In what should be one of the highlights of Week 10 of the NFL season, Jimmy Garoppolo and the 49ers (4-4) host Justin Herbert and the Chargers (5-3) on Sunday Night Football. Despite their records, the glass is definitely more full for the Niners, who are coming off a bye and three weeks into the Christian McCaffrey era. The Chargers, meanwhile, are battling myriad injuries on both sides of the ball, and enter Levi's Stadium as 7-point underdogs. This is a tough one to bet, but a great game to put together a DraftKings Showdown lineup, which is exactly what we will do today.
Toward the beginning of the season, it looked like San Francisco ranked as the unluckiest squad in the Golden State. Kyle Shanahan's team lost starting running back Elijah Mitchell to a sprained MCL in the Niners' season-opening loss to Chicago, then second-year QB Trey Lance suffered a season-ending ankle injury in Week 2. Stud pass-catchers Deebo Samuel and George Kittle have both missed time, as have multiple key cogs of the Niners' elite defensive front.
WEEK 10 DFS LINEUPS: DraftKings | FanDuel
But Jimmy G has been very good, wideout Brandon Aiyuk is enjoying a bounce-back campaign, and the CMC acquisition has breathed new life into this organization. Now it's the Chargers who seem the most ill-fated in Cali (well, arguably — the Rams are not exactly having a picnic of a defending-Super Bowl season).
The Bolts have seen five-time Pro Bowler Keenan Allen (hamstring) play just 45 snaps all season, and fellow wideout Mike Williams could miss a total of eight games with his ankle sprain. Top edge rusher Joey Bosa (groin) has not played since Week 3, and stud cornerback J.C. Jackson (knee) is shelved for the season.
WEEK 10 DFS: Best stacks | Best values
As the saying goes, "besides all that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?" The Bolts are in an unenviable position with injuries, something that Shanny and the Niners can certainly sympathize with from their own ill-fortunes over the years. But this game should still be much more entertaining than its spread suggests, and it should make for some fun and potentially-lucrative DFS contests.
Let's dive right into our Sunday Night Football Showdown lineup, and offer our reasoning for each one of our picks.
Before we get into our picks, 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 DK SHOWDOWN: How to win a Showdown contest
DraftKings Showdown Picks: Chargers at 49ers Sunday Night Football
$50,000 budget, need at least one player from each team.
Captain (1.5x points, 1.5x salary): WR Brandon Aiyuk, 49ers ($12,300)
We're going with a contrarian play here, as everyone and their mom will be drafting McCaffrey to their Captain spot at a whopping $17,400 (remember: in addition to netting 1.5 times the Captain's output, we also pay 1.5 times their price). I'd much rather draft stud Niners wideout Aiyuk at $12,300 and still be able to afford CMC and Jimmy G. Aiyuk has produced 21.2 fantasy points per game over the past three weeks, and now he has Samuel and Mitchell returning to take some of the attention away from him. If we get 30 points from a Captain investment in the low $12,000s, we will be ecstatic.
FLEX RB Christian McCaffrey, 49ers ($11,600)
Of course CMC makes our lineup one way or another — he's one of the most explosive all-around backs in the history of the NFL, and a perfect fit in Shanahan's offense. This guy even made some plays in his Niners debut just days after the trade got processed — he was reading San Franciso's playbook on his plane ride from Carolina to Santa Clara. The Chargers have allowed the second-most fantasy points to RBs this season, and the Niners could have all their offensive weapons back on the field this weekend to hinder L.A.'s ability to stack the box. Fantasy goodness awaits.
FLEX QB Jimmy Garoppolo, 49ers ($9,800)
Jimmy G never gets enough credit, maybe because fans view him as a game manager or maybe because he's a Bill Belichick guy. Who knows, who cares — all I know is he's a bargain at below $10,000 and with a plethora of offensive playmakers at his disposal. You want a couple high-upside picks in Showdown contests, but you also want some high-floor guys. Jimmy G is exactly that when the pieces around him are healthy — his baseline is between 17 and 20 fantasy points.
FLEX WR Joshua Palmer, Chargers ($7,800)
Since we need some Chargers representation — and we can't even sniff the listed salaries of Herbert or elite running Austin Ekeler — let's go with the Bolts WR1 by proxy, Josh Palmer. The second-year receiver fell under many fantasy managers' radars after returning from a Week 7 concussion and L.A.'s Week 8 bye. But alert fantasy minds cashed in last week, with Palmer catching 8-of-10 targets for 106 yards and a solid 20.6 DraftKings points. The Niners D is good, but it's been banged up all season and ranks just 22nd in fantasy points allowed to wideouts.
FLEX WR DeAndre Carter, Chargers ($5,400)
With Carter, we feel like we are monopolizing the downfield receivers for Los Angeles for a combined total of just $13,200. Carter was just coming off an illness last week, and he still put up double-digit fantasy points. In a game oddsmakers project to reach 46 points, expect plenty of targets to go DC's way. The Niners defend the tight end position well, so Gerald Everett for $6,200 seems far less appealing than Carter at $5,400.
FLEX RB Isaiah Spiller, Chargers ($3,000)
Bargain bin special! Spiller surprisingly garnered seven touches in a close 20-17 win over Atlanta last week, turning them into 29 total yards. Ekeler needs the occasional rest, and L.A. will attempt a ton of passes, so expect Spiller to get even more usage this weekend. Maybe he'll even draw some targets! Or, even better, maybe he'll get late-game workhorse touches in garbage time and serve as the cherry on your Sunday Night Football DFS sundae!
