (FD $11,000, DK $10,500)

While Patrick Mahomes has struggled in recent weeks and looks a far cry from his normal dominant self, he’s the chalk at captain in this week’s showdown and should have little trouble racking up big numbers in this favorable matchup. If the Chiefs establish some sort of effective ground game or just jump out to a big early lead, there may be some leverage in using Daniel Jones at captain and flanking him with some of the Giants pass receivers, including two guys who are both questionable heading into the Monday night battle: Sterling Shepard and Kadarius Toney. Toney is the real wild card this week, as he can be used in myriad ways and the “Q” tag will keep most of the masses off of him in their initial builds.

Chiefs notes: The usual suspects are in play for Kansas City, including Travis Kelce and Tyreek Hill, both of whom can you can fit in builds with Mahomes if you adopt the narrative that the ancillary Giants pass receivers are the ones who end up making the most impact. This is a “get right” spot for the Chiefs and I doubt they’ll have little trouble effectively targeting their big guns against a middle-of-the-road NFL defense like this Giants unit. The game script certainly favors more Darrel Williams this week, so picking one of Kelce or Hill and stacking with Mahomes and the Chiefs RB makes a lot of sense. I really think this is another big Tyreek game, so he’s going to be my main focus outside of Mahomes.

Giants notes: Shepard looks like a go, and while I do love me some Darius Slayton, if Shepard plays he’s probably the safer option. Slayton makes for a fine plug-n-play if Toney ends up sitting this out, but the Giants have been finding ways of getting the electric rookie RW the ball, even if it means sacrificing some of the targets that go to TE Evan Engram, who’s also in play tonight. With Saquon Barkley still out, Devontae Booker remains the got-to RB in the Giants backfield and should see plenty of touches, but his upside is a bit capped unless the Giants hang can early and often. Dante Pettis and John Ross could see a big play here or there, but the return of Shepard dings their value a bit.

Week 8 NFL DFS Final thoughts (and some DOs and DON’Ts)

Remember to build your team based on a narrative that makes sense.

DO: Build a trio (or quartet) of offensive weapons for a team that makes sense together.

DON’T: Feature many shares of the Giants DST, who will have its hands full with this Chiefs offense.

DO: Use the projected team totals to shade one way or the other with your selections.

DON’T: Forget about the fringe Giants WRs, especially if one or more of Shepard or Toney sits.

Now that we’ve established some Week 8 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):

1. Patrick Mahomes
2. Tyreek Hill
3. Daniel Jones
4. Travis Kelce
5. Sterling Shepard
6. Darrel Williams
7. Kadarius Toney (GTD)
8. Devontae Booker
9. Chiefs DST
10. Darius Slayton
11. Mecole Hardman
12. Evan Engram
13. Dante Pettis
14. Jerick McKinnon
15. Harrison Butker
16. Graham Gano
17. Byron Pringle
18. Kyle Rudolph
19. John Ross
20. DeMarcus Robinson

Don’t forget to read the rest of WinDaily’s excellent football articles this week as you prep for next week’s action!