Joey’s MNF Showdown Throwdown
Hello and welcome back DFS Grinders to another edition of my Monday Night Football Showdown throwdown article. We’ve got a great battle tonight featuring the Minnesota at Seattle. I feel like the Vikings are going to have a record amount of primetime games this year I’ve been writing about them too much. If you know me my favorite GPP stack is Kirk Thielen and Diggs so I’ll probably be featuring them again in my main lineups for primetime in a good matchup. The game has a 46 point game total with Seattle as a 3 point favorite.
Studs/MVP Candidates
Adam Thielen: He’s the obvious top play on DK with his huge catch upside. He’s going up against a Seattle defense that’s not as good as they have been in the past. We’ve seen a pattern this year if number 1 WRs lining up in the slot to create missmatches sand he’s one of the best at it. Even after a rough week last week due to a nagging injury we still saw Kirk still target him 10 times.
Kirk Cousins: I’ve heard all the time Kirk Cousins can’t win in primetime games while that has been true especially this year he is already 1-3 records don’t matter in fantasy football. It’s also nice to see they are trailing a majority of the time leading to perfect game script to throw the ball. He’s actually performed very well in primetime this year and we even have a surprisingly large sample size. In 4 games he’s average 346 yards a game with 10 TDs and 3 Ints with 2 of those coming against the Bears in Chicago where we just saw Goff throw for 3 interceptions and 0 TDs.
Russell Wilson: Hes been one of the best fantasy QBs since entering the league and he is having another great season. Last week he saw crazy efficient numbers only passing the ball 17 times for 11completions and 4 touchdowns. Tonight he faces a much better team than last week but still will be able to put on a show. His rushing upside makes me ok with playing him by himself but if you were to stack him with a WR instead of Vannett or a RB I would lean Baldwin. His rushing upside helps raise his floor; we haven’t seen him find the endzone on the ground all season so we haven’t even seen his true ceiling yet.
Stephon Diggs: He is my favorite contriaian MVP. Everyone seems to forget how good he actually is because how good of a season Thielen is having. Diggs is having just as good of a season with 10+ targets in 8 of his 11 games played this season and after the poor performance last Sunday he might see lower ownership than usually in a great matchup.
Middle Tier
Dalvin Cook: Cook has been way too involved in the passing game to not be considered a great option. He saw a season high 10 targets last game this might be due to the Patriots game planning Thielen and Diggs out of the game but this volume cant go over looked in my opinion. We’ve seen weeks after week running backs being heavily involved in the passing game against Seattle and not much should change here with Cook and Seattle as the 3 point favorite in this matchup. He is my favorite mid range CPT with upside for some relief.
Trio of Sea RBs: Seattle is currently leading the league in rushing yards with 148 yards per game. This should mean we could easily lock up a running back for a huge game as the home favorite, but that’s not the case. We have 3 running backs that are simply dominating but Chris Carson seems be the “featured back” but still Penny finds himself involved a bunch. Minnesota ranks second to last in receiving yards given up to RBs. Carson is the best choice out of the 3. Davis and Penny see similar snap counts but Penny has been a far more efficient runner.
Defenses/Kickers
We have a nice game total tonight so that means kickers will be a great source of salary relief tonight. Both teams are top 10 in redzone and third down defenses. Minnesota is 3rd in the redzone and 1st on 3rd down. Seattle is 9th in redzone and 10th on 3rd down. All these stats point to a higher volume for kickers tonight.
Seattle defense hasn’t been as great as it has been in the past but with the noise of the 12th man Seattle could Give Kirk some trouble. He has a history of fumbling so the turnover upside is there. Homes favorites make for nice defensive plays especially with the history of Seattle home field advantage.
Cheap Tier
Jaron Brown ran only 6 routes last week, but saw 3 targets and 2 TDs. This isn’t production I’m going to chase I would rather have someone who is one the field a lot more.
Nick Vannett: Since Will Dissley has gone down with an injury Vannett has really stepped up into his role nicely. Now he will see the 26th worst defense in yards given up to TEs. Minnesota is in the top half of the league in yards given up to different types of WRs so this 26th tank against TEs is surprising and shows a big flaw in their defense. Look for Vannett to be your diamond in the rough tonight when people will be chasing Brown’s game.
CJ Ham: Now this is definitely a crazy pick as he is a full back but he is only $200. We’ve seen him involved in the passing game in the past and all we really need is him to catch 1 pass to techinically hit value anything more is bonus. His snaps and routes are all over the place but if he lets you get the studs you want it’s great.
