FanDuel NFL Single Game Contest: Sunday Night Football Player Picks

Sunday night football presents the DFS/FanDuel community with a clash of NFC teams! Let’s take a look at Sunday night’s game from a fantasy football perspective!

Before I discuss my FanDuel player picks for Sunday night’s game, let’s take a look at the key DFS injuries for both teams and briefly review the rules for the FanDuel single game contest.

Notable DFS Injuries

San Francisco 49ers:  Jimmy Garoppolo QB, Raheem Mostert RB, Jordan Reed TE, OUT.

Philadelphia Eagles: DeSean Jackson WR,  Alshon Jeffery, WR OUT: J.J. Arcega-Whiteside, WR DOUBTFUL.

Now let’s discuss the rules for the FanDuel single game contest. You have $60,000 to utilize on five players from either team. However, one of those players will be designated as your team MVP. The FanDuel MVP accumulates 1.5 times the standard FanDuel points value.

The remaining four players in your lineup will receive the standard FanDuel points value. Having stated that, it is highly important for you to identify the correct player for your MVP position if you hope to win a FanDuel single game contest.

If you have additional questions regarding the rules for the FanDuel single game contest, I recommend that you check out the FanDuel website for more details.

Here are my FanDuel Player Selections for Sunday Night Football!

MVP

Carson Wentz, QB $14,500

Yes, I know that the Eagles offense has been dreadful so far this season. Unfortunately, for the Eagles, the consistently bad offensive performances through three games has resulted in two losses and a tie. How bad as the Philadelphia offense been? Well, let’s take a look at it from a statistical perspective. The Eagles passing offense ranks dead last in the NFL in passing efficiency. The league has 32 teams. My friend, that is NOT good.

If the Eagles have been so bad on offense how can I possibly play Wentz in this Sunday Night Football single game slate? Let me explain why. The 49ers defense is without a doubt an outstanding unit when fully healthy. However, the San Francisco defense has sustained a high number of injuries to key players. Having stated that, Wentz will be facing a defense that will be vulnerable to DFS points on Sunday.

Additionally, I think the 49ers will have a defensive game plan that will focus on stacking the box and forcing Carson Wentz to throw the football. Will Wentz take advantage? I think so, at least from a DFS perspective.

Nick Mullens, QB $15,000

Mullens has now started nine games in his NFL career. In those nine games played, Mullens has 2,691 passing yards. Only two quarterbacks in NFL history have accumulated more passing yards than Mullens after nine career starts. The names of those quarterbacks are Patrick Mahomes and Andrew Luck. Although Mullens is not at the talent level of the two quarterbacks I just mentioned, it is quite clear that he is a more than capable NFL quarterback. I expect Mullens to play very well on Sunday night.

George Kittle, TE $13,500

Good news 49ers fans! George Kittle is not listed on Friday afternoon’s injury report and will start on Sunday. Kittle will face an Eagles defense that will be without multiple starters in the secondary. Having stated that, I fully expect that 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan will make sure that Kittle is highly involved in the team’s offensive attack this week.

Greg Ward, WR $9,500

I mentioned earlier in this article that I expect the 49ers defense to force Carson Wentz to throw the ball by taking away the Eagles running game. In my opinion, one of the beneficiaries of that defensive strategy will be Eagles wide receiver Greg Ward. I indicated earlier in this article that starting wide receivers DeSean Jackson and Alshon Jeffery have been ruled for this week’s game. Due to that fact, Ward will likely be targeted early and often on Sunday night.

Kendrick Bourne, WR $7,500

Last week, 49ers back-up quarterback Nick Mullens had his first start of the season due to an injury to starting quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo. In last week’s victory over the New York Giants, Mullens targeted San Francisco wide receiver Kendrick Bourne six times. Bourne turned those six targets into four receptions and 63 receiving yards.

Mullens will get a second consecutive start at QB this week. I think Mullens will target Bourne four to seven times on Sunday. In my opinion, Bourne is an outstanding DFS value at a FanDuel price of only $7,500.

If you have any questions feel free to contact me on twitter at @geeversgolf or via my youtube channel, Geevers Golf. As always, good luck!