FanDuel NFL Single-Game Strategy: Seahawks/Eagles DFS Preview
Update – As expected, Malik Turner is OUT but Jaron Brown is still Questionable somehow. Meanwhile, Nelson Agholor is OUT, Zach Ertz is Questionable and Miles Sanders has been cleared to play. The Ertz news is something we have to monitor as it feels like he’s 50/50 to play at this point.
Hello Grinders. FanDuel has a nice single-game contest going on for the Sunday Night game featuring the Seahawks and Eagles for this Wild Card Weekend. Let’s quickly look at some of the game factors and touch on some possible roster construction options for our daily fantasy football lineups.
Be sure to check out RotoGrinders’ NFL DFS news and alerts before you lock in your teams!
The Game Environment
Vegas has this game at a 45.5 over/under, which is actually the second highest on this Wild Card Weekend slate. Only the Vikings/Saints game has a higher over/under at 49.5, just to put this into context. I’m a bit surprised that Vegas has the Seahawks as 1.5 point favorites despite the fact they are playing on the road and have dealt with a ton of injuries these past few weeks. Speaking of those injuries, let’s take a look at those.
The Injuries
The Seahawks enter this game thin at running back having lost Chris Carson, C.J. Prosise and Rashaad Penny in the regular season. The team still has Travis Homer and newly signed running backs Marshawn Lynch and Robert Turbin, so they’ve basically overhauled their backfield in just a few weeks out of necessity. Additionally, the Seahawks are now hurting at the wideout spot, with wide receivers Malik Turner questionable and Jaron Brown out, while tight end Luke Willson remains questionable although he’s had full practices all this week. Turner has not practiced this week and is looking very iffy. We’ll know more about his status after Friday’s practice and I’ll leave an update at the top of this article should we get more than a Questionable tag, which is where he’s at now.
On the Philly side, we already had running backs Corey Clement and Darren Sproles out and placed on the IR, but now Miles Sanders is questionable with an ankle injury. ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler is reporting Sanders is expected to play and Sanders himself declared himself ready, so I’m viewing him as probable for this writeup. The team is also hurting at the wideout spot, as they were already missing Desean Jackson and Alshon Jeffery, but now Nelson Agholor and Zach Ertz remain questionable. Agholor hasn’t practiced all week so I’m viewing his questionable tag as more doubtful/out, while Ertz is practicing in a limited fashion through a cracked rib and lacerated kidney. He’s questionable but it’d be fair to question whether he’d be able to play through an entire game through these injuries if he does suit up. I’ll also update his injury status once we know more but for now I’m very skeptical he plays.
The Situation
This is one of the trickier single-games because of so much impactful injury news. For the Eagles, Ertz being limited or ruled out would mean Dallas Goedert would see an every-down role, while Josh Perkins would back him up. The Miles Sanders ankle injury is also tricky as we have to take him at face value that’s he fine, but it’s fair to wonder whether Boston Scott sees an expanded role in this game after his three-touchdown game last week. Jordan Howard was active but didn’t even get a single carry despite Sanders getting hurt, making it look that Scott has leap-frogged Howard for the backup running back role.
For the Seahawks, injuries to their wideouts puts DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett into even bigger roles. Both found the end zone last week and they make for fine options paired with Russ. The running back situation is also murky, as Marshawn Lynch had 12 carries and a touchdown while Travis Homer had 10 carries but also caught five passes. Lynch is clearly the goal-line back here but if Vegas is wrong and the Seahawks find themselves in a negative game script, Homer may see a larger role than expected.
The Plays
I’m going to do something a little different. Rather than listing some of my favorite plays, I’m going to list some of my favorite stacks based on possible game scripts.
Marshawn Lynch + Dallas Goedert + Carson Wentz – This one assumes a negative game script for the Eagles like Vegas is expecting. We’ve seen the Seahawks give Lynch 12 carries last week but more importantly, the goal-line work. With FanDuel so heavily geared towards touchdowns and only half a point for receptions, touchdowns are king on this site. I like the idea of using Lynch and hoping he’s the one rumbling into the end zone, and that negative game script forcing the Eagles to play catch up using Dallas Goedert and the passing attack. Goedert saw 10 targets last week and has become the default #1 receiving option with the team losing so many bodies. He’s an amazing play should Zach Ertz miss another game.
Miles Sanders + Boston Scott – I really don’t think many people will play both Sanders and Scott this weekend, making your lineup somewhat contrarian by pairing the two. The idea is that you’d capture all the running back work between the two, and with Sanders banged up, there’s always a chance he doesn’t get a full workload or has to leave the game early. If you can’t stomach the idea of rostering both, then at least consider playing Scott over Sanders, as I’d think Scott will come at much lower ownership. We’ve seen the Eagles trust Scott in goal-line situations so I think there’s plenty of leverage to be had by just rostering Scott over Sanders, but rostering both is going to be uber contrarian.
Russell Wilson + DK Metcalf + Tyler Lockett – This one will probably be a little chalkier but I like it because it captures the Vegas favorites’ main passing attack. I’m expecting Metcalf and Lockett to take on bigger roles in the playoffs with so many injuries to their secondary receivers. If you want to go even one step further, you could throw Jacob Hollister into this stack as well and just hope the touchdowns all come from the air, but that Wilson is able to find multiple receivers for his touchdowns. All three of these receivers were seeing snap shares of 75%+ heading down the stretch and I’d expect something similar for this Wild Card game.
Thanks for reading, and good luck on Sunday. May variance be on your side.