The NFL season may only have a couple of weeks remaining in the regular season but that hasn’t stopped DraftKings from introducing a new format! Snake Draft Showdown is now open and ready for you to dive into, kicking off with Sunday night’s game between the Tennessee Titans and Green Bay Packers, which starts at 8:20 p.m. ET.
If you’ve ever played season-long fantasy before, you’re likely familiar with how a Snake Draft works. In short, for these Showdown contests, once the allotted number of entries are filled in a contest, the draft will begin one minute later. The entrants are assigned a random draft order and will commence in that order. The player with the first pick gets dibs on everyone while the player with the last pick will get a double pick, as it’ll end the first round and thus begin the second.
For a full breakdown of rules, please visit our How to Play Classic and Showdown NFL Snake Draft page.
Visit the DraftKings NFL lobby to view all the available Snake Showdown contests!
Play for Nashville Charitable Contest
Enter now in the free-to-play Showdown contest for GB vs. TEN to win DraftKings swag. For every player that enters this contest, DraftKings will donate $1 to The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee to help residents and businesses affected by the explosion in Nashville.
Enter the contest here.
Favorable Matchups
Davante Adams, Green Bay Packers
Snake Showdown Rank: 2nd
Duh, right? The Titans are 30th in pass defense DVOA and dead-last in adjusted sack rate, not to mention the fact they’re giving up the third-most points to the wide receiver position on average.
As for Adams, he’s good. Really, really good, and Aaron Rodgers concurs. He’s peppered Adams with double-digit targets in nine games this season. Why not in all 14? Well, Adams only received three targets in Week 3 because the Lions stink and Aaron Jones went bonkers, then missed the next two games due to injury. As for the other two games, he received eight and nine targets.
A.J. Brown, Tennessee Titans
Snake Showdown Rank: 4th
The O/U for this game is a healthy 54.5 and, as mentioned above, Rodgers has a juicy matchup against a porous Titans secondary, so the Titans probably won’t be grounding-and-pounding Derrick Henry to milk the clock. Could it happen? Sure, but it’s not a likely outcome.
Realize the individual cornerback-wide receiver matchups aren’t the end-all, be-all because defenses are complex and rarely is one player matched up against another for the entirety of a game.
Having said that, there’s an interesting matchup in the Packers’ secondary that could get exploited. Kevin King is allowing a passer rating of 109.8 while Jaire Alexander and Chandon Sullivan are allowing a rating of 72.7 and 85.5 respectively. King defends the right side of the formation 86% of the time. Brown runs 62% of his routes from the side across from King.
Matchups to be aware of
Derrick Henry, Tennesee Titans Snake Showdown Rank: 1st
The Titans are 29th in run/pass ratio, coming in at 50/50 for the season. So, Henry is going to get fed whenever possible.
At first glance, the matchup looks juicy since the Packers are 28th in rush defense DVOA. Zooming in, though, we find that much of the damage has been done by pass-catching running backs — Green Bay has allowed the eighth-most receptions to running backs and fourth-most receiving touchdowns. Conversely, they’ve faced the 25th-fewest carries against, which is the result of teams having to chase points often due to Rodgers’ prowess.
Not all is lost for Henry, though. The Packers run defense has faced the fourth-most red zone-to-goal carries and eighth-most rushing touchdowns.
As long as the Titans don’t fall too far behind, Henry has a chance to smash. But since he doesn’t catch many passes, there’s also a chance he gets game-scripted out.
Aaron Jones, Green Bay Packers
Snake Showdown Rank: 3rd
The Titans are 24th in rush defense DVOA and have faced the sixth-most red zone-goal-to-go carries, so Jones could eat. With Jamaal Williams being ruled doubtful for this game on Friday, Jones might even feast.
But, while it’s true that last week Jones received 90% of the snaps after Williams went down last week, that may have been an aberration. Prior to that game, the split was 50/50, 60/40, and two games with a 70/30 split. Back in Week 9, when Williams also missed a game, Tyler Ervin received 33% of the snaps (just saying).
Third-Round Flier
AJ Dillon, Green Bay Packers
Snake Showdown Rank: 20th
Dillon has a total of 24 carries on the season, but he could be be more involved in this contest. Prior to getting COVID-19 in November, Dillon had three straight games with five carries — and that was with both Jones and Williams active. Last week, he received eight percent of the snaps after Williams went down, while Tavon Austin got six percent.
Dillon should be the No. 2 behind a running back for Green Bay in this one and, considering his six-foot 247-pound frame, could vulture some red zone carries from Jones.
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