The Colts and Vikings wrap up a big Sunday of football in NFL Week 9 with a nice Sunday Night Football matchup in Minnesota. T.J. Hockenson ($7,000) is ready to make his season debut for the Vikings, who are looking to bounce back from two straigth losses.
Whether you’re looking to bounce back or keep dominating, you can close out your fantasy football day by grabbing a piece of the action in the single-game Showdown contests, highlighted by the NFL Showdown $1.11M Sunday Night Showdown [$250K to 1st] (IND @ MIN). While there are multiple ways to consider constructing your roster, my favorite Captain’s Pick option is to spend down a little bit and go with Josh Downs ($12,000 in Captain’s Pick). Given the price points, building around Downs leaves lots of space to stack almost any other options you want to include in your FLEX spots.
Here’s how I’d attack it:
Josh Downs is trending up
Downs started the season sidelined by an injury, but he has become a key part of the offense since his debut in Week 3. Working mostly out of the slot, Downs has gotten at least nine targets in four of his last five games and produced at least 15 fantasy points in each of those four games. He has three touchdowns during that run and has over 19 fantasy points in each of those three games.
While he had his first 100+ yard game of the season last week with Anthony Richardson at QB, Downs really took off during the part of the season with Joe Flacco ($9,800) under center. In the three games that Flacco started, Richardson averaged 8.0 catches for 72.3 yards per game.
While Michael Pittman Jr. ($7,800) also played well with Flacco, Downs was a PPR beast and his heavy involvement sets him up for another big game this week against the Vikings.
Opposing wide receivers have scored more fantasy points against the Vikings than any other team in the NFL this season. Receivers have scored 10 touchdowns in seven games against Minnesota while averaging 205 receiving yards per week. Last week, Cooper Kupp cooked in his return while playing in the slot, and Downs should be in a smash spot with plenty of chances and a very high ceiling.
Lineup Construction Blueprint
With Downs as a Captain’s Pick, you have plenty of options. You can stack him with Joe Flacco ($9,800) in your flex, since all of Downs’ touchdowns will come from Flacco, barring something weird. You can then go with either more Colts, like Jonathan Taylor ($10,600) and Alec Pierce ($5,600), or you can switch to the other side and include Sam Darnold ($10,000), Aaron Jones ($9,600) or even Justin Jefferson ($11,600).
With Downs as Captain, you can even include both starting QBs and Jefferson and still have an average of $3,300 for your last two spots.
My favorite value play on the slate is Mo Alie-Cox ($1,600), who I wrote about in my sleeper tight ends on Saturday. You could also consider the two kickers at around $5,000 or Jalen Nailor ($4,000), who has been regularly involved for the Vikings and has scored over nine fantasy points in four of his seven games this season. Y
ou could also look to Josh Oliver ($2,000) or Johnny Mundt ($1,200) as potential values since they could still be involved while T.J. Hockenson ($6,600) returns to full strength. While he’s definitely got a high ceiling and good season-long potential, I’m fading Hockensin in his first game back since I’m not sure how much work he’s ready for. Once I’m sure he has a full workload, he’ll return to being a regular in my DFS lineups.
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I am a promoter at DraftKings and am also an avid fan and user (my username is z.thompson) and may sometimes play on my personal account in the games that I offer advice on. Although I have expressed my personal view on the games and strategies above, they do not necessarily reflect the view(s) of DraftKings and do not constitute a representation that any particular strategy will guarantee success. All customers should use their own skill and judgment in building lineups. I may also deploy different players and strategies than what I recommend above. I am not an employee of DraftKings and do not have access to any non-public information.
