Last Sunday night's AFC clash between the Bengals and Bills practically sold itself. This week's edition of SNF — the Jets and Raiders in Las Vegas — might take a little more salesmanship. But this is NFL football, and both diehard fans and DFS enthusiasts will obviously be watching. So, today we will share our optimal DraftKings Showdown lineups for this conference contest in Sin City, and hopefully help you close out the weekend with some daily fantasy winnings.
What a difference 10 weeks makes! At the start of the season, both these squads looked quite different from top to bottom. Aaron Rodgers and the Jets had their eyes on a run at the AFC Championship, while Josh McDaniels' Raiders were hoping to ride Jimmy Garoppolo to riches in the Mojave Desert. This Sunday, McDaniels will be watching from home as Zach Wilson duels Aidan O'Connell in what is sure to be as ugly as a tipsy grandmother on tilt at a Black Jack table.
Luckily, we don't care whether games appear ugly or pretty — all we care about is the bottom line. Just like our approach with finding the best bets each NFL week, we scour DraftKings for the best DFS values ahead of every Sunday night game and assemble what we deem to be an optimal lineup. Our approach each week is simple: Research, compare values, and make roster-building moves that will separate us from the rest of the DFS pack.
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 SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL:
FD lineup | Betting preview | Top props
Jets-Raiders DraftKings Picks: DFS lineup for Week 10 Sunday Night Football
$50,000 budget, need at least one player from each team.
Captain (1.5x points, 1.5x salary): Breece Hall, RB, Jets ($17,100)
We're avoiding both QBs in our Captain spot, out of respect for the Jets' secondary and the Raiders' pass-rush. This should be a ground-and-pound game that will be sloppy at times, so we're not messing around. The Raiders' Josh Jacobs may be the reigning rushing champ, but Hall has been a better fantasy asset over the past month than anyone else in this game. During that span, he has averaged 20.8 DK points despite boatloads of long runs getting called back because of awful holds and illegal blocks from his offensive line. Breece Lightning will be striking fast and furious against the Raiders, who have surrendered the fourth-most DK points per game this season. Other than maybe JJ, we can't imagine drafting anyone else in this spot.
MORE DK SHOWDOWN: How to win a Showdown contest
FLEX Josh Jacobs, RB, Raiders ($11,000)
We always knew Jacobs would make our squad — the only question was whether we would make him Captain over Hall. Ultimately, though, we went with the upside the younger back offered against the more susceptible run defense. But don't start thinking the Jets have been anything close to good against RBs. Gang Green can stifle opposing passing games, but they have allowed the sixth-most DK points to running backs on the campaign. We can now say with confidence that we have drafted the fantasy stars from this game with the highest floors and ceilings to anchor our lineup.
FLEX Zach Wilson, QB, Jets ($8,600)
We like Wilson a little more than O'Connell, not just because he averages more (11.4 to 9.1 — my God, those are awful averages for QBs). We also like Wilson because he has been at the helm since the early minutes of the Jets' season-opener, whereas O'Connell took over for Jimmy G with a brand-new head coach just a couple weeks ago. Newfound motivation, sheer adrenaline, and a comradely pride helped O'Connell get a big first win, but that was against the lowly Giants a week after the G-men shipped away Leonard Williams. The Jets are a much more difficult defensive test than their Meadowlands counterparts, and they're head-and-shoulders better than the unit Las Vegas puts on the field (with the sole exception being Maxx Crosby, because he's amazing). We like Wilson to accumulate 200 yards and run or throw for at least one TD this weekend, which will more than make him worth this $8,600 investment.
FLEX Las Vegas Raiders D/ST ($4,600)
We're drafting both teams' defenses this week, which gives you an idea of how we think this primetime clash should shake out. Wilson has been very turnover prone all season, and Maxx Crosby bearing down on him all night should lead to sacks and some forced throws. We don't like the Raiders' D/ST better than the Jets', but it cost a little more so we had to list Vegas first. How can you argue with this pick? The Vegas D put up 13 DK points two weeks ago in Detroit and 19 points against the Giants at home last weekend. We expect at least double-digit points from this unit again this weekend.
FLEX New York Jets D/ST ($4,200)
You knew this was coming! Sauce Gardner, Quincy Williams, and company should feast against Aidan O'Connell and this Raiders offense, even if Jacobs carves them up a bit on the ground. Davante Adams has been a shell of his former All-Pro self this season, and we don't expect a sudden turnaround against arguably the most dominant secondary in the NFL. Gang Green has played against two bad offenses on the road over the past month, the Broncos and the Giants, and Robert Saleh's squad posted a combined 26 DK points in those contests. Fire 'em up, even if Fireman Ed is watching from home.
FLEX Greg Zuerlein, K, Jets ($4,400)
A doozie of a game calls for a doozie of a DFS lineup. We now have two defenses and a kicker, a ringing endorsement of the quality we expect from this primetime affair. But, hey, would you rather roster a kicker averaging 9.7 DK points on the season and 15.6 over the past month, or a back like Dalvin Cook averaging 3.2 on the season and 1.8 over the past month? It's a no-brainer. Again, it doesn't need to be pretty to make us money.
Best Jets-Raiders 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.
MORE: Win BIG with SuperDraft! Join now and get a free deposit match of $20!
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): Breece Hall, RB, Jets (1.6x)
- Super FLEX: Josh Jacobs, RB, Raiders (1.65x)
- Super FLEX: Garrett Wilson, WR, Jets (1.9x)
- Super FLEX: Zach Wilson, QB, Jets (2.05x)
- Super FLEX: Tyler Conklin, TE, Jets (2.55x)
We employed a fairly similar approach with our SuperDraft DFS lineup, but SD doesn't include D/ST so we replaced our defenses with Wilson and Conklin, two high-ceiling Jets pass-catchers. We like our odds of cornering the majority of the scoring market for this game, and coming away with some pretty decent value with nearly every one of our boosts.
