We haven’t even made it to slate lock for Week 1’s Sunday main slate and I’m already excited to dig into these Rams vs. Lions DFS picks for Sunday Night Football. This is a rematch from last year’s playoffs and, who knows, perhaps this is a 2024 playoff preview? This game has potential shootout written all over it. Two elite offenses with plenty of weapons in a game with an implied total of 52 points? Let’s dig right in and take a look at the Sunday Night Football DFS picks!

 

 

 

Rams vs. Lions DFS Picks & Preview: Sunday Night Football, 9/8

As we get ready to take a look at the Rams vs. Lions DFS picks it is worth mentioning that we should absolutely be loving this game environment. It’s indoors and the Lions played incredibly well at home last year. I’ll touch on Jared Goff’s home/road splits in his section below. But from weeks 1-15 they will only have one game outdoors and that’s in week 9 when they visit the Green Bay Packers. So, it’s a schedule tailor made for the Lions as they look to once again crush the NFC North.

On the other side of the ball, the Los Angeles Rams come to town. By all accounts, the team is fairly healthy which is refreshing for aging stars like Cooper Kupp and Matthew Stafford. But they still have a promising wide receiver coming off a phenomenal rookie campaign in 2023 with Puka Nacua. However, after 10 years in the NFL, Aaron Donald decided to retire after a decorated career so that defensive front is a bit questionable.

That segues us perfectly to the game flow for this NFC matchup. Vegas is setting the over/under right around 52 points. So, there’s plenty of offense to be had. Thursday night’s game between the Baltimore Ravens and Kansas City Chiefs barely snuck to the over with 47 total points. Even Friday night’s game in Brazil featuring the Green Bay Packers and Philadelphia Eagles went well over the line with 63 points. So despite it being Week 1, we are seeing plenty of offense early on. That shouldn’t be any different for this matchup so let’s start previewing the top Sunday Night Football DFS picks and lineup building strategies on DraftKings and FanDuel.

 

 

 

Rams vs. Lions SNF Odds at DraftKings & FanDuel

DraftKings Sportsbook

  • Spread: Lions -4.5 (-110)
  • Money Line:
    • Rams (+170)
    • Lions (-205)
  • Game Total: Over 52 (-110) / Under 52 (-110)

FanDuel Sportsbook

  • Spread: Lions -4.5 (-106)
  • Money Line:
    • Rams (+180)
    • Lions (-215)
  • Game Total: Over 52.5 (-105) / Under 52.5 (-115)

 

 

 

NFL Weather: Rams vs. Lions SNF, September 8th

It’s going to be a beautiful day in Detroit on Sunday, but this game will also be played indoors so it doesn’t have any impact on this game. Detroit’s schedule is heavily geared toward controlled environments and that won’t be any different Sunday night.

Rams vs. Lions Injuries: Sunday Night Football Week 1

Jahmyr Gibbs was dealing with a hamstring issue for the last couple weeks of camp. Fortunately, he’s good to go for this game and likely won’t have many limitations. On the offensive side of the ball, the Lions look ready to roll. On the defensive side, while nothing is official yet, DJ Reader may not be ready for this game as he has a Week 2 estimated return date. Ifeatu Melifonwu’s status is doubtful and Loren Strickland has already been ruled out.

On the Los Angeles side, Puka Nacua dealt with a mild knee issue towards the end of training camp but he was a full participant in practice late in the week. The only noteworthy injury, on either side of the ball for the Rams, is Rob Havenstein’s ankle injury. He is listed as questionable and certainly worth monitoring as that would be a knock against their offensive line if he were to miss Sunday night’s action. 

 

 

 

NFL Sunday Night Football DFS Picks: MVP/Captain

Amon-Ra St. Brown, WR, Detroit Lions - DraftKings: $11,000 | FanDuel: $16,000

The Lions top pass catching option is the most expensive player on both DraftKings and FanDuel, so he naturally appears at the top of our SNF DFS picks. He simply gets peppered with targets and on DraftKings, that’s very beneficial since they’re a full-PPR format.

St. Brown is the kind of player that can accumulate double-digit targets any game. There’s a great floor and outstanding ceiling as well. Over the last two seasons he leads all wide receivers in yards after the catch with 1,208 and that makes sense considering he’s very good at creating separation, and Jared Goff recognizes that.

His receiving yardage prop was about 82.5 yards when the books opened and he went over this number in about three-quarters of his home games last year and we saw him go for 110 yards in the playoffs against the Rams last year. The Rams secondary is arguably worse this time around so it’s a nice looking smash spot for ARSB.

Puka Nacua, WR, Los Angeles Rams - DraftKings: $9,800 | FanDuel: $15,500

Right underneath ARSB in the player pool for both DraftKings and FanDuel is Puka Nacua. Nacua’s an outstanding MVP/Captain candidate for Sunday Night Football DFS contests because, like St. Brown, he can command a heavy target share.

Even if you only included plays where he and Cooper Kupp were on the field together, his target share still sat at 26.8%. The kid plays hard and he’s definitely someone worth building around.

But I won’t lie, the knee injury in camp was somewhat concerning as he frequently dealt with minor/nagging injuries while at BYU. But he’s a full go for this game and the implied total indicates there’s room for plenty of scoring in addition to a fast pace. Against the Lions in the playoffs last year he popped off for nine receptions on 10 targets for 181 yards and a score.

Cooper Kupp, WR, Los Angeles Rams - DraftKings: $9,600 | FanDuel: $10,000

Rolling right along with the Rams vs. Lions DFS picks we go to Nacua’s teammate, Cooper Kupp. Kupp’s price tag is actually outstanding on FanDuel compared to DraftKings. On the latter site he’s the third-most expensive player in the SNF DFS picks player pool. On FanDuel, he’s the eighth-most expensive option on the slate.

The good news regarding Kupp for 2024 is that he’s healthy. No nagging injuries dragging him down. Sure, he turned 31 in June but back in 2021 this was a guy who nearly hit 2,000 receiving yards. And even in 2022 he was on pace for another monstrous season before he got hurt.

As of right now, he’s healthy and if that’s the case then I operate as if he’ll be one of Matthew Stafford’s favorite targets in this game.

Jahmyr Gibbs, RB, Detroit Lions - DraftKings: $8,400 | FanDuel: $11,500

Gibbs had a monstrous rookie season in 2023 and he shined late in the year. In Detroit’s three playoff games last year, Gibbs scored a touchdown on the ground in all three and had a total of 14 targets.

We love that kind of pass-catching volume for a running back in DFS. I will say that I think he’s probably a better Captain candidate on DraftKings. FanDuel’s optimal lineups usually feature a quarterback or wide receiver while running backs tend to be a bit more rare.

A few other things Gibbs has going for him? He has one of the best offensive lines blocking for him and Aaron Donald is no longer on the Rams. We saw him get a handful of games a year ago where he’d see 6-10 targets and that’s certainly on the table for a game with this kind of high scoring potential. Are there concerns about his touchdowns being vulture by David Montgomery? Yes. But you have to risk it for the biscuit with these SNF DFS picks.

 

 

 

NFL Sunday Night Football DFS Picks: Core Plays

Jared Goff, QB, Detroit Lions - DraftKings: $9,000 | FanDuel: $14,000

Goff certainly has some appeal at Captain if you choose to go that route. I prefer my quarterbacks to come with some rushing upside like Jalen Hurts or Lamar Jackson. Goff doesn’t have that kind of ceiling. However, last year his home/road splits drastically differed and he thrived when playing at Ford Field.

Including the playoffs Goff appeared in 10 games at home, and 10 on the road. On DraftKings he averaged 6.5 more fantasy points per game at home than on the road. His completion percentage was 6.6 points better at home than away from Detroit as well. So yes, he loves playing in Detroit and with this kind of game script he can possibly put up 300+ passing yards and multiple touchdown passes. He’s a core play at the flex especially if you plug any of his pass catchers in at Captain.

Matthew Stafford, QB, Los Angeles Rams - DraftKings: $8,800 | FanDuel: $13,500

I almost forgot how both Goff and Stafford are linked forever as this is kind of a revenge game for both players. Obviously, Stafford got the better end of the deal as he won a Super Bowl a few years back. But overall, he’s a similar volume play to Goff, but without much rushing upside.

And his home/road splits from a year ago indicate that he was a bit better on the road. He averaged 19.3 fantasy points per game on DraftKings away from SoCal, while he was at just 17.5 fantasy points per game at home. His completion percentage was also 3.2 percentage points better on the road.

Stafford and Goff are almost the same play. It really boils down to which player you plug in at Captain and then just correlate that play with the accompanying quarterback at the flex.

Kyren Williams, RB, Los Angeles Rams - DraftKings: $8,000 | FanDuel: $12,000

Similar to the Jahmyr Gibbs section, I prefer Williams more on DraftKings than FanDuel if consider him at the top of your NFL DFS Showdown lineups. Williams was an absolute animal as a late-round fantasy football darling and he finished top five at his position.

Williams boasted a 22.4% avoided tackle rate last season and per Jacob Gibbs of CBS Sports, Williams led all running backs in red zone opps rate at 51%. That metric is essentially the percentage of red zone carries and targets in games when healthy. So there’s certainly heavy involvement, right?

Some folks might be scared off by Blake Corum, and I get it. He’s a player with a similar profile to Williams. If that lowers Williams exposure at all then it’s an opportunity to gain leverage. We saw last year that Williams certainly has “break the slate” upside so you can even play him at Captain if you so choose.

 

 

 

NFL Sunday Night Football DFS Picks: Mid-Tier Plays

Sam LaPorta, TE, Detroit Lions - DraftKings: $7,400 | FanDuel: $10,500

It’s hard to believe that for our Sunday Night Football DFS picks, it’s taken this long to get to Sam LaPorta. But we got here eventually, folks. LaPorta’s great. My hesitation with not putting him at Captain mostly stems from the fact I think there are other pass catchers in this game with higher ceilings. 

LaPorta only had three games last year with 20+ fantasy points on DraftKings and he only logged the 100-yard bonus just once. Now obviously, just because that happened in 2023 doesn’t necessarily mean it’ll happen in 2024. And he does command targets and he had an absurd 79% route participation rate as a rookie.

He’s absolutely a core play, and honestly, a bit mispriced on DraftKings as well. But I’m going to take some stands with my preferred SNF DFS picks for this game. I’ll definitely mix LaPorta in but mostly as a flex option.

David Montgomery, RB, Detroit Lions - DraftKings: $6,600 | FanDuel: $9,500

This is somewhat of a criminal price tag on David Montgomery. And yes, he can absolutely vulture touchdowns from Jahmyr Gibbs. In fact, I expect it. Between weeks 1-5 last year, Monty had six touchdowns on the ground. Then he missed sometime and resumed his role when healthy. 

But similar to Sam LaPorta last year, he had just three games in 2023 with 20+ fantasy points on DraftKings. There’s certainly touchdown equity, but this kind of game script just seems like it will benefit Gibbs over Montgomery.

 

 

 

NFL Sunday Night Football DFS Picks: Value Plays

Demarcus Robinson, WR, Los Angeles Rams - DraftKings: $5,000 | FanDuel: $7,000

I will assert that Robinson is arguably one of my favorite value plays for the Sunday Night Football DFS lineup picks. For starters, the Rams ran 11 personnel more than most teams in the league last year. In LA’s last seven games last year, he actually led the wide receiver room in end zone targets.

When he took over the WR3 role after the team’s bye week, he had an 81% snap rate, a 16% target share, and averaged over 11 fantasy points per game.

As a value play for the SNF DFS picks, that’s actually very good. And with a high total in this game, we should expect the Rams to again lean heavily on 11 personnel.

Blake Corum, RB, Los Angeles Rams - DraftKings: $4,800 | FanDuel: $8,000

I definitely prefer Robinson on both sites, but there’s intrigue with Corum. For starters he was one of the best running backs in this past draft class and by all accounts, he had a very impressive training camp. He earned high marks from Sean McVay and they protected him as such by not playing him a ton in the preseason.

There are people who fall into the camp that Corum and Williams may participate more in a committee. That isn’t an indictment of how they view Kyren Williams at all. In fact, it might be a sign that they want to keep him healthy, when Corum can do all the same things Williams can.

The volume and workload is difficult to project so you basically plug and play the rookie at your own risk. And for what it’s worth, everyone seemingly lost their mind when Kyren Williams appeared as the punt returner on the Rams’ depth chart. It now looks like that’ll be Corum’s role Sunday night.

Colby Parkinson, TE, Los Angeles Rams - DraftKings: $3,200 | FanDuel: $6,500

This guy was a late-round gem for best ball drafts and now I get to highlight him as a value play for our Rams vs. Lions DFS picks. The Rams were rumored to be in the mix to trade up in the 2024 NFL Draft to select Brock Bowers. Obviously, that didn’t happen. So, they pivoted and added Parkinson in free agency.

So there is some intrigue. If the Rams were interested in making such a hard push for a tight end in the draft, perhaps it signals how they want to utilize the tight end position in 2024? Parkinson entered the season as a sleeper tight end by several fantasy football analysts and he doesn’t need to do very much to pay off the price this Sunday night.

 

 

 

SNF DFS Picks: Kickers & D/ST

As discussed at the top of the article, Vegas is expecting offense in this game. Similarly, for Friday night’s game the Green Bay Packers were able to force three turnovers and two sacks. And yet, they only put up seven fantasy points on DraftKings because they allowed 34 points. The Eagles returned just three fantasy points Friday night because they allowed 29 points while collecting just two sacks and one turnover.

That’s potentially what we’re looking at for this game so I’m not particularly high on either defense for the SNF DFS picks. It almost feels like if playing a D/ST, you need touchdowns to offset the offensive onslaught we may witness. So play at your own risk, I’m once again downgrading the D/ST’s.

Both kickers are definitely in play at the very least. The downside? Neither has NFL experience! Jake Bates had a cup of coffee while in training camp with the Houston Texans in 2023 and then he played in the UFL last year with the Michigan Panthers, so at least he has close ties to Michigan already. For the Rams, Joshua Karty was a sixth-round draft pick in April’s draft out of Stanford so at least he has close ties to the… Pacific time zone?

Anyway, we have two young, inexperienced kickers. I don’t love that DraftKings has come out of the gates with rather aggressive price tags for kickers. But they’re in play on a slate where we should see plenty of offense and that should lead to points from the kickers. Ownership may also be lower because these two are heavily lacking experience.

 

 

 

Rams vs. Lions DFS Player Pool

As you wrap up your SNF DFS picks for the Rams vs. Lions game, keep an eye on the most important players from both Organizations. Finding a balance between big-name scorers and affordable picks is crucial for maximizing your winning potential in this exciting Sunday night showdown. Good luck!

Player Pool

$ Tier {{pos.alias}}

Stacks

{{stack.team.name}} {{player.name}}
DraftKings {{player.fantasy.price.value[8]}}-
Fanduel {{player.fantasy.price.value[6]}}-