Good afternoon, Family! Are you ready for some Sunday Night Football? What better way to end your week than an NFL DFS Showdown on DraftKings and FanDuel? We have an AFC Conference matchup tonight between the 3-3 Miami Dolphins and 2-4 Pittsburgh Steelers. The Dolphins have lost three straight games after starting the season 3-0 but get their leader and quarterback (Tua Tagovailoa) back tonight. This showdown game has playmakers on both teams who can set your DraftKings and FanDuel Showdown lineups up for success. Besides the return of Tua, the Fins have a concentrated receiving corps of studs Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle while the Steelers will be sending out rookie quarterback and local college hero Kenny Pickett for the prime-time matchup. There is a full rundown of players and suggestions below and you can always take a look at our Weekly Match-Up Report and use NFL DFS Tools like our DFS Lineup Generator (a.k.a. the DFS lineup optimizer). 

 


First, from the words of our fearless leader at Fantasy Alarm, Howard Bender:

Now before we begin, for those who are new to the process, please take a moment to understand what exactly you are getting yourself into by playing single-game Showdown Slates. We love to have some skin in the game, for sure, but these slates are, for all intents and purposes, a lottery ticket. Sure, there are times when the chalk hits, and everyone shares in the prizes, but, often, you need to hit on that random dart throw that differentiates your lineup from that of the herd in order to claim the top prize. As a result, we encourage you to play responsibly and not over-invest. Stick to the GPP contests (single-entry preferred), don’t blow your whole bankroll, and understand that, unless you are a max-entry player, you should prioritize having fun.

OK, now let’s get to tonight’s action.

PITTSBURGH STEELERS @ MIAMI DOLPHINS

Spread: Dolphins -7.5

O/U:

Open- 44.5

Live- 44.5

 

Weather: Hard Rock Stadium

Temp: 77 degrees

Humidity: 70%

Precipitation: 0%

 

Notable DFS Injuries:

PITTSBURGH STEELERS

Steven Sims, WR- Hamstring (O)

Pat Friermuth, TE- Concussion (P)Dak Prescott, QB- Thumb (O)

 

MIAMI DOLPHINS

Raheem Mostert, RB- Knee (P)

Jaylen Waddle, WR- Shoulder (Q)

 

2022 DVOA Defensive Rankings:

Steelers

Vs Pass: 17th

Vs Run: 10th

 

Dolphins

Vs. Pass: 31st

Vs. Run: 7th 


 

KEY STATS

Points Per Game

PIT- 16.2

MIA- 21.8

 

Points Against Per Game

PIT- 24.4

MIA- 25.8

 

Yards Per Game

PIT- 291.5

MIA- 366.2

 

Yards Against Per Game

PIT- 398

MIA- 361.3


**Please note that players not listed below are not necessarily a complete fade and any player listed can certainly be used as the MVP/Captain. These are merely suggestions for players to use when setting Showdown lineups.

MVP/CAPTAIN

Tua Tagovailoa (MIA) Tua is back tonight after missing time with a concussion. PIT has the 17th DVOA against the pass and is allowing the 29th yards per pass. This looks like a strong pass funnel game for MIA and all Tua needs to do is get the ball in the hands of Hill and Waddle. Due to how concentrated his throws will be (Hill/Waddle) and a lack of run ability Tua is a DK Utility play only but FD MVP due to their scoring process.

Tyreek Hill (MIA) Hill deservedly carries the highest salary of the slate on both sites. He has at least 13 DK fantasy points and 7+ catches in five of six games played and has only been slowed down by his own teammate- backup QB Skylar Thompson. Leads league with 116.8 receiving yards per game and is tied for the league lead with 11 plays of 20 yards or more. Hill is on pace for 1,986 receiving yards, which would break Calvin Johnson’s single-season record of 1,964 and will be the most popular Captain on tonight’s slate.

Jaylen Waddle (MIA) Waddle and Hill control the target share of this MIA offense. The big concern is that Waddle is listed as questionable for the second week in a row with a shoulder injury. The injury didn’t seem to affect him much last week as he totaled 129 yards, catching six passes on 10 targets. He may not be 100% but with a 18.5 DK fantasy point average and 100 yards and/or a TD in four of six games this kid is a stud and could easily nuke the slate. My favorite GPP leverage play.

Kenny Pickett (PIT) If the PIT defense lets Tua carve them up we could see Pickett sling it 45+ times in catch-up mode.  He’s completing 66.3% of his passes while averaging 6.2 YPA with one TD and four INTs plus has added 9/41/2 rushing in one full start and parts of two other contests. MIA defense has kept Kirk Cousins and Zach Wilson at bay over the last couple of weeks and no reason to think they will do the same tonight. I see Pickett as more of a Cash play than GPP due to the fact that he can grab all the production from the PIT air attack instead of the WRs

 

FLEX/UTILITY

Diontae Johnson (PIT) Johnson is more of FanDuel play due to pricing. He has really been struggling with an 8 DK fantasy point average over his last three games and we have not seen the floor that we were all used to with Big Ben. He does get a solid matchup today against a MIA defense that is allowing the 24th most fantasy points to opposing WRs.

George Pickens (PIT) Pickens and Chase Claypool are much cheaper than Johnson on DraftKings. Although Pickett has targeted Johnson most, Pickens leads Pittsburgh in yards (162) and first-down conversions (9) with Pickett at the QB. This is a home run hitter for PIT and Xavien Howard is not the cornerback that he was back in 2020.

Raheem Mostert (MIA) Mostert has been on a roller coaster from game to game. Last week he was limited to just 49 rushing yards on 14 carries but over the past two weeks he has 32 carries for 162 total yards and a touchdown while Chase Edmonds has just three carries in the same time span. Tonight, he gets as PIT defense that allows the 27th most DK fantasy points to RBs.

Najee Harris (PIT) Harris is not the bell cow that we saw last season. He averaged over 80% of the snaps last year but has only hit that mark once this season along with 20 running back opportunities also just once. I prefer Mostert at this price point but if you believe that PIT upsets the Fins or even covers then Harris becomes a GPP leverage play. 

 

VALUE

Pat Freiermuth (PIT) Another returnee from concussion protocol. Freiermuth is seeing 6+ targets per game with a red zone target rate of 33.33%. Of course, PIT still needs to get into the red zone but at this price he is a near lock in Cash games

Jason Sanders (MIA) On a Showdown lacking value plays at RB/WR Sanders becomes viable in Cash and GPP especially if the Fins put points on the board as expected. 

Chris Boswell (PIT) The Steelers kicker is more of a GPP value due to the lack of points expected to be scored by his team, but he has hit five of six beyond the 50 this season.

Miami DST A touchdown favorite at home against a mistake prone rookie (4 INTs in 83 passes) and a bad offensive line put the Fins DST firmly in play tonight in all formats.

Jaylen Warren (PIT) Warren is in play if PIT is trailing throughout the game as he has run a route on 38% of dropbacks. He had a solid Week 5 with five targets and 10 opportunities (including five targets) but his snaps did go from 51% to 31% and he saw just two opportunities last week. One of my favorite GPP values.

Cedrick Wilson (MIA) My dart play of the night especially if Waddle ended up being ruled out. Wilson runs a route on about 25% of Tua’s dropbacks and it will no0t take much to make value on a $200 salary.

 

STACKING IDEAS

Hill (CAPT) with Waddle/Pickens/Tua

Hill (CAPT) with Tua/D Johnson/Freiermuth

Hill (CAPT) with Tua/Harris

Mostert (CAPT) with Dolphins DST/Pickens

Tua (CAPT) with Waddle/Gesicki

Diontae Johnson (CAPT) with Pickett/Sanders

Waddle (CAPT) Hill/Tua/Freiermuth

Pickett (CAPT-Cash) D Johnsson/Freirmuth/Hill