With two weeks of NFL football in the books, a whopping nine AFC teams sit 1-1 in the standings. Two of those teams — the Steelers and Raiders — face off in Las Vegas this weekend on Sunday Night Football. Today we will share our DraftKings Showdown lineup for this exciting conference clash, hopefully helping you end your weekend with some DFS cash.
It's been a bumpy start to the season for both Pittsburgh and Vegas. Jimmy Garoppolo and the Raiders eked out a one-point victory over the division-rival Broncos in Week 1, but got stomped by the Bills in Week 2. The Steelers got stomped by the 49ers in their season-opener, but outlasted the Browns in an ugly Monday Night Football affair.
This might not be a pretty game, but it should be plenty entertaining. And we put together a strong approach with our DraftKings lineup, with a contrarian pick for our captain spot and a stars-and-scrubs approach to our five flex spots. We've been raking in DFS lately, and hopefully our unique SNF strategy helps us carry over that momentum so we can pull down another big win.
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: Best props | Betting preview | SGP
Steelers-Raiders DraftKings Picks: DFS lineup for Week 3 Sunday Night Football
$50,000 budget, need at least one player from each team.
Captain (1.5x points, 1.5x salary): Pat Freiermuth, TE, Steelers ($9,300)
We often employ unique strategies with the captain spot, as the majority of our tournament opponents will likely be selecting a superstar like Davante Adams or Josh Jacobs. By selecting Freiermuth, one of our top TE sleepers for Week 3, we spend $8,100 less than what we would spend for Adams. And if the 'Muth breakout happens this week, we get 1.5 times his points while still having a strong core at our flex positions.
The Raiders have surrendered the fifth-most DK points to tight ends this season, so it's very possible Freiermuth enjoys his best game of the young season. He already found the end zone in Week 1, but he's only seen five total targets in two weeks. That's partly because Myles Garrett and the Browns made Kenny Pickett's life miserable on Monday, forcing Pittsburgh to use its tight ends as pass-blockers. The Vegas pass-rushers won't own the line nearly as well, nor will the Raiders linebackers and safeties keep the 'Muth silenced.
FLEX Davante Adams, WR, Raiders ($11,600)
Let's just get down to brass tacks: We won't be rolling out any DFS lineups this Sunday night without Davante Adams. He's the most talented skill-position player in this game, and he's averaging 16.6 DK points per game so far this season.
Amari Cooper came into Monday Night Football banged up and proceeded to make seven catches for 90 yards in Pittsburgh. Imagine what kind of damage that Adams, a vastly superior wideout, can do to the Steleers at home.
FLEX Josh Jacobs, RB, Raiders ($10,800)
Jacobs has stumbled out of the gate so far in 2023, looking like a shell of the guy who won the 2022 rushing title. But the Raiders' schedule hasn't exactly done him any favors — Vegas opened up the season at Denver and then traveled to Buffalo to face an angry Bills team in Week 2. The Steelers at home should be a much easier challenge.
Believe it or not, Pittsburgh has surrendered the most DK points to running backs this season, a whopping 34.8 points per game. That's despite Nick Chubb getting injured and forced out of the Browns-Steelers game early on Monday. And the fantasy feast RBs have enjoyed against Mike Tomlin's squad has been far from fluky — they're giving up 166.5 rushing yards and 1.5 RB touchdowns per game. Fire Jacobs up with confidence.
FLEX George Pickens, WR, Steelers ($9,200)
Pickens started to look explosive on Monday night, stepping up in a major way in the absence of injured wideout Diontae Johnson. The speedy receiver turned 10 targets into four catches for 127 yards and a TD, an eruption of 25.7 DK points. Now he gets to face a below-average Raiders secondary in a game Pittsburgh is projected to lose. Pick Pickens as a trustworthy flex with solid upside.
FLEX Jaylen Warren, RB, Steelers ($6,400)
Najee Harris owners and investors, you might want to sit down for this one: Jaylen Warren is a better football player than your boy. Warren has better vision, burst, and elusiveness. He catches the ball better, making him a vastly superior PPR option. He gets to the corner and hits holes with more authority and decisiveness. Najee dances behind the line like an old version of Le'veon Bell, while Warren just goes for it. We won't be surprised in the least if Warren usurps Harris for the lead-back role, maybe as soon as this weekend. Vegas has surrendered the second-most fantasy points to RBs this season.
FLEX Austin Hooper, TE, Raiders ($2,400)
Since we already have five high-usage players from this game, naturally our sixth needs to be a dart-throw sleeper. Hooper serves as the Raiders' new starting tight end with Darren Waller taking his suck to the Giants, and Jimmy G has always enjoyed passing to tight ends. These two have only connected for a few completions so far this season, but this could be the week Hooper breaks out for a touchdown. The Steelers will be so busy trying to stop Adams, Jacobs, and wideout Jakobi Meyers, it's quite possible Hooper finds himself free in the end zone. Six points might be all we need from Hooper to win us some dough.
MORE DK SHOWDOWN: How to win a Showdown contest
Best SuperDraft Steelers-Raiders DFS Picks
This year, 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): George Pickens, WR, Steelers (1.9x)
- Super FLEX: Davante Adams, WR, Raiders (1x)
- Super FLEX: Josh Jacobs, RB, Raiders (1.1x)
- Super FLEX: Pat Freiermuth, TE, Steelers (1.55x)
- Super FLEX: Jaylen Warren, RB, Steelers (1.55x)
We basically picked all the same players we featured in our DraftKings lineup, but we opted to make Pickens our "champion" for the 50 percent points boost on top of his 1.9-times multiplier. This squad looks really good, and we're entering it into SuperDraft as we speak. We hope you do, too, and be sure to use my promo code 'sloanp' for a free $20 of SuperDraft bets!
