After a full day of football, including 11 matchups spanning from London to Los Angeles, the focus of the NFL world will be on San Francisco on Sunday night, as the 49ers host the Falcons on Sunday Night Football. The matchup on Sunday night is also the subject of some big DFS showdown contests, including the NFL $1.11M Sunday Night Showdown [$250K to 1st] (ATL @ SF). As you build your lineups for Sunday Night Football, my favorite Captain’s Pick options are Bijan Robinson ($18,300 as Captain’s Pick) and Kendrick Bourne ($12,300 as Captain’s Pick).
Here’s a deeper look at why I like these Captain’s Picks:
Bijan Robinson as a Captain’s Pick
He’s the most expensive play on the board for this matchup, but it makes sense to pay up for Bijan, given his huge workload and recent dominance. He and Christian McCaffrey ($18,000 as Captain’s Pick) are both extremely high volume primary running backs, but the Falcons have allowed the fewest fantasy points to running backs while the 49ers have allowed the 13th-most fantasy points to the position.
Robinson has over 16 fantasy points in each of his five games this year, and is coming off back-to-back games with over 31 fantasy points. Those two games show his versatile. In Week 4, he had 17 carries for 75 rushing yards and a touchdown with an impressive four catches for 106 yards against the Commanders. In Week 6 against the Bills, he had 19 carries for 170 rushing yards and a touchdown, while adding six catches for 68 more receiving yards.
Building around Robinson probably means you can’t include McCaffrey as a FLEX play, but you can still include just about any other players as long as you balance them out with some bargains. Robinson’s backup Tyler Allgeier ($5,200) is one option to consider since he has posted double-digit fantasy points in each of the last two weeks even with Robinson going off.
The 49ers have given up two running back touchdowns in each of their last two games and are surrendering an average of 90.7 rushing yards and 25.7 receiving yards per game to the position. Even on the road, look for the Falcons to rely heavily on Robinson throughout this Sunday night matchup..
Kendrick Bourne as a Captain’s Pick in a Balanced Build
If you want to go with a more balanced build full of stars in the FLEX spots, Kendrick Bourne is a great option to consider as a midrange Captain’s Pick play.
Bourne has gotten huge volume since his return to the 49ers due to multiple injuries at wide receiver. Ricky Pearsall (knee) and Brandon Aiyuk (knee) remain out this week, and Jauan Jennings (ribs) continues to try to play through his injury but has been extremely limited. QB Brock Purdy (toe) is also out for this game, but Mac Jones ($9,600) has shown the ability to get the ball to Bourne. In fact, he’s been the go-to option in the last two weeks especially.
In Week 5 against the Rams, Jones targeted Bourne 12 times, and he hauled in 11 passes for 142 receiving yards. Last week, his volume dipped as he caught just five passes on nine targets, but he matched his yardage total with 142 yards once again.
Bourne earned 27.2 and 22.2 fantasy points in those two games, showing he can be a strong producer even without a touchdown catch this season.
If you do build on Bourne as your Captain’s Pick, it makes sense to include Jones and Robinson in FLEX options. That still leaves plenty of salary to play with, especially since Eddie Pineiro ($5,400), both teams’ defenses, and Demarcus Robinson ($3,400) can be used as FLEX plays to stretch your salary even farther.
