We close out Week 15 of the 2023 NFL season with a matchup from the NFC as the Philadelphia Eagles head to the Pacific Northwest to take on the Seattle Seahawks. The injury concerns leading into this game could not come at a worse time. Late Sunday morning we started seeing NFL injury reports indicating that Jalen Hurts was downgraded to questionable as he’s battling an illness. The illness is apparently so bad he had to travel separately to not get anyone else sick. The term “illness” is incredibly vague and we don’t typically see too many players miss a game due to an illness. So we’re still keeping tabs, but it sounds like he will trend towards playing. But Geno Smith is also questionable for the Seahawks with a groin injury. It’s wild that it’s Week 15, the fantasy football playoffs have started, and we have a slight chance of seeing Drew Lock and Marcus Mariota in this game. Either way, we will be flexible, and adjust our strategy for tonight’s matchup. We’ll stay on top of all the incoming NFL news throughout the day. Here are the top NFL DFS lineup picks for Monday’s Showdown contests!

 

Philadelphia Eagles vs. Seattle Seahawks

Spread: Philadelphia Eagles (-3)

Over/Under: 45.0 Points

Weather: It’s Seattle so we have to be on our toes. Temperatures will be in the mid-40’s and there will be light rain/scattered showers throughout the game. The good news is that it doesn’t sound like the weather will be too terrible so it shouldn’t have much impact on the passing game.

Notable Injuries

Philadelphia Eagles

Seattle Seahawks

  • Geno Smith, Quarterback – Questionable (Groin)
  • Devon Witherspoon, Defensive Back – Questionable (Hip)
  • Jamal Adams, Safety, Safety – Questionable (Knee)
  • D’Wayne Eskridge, Wide Receiver – Questionable (Ribs)
  • Nick Bellore, Linebacker – Questionable (Knee)

NFL DFS MVP/Captain

Jalen Hurts, QB, Philadelphia Eagles

I know he’s questionable with an illness but there is no way I’m not throwing him in at Captain if he’s active. Michael Jordan had his flu game. Curt Schilling had the bloody sock. Kurt Angle won an Olympic gold medal with a broken freakin’ neck; his words, not mine. Like I said, we don’t know the extent of the illness. The Eagles will need him for this game to keep their hopes alive of securing the top seed in the NFC. The Seahawks are 27th in Pass DVOA and despite the acquisition of Leonard Williams and the selection of Devon Witherspoon in last year’s NFL Draft, the Seahawks are still a team you can move the ball on and score at will. Seattle allows 24.5 points per game and 367 yards of offense. The Eagles have lost back-to-back games and this is almost a must-win for Seattle. If Hurts is active I’m expecting a bounce back performance from this offense that hasn’t looked the same the last couple weeks. However, if he’s inactive, we have Marcus Mariota ($6,000) at a backup quarterback’s price tag and he’d only cost you $9,000 to play at Captain.

A.J. Brown, WR, Philadelphia Eagles

While the Eagles offense has been inconsistent the last two weeks, A.J. Brown has not. He has 17 receptions on 26 targets for 208 yards despite both games resulting in losses for Philly. The Seahawks secondary is a little beat up heading into this matchup. Jamal Adams and Devon Witherspoon didn’t practice last week. It doesn’t really matter who the Seahawks put on Brown but it seems like at this point, it could be Riq Woolen. I’m not overly concerned because Brown is a big, physical receiver. He has speed and can win contested catches. We may have to adjust our expectations if Hurts is inactive. For now, I’m operating as if Hurts is playing and Brown commands his usual heavy target share.

DK Metcalf, WR, Seattle Seahawks

The ASL Assassin cracks the top section of this article because he’s basically Seattle’s equivalent of A.J. Brown. Both are physical freaks and Metcalf is in a good spot to bounce back tonight. But like Brown, we don’t know the status of his quarterback yet. The Philadelphia secondary will be without Darius Slay tonight and the Eagles were already 23rd in Pass DVOA with Slay. The Eagles secondary allows the most fantasy points to opposing wide receivers and in their last three games, opposing wideouts have scored EIGHT touchdowns. Specifically for Metcalf, the Eagles allow the third-most fantasy points to perimeter wide receivers. But we need to monitor inactives and slightly downgrade Metcalf if Drew Lock is throwing him the ball tonight.

DeVonta Smith, WR, Philadelphia Eagles

The return of Dallas Goedert has not really impacted Smith’s volume. He’s seen double-digit targets in back-to-back weeks and is coming off a brutal game against Dallas last week where he lost a fumble and had an unfortunate drop in the end zone. But obviously he can bounce back any week and he has four touchdowns in his last six games. As we just mentioned in the A.J. Brown section, the Seattle secondary is a little beat up with Adams and Witherspoon not practicing all week. Despite being the 1B option to Brown, Smith has still seen at least eight targets in four straight games and the Seahawks have surrendered over 140 full PPR fantasy points to opposing wideouts in their last three games.

Mid-Tier & DFS Value Plays

Geno Smith or Drew Lock, QB, Seattle Seahawks

Quarterbacks always provide a good floor for Showdown slates, but unfortunately DraftKings got smart and priced both up accordingly so as not to give us a potential starting quarterback at a backup quarterback’s price. For the benefit of our exposure to players on the Seahawks, we want Smith to start. Smith did have a shot to play last week so I was initially thinking he would have a shot to play in this game until I saw this tweet…

So that’s unfortunate. But Drew Lock did perform well against the San Francisco 49ers last week until a pair of late interceptions derailed Seattle’s momentum in route to a loss. If Lock can provide similar production to what he did last week then the Seattle pass catchers could be fine, but I’m not excited to play either Seattle quarterback at Captain.

D’Andre Swift, RB, Philadelphia Eagles

Swift has just 34 total touches in his last three games and just five touchdowns on the year. He’d have more if he wasn’t so good at being tackled at the one-yard line. I prefer Swift over Kenneth Walker ($7,800) simply because of the matchup outlook, but if you feel so inclined to play Walker then do as you please! If Hurts is ruled out for this game then that may put the ball in Swift’s hands a little more. The Seahawks are much easier to run on than Philly. Seattle surrenders the fifth-most fantasy points per game to opposing running backs. Swift comes with risk because of his recent string of performances but that’ll only draw his rostership down.

Tyler Lockett, WR, Seattle Seahawks

I gave serious thought to putting Lockett in the top section. And if you reference our Match-Up Previews section, you’ll see the Eagles are 30th in DVOA against WR2’s. Lockett is a little touchdown-dependent. His best performances tend to come when he scores, and he’s only scored in three games this year. His target volume could range anywhere from five targets of 12. There’s clear variance here. He caught all six of his targets from Drew Lock last week for 89 yards and that was against a tougher defense. Lockett still has that slate-breaking upside and it’s a far easier matchup this week. He’s only $6,600 as a Flex play for this matchup and he’s still an affordable play at Captain as well.

Dallas Goedert, TE, Philadelphia Eagles

I’ll be brief here. If Hurts plays, then I’m fine rostering Goedert. In his return from injury, he caught all four of his targets. But as is the case with most tight ends he’s touchdown-or-bust. There’s a good floor here if Hurts plays. However, even the ceiling is capped unless he finds the end zone. We’ve seen Hurts more willing to prioritize getting the ball to Brown and Smith. The matchup is okay as Seattle has allowed opposing tight ends to score in back-to-back games, but he really needs Hurts to play for me to have any interest.

Jaxon Smith-Njigba, WR, Seattle Seahawks

There isn’t much allure with JSN because most are labeling him a bust in his rookie year. To be honest, I think that’s a bit harsh. We know he was coming into a bad situation as the WR3. But he’s steadily been coming along and he has 18 targets in his last two games, including seven last week from Drew Lock. Granted, all those passes were relatively short, quick looks that didn’t amount to anything. But assuming Seattle is playing catch-up in this game then that’s a game script beneficial to JSN similar to what we saw in Week 13 against Dallas. The Eagles allow the most fantasy points to slot receivers and that’s where JSN lines up a good amount. I wouldn’t quite lock him in as a Captain candidate, but he and Lockett are incredibly easy to fit into lineups together as run-back options to any Philly player at Captain.

Zach Charbonnet, RB, Seattle Seahawks

KW3 returned last week and had 12 touches including four receptions. Charbonnet took the backseat but still saw 10 touches. Charbonnet had to endure some brutal matchups when Walker was on the shelf and this matchup is still rough for both. But if Walker is the beneficiary of a 60/40 backfield split, then I’m fine taking the $3,800 discount on Charbonnet if he can hopefully get at least 10 touches. 

Defenses/Special Teams and Kickers

Both teams have an implied total of 20+ points in this matchup. I’m currently weary of using either D/ST. The Eagles secondary has been torched this year. They’re still tough to run on but overall, you can score on them. Philly can generate pressure and get sacks, but they only have 15 takeaways in 13 games this year and they’ve allowed 24.2 points per game. The outlook is better with Geno Smith now doubtful for this game, but Drew Lock showed last week that he can still throw for 250+ yards and multiple scores. I’m not thrilled about playing Seattle’s D/ST either considering they’ve allowed five of their last six opponents to drop 25+ points on them and three of those teams racked up over 400 yards of offense. The pass rush hasn’t been great either. As is the case with D/ST in any slate, you’re hoping for a touchdown if rostering either. It’s a position of variance. Always remember that.

The kickers have a decent outlook tonight. Even with light rain in the forecast, we don’t have significant winds projected but that could change later in the day. Jake Elliott ($5,000) may provide a better floor than a ceiling. Since Week 6 (eight-game sample size) he has just 10 field goal attempts in that span. He’s kicked plenty of extra points along the way but we need more than just one or two field goals for Elliott to be optimal at this price tag. The offensive struggles of the Eagles’ offense are well documented the last couple weeks but Elliott is projected for a little volume. Jason Myers ($4,800) is tough to read with Drew Lock under center. Myers has back-to-back performances of just five fantasy points. This is where the dependency on the offense is a little annoying. Myers has just three performance with double-digit fantasy points and he went off for at least 15 in each of those three. Play at your own risk or if you just want the correlation if their quarterback is at Captain.

NFL DFS Dart Throw Bargains

Noah Fant, TE, Seattle Seahawks

Fant has at least two catches and 25 receiving yards in three straight games. That may not sound like much but he’s the TE1 in this offense and he’s only $2,600 on DraftKings. The Eagles have given up six touchdowns on the year to opposing tight ends and Philly ranks dead last in DVOA against the position. Fant won’t be the only tight end that cracks this article for Seattle.

Olamide Zaccheaus, WR, Philadelphia Eagles

Zaccheaus is a large-field dart throw for the big play upside. He only has two catches in his last three games, but both went for 25+ yards. Now if you wanted to consider Julio Jones ($1,200) or Quez Watkins ($800) you can go that route. In this range we’re hoping to nail the one that catches a few passes or maybe finds the end zone similar to Jamal Agnew in last night’s game.

Will Dissly and Colby Parkinson, TE, Seattle Seahawks

Both Dissly and Parkinson are $200 for this slate. And we just noted how Fant is in a good spot against this Eagles defense that struggles to defend tight ends. Parkinson caught two passes and found the end zone last week, while Dissly recorded a catch on his lone target. If you need a real deep dart throw then consider Brady Russell who is also $200. It’s far more likely that Dissly and Parkinson catch a pass or two. Russell is TE4 on this depth chart but I am mentioning him in this article because he was previously on Philadelphia’s practice squad. So there’s a slight revenge game narrative with this play.