Week 2 officially wraps up with this matchup on Monday Night Football as the Los Angeles Chargers, fresh off their massive Week 1 win over the Kansas City Chiefs in Brazil, visit the Las Vegas Raiders who also enter 1-0 after beating the New England Patriots in last week’s opener.

As a refresher because we did mention this in the other NFL DFS Showdown Playbook for tonight’s two-game slate, but there will not be a separate two-game NFL DFS Playbook. We are delivering two completely separate game previews with these Playbooks so we’re helping you navigate the available player pool for each game. If playing the two-game slate you can just use both Playbooks for your entire player pool by combining them. It’s been a wild Week 2 so let’s finish it up with one more NFL DFS Monday Night Football Playbook!

 

 

 

NFL DFS Monday Night Football Playbook: Chargers vs. Raiders Game Preview

It’s a rare occasion nowadays with the state of the AFC West but both the Chargers and Raiders enter this matchup 1-0 and one of them will take a two-game lead over the Kansas City Chiefs in the division. The Chiefs lost to the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday and start the season 0-2 for the first time since 2014.

The Chargers are coming off a playoff appearance after Jim Harbaugh’s first season as head coach and they seem poised to take over the AFC West. Justin Herbert takes plenty of heat for being a quarterback who can’t seem to win when the lights shine the brightest, but he went down to South America in Week 1 and led the team to a 27-21 victory over the Chiefs while throwing for over 300 yards and three touchdowns. He was finding ways to get all his weapons involved including Ladd McConkey, Keenan Allen, and Quentin Johnston. It’ll be exciting to see what this offense can do once it’s really off and running with Omarion Hampton.

The Las Vegas Raiders are in no position to roll over and concede the division to the Bolts. Pete Carroll turns 74 years old today and enters his first season as the head coach of the Raiders. There’s absolutely no love lost between Carroll and Jim Harbaugh. They do not like each other. They’ve faced off plenty dating back to their time in the NFC West together. They even had three seasons coaching against each other when the Pac 12 was in its prime. The Raiders led by Geno Smith will look to get Pistol Pete the best birthday gift possible with a win and claim the early season lead of the NFC West.

This game features the higher implied total at 46.5 points according to DraftKings Sportsbook while the Bucs and Texans are at 42.5 points. No team in either game is a significant/heavy favorite. The Chargers are the largest favorite on the board at -3.5 points for the road matchup. Let’s start breaking down the top NFL DFS picks for the second game of Monday Night Football!

 

 

 

Chargers vs. Raiders Notable Injuries & Inactives

The visiting Los Angeles Chargers may have a few healthy scratches on offense but as of this past weekend, their key injuries appear to be on defense. Linebacker Denzel Perryman and safety Elijah Molden have been ruled out so it’s far from ideal that the defense is a little short-handed. Even defensive tackle Teair Tart was limited for a couple practice sessions last week, but he carries no injury designation into this game.

The Las Vegas Raiders already have a pretty bad offensive line and Ashton Jeanty is learning that the hard way. But they’ll be without Jackson Powers-Barton who has been ruled out with a concussion. The big injury we’re all monitoring for the Raiders is with Brock Bowers. Bowers took the league by storm in his rookie season and he’s questionable after not practicing Thursday and Friday while working in a limited capacity on Saturday. The team did announce that they expect him to suit up for this matchup, but he may not be at 100%.

 

 

 

NFL DFS Showdown MVP/Captain for Monday Night Football, 9/15

Ashton Jeanty, RB, Las Vegas Raiders - DraftKings: $11,000 | FanDuel: $10,800

In the interest of transparency, I don’t love Jeanty a whole lot. It’s not that I think his talent is overrated. He’s great. But this offensive line is so bad and even though the Chargers are a little beat up (per usual), they can still stop the run. Jeanty averaged just 2.0 yards per carry last week but he salvaged the performance by finding the end zone. The Chargers just held the Chiefs running backs to 41 rushing yards, but KC’s backfield had only 10 rushing attempts.

I’m not impressed with the Raiders offensive line. It’s horrible. Jeanty is explosive and has upside but only he can do so much. The reason behind putting Jeanty in the Captain section is two-fold: first, he’s probably going to see 18+ touches and that was ultimately why I put Bucky Irving in the Captain section for the other Playbook. The second reason he cracked this section is because with Brock Bowers being a bit beat up, Jeanty may be more involved in the passing game.

But I cannot emphasize how bad this offensive line is. Per Sharp Football Analysis, Jeanty failed to gain yardage on 42.1% of his rush attempts last week. Moreover, he was hit at or behind the line of scrimmage on 15-of-19 rush attempts while averaging -0.32 yards before contact. That is truly indicative of how bad the offensive line is.

If Jeanty’s going to hit pay dirt it may very well be in the passing game and this game environment could call for the appropriate script for that to happen. This is a good leverage spot and I truly didn’t want to include him in this section just based on how the performance went last week despite 21 touches. But at the end of the day I’m a sucker for volume and Brock Bowers is a bit hobbled.

Ladd McConkey, WR, Los Angeles Chargers – DraftKings: $10,800 | FanDuel: $12,000

McConkey was mostly kept in check for fantasy football last week because he didn’t find the end zone. He watched a couple other teammates hit their ceilings because they scored while he didn’t. But don’t let that deter you. Herbert overthrew his WR1 on a play that should’ve resulted in an easy score for McConkey. But no one is going to look at his 13.4 PPR points and say it was a horrendous outing.

Ladd appeared in both games last year against the Raiders. The Chargers played the Raiders in Week 1 and Week 18 last year. That’s interesting to note because in Week 1 we tend to temper expectations for rookies as we don’t expect an impact until a few weeks into the season. But McConkey still caught 5-of-7 targets for 39 yards and a score in last year’s opener. And in Week 18, Ladd caught 5-of-8 targets for 95 yards against Vegas.

McConkey was on the field for 92.7% of the offensive snaps last week and they moved him all over the field and didn’t just stick him exclusively in the slot. He’s a great route runner so that kind of flexibility should open up deeper targets for him over the course of the season.

Brock Bowers, TE, Las Vegas Raiders – DraftKings: $10,400 | FanDuel: $11,400

Bowers is viable on both slates so long as he’s active. If that lowers ownership a little bit then so be it. We can lean into that. We’ll take some risks on the best tight end in the game if casual DFS players are scared off by the questionable injury designation. For the Showdown slates specifically, I do think the questionable status will knock his ownership down at Captain. So this could be a bit of a leverage opportunity specifically for the Showdown slates.

Despite leaving the game early last week, Bowers still brought in 5-of-8 targets for 103 receiving yards and securing the bonus on DraftKings. Bowers only ran 25 routes in Week 1 but per Sharp Football Analysis he averaged 4.12(!) YPRR and was targeted on nearly one-third of his routes. That’s just ridiculous usage.

It’s shaping up as if he’s good to go and as long as the knee injury doesn’t limit him then the high ceiling is still there. We don’t hope for, nor do we predict injuries, but if you play him you have to understand the risk involved with it for DFS.

Justin Herbert, QB, Los Angeles Chargers – DraftKings: $10,000 | FanDuel: $13,200

Across both of the NFL DFS Monday Night Football Playbooks, Herbert is the only quarterback I feel comfortable playing at Captain. We might be witnessing the ultimate “Justin Herbert Goes Off” tour this year as he was elite in Week 1 against the Kansas City Chiefs.

Jim Harbaugh is constantly singing Herbert’s praises and we know there are plenty of weapons at his disposal as we touched on at the beginning of this article. What I like is that Herbert seems poised to shatter his personal rushing records. He ran for just over 300 yards last year which was the most in his career. Last week he had seven rush attempts for 32 yards, but I’ll acknowledge 19 of those yards came late in the game on a run to basically lock up the victory.

But if the Chargers design more runs for him, or even if he just does it on his own, then that elevates the ceiling. He has another chance for the 300-yard bonus in this matchup so I’m all in especially with the Chargers getting a couple extra days of rest for this game.

The Raiders played zone coverage on 88% of their defensive snaps last week and the Patriots just failed to take advantage. They specifically played Cover 3 for almost half their defensive reps and Herbert averaged 10.2 YPA with an 84% completion rate against Cover 3 in 2024. Wheels up once again for Herbert and this passing attack.

 

 

 

Mid-Tier & DFS Value Plays for Monday

Geno Smith, QB, Las Vegas Raiders – DraftKings: $9,400 | FanDuel: $12,600

Geno Smith played above expectations in Week 1 against the New England Patriots. He completed 70% of his pass attempts and threw for 362 yards and a touchdown. Getting the 300-yard bonus was pretty crucial for his fantasy production on DraftKings as it pushed him over 20 fantasy points. The Patriots played a lot of man coverage without Christian Gonzalez last week and it clearly didn’t go well for them.

I don’t feel as great about this matchup for Smith but it is a home game in a controlled environment and everyone expects Geno to play very well at home. If Brock Bowers suits up for this game then that obviously helps Geno immensely. But we’ve touched on how bad the offensive line is so pass protection is suspect. But if playing the two-game slate, it’s very easy to stack this game with Geno at quarterback as the cheapest starting quarterback available.

Omarion Hampton, RB, Lon Angeles Chargers – DraftKings: $7,800 | FanDuel: $8,200

This game features two rookie running backs taken in the first round of this year’s draft. And neither were all that impressive in their debuts but they both have volume on their side. Hampton carried the ball 15 times for 48 yards last week and he added two receptions as well.

Hampton handled 89.5% of the backfield touches in Week 1 but we can probably expect that to drop slightly as Najee Harris is eased into the offensive game plan a little bit more. But the Raiders only allowed 60 rushing yards to New England last week so this matchup profiles better for the Los Angeles passing attack than the run game. But volume is key and it feels like he still touches the ball 15 times in this matchup.

Quentin Johnston, WR, Los Angeles Chargers – DraftKings: $7,400 | FanDuel: $7,400

Keenan Allen, WR, Los Angeles Chargers – DraftKings: $6,400 | FanDuel: $8,800

For the sake of efficiency, we’ll lump these two together because it’s mostly a “pick your poison” kind of situation with these two. You can play them both or one or the other alongside Ladd McConkey.

Quentin Johnston, despite the struggles early in his career, has shown he still has an important role on this offense. He scored twice last week while turning five receptions into 79 yards. Johnston is still a big, physical receiver who can make big plays, but he may not see the consistent targets like McConkey or Allen. But for the two-game slate he’s worth exposure in tournaments. And for Showdowns, he’s a fun Captain option because of the upside he displayed in Week 1. Even though he lacks consistency he led this team in red zone and end zone targets in 2024.

Keenan Allen had a great return to the Chargers as he caught 7-of-10 targets for 68 yards and a score. His stat line could’ve been even better, but he had a pair of drops as well. If you’re playing cash games on a two-game slate, you’re a braver person than I am, but Allen is a nice piece for that kind of contest because he provides a good floor with his volume.

Jakobi Meyers, WR, Las Vegas Raiders – DraftKings: $7,000 | FanDuel: $9,200

Wiith Brock Bowers a little beat up, Jakobi Meyers could be the most reliable pass catching option on the Raiders tonight. Meyers brought in 8-of-10 targets in Week 1 for 97 yards while accounting for 30% of the team’s targets and he ran a route on 97% of the team’s dropbacks against New England.

One interesting note from Warren Sharp is that Meyers lined up in the slot for 62.1% of his offensive snaps last week which is almost double the rate from the last two years. If Bowers is not at 100% you can imagine Meyers will receive plenty of quick looks from Geno Smith especially if he’s in the slot frequently. And that does elevate him to some exposure as a Captain in our NFL DFS lineups.

Meyers was able to total 12 receptions on 13 targets for 184 yards and a touchdown in the two games when these teams squared off in 2024.

 

 

 

NFL DFS Dart Throw Bargains

Tre Tucker, WR, Las Vegas Raiders – DraftKings: $4,400 | FanDuel: $5,800

The good news about Tre Tucker is that he’s on the field often. The bad news is that he just doesn’t get the target share we would like. Fortunately, he caught 2-of-3 targets last week for 54 yards and he found the end zone.

Per Sharp Football Analysis he also ran a route on 97.4% of the team’s dropbacks. But he’s clearly lower on the pecking order as maybe the fourth pass catching option on this team. He’s very dependent on big plays but we do lean into that for Showdown contests and two-game slates. So he’s a nice value option if you’re stacking this particular game.

And if Brock Bowers is limited then that could force a few more targets his way, but we want some deep targets to go to Tucker if the Raiders are chasing points.

Dont’e Thornton Jr., WR, Las Vegas Raiders – DraftKings: $4,000 | FanDuel: $3,800

It definitely feels like Thornton could go overlooked on this slate with most reading into the routes of Tucker and the potential targets for the next player in this article. Thornton still managed to run a route on 63.2% of the Raiders’ offensive dropbacks. Similar to Tucker, he only brought in two catches which he turned into 45 yards. However, he did get four targets.

Michael Mayer, TE, Las Vegas Raiders – DraftKings: $3,400 | FanDuel: $6,000

This is a bit of an obvious play due to the injury status of Brock Bowers. But the Raiders have gone on record saying they believe they have two TE1’s even though they clearly give preferential treatment to Bowers.

But Mayer was a contributor last week. He caught 4-of-4 targets for 38 yards but only ran a route on about 40% of the team’s dropbacks. But he was targeted on roughly one-third of his routes with 3.33 YPRR per Fantasy Points Data. If Bowers unexpectedly misses this game then Mayer is an easily play to get in our builds.

Tre’ Harris, WR, Los Angeles Chargers – DraftKings: $2,000 | FanDuel: $3,200

If we’re looking for value on the Chargers side of the ball, I know plenty will look to Najee Harris or potentially the tight ends. Tyler Conklin and Will Dissly are both incredibly affordable and will likely run more routes than Tre’ Harris.

But this kid has such explosive, big play upside that was constantly on display last year in college when he was healthy. Here’s a link to his 2024 game log at Ole Miss. It certainly feels like in order for Harris to get involved, this game needs to be a blowout and they bring him on in the second half to get some route running in. But he’s clearly the fourth wide receiver on the depth chart and even has to compete with the tight ends for targets. But if you need a very cheap pass catcher on the Chargers with immense upside, then Harris is the play.

 

 

 

Chargers vs. Raiders DFS Player Pool, 9/15

Player Pool

$ Tier {{pos.alias}}

Stacks

{{stack.team.name}} {{player.name}}
DraftKings {{player.fantasy.price.value[8]}}-
Fanduel {{player.fantasy.price.value[6]}}-