In a weekend filled with fun matchups, the Cowboys and Packers should be one of the better shootouts. Mike McCarthy will be looking to lead Dak Prescott and their high-flying Dallas squad past McCarthy's former team, while Jordan Love looks to continue a remarkable debut campaign as Green Bay's starting QB. There are plenty of reasons to watch this one, so naturally we're making a DK Showdown lineup (with a unique strategy) to root for along the way.
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Just like our approach with finding the best bets from this game, we scoured DK for the best DFS values and assembled what we deem to be an optimal lineup. Our strategy is simple: research, compare values, and make roster-building moves that will separate us from the rest of the DFS pack. And our lineup today should be very different than the majority of entries, as we went with a true 'stars-and-scrub' build.
Before we get into our lineup and strategy, here are the key scoring settings for DraftKings Showdown contests: They're full-point PPR and there are three-point bonuses for 300 passing yards, 100 rushing yards, and 100 receiving yards. The Captain pick costs 1.5 times a player's original price, but he also gets his point total multiplied by 1.5.
MORE COWBOYS-PACKERS: Betting preview
Cowboys-Packers DraftKings Picks: DFS lineup for Wild Card Weekend matchup
$50,000 budget, need at least one player from each team.
Captain (1.5x points, 1.5x salary): Brandin Cooks, WR, Cowboys ($11,700)
This pick might surprise some fans and DFS enthusiasts, but it makes plenty of sense to us. By drafting Cooks as Captain, we're capitalizing on the upside the veteran brings to the table while also saving ourselves plenty of money to spend at our FLEX spots. The difference between Cooks and fellow receiver CeeDee Lamb at the Captain spot, $4,400, could be the difference between a winning FLEX lineup and a losing one. This way, we can afford Cooks, Lamb, and three other impact skill-position players and then grab someone from the bargain bin for our final FLEX spot.
We like Cooks because Dak Prescott likes Cooks. Dak has looked the veteran wideout's way eight times in each of the Cowboys' past two contests, and the combined results have been awesome during that span: 11 catches, 99 yards, two TDs, and 33.2 DK points. As long as Prescott utilizes the speedy receiver to move the chains and score TDs, he will be a valuable DFS asset in this price range. Even if he simply hits his per-game DK average (11.0), we're getting 16.5 points at our Captain spot and affording ourselves four other high-ceiling studs. Let's just cross our fingers that our guy Cooks this weekend!
MORE DK SHOWDOWN: How to win a Showdown contest
FLEX CeeDee Lamb, WR, Cowboys ($12,200)
We don't want any part of a DFS lineup in a Cowboys game that doesn't have CeeDee Lamb. The guy has been simply spectacular this season — he's seeing insane volume game in and game out, and opposing secondaries can't do squat to stop him.
The last two weeks, in particular, have been a sight to behold. During that stretch, Lamb has hauled in 26-of 30 targets for 325 receiving yards and three TDs. He finished the season averaging a massive 25.2 KD points per game and never showed any signs of slowing down. We don't care that he's $12,200 — with this kind of volume and production, Lamb is a value at anything under $14,000.
FLEX Dak Prescott, QB, Cowboys ($11,400)
Are you sensing a trend? We like the Cowboys to win this game. Green Bay's defense has been so abysmal over the past month that we simply cannot trust the Packers to advance, especially at AT&T where Dallas averaged an NFL-high 37.4 home points per game this season. And just look at Dak's home-road splits and try saying the man ain't more comfortable at Jerry's house:
| Value | G | W | L | Cmp% | Y/G | TD | Int | Rate | Sk | Y/A | AY/A | DK PPG |
| Home | 8 | 8 | 0 | 73.26 | 308.8 | 22 | 3 | 120 | 17 | 8.58 | 9.64 | 26.8 |
| Road | 9 | 4 | 5 | 65.89 | 227.3 | 14 | 6 | 92.4 | 22 | 6.77 | 6.81 | 17.1 |
Yipes! Talk about a stark contrast. These numbers should have Cowboys Nation psyched about this weekend but freaked out a potential NFC Championship match against the 49ers in Santa Clara. We're not drafting the guy for the entire postseason, though — all we need is production in the first round. So, make sure you have Dak in the saddle this weekend!
FLEX Aaron Jones, RB, Packers ($9,000)
Man, do we love stats. We recently uncovered a great one involving Jones: dating back to Dec. 2018, the Packers have gone 22-1 when the veteran back touches the ball at least 20 times in a game. And while we don't see that record extending to 23-1, we do envision Matt LaFleur's squad following the strategy of riding their stud running back on the ground and through the air.
Dallas has surrendered the fifth-fewest passing yards per game this season (187.4), and the 'Boys have picked off QBs 17 times. The inexperienced Love will ride Jones early and often to avoid the constant pressure Micah Parsons will be putting on the Packers' pocket. When Jones is healthy, he's matchup-proof, so we think he's as sage an investment as you'll find on the visiting side this weekend.
FLEX Jake Ferguson, TE, Cowboys ($5,400)
Ferguson has been a crucial part of the Cowboys' offense all season, and we love the upside he brings as a chain-moving, TD-grabbing behemoth. He has a decent floor — he averages 10.4 DK points per game — and a fantastic ceiling for this price (he reached the 19-22 range twice this season). If Green Bay sells out to stop Lamb and Cooks, we will more than likely cash in on Ferguson over the middle in short and intermediate routes. One TD and this investment pays off.
FLEX Jalen Brooks, WR, Cowboys ($200)
Sorry in advance to all my Cowboys-hating friends who are reading this, but what can I say — we have Dallas winning this one! And if there's any garbage time at all, Brooks could see the field. The backup wideout is the only player in this dirt-cheap price range who logged a target and a catch in Week 18, albeit for just one yard. He had a catch-and-run for 24 yards back in Week 12, so we know he's capable! But honestly, we're not picking Brooks because we have him as some deep sleeper — we're picking him because Ferguson + Brooks at $5,600 is head-and-shoulders better than any two players we can draft at $2,800. This is a true 'star-and-scrub' approach at the end of our FLEX spots, and one we believe should pay off even if Brooks does nothing.
Best Cowboys-Packers SuperDraft DFS Picks
As we have every week, we're also listing our favorite single-game DFS plays on SuperDraft.
For those unfamiliar, SuperDraft's DFS scoring involves point multipliers as opposed to traditional salary-capped or tiered contests. A winning lineup will likely feature a strong mix of stud fantasy contributors with 1x-1.6x boosts, as well as matchup-based sleepers with larger multipliers. Each player is assigned a scoring multiplier based on their value as determined by SuperDraft. Users can roster any player in their lineup with no restrictions.
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Here are the most notable scoring rules for SuperDraft NFL contests: Half-point PPR, four-point passing TDs, two-point bonuses for 100 rushing yards, 100 receiving yards, and 300 passing yards.
MORE SUPERDRAFT DFS: How to play SuperDraft
- Champion (+50% points): Dak Prescott, QB, Cowboys (1.05x)
- Super FLEX: CeeDee Lamb, WR, Cowboys (1x)
- Super FLEX: Jayden Reed, WR, Packers (1.35x)
- Super FLEX: Aaron Jones, RB, Packers (1.15x)
- Super FLEX: Jake Ferguson, TE, Cowboys (1.2x)
We employed a fairly similar approach with our SuperDraft DFS lineup, keeping four of the skill players we drafted to our DK squad. We couldn't resist drafting Reed, who has emerged as one of the Packers' most reliable wideout, at a 1.35-times boost. And we love getting over 1.5 times whatever Prescott gets us in this juicy matchup against a horrendous Green Bay defense. We should still have plenty of lineup variance in shallow contests since we avoided Jordan Love and Tony Pollard, two popular DFS options from this game.
