Fantasy Football: NFL Draftkings Showdown Breakdown – Die Hard!

Ho Ho Ho! Merry Christmas everyone! We have a fun, farewell NFL DraftKings Showdown Special tonight with the Oakland Raiders hosting the Denver Broncos.

It’s a sad one with it being the Raiders final home game before leaving for a temporary home before the Las Vegas kickoff. We’re going to break this game down and find out who the MVP player should be while looking for that low owned player to give you the upper hand. And for the “Die Hard” reference, it’s a Christmas movie and we will not be discussing that because like I said, it’s a Christmas movie! Now good luck and lets take this slate down!

The Overview

Now this game is one for the books, not because the Oakland Raiders or the Denver Broncos are in the hunt for playoffs, but because it’s the Raiders very last game to be played in Oakland. We didn’t really expect this as the final home game for them as the lawsuit between the city of Oakland and NFL just popped up a few weeks ago. But this is why I’m so intrigued with this match-up, not only because of the division rivalry, but because the Raiders will be playing on a different level. There are multiple factors that will be playing into this game and it’ll be a fun one! Lets dive in!

To kick off the betting side of things, the Denver Broncos opened up as the favorites at -3 and still are. This game also has a point total of 43.5 which means we could see a shootout between the two. In their first match-up in week , it was a close one with the Denver Broncos winning by a point of 20 to 19. Both teams had standout stars excluding one who is actually playing on the Dallas Cowboys now, Amari Cooper. So lets recap what both teams were able to do in the Week 3 meeting.

The Oakland Raiders

In week 2, the Oakland Raiders played pretty well as a whole team but came up short. We’ll start with the player that departed since he won’t matter in this game. Amari Cooper went for 116 receiving yards off of 10 catches and found the end-zone once. Now Carr doesn’t get the same opportunities with weapons in this NFL Draftkings showdown. Now Derek Carr went 29 for 32 with 288 yards and one touchdown with no interceptions. The way his season has been going, that’s really all you can ask for from him with this Oakland Raiders team. Being on the injured reserve currently, Marshawn Lynch went 65 yards off of 18 carries and found the end-zone once. With it being week 16, the Raiders have a different look with Jordy Nelson, Jared Cook being the leaders in the passing game while Doug Martin and Jalen Richard are the running-back by committee team. With the Raiders, there are many players that can factor in to how they win or ultimately lose.

The Denver Broncos

Now the Denver Broncos pulled off a crazy win in Week 2 and just like the Raiders, they had multiple players that factored in. They also had a player who is no longer on the team but with the Houston Texans, Demaryius Thomas, who was a non-factor in this game. So lets start with the quarterback, Case Keenum, who went 19 for 35 for 222 passing yards with one interception and no throwing touchdowns but one rushing touchdown. Disappointing to say the least. Phillip Lindsey had 14 carries for 107 rushing yards but did not find the end-zone. Royce Freeman found the end-zone once off of 28 rushing yards off of 8 carries. In the receiving department, Emmanuel Sanders went for 94 yards off of 4 catches but he could not find the end-zone. Jake Butt came in as the second leading receiver for 48 yards, also off of 4 catches.

This showdown slate is actually one that could be difficult as both teams have no standout players but more of a surprise for who will actually help someone take down the entire slate. We can go with stacking just one team and praying for it to pay off but we need to dig deep with both teams and find out who can be the key player to our success.

The Top MVP Plays

Top Choice:

Jordy Nelson

Salary: $11.400 (MVP Price)

Now Jordy Nelson has been picking up the pace recently and he actually comes in at a top choice for MVP on this slate. In the first match-up against the Denver Broncos, Nelson only had two catches off of four receptions for 40 yards. Nothing impressive at all. But Amari Cooper led the team with his 116 receiving yards. Nelson is now the only receiver on this Raiders team that can do damage. In 2 games versus the Broncos, Jordy Nelson is averaging 60 yards per game but has only found the end-zone once in those two games. In his past three games, Nelson has scored 19.7, 10.8, and 14.8 fantasy points but if he can do something similar to those games with a 1.5 point multiplier, he’ll be able to do what we expect and hope for as a MVP choice.

2nd Choice:

Phillip Lindsey

Salary: $18,300 (MVP Price)

Now Phillip Lindsey comes in at the highest priced MVP choice which could cause for major chalk if people go this right. But it will hinder your build if you decide to go this route but I like this due to the fact of what Phillip Lindsey did in his first match-up with the Raiders. He rushed for 107 yards off of 14 carries but he did not find the end-zone. That is the downside. He was able to put up 15.3 fantasy points and if he repeats that as a MVP, he would be putting up 22.95 fantasy points. The Oakland Raiders do rank dead last when defending the run, allowing 146 yards on the ground. Once again, screaming a monster match-up for Lindsey who has been consistent lately. In his past five games, he has scored 26.6, 20, 31.9, 15.1, and 8.4 fantasy points. If you want to risk it and go all in on Lindsey, then this is your route as his price is extremely high.

Dark Horses:

Jalen Richard

Salary: $6,600 (MVP Price)

Now the Oakland Raiders backfield has been a mess since they put Marshawn Lynch on the injured reserve list. But Jalen Richard had been leading the way as Doug Martin just can’t get anything going. He’s also not the most consistent as he has had hit and miss weeks. In his past five games, he has scored 12.3, 3.6, 14.6, 3.9, and 11.6. He wasn’t apart of the game-plan during the week 2 match-up so we can’t go off of that. The Denver Broncos do rank 20th in defending the run, allowing 120 yards on the ground per game. Plus if the Raiders want to get the throwing game going, they are going to need to use the run to add in play action to defeat the Broncos on this showdown slate.

Jared Cook

Salary: $14,700 (MVP Price)

Now Jared Cook has been a pretty big factor in the Oakland Raiders offense this season and has been pretty consistent also. In the week 2 match-up, Cook was able to catch everything thrown his way with four receptions but only for 49 yards. Cook could also be chalk as his price tag isn’t as high but still good enough to where you can build around him with other top weapons on both sides of this game. But on the defensive side of the game, the Broncos rank 25th against the pass and allow 257 yards per game. Also Denver allows tight ends to average around 7 receptions for 65 yards per game. Now if Cook can go perfect once again against the Broncos but put up more yards and even find the end-zone, he could be a good play for MVP. Just beware of the chalk!

The Final Overview

Now we have four total MVP choices with Jordy Nelson, Phillip Lindsey, Jalen Richard, and Jared Cook. If you go with Jordy Nelson as your MVP, you can add in Jalen Richard, Derek Carr, Daniel Carlson, Phillip Lindsey, and Daesean Hamilton with some salary left over for us to get even more creative with.

The second MVP option you can go with is Jalen Richard as your MVP, pairing him with Derek Carr, Jared Cook, Jordy Nelson, Brandon McManus, and Phillip Lindsey which just leaves us with $200 left in salary.

As you can see, I’ll be stacking more of the Oakland Raiders as this is their last home game in Oakland and they’ll want to go out with a bang for their fans. But it’s against a Denver Broncos that only has one bright spot with Phillip Lindsey who can easily repeat his Week 2 performance against them. I would try avoiding making the higher salary priced guys as your MVP because they will most likely do what is predicted but it will hinder your entire roster building. Or if you want to get extremely creative and make one of the kickers your MVP, do that because then you can stack the likes of Phillip Lindsey, Derek Carr, Jordy Nelson, Jared Cook, and Jalen Richard. But I truly believe this will be one of the difficult NFL Draftkings showdown slates as it has two teams that have no true weapons and you really have to research the stats of every player. Good luck and remember Die Hard is a Christmas movie!

Stay tuned to Fantasy CPR for all of your DFS needs. We also have plenty of college football picks coming up as well!