By Will Helms
Once again, we have an NFL Monday Night Football game that looks—at least on paper—like it could be a blowout. The undefeated Eagles host division foe Washington in a game of two teams heading in opposite directions.
However, as with most Eagles games, our DFS fate will likely be decided by which opponent players we start. Philadelphia’s offense runs through two players, both of whom we’ll need to start. Beyond that, it’s all about hitting on our value plays.
DraftKings
MVP Options
Unlike last week, I’m aligned with DraftKings on the two most important players to start. Because of this, we’ll not find value at MVP (I did really well Thursday by making Dont’a Foreman MVP despite his ranking as the fifth-most expensive player in the slate).
This week, you’ve got to make Jalen Hurts ($18,300 as MVP) or AJ Brown ($15,900 as the MVP) the first guy on your team. Because of the yardage bonuses and PPR format of DraftKings, I actually like starting Brown here to save some money. We save $800 by making Brown our MVP and we get a guy who has outscored his quarterback in two of his last three games. Of course, you can’t go wrong putting Hurts in this spot and I’m likely going to split the two between my lineups.
Value Plays
Finding value plays this week may be tough, as neither team plays much depth. However, I’ve identified a few pay-downs to help afford Brown, Hurts and another higher-end player. While risky, I like Jahan Dotson ($5000) as a play this week. Oft-injured, he’s been in and out of the lineup this season, but when he’s healthy, he’s averaged a touchdown per game. He didn’t play well in the first game against Philadelphia, but no one on his offense did.
I took a swing on Kenneth Gainwell ($4600) being the running back who scores tonight and if he gets a target or two in the passing game, we could have some nice value there. Lastly, I started both Commander running backs due to Antonio Gibson’s ($6800) value as a receiver and Brian Robinson’s ($5400) low price and overall volume, even if he hasn’t been efficient this season.
FanDuel
Captain Options
On the blue site, I’m captaining Hurts ($17,500) more than Brown ($14,500). I don’t lose money for captaining one over the other and without yardage bonuses and with just a half PPR format, Hurts is the better play here. In fact, Brown has only outscored Hurts once this year in FanDuel’s format.
Hurts provides the best upside of the entire slate and his floor is not bad either. Taylor Heinicke ($15,000) isn’t a bad play in a contrarian lineup, but I’m mostly fading the Commanders’ signal caller.
Value Plays
I went in a similar direction here, starting with Dotson ($8000) who is fairly cheap here. I started Robinson ($8500) in a few lineups as well. Finally, he’s not a value, but I played Dallas Goedert ($11,500) more on FanDuel as a way to capture more of the Eagles’ passing game prowess.
There are a number of ways to go here and if you pay way down for Quez Watkins ($6500) or Logan Thomas ($7000) and one of them has a big play, you’re golden. If you;re playing multiple lineups, experiment with your cheaper options as there isn’t a single guy that stands out in that price range.
