Just like we all thought back in the summer, the Chargers and Raiders will be playing for the right to stand alone in last place in the AFC West on Thursday night in Vegas. More important, it's the Easton Stick vs. Aidan O'Connell show at QB. The hits just keep on coming for lovers of prime-time football, who likely wouldn't even look forward to this matchup in the preseason, let alone Week 15. The Raiders are fresh off a shutout loss, and the Chargers are reeling after losing Justin Herbert (finger) for the season. It's probably safe to say that these teams aren't in the holiday spirit at the moment, but we hope to be after watching the players in our DraftKings Showdown lineup take centerstage on the Vegas strip.
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 THURSDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL:
FD lineup | ATS pick | Top props | Start-sit
Chargers-Raiders DraftKings Picks: DFS lineup for Week 15 Thursday Night Football
$50,000 budget, need at least one player from each team.
Captain (1.5x points, 1.5x salary): RB Austin Ekeler, Chargers ($16,500)
Ekeler should continue seeing plenty of opportunities as both a runner and receiver against the Raiders, especially without Justin Herbert (finger) under center. The RB doesn't look anything like his old self, often looking like he's running in quicksand since returning from a high-ankle sprain earlier in the year. Regardless, Ekeler is still the best the Chargers have to offer and can easily flip the script pretty quickly. He turned in his first game with at least 20 DK points in four weeks last Sunday, perhaps an indication of the looming turnaround. Whether it happens remains to be seen, but we know that he'll have the volume turned all the way up as Easton Stick tries to navigate his first career start.
FLEX WR Davante Adams, Raiders ($11,200)
Adams has been at this for a long time, and it has never mattered the QB that's throwing to him. There's been Aaron Rodgers, Jimmy Garoppolo, and Brett Hundley, just to name a few. The one thing they all have in common? They didn't hurt Adams' production. Aidan O'Connell has certainly been targeting Adams a lot (43 in his past four games), but the overall production hasn't been quite up to his standards. We'll still trust the opportunities and bank on Adams producing against L.A.'s 29th-ranked pass defense.
TNF INJURY UPDATES: Jacobs | Adams
FLEX QB Easton Stick, Chargers ($9,400)
Stick has been waiting in the wings for five years to make his debut as an NFL starter. The former North Dakota State signal-caller will get that chance in Vegas as a relative unknown. Despite backing up Philip Rivers during his rookie year in 2019, we've only seen him play in parts of two games. The QBs are all over the place this season, and the one common theme is that the folk heroes are the ones who always seem to produce. DFS is supposed to be fun, and nothing would be more fun than seeing Stick join the ranks of Tyson Bagent and Tommy "Cutlets" DeVito as backup QBs to earn celebrity status. With so much talent in the Chargers' offense, we wouldn't be surprised to see Stick light it up in his debut.
FLEX K Cameron Dicker, Chargers ($5,000)
This is a game for the kickers. There's one unknown QB and another one that we can probably say is not good at this stage. There are two bad teams in terms of record and performance, leaving us to be on field goal watch in Vegas. We doubt that the score of this game will be 3-0, but crazier things have happened. Regardless, Dicker the kicker is a reliable weapon for L.A. and should hear his number called a few times in a low-scoring game.
FLEX K Daniel Carlson, Raiders ($4,600)
Can the Raiders get on the scoreboard this week? After being shut out in one of the most uneventful games you'll ever see last week, Vegas has a short week to figure things out (if they want, too). Interim HC Antonio Pierce has said on a few occasions this year that he wants his team to run the ball and play defense. In other words, play some more old-fashioned football. Pierce was granted an old-fashioned score on Sunday, but he'll need some more points if he hopes to snag another win. Carlson hasn't been as reliable in 2023, missing four field goals, but that's out of character for the normally automatic kicker. Still, Carlson is good enough to see a few kicks go through the uprights from long distance.
FLEX TE Michael Mayer, Raiders ($3,200)
The Raiders don't utilize the TE as much as we'd like, but this is still a good matchup for Mayer to make another statement. It's been a mostly disappointing year for the rookie. His target share is all over the place and, as a result, so is his production. However, he should be able to make an impact against the Chargers, who have been generous against TEs this season. Considering how weird TNF can be, we're taking a big swing on Mayer since his recent production suggests he won't be in a high percentage of lineups.
MORE DK SHOWDOWN: How to win a Showdown contest
Best SuperDraft Chargers-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.
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): RB Austin Ekeler, Chargers (Multiplier 1.6x)
- Super FLEX: QB Easton Stick, Chargers (Multiplier 1.2x)
- Super FLEX: WR Davante Adams, Raiders (Multiplier 1.05x)
- Super FLEX: WR Quentin Johnston, Chargers (Multiplier 1.65x)
- Super FLEX: K Daniel Carlson, Raiders (Multiplier 1.8x)
Much like our regular lineups, the SuperDraft version is putting a lot of faith in Stick to deliver on Thursday night. We'd rather lean into the unknown commodity than trust a team that couldn't even score a single point in 60 minutes in Week 14.
