Hittin' The Nuts - SquirrelPatrol's NFL DFS Lineup Advice for Monday Night Football (Saints vs. Chiefs)
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 5 of the NFL season concludes with a showdown between the Saints and Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City. The Chiefs come into the game undefeated, with the ScoresAndOdds NFL Futures page showing the team with 5-1 odds of repeating as champion, the best in the NFL. The Saints are 2-2, having lost their past 2 games after starting the season with two consecutive wins scoring 40+ points. The Chiefs are 5.5-point favorites, and the game has a total set at 43 points. While the Chiefs are undefeated at 4-0, they rank 15th in yards per game and points per game. The Saints still lead the league in points per game, even though they scored just 36 points in their last 2 games combined.
The Chiefs look much different than they did to start the season, having lost both Rashee Rice and Isiah Pacheco to injuries. Last week, we saw Kareem Hunt lead the backfield with 14 rushes, while Travis Kelce had his biggest game of the season leading the team with 7 receptions for 89 yards. The Saints come into the game without TE Taysom Hill, who is out with a rib injury. Alvin Kamara and Chris Olave have appeared on the injury report in recent weeks but are expected to play; still, you’ll want to be sure to follow the RotoGrinders NFL starting lineups page as inactives hit for the latest details in case there are any surprises. 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.
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Saints vs. Chiefs NFL DFS Lineup Advice
Primetime Game History
The Chiefs are no stranger to primetime games, with this being their third night game in 5 weeks to start the season. In Week 3, they played the Falcons on Sunday Night Football, winning 22-17 in Atlanta. Coming into the game as 3.5-point favorites who are on national television in primetime every other week, it was no surprise to see Kansas City players dominating ownership in the DraftKings large-field contests. Patrick Mahomes (16.3%) was the most popular CPT, followed by Rashee Rice (15.5%), with Travis Kelce (11.3%) ranking 4th. The winning lineup featured Rashee Rice in the CPT spot, with Patrick Mahomes, Harrison Butker, and JuJu Smith-Schuster (2.1% FLEX ownership) in the FLEX positions.
While we have to go all the way back to Week 16 of last season for the last Saints primetime game, they did appear in a featured DraftKings Showdown contest in Week 3 against the Eagles. Coming off two straight wins where they scored 40+ points, Alvin Kamara (21.8%) was the most popular CPT, with Chris Olave (12.2%) ranking 3rd and Rashid Shaheed (11.3%) ranking 4th. The winning lineup for the contest featured Saquon Barkley (9.6%) as the winning CPT, in an odd-looking lineup that featured both DST units and Chris Olave as the only Saints skill-player in the FLEX.
Looking at these past Showdown contests, we again see some consistent themes. Pass catchers (including RBs) often end up in the CPT spot ahead of their QBs, with their QBs appearing in a FLEX spot. We also see lineups that contain at least one low-owned player. Often, we don’t want to avoid chalk entirely, but it can be critical to find at least one lower-owned — but still viable — option, even if it is at the CPT spot.
How I Plan to Beat the Field
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