The New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks will square off for the Super Bowl LX matchup, earning a chance at a championship with their success this season. Both of these teams have exceeded expectations and been a bit of a surprise, but it all comes down to this matchup, which both sides will surely be ready for.
As you seek to maximize your DFS lineups, here is a look at a few players in line to outperform their price point to help give you an edge across this weekend’s slate. This article presents my top DFS lineup and the logic behind each selection.
Unlike the traditional DraftKings Millionaire contests, the Super Bowl LX offers a showdown variation with these details.
Set your DraftKings fantasy football lineups here: NFL $4.5M Fantasy Football Millionaire [$1M to 1st]
Captain’s Pick:
Kenneth Walker III ($14,700)
The Seattle Seahawks paved their path to the Super Bowl by leaning on their defense and running the ball at a high rate. Kenneth Walker III is a huge part of this equation, finishing the season with 221 rush attempts for 1,027 rushing yards and five rushing touchdowns, all while adding 31 receptions for 282 receiving yards. His outlook further improved following the news that Zach Charbonnet suffered a torn ACL after just five postseason carries. Charbonnet tallied 184 rushing attempts for 730 yards and a team-leading 12 rushing scores across the regular season.
Following Charbonnet being sidelined after the first half of the opening playoff matchup, Walker III has tallied 38 rushing attempts for 178 rushing yards, seven receptions for 78 yards, and four total touchdowns. Walker III leads all players in fantasy production based on DraftKings scoring with an average of 29.8 fantasy points per game this postseason. Charbonnet stole the red-zone carries for the bulk of the season, but his absence puts this responsibility on Walker III’s shoulders.
The Patriots have a respectable defense that ranks fourth in points allowed, eighth in yards given up, sixth in rushing yards allowed, fourth in rushing touchdowns conceded, and 13th in net yards per rush attempt. But don’t expect Seattle to stray far from what got it here as it should continue to lean on the rushing attack. Walker III is the clear-cut top option in the running game, even if George Holani or even AJ Barner steal a few carries in short-yardage tush push situations. With their strong defense in mind and Sam Darnold still having some injury concerns, count on the Seahawks making it a priority to put the ball in Walker III’s hands and for him to have a clear chance at being the top DFS performer in the matchup.
Flex Picks:
Drake Maye ($11,000)
It has been a downright excellent season from Drake Maye, who has exceeded the most ambitious expectations. The MVP runner-up completed an NFL-best 72.0% of his pass attempts for 4,394 passing yards, 31 passing touchdowns, and just eight interceptions across the regular season. He also added 450 rushing yards and four scores on the ground. In the postseason, Maye has added 533 rushing yards and four passing touchdowns, as well as 141 rushing yards and a touchdown on the ground.
From the fantasy football perspective, Maye finished the regular season ranked fifth among quarterbacks with 21.5 fantasy points per game on DraftKings scoring. He has not quite reached these levels in the postseason, posting fantasy outputs of 19.3, 17.2, and 15.9 points.
This is a tough matchup against a stiff Seattle defense, but you don’t get far in these contests without leaning on a quarterback. Maye remains in the driver’s seat of production for the Patriots and DFS users, with it feeling necessary for him to make some plays for New England to have a chance. The North Carolina product’s ability with his legs should especially come into play in this matchup as he attempts to elude the Seattle pass rush. Maye will have his struggles, but expect there to be enough opportunities whether via the pass or the run to result in a friendly DFS scoring output.
Rhamondre Stevenson ($8,800)
The New England Patriots backfield has been a bit of a mystery all season, but (spoiler) I am including both in my selections. While TreVeyon Henderson looked to emerge as the lead back by the regular season’s conclusion, Rhamondre Stevenson has returned to this role in the playoffs.
Across the regular season, Stevenson tallied 130 rush attempts for 603 rushing yards and seven rushing scores, adding 345 receiving yards and two touchdowns through the air. He ranked 22nd among running backs in fantasy scoring at 13.2 fantasy points per game. However, Stevenson leads the postseason with 51 rush attempts, 58 total touches, and 194 rushing yards. He has posted fantasy outputs of 15.8, 12.1, and 7.1 fantasy points.
While Drake Maye has looked poised beyond his years, expect New England to lean on the rushing game to soften up this Seattle defense and make life easier on the quarterback. Stevenson is a bruising running back who can wear down a team as the game progresses. Expect him to see a high volume of carries and be the go-to option in the red zone for New England to pave a strong DFS scoring output.
Hunter Henry ($7,000)
For all the strengths of this Seahawks defense, they do have a weakness in matching up with opposing tight ends. Across the regular season, they allowed an average of 6.1 receptions for 63.9 receiving yards and six total touchdowns to opposing tight ends. In other terms, this was the fifth-most receptions and sixth-most receiving yards conceded to opposing tight ends. This has carried into the postseason as well. During Seattle’s first postseason matchup with the 49ers, San Francisco tight end Jake Tonges led the team with five receptions for 59 yards. In the second matchup against the Rams, tight end Colby Parkinson tallied three receptions for 62 yards.
Hunter Henry is a caliber of talent above what they have seen at the tight end position this postseason. Henry suited up for all 17 games in the regular season, catching 60 of his 87 targets for 768 receiving yards and a team-high seven touchdowns. This marked the third-most receiving scores of his career, and the most since hauling in nine during his first season with the Patriots in 2021. It has been a relatively quiet postseason to this point, but Henry has still tallied six receptions for 81 yards and a touchdown.
Looking at the fantasy football outlook, Henry averaged 10.7 fantasy points per game on DraftKings scoring. Given the matchup advantage and all the strengths of this Seahawks’ defense, expect Henry to be a major part of the game plan. New England is fairly limited in red-zone threats, and Henry has been the top option this year. Count on him being worth the $7,000 price point and having a chance to lead New England’s entire receiving group in this matchup.
Rashid Shaheed ($4,200)
The Seattle Seahawks made a midseason push by trading for Rashid Shaheed, a move which has paid dividends for the franchise. While the speedster catches plenty of attention for his impact on special teams, evidenced by him taking the opening kickoff back for a touchdown against the 49ers, Shaheed has gradually scaled up his role in the offense as the season progressed as well.
Across his nine games in Seattle, Shaheed tallied 15 receptions for 188 yards and added 64 rushing yards. However, this comes after he spent his first nine games with the Saints. Across this stretch, he tallied 44 receptions for 499 yards and a pair of touchdowns. After playing just 33.9% of the offensive snaps in his Seattle debut and seeing this number dip as low as 18.2%, Shaheed tallied 47.8% or more of the offensive snaps in each of the other games. He played 41.5% and 56.7% of the offensive snaps in the pair of playoff games. The 27-year-old has added 27 rushing yards and pulled in just one of his five targets for 51 yards thus far in the postseason.
While the raw numbers make this a tough case, the Seahawks traded for Shaheed for a reason. He is their most dynamic option with the ball in his hands, so expect the team to make a clear effort to give him opportunities. Everything is on the line in this matchup, meaning Seattle may dig deep in the playbook and have a few tricks up their sleeve. This is a boom-or-bust play, but Shaheed could turn the entire outlook of this contest with just one touch. That is worth keeping him in your lineup in my mind.
TreVeyon Henderson ($3,800)
TreVeyon Henderson has largely been overshadowed by Rhamondre Stevenson in the postseason, but he played an important role in the offense for much of the year. The Ohio State product led the Patriots with 180 rush attempts in the regular season, which he converted to 911 rushing yards and nine rushing scores, as well as adding 35 receptions for 221 yards and a score through the air. Henderson averaged 12.5 fantasy points per game on DraftKings scoring across the regular season.
Stevenson is more of a power-centric style of running back, while Henderson has a greater ability to make opponents miss and more big-play potential. He logged just 6.3% of the offensive snaps against the Broncos, but much of this had to do with the weather and game script in which Stevenson made more sense. Henderson logged 40.6% and 38.5% of the offensive snaps in the two games before this, recording 26 postseason touches overall.
Count on the Patriots going back to a more diverse backfield in the season finale. Following the same logic as Stevenson, expect New England to lean on both running backs to make life easier on Maye. Henderson is one of the more dynamic playmakers and can turn a short catch into a massive gain on any given touch. Chalk up last week to the circumstances and bank on his involvement being back to normal in this matchup, with the $3,800 price point being at a discount.
With these selections, this still leaves $500 of the available allowance for this contest. But this is a matchup in which I foresee both defenses having some success, and this feels like the best way to approach this one rather than prioritizing all the top names.
