DraftKings Showdown Sunday Night Football: Dallas Cowboys vs Philadelphia Eagles
Each week I will be breaking down the DraftKings Showdown Slates on Monday, Thursday and Sunday night football. The DraftKings showdown slate is one of the more unique game styles that you can pick from on DraftKings.
When playing a showdown lineup you will notice that it is far different from a standard DraftKings contest. Instead of selecting a full roster of position players you have a Captain slot paired with five flex positions. The player you select as your Captain will score 1.5x the standard fantasy point value for each statistic but drafting a player as the Captain will cost you more salary than using them in your flex position. The DraftKings Showdown slate will consist of the same scoring as all other contests not counting the Captain bonus.
Some numbers to keep in mind when building lineups for your showdown slates. Last season the winning lineup had a running back or wide receiver in the Captain slot 71% of the time on the largest prize pool showdown contests.
All Captain selections are major flex considerations
DraftKings Showdown Slate GPP Builds: Cowboys vs Eagles
Captain-
Ezekiel Elliott – $16,500
With Amari Cooper likely out / severally limited for Sunday nights game, Ezekiel Elliott will be the focal point of the offense. While the matchup is tough as the Eagles allow only 72.8 yards on the ground, Elliott should see north of 20 touches in this game.
While I will not have more than 30% of Elliott in my Captain, I will still utilize the All-Pro as one of my favorite Cowboy plays on a tricky slate. I will have more confidence with Elliott as my Captain if both tackles Tyron Smith and La’el Collins play Sunday night.
Michael Gallup – $14,400
If Cooper plays, Gallup will be my favorite Cowboy to Captain in my lineups. I am anticipating Cooper not being near 100%, allowing for the talented second year receiver out of Colorado State to take advantage of this Eagles secondary.
The Eagles currently allow the most touchdowns to receivers, while allowing the third most yards. The majority of the Eagles focus will be on stopping Elliott and the ground attack while Gallup gets one on one coverage with Cooper playing more of a decoy role. If Cooper is out, his ceiling takes a hit and he will be downgraded behind Elliott on my Cowboy Captain list.
Zach Ertz – $12,000
Still the most targeted receiver on his team (54), Ertz season has started slowly with just one touchdown. While I typically don’t like playing tight ends as my Captain, Zach Ertz is one of the few that I will consider.
No better example of that than last year when he torched this Cowboys secondary for 145 yards on 10 catches and two touchdowns. He is likely to be the most targeted receiver on this Eagles team and is in play at Captain.
Amari Cooper – $15,300
You will have to pay close attention to the injury news surrounding Amari Cooper before lock Sunday night. The matchup is fantastic for Cooper, but I will limit my shares severally with his quad strain.
As we saw last week, he played just a few series before leaving the game for good after he re-aggravated the injury. The way to handle this situation is to allocate 10-20% of your lineups with Cooper as your Captain should he be at full strength while fading him in the majority of your flex builds.