The Las Vegas Raiders and New England Patriots will face off in a Madden sim Tuesday at 6:00 p.m. ET. We break down the ideal Showdown lineup strategy for the DFS contest that will be played in the snow. You can set your lineup and play in the DraftKings contest before kickoff.
Captain’s Pick
Ben Watson ($10,500)
Watson has officially passed James White ($12,300) on the Patriots chalk-o-meter, which is a totally legit form of measurement. Totally legit. Watson is simply averaging more fantasy points per dollar than White. So basically that makes Watson the safest option at Captain. Great. We really don’t have to overthink this play. Tom Brady has thrown for 51 TD passes in sim land and almost 20% of those have gone to Watson. He’s a red-zone threat who has the perfect ceiling-floor combo.
Fade of the Game
Tom Brady ($18,000)
I never like fading anyone in these Showdown contests, this is something I say a lot. The thing is, at this price in the Captain’s spot, it’s really hard to justify playing Brady. Even with the 1.5x bonus, some of these box scores barely get over 30 DKFP and at this price we need 36 FPTS to return 2x value. That just isn’t a sound investment and the fact Brady rarely hits 30 DKFP means chances are he isn’t returning value. Brady is fine at the FLEX if you want to stack but don’t go crazy fitting him in.
Value Picks
I’m going to start with the crazy pick and just get it out of the way early. I know I mentioned Watson as a strong Captain’s choice. Well, going with the chalk all the time is no way to go through life, son. The Raiders D/ST ($3,800) has a combined 33 DKFP over the past three simulations. They’ve forced a fumble in four straight and have five DFR over that span. These are some eye-opening defensive stats. Now, the Pats offense is tough to defend but you’ll likely get the Raiders D/ST at low ownership.
Jalen Richard ($2,400) is a clear value play in this contest and really doesn’t need much more explanation. He’s got great upside and very involved in both the passing and running games. Overall, leaning on the value on OAK and some studs on New England to fill out your lineups.