The Cardinals and Rams meet for the third time this season, but this time, it will be a win-or-go-home playoff situation on Monday night. The Rams' side of things has plenty of DFS options with high upside, and we're going with a Rams' onslaught in our DraftKings tournament lineup. Cooper Kupp will be the most popular captain pick, and for good reason, but we're going elsewhere to differentiate our picks in GPP tournaments.
Here are the important settings for DraftKings single-game contests: It's 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 DK SHOWDOWN: How to win a Showdown contest
DraftKings Showdown Picks: Cardinals vs. Rams
$50,000 budget, need at least one player from each team.
Captain: (1.5x salary, 1.5x points): WR Van Jefferson, Rams ($7,800)
There likely won't be a ton of teams with Jefferson as captain, but he could realistically be the highest scorer. He's still flying under the radar in DFS and in real life, so with all the attention on Cooper Kupp and Odell Beckham Jr., the hope here is Jefferson gets loose on a few deep shots against the Arizona secondary that allows the fourth-most DK points to WRs. He has the same upside as OBJ and is about $2,500 cheaper.
FANDUEL SINGLE-GAME LINEUPS:
LV-CIN | NE-BUF | PHI-TB | SF-DAL | PIT-KC | ARI-LAR
FLEX: QB Matthew Stafford, Rams ($10,800)
Stafford may be running out of chances to prove he can get things done in big games, so we'll bank on him finally breaking through with an explosive passing day, earning his first career playoff "W." He reached at least 20.3 DK points in both matchups with Arizona and threw five touchdowns to just one interception in those games.
DRAFTKINGS SINGLE-GAME LINEUPS:
LV-CIN | NE-BUF | PHI-TB | SF-DAL | PIT-KC
FLEX: WR Cooper Kupp, Rams ($13,000)
We're not fading Kupp altogether because it's tough to think the winning lineup won't have him in it. The Jefferson at captain selection as part of the Stafford-Kupp-Jefferson stack gives us viability with a little bit of creativity. Kupp's 2021 resume speaks for itself.
SUNDAY-ONLY DFS LINEUPS: FanDuel | DraftKings
FLEX: TE Zach Ertz, Cardinals ($6,200)
Ertz has hit double-figure DK points in each of his past four games, without scoring any touchdowns. He's caught at least six passes and averaged over 10 targets/game during that stretch. Los Angeles is just a middle-of-the-road defense against tight ends, so we expect Ertz's production to be there, and a touchdown could have him knocking on the door of 20 points.
FULL-SLATE DFS LINEUPS: FanDuel | DraftKings
FLEX: RB Chase Edmonds, Cardinals ($5,000)
Edmonds (ribs, toe) is expected to play, and he's a perfect value option for full-PPR scoring. His salary is extremely generous given his upside, even with James Conner back in the lineup. He should see double-digit carries and five or more targets, so a few explosive plays would make him a viable DFS play.
FLEX: Los Angeles Rams D/ST ($3,800)
Against the high-powered Cardinals offense, this shouldn't be a chalky selection. However, we're counting on a strong Rams defensive surge against a hot and cold Kyler Murray. The offense hasn't been quite the same without DeAndre Hopkins and between interceptions, fumbles, and sacks, it has surrendered plenty of fantasy points to D/STs lately. Doesn't this feel like a classic spot for an Aaron Donald vintage performance?