We’re in the final week of the regular season and Snake Draft Showdown is now open and ready for you to dive into.

If you’ve ever played season-long fantasy before, you’re likely familiar with how a Snake Draft works. In short, for these Classic contests, once the allotted number of entries are filled in a contest, the draft will begin one minute later. The entrants are assigned a random draft order and will commence in that order. The player with the first pick gets dibs on everyone while the player with the last pick will get a double pick, as it’ll end the first round and thus begin the second.

Roster requirements for lineups: QB - 1 RB - 1 WR/TE - 2 FLEX - 2

For a full breakdown of rules, please visit our How to Play Classic and Showdown NFL Snake Draft page.

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Favorable Early Round Matchup

Derrick Henry, RB, Tennessee Titans
Snake Classic Rank: 2nd

With Alvin Kamara (Rank: 1st) out this week, Henry becomes the highest-ranked player on the board. If you’re lucky enough to draw the first pick, you don’t want to miss out on this matchup. Henry is 223 yards away from reaching 2,000 rushing yards, a feat that is obtainable in this matchup against the Texans. As a refresher, the last time these teams met, Henry went for 212 yards on 22 carries. While the Titans are in a must-win situation to make the playoffs, they’ll rely on their main man in a ridiculously good matchup. The Texans are the only team to allow over 5.0 YPC to opposing backs and now face the man who is second in the league in yards after contact, averaging 3.79 per carry. With a playoff seed and a potential milestone hanging in the balance, you take Henry if you have the chance.

Calvin Ridley, WR, Atlanta Falcons
Snake Classic Rank: 7th

Between injuries and players resting, Ridley could easily be the third pick in your draft despite being ranked seventh. The Falcons will once again operate without Julio Jones, which has given a massive boost to the production of Ridley. We just saw these teams clash a couple of weeks ago which led to Ridley drawing 14 targets which he converted into 10 catches for 163 yards, a touchdown and 35.3 DKFP. Ridley carved up CB Sean Murphy-Bunting specifically, catching all four targets against him for 80 yards and the touchdown. Regardless of who is on Ridley in this game, he’s going to draw the lion's share of targets and should be well worth the high draft position he’s going at.

Early Round Matchup To Avoid

Travis Kelce, TE, Kansas City Chiefs
Snake Classic Rank: 6th

Currently, the role for Kelce seems to be up in the air. We’ve heard that the Chiefs are resting starters, including Patrick Mahomes and Tyreek Hill, amongst others. We haven’t seen an official status for Kelce nor was he included on the injury report. This would lead me to believe that he’ll at least start and eventually be pulled. With how high his rank is and QB Chad Henne throwing to him, I can’t say I’m overly excited to get Kelce in an early round. You’ll be much safer going down the list a bit and taking a player that will be playing most of or the entire game like a Ridley.

Late Round Fliers

It should be noted that these players are ranked below the threshold of players that would be drafted. This section simply tries to exploit players who are in favorable matchups and are down the rank list.

Jonathan Taylor, Indianapolis Colts,
Snake Classic Rank: 23rd

The Colts are another team trying to squeak into the playoffs and they should find plenty of success both through the air and on the ground. Taylor, who took over the lead role back in Week 11, is averaging 97.6 yards per game since then. Also over that same span, Taylor is averaging 3.39 yards per carry after contact, which ranks fifth in the league. Against a Jaguars team that struggles immensely against the run, we could see a huge game from Taylor in what is setting up to be a final-round pick. When these teams met in Week 1, Taylor only ran the ball nine times for 22 yards but did catch all six of his targets for 67 yards, helping salvage his day with 15 DKFP.

DK Metcalf, Seattle Seahawks
Snake Classic Rank: 25th

Metcalf has taken quite the fall in the overall rankings as of late. Averaging 13 DKFP over the past four weeks has played a big part in it but we all know and see what he’s capable of. While the Seahawks are in the playoffs, this game does have seeding implications so Metcalf will be active. After a couple of weeks of tough matchups in coverage, Metcalf will draw CB Jason Verrett this week. Verrett has been targeted against 55 times allowing 37 receptions for an average of 9.2 YPC. That doesn’t exactly sound like a great matchup, right? Well, over the past three games, receivers have been getting the better of Verrett, as he was targeted against 25 times allowing 16 catches and 139 yards. With a massive size advantage to boot, this could be a great bounce-back for Metcalf.

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I am a promoter at DraftKings and am also an avid fan and user (my username is steveazors) and may sometimes play on my personal account in the games that I offer advice on. Although I have expressed my personal view on the games and strategies above, they do not necessarily reflect the view(s) of DraftKings and I may also deploy different players and strategies than what I recommend above. I am not an employee of DraftKings and do not have access to any non-public information.

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