Cowboys vs. 49ers Week 5 Showdown NFL DFS Lineup Advice for DraftKings & FanDuel
After being underweight on the Jets for Sunday Night Football on both FanDuel and DraftKings last week, I was very thankful to rebound with successful Monday and Thursday Night Football lineups. It should be a great game tonight featuring the Cowboys vs. 49ers, as two of the league’s top defenses go toe-to-toe. It’s a low spread with the 49ers as slight favorites in this one. However, both teams have incredible offensive weapons as well. It’ll be important to utilize the lineup optimizer to find ways to get unique while prioritizing some of the high-end options like Christian McCaffrey.
Cowboys vs. 49ers Week 5 Showdown Lineup Advice
Christian McCaffrey has been the most consistent fantasy contributor throughout the season so far, and tonight is once again without Elijah Mitchell behind him. He’ll be the main priority tonight in all of my lineups on both FanDuel and DraftKings, as I’ll use the “Player Groups” section in LineupHQ to ensure I have C-Mac in every single lineup in either the CPT / MVP or Flex. I’ll aim to be overweight on the 49ers’ side of the ball, as I expect them to come away victorious in a tough defensive game. While looking at the 49ers receivers, Brandon Aiyuk has excelled against man coverage, while Deebo Samuel has been less productive, and the Cowboys play among the most man coverage in football. This is important to note, as Samuel is projected to be rostered quite a bit more heavily on both FanDuel and DraftKings
DraftKings Strategy
The biggest difference on DraftKings tonight for Sunday Night Football with the Cowboys vs. 49ers is how well the kickers work as salary savers. Both Jake Moody and Brandon Aubrey have had great starts to the season, and I expect it to continue with two incredibly strong defenses. It’ll be tough to shut down offenses that feature Christian McCaffrey, CeeDee Lamb and Tony Pollard, which is why I’m so interested in getting overweight on the kickers. I expect this to be a situation where the teams are able to move the ball but get shut down as they near the end zones. I’ll have 100% McCaffrey, so salary savers will be necessary. The two kickers alongside the defenses, backup running backs, and backup tight ends will be mainstays in my lineups so I can pay up for McCaffrey in every lineup and one of Lamb or Pollard as much as possible.
Favorite Large-Field CPTs: Christian McCaffrey (Good Chalk), Brandon Aiyuk, CeeDee Lamb
Favorite Large-Field GPP Shots: Jake Moody, Brandon Aubrey, Luke Schoonmaker (Great Name)
FanDuel Strategy
Similarly to DraftKings, I’ll have 100% Christian McCaffrey in either the MVP position or Flex, while being overweight on Brandon Aiyuk and underweight on both Deebo Samuel and George Kittle. The kickers don’t provide quite as valuable salary savings on FanDuel, so they’re less of a priority there. Brandin Cooks is the clear value option on FanDuel, which is leading to him being quite heavily owned. He’s totally fine if the rest of your lineup is unique enough, but it’ll be important to keep an eye on ownership projections within LineupHQ when putting together Week 5 Showdown teams for Sunday Night Football. I’ll be looking to create fairly balanced lineup builds while using an obscene amount of CeeDee Lamb at his cheap price tag. However, one of my favorite tournament-style builds features a similar construction to DraftKings, with Christian McCaffrey, Brandon Aiyuk and both kickers.