Sunday of the Week 5 NFL DFS slate kicks off with quite the matchup across the pond in London, England. The Green Bay Packers and New York Giants gift us with football at 9:30am ET to give us some entertainment, and an opportunity to make some money before the main slate locks at 1:00pm ET. There aren’t as many severe injury concerns heading into this week’s game like there were last week. The Giants are going to be thin at wide receiver once again with Kenny Golladay, Kadarius Toney, and Wan’Dale Robinson all inactive. That doesn’t bode well for the G-Men especially since Jaire Alexander doesn’t carry an injury designation for the Packers. We have you covered with everything you need to construct your NFL DFS Showdown Lineups with our Weekly Match-Up Reports, our NFL DFS Tools, and the NFL DFS Lineup Generator if looking to build multiple lineups. Let’s dig into this game to deliver the NFL DFS Showdown picks for Sunday morning’s game.

 

I want to give insight into my though process for Showdown slates. Some of you know that I like to make 150 lineups and put them all in the mini-max contest on DraftKings. Thursday night the mini-max rewarded $10,000 to first place. For this game? First place is only getting $750. However, the contests are a little better than last week. The big $15 GPP is rewarding $100,000 to first place while the smaller $5 and $12 single-entry contests have decent prize pools.

Here’s a brief summary of some rules and tips I tend to abide by when building multiple Showdown lineups:

  1. If playing a pass catcher (WR, TE, or elite pass-catching RB) at the Captain/MVP spot be sure to correlate that with their QB in the Flex.
  2. I never play D/ST’s or Kickers in the Captain spot, but I will make an exception for this particular game. I know of late, that method has worked out okay especially for Thursday’s game between Denver and Indianapolis. It’s rare a D/ST or Kicker is optimal at Captain. I would only recommend doing it in 5-10% of your builds for this specific game. Most of the time I never play these positions at Captain.
  3. Don’t go crazy with Quarterbacks at Captain. If quarterbacks don’t offer much rushing upside to break the slate, I don’t suggest playing them heavy at Captain.
  4. Don’t try to force every dollar available to you into your lineup. Feel free to leave some money on the table because that means you’re more likely to have a unique build.

Let’s take a look at how these London games have played out since 2017, keeping in mind no international games were played in 2020…

  • September 24th, 2017 – Jaguars beat the Ravens, 44-7
  • October 1st, 2017 – Saints beat the Dolphins, 20-0
  • October 22nd, 2017 – Rams beat the Cardinals, 33-0
  • October 29th, 2017 – Vikings beat the Browns, 33-16
  • October 14th, 2018 – Seahawks beat the Raiders, 27-3
  • October 21st, 2018 – Chargers beat the Titans, 20-19
  • October 28th, 2018 – Eagles beat the Jaguars, 24-18
  • October 6th, 2019 – Raiders beat the Bears, 24-21
  • October 13th, 2019 – Panthers beat the Buccaneers, 36-26
  • October 27th, 2019 – Rams beat the Bengals, 24-10
  • November 3rd, 2019 – Texans beat the Jaguars, 26-3
  • October 10th, 2021 – Falcons beat the Jets, 27-20
  • October 17th, 2021 – Jaguars beat the Dolphins, 23-20
  • October 2nd, 2022 – Vikings beat the Saints, 28-25

Not the greatest level of play, although last week’s game was phenomenal and very entertaining leading up to Sunday’s main slate. There have been blowouts and just low-scoring games in general. Adding in last week, there maybe have been only two “shootouts” across the pond. But one thing I’ve always kept in mind when composing my lineups is that one team tends to struggle. Last year gave us a pair of competitive games with each team putting up at least 20 points. However, in those 13 games we saw a team post 16 or fewer points on seven occasions. Given the Vegas trends and the injuries to the Giants, it does feel like this game is easily in hand for Green Bay.

Lineup construction is huge for NFL DFS contests. You want the proper correlations to maximize the point potential and I’ll touch on some tips as I go through the player pool and give you my favorite plays and strategies. Let’s dive into Sunday morning’s NFL DFS Showdown top picks and plays!

New York Giants vs. Green Bay Packers

Spread: Packers -8

O/U: 41.0

Weather: Temperatures in the low 60’s with clear skies. Winds will be blowing at about 10-15mph so nothing too impactful.

Notable Injuries

New York Giants

Green Bay Packers

MVP/Captain

Saquon Barkley, NYG RB

An obvious acknowledgment for the fantasy football MVP through four weeks. Barkley essentially represents the Giants entire offense. They’re beat up at wide receiver and Barkley looks like his old self. We’re only four weeks into the season and he’s already touched the ball about 100 times. He’s a candidate for the 100-yard bonus, to find the end zone, and to catch multiple passes as well. The Packers have allowed at least 125 rushing yards in three of their first four games.

Aaron Rodgers, GB QB

I don’t love Rodgers as Captain, but I’ll have a few lineups taking that approach. But I normally only like quarterbacks with rushing upside at Captain. But if Rodgers can pick apart this defense and put up multiple scores, then he’s viable as a Captain. The Giants generate a good pass rush, but Rodgers has plenty of options to check down to especially his running backs. He’ll take what the defense gives him and he won’t make too many mistakes. The Giants haven’t been tested by an opposing quarterback yet. Just look at who they’ve played: Justin Fields, Cooper Rush, Baker Mayfield, and Ryan Tannehill. Tannehill was the only one to throw for over 220 yards on the G-Men while Fields and Mayfield couldn’t even reach 150. Rodgers is far better than all those quarterbacks and could pick apart this defense for a big game.

Aaron Jones, GB RB

Look I don’t normally play running backs at Captain unless they can catch a lot of passes. So while starting the Showdown preview with a pair of running backs is against my overall belief, both Barkley and Jones are utilized in the passing game. So far Jones has shown a higher ceiling, and better floor, than AJ Dillon. Jones has at least three catches in each of the first four games and is likely due for 15+ touches on Sunday. Despite the Giants generating a respectful pass rush, they can be run on. They’ve allowed 149, 176, and 146 rushing yards in their last three games to opposing offenses and I love the ceiling for Jones in this matchup.

Romeo Doubs and Allen Lazard, GB WR

I didn’t want to leave one of these guys out of the Captain discussion so I’m writing them up together. Both are touchdown candidates and they’ve been target hogs lately as they’ve emerged as Rodgers’ two favorite targets. An easy build to start with is a combination of Doubs/Lazard at Captain, then correlating that play with Rodgers, and adding one of Green Bay’s running backs then filling out the rest of your roster. Doubs and Lazard should both be involved and see at least six targets. If this game does get out of hand, I wouldn’t be surprised if Green Bay leaned on the run a little more, which could hurt both of these two. Doubs has found the end zone in back-to-back games with at least eight targets in each contest. He did have an egregious drop in the end zone as well. Lazard has found the end zone twice in three games this season with 14 targets in his last two games. If I have to pick one over the other I’ll take Doubs.

Mid-Tier Top DFS Picks

Daniel Jones, NYG QB

I don’t love Daniel Jones this week, but he has rushing upside and with three of his top targets already ruled out for Sunday’s matchup, I’ll give him some consideration because he’ll likely be asked to do more. Jones hasn’t thrown a touchdown in his last two games. He also hasn’t topped 200 passing yards through four games this year. I don’t think he has a great shot at the 300-yard bonus on DraftKings. His legs have been his saving grace as he’s rushed for 65+ yards in back-to-back games. I just don’t love the upside and in this matchup with all the injuries on the Giants, I’m probably going to be underweight.

AJ Dillon, GB RB

The jelly to Aaron Jones’ peanut butter. Everything that was said about Jones can be applied to Dillon, although Dillon hasn’t shown a very high ceiling the last few weeks so I prefer him more as a Flex play. Dillon has seen at least 14 touches in every game this year, but he just hasn’t scored since Week 1 and doesn’t have the ceiling of Jones. If you want to get contrarian, you can get exposure to him as your Captain. It certainly makes roster construction easier and you’ll have leverage. But if he’s not catching many passes on Sunday, he’ll need to definitely find the end zone to be optimal.

Robert Tonyan, GB TE

My big concern with Tonyan is the snap share. It was trending in the right direction but then took a step back last week. However, he’s top ten in TE snaps, not lined up at TE (57%). The question is, does he get two targets last week? Or can he get five targets and find the end zone? 

Richie James Jr., NYG WR

James was a bit of a value dud last week as the presumed WR1 for the Giants. He had just one catch on three targets for nine yards. He doesn’t carry an injury designation heading into Week 5 but be warned he could re-aggravate his ankle injury.

Christian Watson, GB WR

Let’s not forget, Watson was the 34th overall pick in April’s draft, just outside the first round. The prospect pedigree is still there but he was plagued by injuries early in camp and didn’t develop the chemistry with Aaron Rodgers like Romeo Doubs did. He’s only seen ten targets in three games, but he scored his first touchdown on a 15-yard run last week. I do have one lineup with him at Captain and if he somehow goes off I really like its chances in a GPP. Overall, I prefer him as a Flex in GPP’s. His snap share is low and he doesn’t run as many routes as Doubs or Lazard. But he might be the most physically imposing wide receiver the Packers have.

Top Bargain DFS Picks

David Sills V, NYG WR

Take a guess as to who leads the Giants in total snaps through four games. Yep, it’s David Sill. Sills isn’t very good. A simple Twitter search of his name and you’ll find plenty of people complaining that you can’t win with Sills as one of your top two wide receivers. And they’re probably right. But if he’s going to be this cheap and be on the field, then he’s viable in Tournament builds. The fantasy production has been poor, but if the Giants are trailing and are forced to throw more, maybe we can get more production from him.

Daniel Bellinger, NYG TE

The numbers aren’t great, but Bellinger passes the eyeball test when he’s being targeted. He’s caught eight of nine targets on the year and he’s a big target that is difficult to tackle. I actually prefer him over Sills since I think there’s a much more likely path to a touchdown for the rookie tight end than Sills. Again, the Giants need pass catchers and he’s a big target with good hands for Daniel Jones.

Darius Slayton, NYG WR

Really digging deep to find a value play this week because the options aren’t great. The Giants are second-to-last in the league in terms of passing, but Slayton played over 60% of the snaps last week and should be on the field in a similar capacity. Unfortunately, the workload is not really there for him.

Defense/Special Teams/Kickers

As mentioned last week, I don’t love writing these positions up with great depth. As mentioned earlier a lot of people will play these positions at Captain/MVP and it can work especially in a game like this where it could be an offensive struggle for New York. We had a lot of travel for both teams and plenty of injuries to monitor. It could be a very one-sided game where maybe a D/ST at Captain works. I likely won’t go that route because I like my Captains/MVP’s to have a lot of upside. But these options will be great Flex options. Green Bay will easily be the more popular option. I understand the appeal in playing them at Captain, but I’ll try to be underweight in that regard and let 10% of lineups die if the Giants can find a way to put up points. I prefer the Packers as a Flex because the Giants offense has given opposing D/ST’s a good floor (10 fantasy points per game), but not a great ceiling. It’s also worth mentioning, the Packers D/ST is not cheap on DraftKings. They’re about $1,500 more than D/ST’s usually are on Showdown slates so I won’t be going there heavily for my captain. As always, correlate your kickers with the quarterback if you’re putting the QB at Captain/MVP. 

 

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