Hittin' The Nuts - SquirrelPatrol's NFL DFS Lineup Advice for Thursday Night Football (Broncos vs. Saints)
Want to hit the nuts and take down 1st place in these massive contests posted by FanDuel and DraftKings? Who better to walk you through their favorite NFL DFS picks than SquirrelPatrol! Undoubtedly one of the best DFS players in the game, SquirrelPatrol has accumulated 100+ Live Final seats, took 2nd place in the 2023 DraftKings Fantasy Baseball World Championship for a $600,000 prize, and most recently, took down the NFL Milly Maker in Week 2 of last season.
Week 7 starts with an interconference showdown between the Broncos and Saints at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans. Both teams come into the game in third place in their respective divisions, with the Broncos 3-3 and the Saints 2-4. Both teams have a positive point differential, but on the Saints side, that is heavily impacted by lopsided wins in their first 2 games before losing their last 4 in a row. This is a matchup of two rookie QBs, with first-rounder Bo Nix starting his 7th game for Denver while fifth-rounder Spencer Rattler is filling in for the injured Derek Carr for the second game in a row. The Broncos are favored on the road by 3 points in a game with a low 37-point total. Denver has been trying to win through their defense this year, averaging the 4th-fewest yards allowed per game and points allowed per game on the defensive side. For New Orleans, they won their first 2 games of the season, scoring 40+ points in both games, but have allowed the most yards per game on defense and have now suffered a string of injuries to their starters on offense.
The injury list for the Saints is long and involves almost all of their fantasy-relevant players to start the season. QB Derek Carr is officially doubtful, but he is expected to miss the game while Rattler draws his second start in a row. Both Chris Olave and Rashid Shaheed are out for this game, while TE Taysom Hill is doubtful but also expected to miss the game. The Broncos saw WR Josh Reynolds go on IR this week but are otherwise healthy, however there are some depth chart questions throughout their RB, WR, and TE positions. The injury and depth chart questions will have a major impact on our DFS contests, with three of the five most expensive players on DraftKings likely to miss the game. You’ll want to be sure to follow the RotoGrinders NFL starting lineups page as inactives hit for the latest details. Also, don’t forget to use our NFL DFS optimizer, LineupHQ. Whether you’re a hand builder or an MME player, it’s the perfect tool to utilize.
Let’s sort through the slate and figure out what to do with our DFS lineups.
Editor’s Note: Looking for more places to play? Check out our PrizePicks promo code and Underdog Fantasy promo code, two of the best DFS apps available today.
Broncos vs. Saints NFL DFS Lineup Advice
Primetime Game History
Unfortunately, we don’t have much to go on with these teams for primetime games. The only previous primetime contest this season for the Saints was in Week 5 when they played the Chiefs on Monday Night Football. Going into Kansas City as 5.5-point underdogs, the only Saints player in the top four of ownership at the CPT spot in the DraftKings large-field contest was Alvin Kamara (22.8%), who was the most popular CPT choice in that game. Kamara failed to land on the winning lineup entirely, as JuJu Smith-Schuster was the winning CPT with just 1% ownership, and Derek Carr and Rashid Shaheed represented the Saints in the FLEX spots.
This is the first primetime game of the season for the Broncos, and with a new QB this season along with new receivers, there isn’t much to be gained by looking at their primetime games from last year. We always want to be aware of some consistent themes in Showdown – pass catchers (including RBs) often end up in the CPT spot ahead of their QBs, and we often see lineups that contain at least one low-owned player winning large-field GPPs. The big story for this game, however, is the injuries that have come out after pricing that could have a major impact on our DFS contests, particularly on the Saints side.
How I Plan to Beat the Field
Want to read more? Sign up for Premium!
