Week 9 kicks off on Thursday Night Football with the undefeated Eagles traveling to the Lone Star state to play the Texans at 8:15 p.m. ET. The Eagles are double-digit favorites for the second-straight week (-14), and the game has an O/U of 45, according to BetMGM. Most DFS players will stack their lineups with Eagles and put Jalen Hurts, Miles Sanders, or A.J. Brown in their Captain spot, but we're fading all of those players for "Captain" in our DraftKings Showdown lineup.
Before we break down all of 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.
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DraftKings Showdown Picks: Eagles vs. Texans Week 9 Thursday Night Football
$50,000 budget, need at least one player from each team.
Captain (1.5x points, 1.5x salary): WR DeVonta Smith, Eagles ($12,300)
The easy "Captain" pick would be Hurts or Sanders, as the Texans have a horrific run defense this season. However, we'll roll with Smith, who had a quiet performance last week against the Steelers with 7.3 DraftKings points. The second-year wide receiver has not found the end zone often this season; however, we know he's capable of dominating a game, as we saw in Week 3 against the Commanders (33.9 DraftKings points). The young wideout has a tough matchup against the Texans' defense, which is only allowing the sixth-fewest DraftKings points per game to WRs (29.2), but with the attention that A.J. Brown will command on the outside, the Eagles should look to get Smith involved early and often. He'll likely have low ownership for the "Captain," so we can get some major differentiation if Smith scores.
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FLEX QB Jalen Hurts, Eagles ($11,800)
The third-year dual-threat quarterback has taken the league by storm this season and is coming off a fantastic performance last week against the Steelers. Hurts defeated Pittsburgh with his arm, throwing for a season-high four touchdown passes and scoring 28.4 DraftKings points. Last Sunday's game marked the fifth time this season that the MVP candidate recorded 20 or more DraftKings points in a game. Hurts will return to his hometown to face a Texans' defense, which is allowing the fourth-fewest DraftKings points per game to QBs this season (13.1). However, the last three quarterbacks Houston played were Malik Willis, Derek Carr, and Trevor Lawrence. Unlike those three QBs, Hurts has multiple ways to score and should be in your Showdown contest lineup.
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FLEX RB Miles Sanders, Eagles ($10,400)
After not scoring any touchdowns last season, Sanders has scored five touchdowns through seven games this season and has a great matchup on Thursday night. Sanders is averaging 14.9 DraftKings points per game this season and scored 13.8 DraftKings points last week. He should be due for another good performance, as the Texans are allowing the most DraftKings points per game to RBs (35.7). If Sanders and Hurts cannot run all over this Houston defense, then we have a major problem.
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FLEX RB Dameon Pierce, Texans ($8,600)
For the Texans to be successful on offense, it will rest on the shoulders of Pierce. The rookie has been one of the more consistent performers across all fantasy platforms this season, recording 80 or more rushing yards in four of his past five games. Pierce is also averaging 19.4 DraftKings points per game over that span, which is higher than his season average (15.8). The rookie running back will have his opportunities against an Eagles' defense that allows 114.7 rushing yards per game.
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FLEX WR Chris Moore, Texans ($5,400)
With Brandin Cooks (wrist, personal) and Nico Collins (groin) not expected to play, Moore could see a lot of snaps and targets. The veteran wide receiver has not done much this season, but he scored 10 DraftKings points against the Raiders in Week 7. The Eagles allow the 10th-fewest DraftKings points per game to WRs (31.1), but Moore could get ample garbage-time opportunities, which boosts his prospects to pile up catches and yards or score a cheap touchdown.
WEEK 9 PPR RANKINGS:
QBs | RBs | WRs | TEs | D/STs | Kickers
FLEX WR Quez Watkins, Eagles ($1,400)
Watkins has only scored one touchdown this season, but it was a 53-yarder in a prime-time game. He's the type of big-play, boom-or-bust WR who can swing a single-game DFS contest. At his price, he's worth the risk.
