Giants vs. Seahawks Showdown NFL DFS Lineup Advice for DraftKings & FanDuel
Week 4 concludes with a matchup between two NFC playoff teams from last season as the Seahawks travel to MetLife Stadium to take on the Giants. Seattle is favored by 2 points in this game that has a healthy 47-point total, one of the higher point totals on the week. The big injury news in this game is Saquon Barkley looking likely to miss his second straight game with an ankle injury as the Giants have listed him as Doubtful. This leaves Seattle with the more recognizable (and more expensive) skill players in this game as Kenneth Walker, DK Metcalf, and Tyler Lockett all appear on the salary list for both sites before the first non-QB Giants player in Darren Waller. As usual, we have some of the biggest first-place prizes available for the week in the single-game contests out there for this matchup, and I’m here with some quick lineup advice on how to get an edge on the field in our FanDuel and DraftKings single-game DFS entries.
Giants vs. Seahawks Showdown DFS Lineup Advice
How I Plan to Beat the Field
The Saquon Barkley injury set up an interesting dynamic with Barkley and Kenneth Walker listed as the two most expensive players on both sites. I’ll likely aim to be under the field on Walker, who has a great-looking game log with two touchdowns in each of his last two games, but who gets limited receiving work and has seen increasing carries go to Zach Charbonnet through each of the first three games. Walker likely needs more than one touchdown or some very long yardage gains to pay off his price – that’s a possibility but one I’m willing to be under the field on with him appearing as a natural first click for people hand-building their rosters.
I’m more interested in being over the field on the passing games in this matchup, as the Seahawks have clearly explosive WRs in DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett, while the Giants have a more anonymous stable of receivers but are facing a Seahawks defense that has allowed the most passing yards per game in the NFL (328 yards per game – the next most is the Chargers through four games at 299.8 yards per game). I won’t be looking to avoid the bigger-name WRs in Metcalf and Lockett, but I’m particularly interested in being over the field on the Giants passing game. Darren Waller leads the team through three games with 132 receiving yards, followed by Darius Slayton, third-round rookie Jalin Hyatt, Isaiah Hodgins, and then Parris Campbell. Sophomore receiver Wan’Dale Robinson returned from injury last week and put up 4 receptions for 21 yards in limited snaps in his first game of the season.
It’s difficult to parse through the receivers on the Giants’ side, but I’m particularly interested in Hyatt and Robinson as players who the Giants have invested draft capital into over the past two years. Hyatt is a rookie who should see his playing time increase as the season goes on, and Robinson may fly under the radar after just returning from injury last week. Both players are very cheap on both FanDuel and DraftKings, and create some odd-looking (but possibly unique) roster constructions, especially if they are paired together in lineups.
Single-Game Rule I’m Willing to Break
While we’ll want to set some rules in LineupHQ if we’re building multiple lineups, setting our rules too strictly can prevent us from getting to winning lineups. Each week, I’ll aim to hit on “rules that can be broken” for our lineups.
This week, I’ll be looking to pair Daniel Jones with multiple receivers more often than I normally would for a running QB. My general rule of thumb is to pair stationary quarterbacks used in the MVP/CPT spot with two or more receivers from the same team, while pairing more mobile QBs with just one receiver.
As outlined above, I’m interested in getting over the field on Giants pass-catchers given the possibility they’ll be lower-owned despite playing at home and having an excellent matchup against a Seahawks pass defense that has allowed the most passing yards per game in the NFL. The usage breakdown could also be different than we’ve seen over the season so far, with Hyatt likely to come on stronger as the season progresses and Wan’Dale Robinson returning from injury. With all of the Giants receivers affordable in this matchup, the best way to generate lineups that get over the field on Giants pass-catchers is to simply force them into lineups that use Jones as the MVP or CPT.
DraftKings Strategy
The first key difference between DraftKings versus FanDuel is the salary multiplier for the Captain position. It’s not just that a Captain’s fantasy points get the 1.5x multiplier, but his salary counts 1.5x against our cap as well. The next important consideration is the difference in the scoring rules. DraftKings gives a full point per reception instead of a half point on FanDuel, making receivers and pass-catching running backs ideal for the DraftKings format.
On DraftKings, the scoring difference makes paying $10,800 for Kenneth Walker particularly unappealing. Walker is priced $800 more than Geno Smith and $1200 more than Daniel Jones, which is a hefty price tag to pay for a RB that doesn’t catch many passes and is possibly going to lose additional time to rookie Zach Charbonnet as the season goes on. Charbonnet is priced at just $3400 – the same value range as Jalin Hyatt and Wan’Dale Robinson – and had a season-high 9 carries for 46 yards last week, making him an interesting pivot on a site that awards a full point-per-reception. I won’t be fading Walker entirely, but I do think he will see higher ownership than he should, particularly coming off of two big games in a row.
FanDuel Strategy
The flip side to the DraftKings scoring is the half-point awarded for receptions on FanDuel and no salary multiplier in the MVP position. This can make it very difficult to get away from the highest projected player at the MVP spot but makes it critical to have some intelligent differentiation in the AnyFLEX spots.
The salary lists between FanDuel and DraftKings are remarkably consistent for this game, with each site listing Kenneth Walker as the most expensive active player followed in order by the QBs, then DK Metcalf, Tyler Lockett, Darren Waller, Matt Breida, and Isaiah Hodgins. That makes taking advantage of the scoring differences between the sites an important consideration. On FanDuel with yardage and touchdowns more important to scoring relative to DraftKings, I’ll be more interested in taking an overweight stance on both Matt Breida and Daniel Jones, two of the players most likely to score a TD in this game. Playing Kenneth Walker at his elevated price tag is also slightly more palatable on FanDuel, and the Kickers show up as better values as well.
This should be a fun MNF matchup between two teams who were competing against each other for an NFC wildcard spot last year and may end up doing so again this year. Good luck to everyone tonight, and enjoy!