With real-life sports still in the midst of an extended time out, DraftKings continues to provide some great sports simulations to fill the void. Each day there are six Madden Streams with eight free contests to be a part of. You can play a single-game Showdown for each contest along with an all-day, six-game classic contest and a three-game late slate.
Each simulation will be played out via an online Madden Stream using Madden 2020 with rosters and ratings from the end of the 2019-20 season. In this format, you can enjoy watching the game stream on the DraftKings YouTube channel, on the DK Live app (download here) or right here in this post. Follow along to watch your fantasy team pile up fantasy points. The stream begins at 12:00 p.m. ET on Friday, July 10.
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Quarterback
Stud
Deshaun Watson, HOU at NE, $7,500 — I am a bit conflicted here. Overall, Watson has been the best player in our Madden sims. He averages 22.4 DKFP and rarely has bad games. The concern here is the matchup. The Patriots have a great defense and are one of the only teams that I think has the ability to slow down Watson. Even though this is the case, it’s hard to me ignore Watson due to his crazy fantasy output. The Texans lose most of their sim games and Watson racks up stats as the team tries to get back into games. He’s thrown for nearly 7,000 yards and has rushed for 1,537 yards.
Value
Mitchell Trubisky, CHI vs. PIT, $5,900 — I will never feel bad about recommending Trubisky on every slate the Bears are on. Behind Watson, he averages the second most DKFP of any player in our sims and he rarely ever costs much in terms of salary. On this slate, he is the third cheapest QB despite his 20.5 DKFP average. If Watson’s matchup against the Patriots scares you away, Trubisky makes for a great value play due to his 1,649 rushing yards.
Running Back
Stud
Devonta Freeman, ATL at DEN, $7,000 — Despite a couple of games in row where he only scored 8.0 DKFP, Freeman still averages 17.7 DKFP, making him one of the best skill position players in our sims. Looking past Freeman’s recent subpar performances, he has two recent games with 34.9 DKFP and another game with 45.7 DKFP. He’s rushed for over 2,100 yards and has scored 26 total touchdowns. Freeman averages nearly a touchdown per game.
Value
Tarik Cohen, CHI vs. PIT, $3,900 — Cohen is one of the cheap backs I have targeted fairly frequently over the last couple of months. As the pass catching back for the Bears, we see him get a lot of late playing time in games when the team is trailing. Cohen averages about three catchers per game, leading to an overall average of 9.0 DKFP.
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Wide Receiver
Stud
Odell Beckham Jr., CLE vs. TB, $8,000 — On paper, this is a great matchup for OBJ. The Buccaneers don’t have any cornerbacks with a decent rating, so Beckham is going to have a massive advantage against whoever is lining up against each him. Even if we put the great spot for him aside, he’s played extremely well in most games lately. Beckham has scored at least 16 DKFP in five of his last six games, including a record 57.9 DKFP outing against the Falcons. He scored four touchdowns and had 239 receiving yards in that game.
Value
Mohamed Sanu, NE vs. HOU, $4,200 — There aren’t many cheap receivers in our sims that have performed as well as Sanu. He averages 13.5 DKFP and doesn’t have many bad games. Sanu has scored at least 11 DKFP in 10 of his last 12 games and finds himself in a pretty favorable matchup against the Texans. Houston has lost five of its last six games and it’s because this team really struggles to stop opposing offenses. The Texans are extremely reliant on Watson putting up points to stay competitive, which is about what we typically see from them in real life.
Tight End
Stud
Darren Waller, LV vs. IND, $5,300 — I have to get this out of the way first. I don’t like any of the expensive tight ends and I much prefer going cheaper with the guy I have listed below. Waller has over 2,000 receiving yards and 15 touchdowns, so he has some upside. The issue is that he’s a bit overpriced and the value option I like on this slate looks like the best option by a wide margin.
Value
Ben Watson, NE vs. HOU, $4,200 — Per dollar, Watson has been the best tight in Madden. He averages 14.7 DKFP, which is the most of any tight end on this slate, and he’s only the seventh most expensive player at the position. We also don’t need to rely on a touchdown for Watson to have a good fantasy game. He has 168 simulated receptions for 2,096 yards and has double-digit DKFP in almost all of his games.
DST
Bears DST vs. PIT, $2,300 — The Bears are one of the cheapest defenses on the slate and they have some big time Madden talent with the likes of Khalil Mack on the roster. As for the matchup, counting on fantasy points from defenses is always a bit of a crapshoot, but Roethlisberger has turned the ball over 17 times in our sims, making him one of the QBs most prone to making a mistake on today’s slate.
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I am a promoter at DraftKings and am also an avid fan and user (my username is gehrenberg) 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 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.