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The Pittsburgh Steelers and Houston Texans will face off in a Madden sim Thursday at 8:00 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
DeAndre Hopkins ($16,200)
You can’t really go wrong with Nuk or Deshaun Watson in the Captain’s spot for the Texans. Both have some of the best ceiling performances in sim land and we’re fine eating the chalk in this instance. I’m not crazy about a lot of the plays on the Pittsburgh side so I think leaning on Houston in this sim is a good idea.
Fade of the Game
Ben Roethlisberger ($16,500)
You know me, I hate QB play and this is a spot I’m not willing to pay up for Big Ben. He doesn’t really offer any rushing upside and his mobility is suspect. There aren’t really any threatening plays on the Steelers side of the ball outside of maybe JuJu Smith-Schuster. The easier lineup fillers will be on the Texans.
Value Picks
Diontae Johnson ($4,400) — Okay, I lied. We’re going to have to fit in at least one Steelers player, right? I like Johnson in this spot as a strong high-upside WR value play. You know those are always the juiciest to go with. Johnson has put up some big numbers in certain spots.
Keke Coutee ($2,400) — And back to the Texans we go! Coutee is in the same vein as Johnson — an underpriced WR with a decent ceiling. The price on Coutee is just too good to pass up really. He’s among a handful of WR2-3 who can easily return 4-5x value.