Chiefs vs. Saints DFS Picks: Best DraftKings, FanDuel lineups and props for MNF primetime showdown

Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce, and the back-to-back defending-champion Chiefs will host Derek Carr, Alvin Kamara, and the Saints on the Week 5 version of Monday Night Football (8:15 p.m. ET, ESPN).

If you're assembling a DFS lineup for this primetime clash, the Sporting News has the optimal lineup, studs, sleepers, and strategy to help make you some daily fantasy cash. 

MORE WEEK 5 BETTING:
Odds, lines, spreads | Best bets and top props | DFS sleepers and values

Will Kansas City, the AFC's last undefeated squad, keep rolling despite injuries to Isiah Pacheco and Rashee Rice? Can the Saints, who started 2-0 but now sit at .500, get back into the win column with a tough primetime upset?

This should be a great Monday night tilt, so let's get to our optimal lineups for the Chiefs vs. Saints in DFS showdowns and single-game contests on DraftKings, FanDuel, and SuperDraft. Good luck and enjoy the game!

Chiefs vs. Saints NFL DFS picks: Optimal DraftKings lineup

Before we get into our lineup and strategy, here are the key scoring settings for DraftKings Showdown contests: They're full-point PPR, and they feature 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.

Captain: Travis Kelce, TE, Chiefs ($12,900)

After a slow first few weeks to the season, America's favorite tight end has finally started to heat up. Kelce hauled in 7-of-9 targets for 89 yards against a solid Chargers defense last week, good for 15.9 DK points without even finding pay dirt.

With Isiah Pacheco and Rashee Rice both gone, Kelce needs to assume the high-usage role that we've come to expect from him if Kansas City wants to maintain its status as the betting favorite to three-peat.

Kelce is very affordable at Captain, so this feels like a no-brainer for the guy who averages 78.4 yards and 0.56 TDs per primetime game. The big plays — and the TSwift cutaways — should come early and often this evening. 

MORE: How to play DFS | Best NFL betting sites 

FLEX: Derek Carr, QB, Saints ($9,600)

For us to afford Patrick Mahomes, we would have needed to squander too much value at the back-end of our roster. Thus, we're only going with one of the two QBs in this one. 

Carr has a higher fantasy ceiling, anyway. The Saints are 5.5-point underdogs with an implied point total of about 18.5, so the projected script is that New Orleans will be passing a bunch. 

With NOLA offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak likely well-prepared for this Monday evening showdown, Carr should perform closer to what we saw in Weeks 1 and 2 (44.1 combined DK points) than Weeks 3 and 4 (18.04).

KC is far from untouchable since stud cornerback L'Jarius Sneed departed in free agency. Entering Week 5, the Chiefs sat among the 12 most generous units in terms of passing yards surrendered (940). They're also among the six most generous passing defenses at home (256.5 YPG). 

FLEX 2: Xavier Worthy, WR, Chiefs ($9,000)

Another wrinkle that should be expected with Pacheco and Rice both gone: designed runs for the human blur known as Xavier Worthy.

The rookie wideout, who owns the record for fastest 40-yard dash in NFL combine history, has flashed his explosiveness multiple times already on the young season.

Worthy has bookended big-time fantasy performances — 20.8 in Week 1 and 16.3 in Week 4 — and we expect a healthy amount of near-the-line opportunities for the speedster against a tough downfield secondary. 

WEEK 5 FANTASY RANKINGS
QBs | RBs | WRs | TEs | D/STs | Kickers

FLEX 3: Rashid Shaheed, WR, Saints ($8,000)

Another home-run hitter, Shaheed yields the same big play-ability and TD upside that comes with Worthy. He has been an early favorite of Carr this season, posting 16.3 or more DK points in three of four weeks.

Shaheed should see more than a few deep balls under the bright Monday Night lights, with forecasted temps in Kansas City fair and winds projected at just five miles per hour. 

FLEX 4: Kareem Hunt, RB, Chiefs ($7,400)

Everyone loved the Carson Steele stories about baby alligators, but the overnight fantasy celebrity failed to reach expectations in relief of injured starting back Isiah Pacheco. As a result, Hunt launched back into the RB1 role for Andy Reid, leading to a very efficient 85 yards on 17 touches against the Bolts last week.

New Orleans let Bijan Robinson and Tyler Allgeier combine for 154 all-purpose yards last week, so Hunt should be able to put up another 80 with a lead on Monday. Maybe he'll score, too. 

WEEK 5 DFS ADVICE
Best Stacks | Sleepers & Values

FLEX 5: JuJu Smith-Schuster, WR, Chiefs ($2,800)

Sleeper alert! Reports have surfaced that Andy Reid, Matt Nagy and company want JuJu to assume some of the short and intermediate routes with which injured wideout Rashee Rice thrives.

That's great to hear for JuJu investors, especially on DK where we're getting him for under $3K. This is a no-brainer — we only need a few chunk-yard gains to make this price point a big value. A TD and we're almost assuredly in the money. 

Chiefs vs. Saints NFL DFS picks: Optimal FanDuel lineup

Here are the key scoring settings for FanDuel single-game tournaments: They're half-point PPR with three-point bonuses for 300 passing yards, 100 rushing yards, or 100 receiving yards. The MVP pick multiplies that player's total by 1.5 but does not cost 1.5 times their listed salary.

Our FD single-game lineup construction features some of the same assets as our DK lineup, except we took Carr over Kelce as our MVP pick because FD values QB stats a little more.

We also opted for some different x-factor flexes as a sort of hedge, just in case New Orleans shocks the world and upsets the defending champs on national TV.

If that happens, NOLA No. 1 receiver Chris Olave and top TE Juwan Johnson will have their fingerprints all over it. Olave has 30.3 FD points over the past two weeks, and KC has surrendered the most fantasy points to TEs this season. 

WEEK 5 FANTASY ROSTER MANAGEMENT ADVICE
Stock Watch | Trade Advice | Sleepers | Busts | Start/Sit | Usage Report | Weather

Chiefs vs. Saints NFL DFS picks: Optimal SuperDraft lineup

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.

Here are the most notable scoring rules for SuperDraft NFL contests: Half-point PPR, four-point passing TDs, and two-point bonuses for 100 rushing yards, 100 receiving yards, and 300 passing yards. SuperDraft lineups feature no D/ST position. The "Champ" position adds a 50-percent boost to the selected player, while the SuperFlex positions are limited to the boost listed for each player. 

MORE SUPERDRAFT DFS: How to play SuperDraft

Our SuperDraft combines many of our favorite fantasy elements from our DK and FD lineups, and we're loving the value we're getting with Kelce in the Champ spot as well as Hunt and Johnson at flex. We've got big-time TD upside with our four non-QBs, and we also have the QB projected to air it out the most. Let's go!