A busy Sunday of football in Week 10 wraps up with a marquee matchup between the Lions and Texans in Houston. The Lions’ offense has looked dominant in the last few weeks, and they’ll be getting Jameson Williams ($10,200 as Captain’s Pick in Showdown) back in the lineup after his suspension. Williams and Jahmyr Gibbs ($13,800 as Captain’s Pick) are my two favorite options to build around for DFS contests in Sunday night’s single-game Showdown contests, which are highlighted by the NFL Showdown $1.2M Sunday Night Showdown [$300K to 1st] (DET @ HOU).
While there are multiple ways to consider constructing your roster in this start-studded contest, here’s how I’d go about it:
Jameson Williams as a Captain’s Pick
Williams is a very affordable play as a Captain’s pick with eight players priced higher than him in this contest. Picking him leaves plenty of salary in your FLEX spots. You can average almost $8,000 in your FLEX spots, making it possible to go with just one value or maybe two before stacking the stars of your choice.
The question isn’t his salary–it’s can Williams produce enough to be one of the top plays in this matchup?
He’s definitely high-risk but should offer tons of leverage with low ownership. I really like his ceiling, though, and he looked very good when available this season. Williams missed the last two games while serving a suspension for violating the league’s policy on performance-enhancing substances. Before that, he was regularly playing +70% of offensive snaps.
Williams had three touchdowns in his six games and posted over 75 yards in three games as well. He had over 14 fantasy points in each of those games, and a high point of 27.4 fantasy points on five catches for 121 yards in Week 1 vs. the Rams.
JAMESON WILLIAMS:
5 CATCHES
134 YARDS
1 TOUCHDOWN— 𝕯 (@DetSparty_) September 9, 2024
He added 13 rushing yards in that game and has totaled 32 yards on four carries this year.
Since it’s first game back, the Lions should have some plays that get him involved, and his deep threat opens up even more space for other receivers to work underneath. It’s pretty impressive that an offense that’s already this good gets an addition that could be this much of a difference maker.
He returns in a great matchup against the Texans, who have allowed the seventh-most fantasy points per game to opposing WRs. Given the matchup, Williams’ ceiling is plenty high enough to be worth taking a shot at this salary, since a big play or two is enough for him to bring big returns.
Jahmyr Gibbs as Captain’s Pick
If taking the plunge on Williams is too high-risk for your liking, Gibbs is a stable and more consistent who also brings a very high ceiling. Gibbs has continued to rotate with David Montgomery ($8,200), but he has brought the higher ceiling despite a fairly even workload.
Gibbs has scored six touchdowns in the last five games and had two scores in the Lions’ big win over the Vikings in Week 7. He posted a massive 35.0 fantasy points in that game and has over 12 fantasy points in each of his eight games while avareging 19.5 fantasy points per game.
The Lions feed both running backs plenty of looks each week, but Gibbs has done more with them recently.
He has emerged as one of the best young running backs in the NFL and is a relatively safe Captain’s Pick play for this contest, even though the Texans defense has been better vs. running back than wide receivers.
Lineup Construction Blueprint
With Williams as a Captain’s Pick, you have plenty of options. It makes sense to stack him with Jared Goff ($9,600) in your flex, leaving you about $7,500 per spot. If you want to go with Kalif Raymond ($2,800) or the Lions DST ($4,000), you can either stack C.J. Stroud ($9,800) and a Texans’ star receiver of your choice or go with Gibbs or Montgomery if you think the Lions will totally dominate.
You can even go with Williams as Captain’s Pick and stack the Texans with Stroud, Joe Mixon ($10,800) and Tank Dell ($8,800) while still not having to dig too depths for multiple long-shot options.
If you opt to build around Gibbs, the cap situation is a little trickier. You almost have to pick one QB or the other, but if Gibbs gets rushing touchdowns, you can skip Goff and lean into Stroud, Mixon and either Dell or Nico Collins ($10,000).
My favorite value play on the slate is the Lions DST, which has averaged 9.5 fantasy points per game. They have an interception in every game this season and have forced 16 turnovers while scoring defensive touchdowns in each of the last two weeks.
An even cheaper play if you need a flier is Dare Ogunbowale ($3,000), who is expected to be Mixon’s primary backup with Dameon Pierce (groin) sidelined. Ogunbowale has good hands and can be used out of the backfield and has the potential to pop with a little more work. Cade Stover ($1,600) has also gotten multiple targets in three of the last five games for Houston and is a punt play with upside.
The Bottom Line
I think the Lions offense is the one to lean into in this matchup and that they’ll keep rolling. As a result, I love building my DFS showdown lineups around one of their options with a high ceiling. If you’re feeling wild, go with Williams, but if you are playing the more conservaite option, Gibbs is a great option.
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All odds provided by DraftKings Sportsbook and all odds subject to change.
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.
