The Madden simulated season continues this Thursday on the DraftKings Dream Stream with six more Madden 21 sims in Week 7. As usual, the featured classic slate kicks off at 6:00 p.m. ET, and the early game this Thursday is an AFC North showdown between the Cincinnati Bengals and the Baltimore Ravens. The Los Angeles Rams host the Detroit Lions in the 8:00 p.m. ET primetime slot, and the final sim of the evening features the Philadelphia Eagles visiting the Las Vegas Raiders.
You can keep up with the standings as the season continues and check out the depth charts for each team. If you’re looking for gameplay details for these sims along with the upcoming schedule, head over to the Madden Streams Information Page.
Quarterback
Stud
Lamar Jackson, Baltimore Ravens vs. Cincinnati Bengals, $9,100 — Jackson is the highest-priced player on the slate by almost $2K, but his $9K salary is definitely deserved since he’s averaging 26.7 DKFP on 104.8 rushing yards and 148.3 passing yards per sim with 89 passing touchdowns and 77 rushing touchdowns in 90 contests. He has been amazingly productive on the ground and should find running room against the Bengals, who he had 27.26 and 25.28 DKFP against in their first two contests before only managing 10.74 in their most recent meeting. While he isn’t totally bust-proof, there’s no other player on this slate that comes close to matching his upside, so paying all the way up is definitely my preferred lineup construction.
Other Option — Carson Wentz ($7,400)
Value
Jared Goff, Los Angeles Rams vs. Detroit Lions, $6,300 — Since Goff is still on the Rams in simland, he gets a good matchup against a struggling Lions defense in this sim. He posted over 22 DKFP in three of his previous four contests against Detroit, and overall, he has shown a high ceiling despite inconsistencies. He has solid WRs to work with and has managed to post over 200 passing yards in each of his six games this season. If he gets the touchdowns to go with those yards, he’ll be a solid bargain pivot from Jackson.
Other Option — Joe Burrow ($6,500)
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Running Back
Stud
Miles Sanders, Philadelphia Eagles at Las Vegas Raiders, $7,000 — Every team on the slate except the Eagles uses a timeshare in their backfield in Madden 21. Sanders is both the RB1 and third-down back, so he usually carries a heavy workload and has averaged 17.2 DKFP on 63.7 rushing yards, 25.4 receiving yards and 3.5 catches per sim. Lately, Sanders has been rolling with over 19 DKFP in four of his past six games including each of his two most recent contests. He had over 100 yards and 21.8 DKFP in his previous meeting with the Raiders, who are a great matchup for opposing RBs.
Value
Malcolm Brown, Los Angeles Rams vs. Detroit Lions, $3,700 — Part of the reason you can build around Lamar and his hefty salary is that there are great values at RB and WR on this slate. Normally, I try to target receiving backs, but Brown is ridiculously cheap for an RB1 and power-back in this very favorable matchup against the Lions’ awful run defense. Brown has scored four touchdowns in his past four sims and had 57 rushing yards in his most recent contest against the Lions. All he has to do is get into the end zone to be a great play at this price, but he should be able to add some yards in this favorable matchup as well.
Other Options — Gio Bernard ($5,600), Darrell Henderson Jr. ($5,100), J.K. Dobbins ($4,400)
Wide Receiver
Stud
DeSean Jackson, Philadelphia Eagles at Las Vegas Raiders, $6,400 — Jackson is fully healthy in Madden 21 and still brings some playmaking potential, as he has shown with over 15 DKFP and at least five catches in four of his past five games. He also has a great matchup against the Raiders, who he torched for 42.5 DKFP in their earlier Madden 21 meeting, finishing with 195 yards and two touchdowns on eight catches.
Other Options — Robert Woods ($5,800), Henry Ruggs III ($5,600)
Value
Josh Reynolds, Los Angeles Rams vs. Detroit Lions, $5,300 — Even though he is the Rams’ WR3, Reynolds gets plenty of opportunities since Los Angeles uses so many three-WR formations. He has averaged 3.8 catches for 51.9 yards per sim while scoring 35 touchdowns. Three of those touchdowns came in his four previous matchups with Detroit, and he had double-digit DKFP in each of those meetings, highlighted by a 22-DKFP performance.
Tyler Boyd, Cincinnati Bengals at Baltimore Ravens, $4,200 — Boyd has been solid out of the slot for the Bengals, catching 3.7 passes for 43.3 yards per sim. He has at least 12 DKFP in two of his previous three contests and has at least three catches in each of his three earlier sims against the Ravens, who have given up some big plays to slot WRs in Madden 21. His regular workload makes him a relatively low-risk play at this price point.
Other Options — Marquise Goodwin ($5,200), Danny Amendola ($4,600), Miles Boykin ($3,800), Hunter Renfrow ($3,300)
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Tight End
Stud
T.J. Hockenson, Detroit Lions at Los Angeles Rams, $5,800 — TE is another pay-up spot to consider since Hockenson has been so consistent and productive. He has averaged 5.0 catches for 54.9 yards per sim and posted double-digit DKFP in 10 of his past 12. He has also had success against the Rams with 11.3, 15.4 and 11.1 DKFP in their three most recent meetings.
Other Options — Zach Ertz ($5,500), Darren Waller ($5,300)
Value
C.J. Uzomah, Cincinnati Bengals at Baltimore Ravens, $4,400 — Uzomah has been a reliable target for Joe Burrow ($6,500) in Madden 21, averaging 4.1 catches for 41.7 yards per sim. He has at least three catches in nine straight sims as well as in each of his three earlier matchups with Baltimore. His consistent targets make him a low-risk option barely over $4K much like his teammate Boyd, but Uzomah has been slightly more consistent while Boyd offers a higher ceiling.
Other Option — Tyler Higbee ($4,100)
DST
Stud
Ravens DST vs. Cincinnati Bengals, $3,100 — The Ravens have totaled an impressive 161 sacks in 90 sims but have only forced 34 turnovers. Since they do have a run-heavy offense, their games are usually low-scoring which makes their defense low-risk, but their lack of big plays has limited them to 4.5 DKFP per sim.
Value
Rams DST vs. Detroit Lions, $2,800 — With X-factor Superstars Jalen Ramsey and Aaron Donald, the Rams’ defense is stacked with talent, but it hasn’t been able to translate that to consistent fantasy production so far in these sims. In 84 games, the Rams have averaged 4.5 DKFP by forcing 45 turnovers and piling up 145 sacks. They had 17 DKFP in their most recent matchup with the Lions but had zero fantasy points in their two previous meetings with Detroit. As those results indicate, L.A. can be a boom-or-bust DST to target.
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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 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.