NFL Preseason Week 3: DraftKings Showdown Picks – Steelers @ Titans

Welcome to the 2019-2020 NFL season! Specifically, welcome to another cycle of NFL DFS as we enter the third week of the NFL Preseason and are exactly two weeks away from the real deal. Be sure to follow me @AlexMcKinnonDFS for daily & weekly DFS guidelines and up to the minute news and notes.

NFL Preseason Week 3: DraftKings Showdown Picks – Steelers @ Titans

The first two weeks of the season have been completely unpredictable from a DFS standpoint with a limited appearance from starters across the league and countless unsolved position battles. Thankfully, we receive a dose of normalcy in the third week of the preseason which is well known as a ‘dress-rehearsal’ for the starters. It also serves as the best gauge point for coaches to make roster decisions in a situation where the inexperienced and unproven players are able to face serviceable competition. Let’s take a look at the storylines and players with the best DFS potential from the slate on Sunday with only one game remaining to conclude Week 3. 

Steelers @ Titans

Pittsburgh Steelers: With a slew of new receivers along with a few returning wide outs who could use as many reps as possible with ‘Big Ben’ such as James Washington, Eli Rogers and Ryan Switzer, Ben Roethlisberger is expected to start on Sunday. Entering his 15th season (all with the Steelers), the 2x Super Bowl champion is in the twilight of his career without his long-time co-stars Antonio Brown & LeVeon Bell.

Roethlisberger is expected to play at least a few drives but will likely hand it off to Mason Rudolph and Joshua Dobbs towards the end of the first or early in the 2nd Quarter. Typically, the starters all come out together, so expect roughly the same for the likes of James Conner and JuJu Smith-Schuster, among others.

A few interesting position battles that may be effected heavily by Week 3’s performances include the RB depth chart (Benny Snell Jr, Ralph Webb, etc.), where Diontae Johnson fits in the WR corps and Zach Gentry’s role on the Steelers this season.

Tennessee Titans: The Titans have been pretty hush on the amount of time their starters will play but based on their Week 3 game from last season, we are looking at roughly 1-1.5 quarters of play for guys like Marcus Mariota, Derrick Henry (if healthy), Dion Lewis, Delanie Walker and their fleet of receivers. I expect a lot from guys like Ryan Tannehill, RB Jeremy McNichols, WR A.J Brown, WR Cody Hollister, etc.

The health of Delanie Walker & Derrick Henry and the further growth of Marcus Mariota and his young receivers are critical to their playoff chances in a division that just got a lot more wide open with Andrew Luck retiring. Head Coach Mike Vrabel will use Sunday’s match up to grow chemistry between Mariota and newcomers like Adam Humphries and Cody Hollister along with the excess of young talent on the Titans roster. In the scope of the DFS angle, the Titans roster may be a bit more valuable to your lineups.

With only one game on the slate, we will be going with the DraftKings showdown where you are allowed to select a ‘Captain’ whose points are valued at 1.5x along with 5 other ‘Flex’ positions meaning you can pick any 5 players in the matchup. 

Two players to monitor for their ability to suit up on Sunday: Diontae Johnson and Derrick Henry. Both incredibly viable DFS plays but it all depends on their status. 

‘Captain’ Picks: James Connor, Jeremy McNichols, Ryan Tannehill

Based on his TD equity and ability to do a ton of damage in a small amount of time, James Connor would be a solid pick to grab that 1.5x. This game will likely be low scoring and any points from TDs will be magnified. On the other side, I think the versatility of Jeremy McNichols in the passing game and running game mixed with the likelihood he will play a solid chunk of this game gives him a great chance of racking up points. And you can pretty much lock in Ryan Tannehill for at least 2 quarters of play which makes him a relatively safe captain’s pick.

‘Flex’ Picks

Derrick Henry (if he plays)

Delanie Walker

Dion Lewis (especially if Henry does not start)

Marcus Mariota

Adam Humphries

Ben Roesthlisberger

JuJu Smith-Schuster

Vance McDonald

James Washington

Jaylen Samuels

Diontae Johnson (if he plays)

Another fun little tidbit for the match up between the Steelers and Titans will be the NFL experimenting with another new camera angle in this weeks Sunday Night game, the ‘High Sky’…

"Instead of using the traditional sideline camera angle, NBC will implement the “High Sky” camera as the primary play-by-play angle. The camera will be positioned at the line of scrimmage and 50 feet above ground. The angle will take viewers through the snap of the ball."

Be sure to follow me at @AlexMcKinnonDFS for more weekly NFL and DFS posts and for more news and notes throughout the week!