Week 9 Thursday Night Showdown on Draftkings
Titans vs Steelers Draftkings Showdown
Showdown Captain mode is a DraftKings tournament where you have $50,000 to create a lineup using 6 players from a standalone single game. One of those players will be your captain. The captain costs 1.5 times their salary and will accumulate 1.5 times the points. As with every slate, GAME THEORY IS INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT. Even more so in Showdown, you want your lineup to tell a story of how the game will go. There are a lot of options based on how you see the game going but ALWAYS make sure there’s correlation between your players.
Titans @ Steelers
Spread: PIT -3
Over/Under: 36.5
Injuries to Monitor
DeAndre Hopkins has a toe injury and was unable to practice on Wednesday after practicing on a limited basis on Tuesday. He’s Questionable for the game.
Kenny Pickett has a rib injury but will play.
Breakdown
Honestly this one is gross and everyone has question marks. Henry is likely the safest bet but the it’s hard to trust the offense as a whole with Levis under center. The Steelers pass catchers might be the way to go but it’s hard to trust them with a less than 100% Pickett. As much as I hate it this could very much be a Kickers and Defense slate.
Henry will likely still be my highest owned in the captain spot. I think you could pair him with Spears. The Titans could choose to rely on the two of them heavily with a banged up Hopkins and Levis making his 2nd start on a short week on the road. If Hopkins can’t go I like the deep play ability of Burks and he could be paired with Levis or played on his own.
On the Steelers side it’s Diontae and Pickens at Captain and I wouldn’t consider much else. You could make a case that the Steelers defense could actually be used at captain but I’ll just use them at flex.
Captain/Flex
Derrick Henry $17,400/$11,600
Henry hasn’t had all the work to himself but is still in the top five in carries this season. He’s also force the 4th most broken tackles. He’s also coming off a season high in receptions with four so maybe Levis will be more inclined to dump it off to Henry than we’ve seen in the past. The Steelers have allowed the 4th most rushing yards per game to opposing RBs.
George Pickens $13,200/$8,800
Pickens only had one catch last week but it was for a TD. I do like his upside slightly more than Diontae and the savings compared to DHop. He’s averaging a healthy 18.6 yards per reception, has an ADOT of 14.1 and has the 8th most air yards per game. The Titans are bottom six in points allowed to opposing WRs.
DeAndre Hopkins $16,800/$11,200
The switch to Levis could be exactly what Hopkins needed. Now obviously he’s not gonna score three TDs every week especially on only four catches. Regardless the big play upside is there with a QB who’s not afraid to chuck it down field. The Steelers have allowed 14.4 yards per reception. He has a toe injury and might not play so even if he does it could be risky.
Diontae Johnson $12,600/$8,400
Diontae has 20 targets in his two games since returning from injury. He’s averaged 6.5 receptions and 82 yards in those two games. The Titans have allowed the 3rd most receptions per game to opposing WRs this season.
The Rest
Will Levis $9,600
With such a small sample size it’s hard to gage what Levis is. He threw four TDs but only threw for 238 yards. On a short week in Prime time at a hostile Heinz(Acrisure) field it could spell disaster. With that being said he’s still worth a play with how few sure options we have on this slate.
Kenny Pickett $9,200
Pickett has a rib injury but looks like he’ll go. I’m not crazy about him as a captain option but he can be paired with a pass catcher and be dragged along. It likely gets expensive pairing him with both Diontae and Pickens but isn’t out of the question.
PIT DEF $5,600
Levis could implode here and the defense could have plenty of opportunities to score points. They have the 5th most interceptions this year.
Tyjae Spears $5,400
Tyjae is getting enough work to pay this salary off. He has at least three receptions in four of his last five games. He’s averaging 5.8 yards per carry. The Steelers have allowed the 4th most rushing yards per game to opposing RBs this season.
Najee Harris $7,200
Jaylen Warren $6,400
I’m grouping these two together because I don’t think it matters much. This is close to a 50/50 split with Harris getting a little more work. Warren has more of a chance of breaking a long one but Harris probably has a better chance at a TD. I lean Harris but both are in play on a one game slate despite the tough matchup. I’ll likely have equal shares of them but won’t play them in the same lineup.
Treylon Burks $3,800
Burks only played about half of the snaps last week coming back from injury. You’d have to think his involvement trends upward going forward. He has enough upside to pay off this salary. He’s averaging 16.5 yards per reception.
TEN DEF $4,400
I like the Steelers defense because of Levis. I like the Titans defense because either Steelers QB can provide them with scoring opportunities. They’re in play either way in a game with such a low total.
Chig Okonkwo $4,200
Chig has been a real disappointment. He has talent but isn’t getting the opportunities. He’s only averaging three receptions and 20 yards this season. With a lower scoring environment he only needs a few catches to pay off this price.
Cam Heyward $2,800
Heyward had six targets and five catches. Not incredible but as I said with Chig that’s could be more than enough to pay off and you get a $1400 savings.
Nick Westbrook Ikhine $3,400
Westbrook Ikhine has limited opportunities but has actually scored some TDs this season. He’s tied with Hopkins for the most TDs among Titans pass catchers despite having half the targets. He scores a TD he’s easily optimal in this one.
Calvin Austin $1,800
This salary allows more wiggle room in your roster construction. He actually has some big play upside and actually gets some rushing attempts.
Allen Robinson $2,200
Robinson has a season high of 29 yards. His season high in receptions is five. He sucks but the salary allows you to pay up for the better plays in an awful game environment.
Kyle Phillips $800
He had three catches last week. That’d be incredible at this salary.
RANKINGS | DYNASTY | WEEKLY |
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