Mon-Thursday Slate Breakdown

We get maybe the best Monday-Thursday slate of the season for DFS NFL that starts tonight with the Steelers at the Buccaneers and then the Thursday game of the possible NFC Championship in the Rams and Vikings!

My name is Josh Thomas, and I write the Chalk Donkey article for NFL VIPs as well as focusing on the showdown/single game slates on both sites and the Monday-Thursday Slate. In this article, I’ll breakdown the best options at each position for the Mon-Thur Slate and give some pivot options off some of the chalkier plays, as well as some strategy for roster construction.

Slate Breakdown:

Both games should be high scoring with the line total moving up in each as the week has gone on. The Steelers/Bucs has moved all the way from 50 points O/U to 55 and the Vikings/Rams has climbed from 47-49 and will likely go higher by Thursday. This means that we are likely to see shoot outs without much defense in both matchups. Though this is the NFL and nothing went according to plan in week 3 (COME ON VIKINGS).

Roster construction is difficult this week, but there are a TON of options. One thing to remember when building rosters is that most people will try to jam the MNF game in and forget about the TNF game almost entirely. This week I think you want quite a few pieces of that Monday game but on most weeks fading it can be a +EV move. Similar to how we fade Thursday on the Thursday-Monday Slate.

The biggest question I have with roster construction tonight is what is the Rams defense going to look like on Thursday. Aqib Talib and Marcus Peters were both hurt in Sundays game and they could be in trouble in the secondary without them. That could lead to huge games for Vikes Receivers.

Looking for a podcast to listen to on your way to work or while mowing the lawn? Check out our Podcast Page for some great listens from @ffootballgeek and @DFSnDonut

Quarterback:

I’m all in on Fitzmagic here. I think Ryan Fitzpatrick  continues to light it up and the Steelers defense isn’t really the steel curtain anymore, especially in the secondary. Joe Haden coming back does help them out quite a bit, but still in what should be a high scoring game I can see Fitz going for 350 and 3 TDs. He also has that rushing upside.

The other QB I want to target is Jared Goff. He has just been incredibly consistent week to week. If I’m playing cash on this slate, while I love the upside of Big Ben and Fitz I think I’m going Goff. He spreads it around and gets TDs when he flicks it to Gurley too.

Running Back:

James Conner and Todd Gurley. Seriously. Lock them in and move on. If you wanna go back to the Lat Murray well you can but I’m not interested against that tough Rams Front 7. Peyton Barber is interesting because of the workload but he is averaging 2.6 YPC, No thanks.

Wide Receiver:

Theres about 1000 options here, as all four of these teams are loaded at WR. I think there’s some merit to fading Antonio Brown on this slate in GPP and hope he duds against Brent Grimes. Its risky but could happen, its not something I’m advocating for but if thats how your roster ends up, I’m OK with it.  Its also tough to fit him, Gurley and Conner in the same lineup.  JuJu Smith-Shuster is in play as always. He’s a target hog and has two TD upside. If you need some savings though James Washington played a ton of snaps (80% last week) and has the ability to break off a big one.

DJax (DeSean Jackson)is one of my favorite showdown plays and I love his big play ability. Pairing him with Fitz is one of my favorite roster constructions. Chris Godwin is a great cheap play too. Mike Evans is expensive and if I’m paying up I’d rather have JuJu or AB.

 

With the way Goff spreads the ball around there is a lot of good options for the Rams. Brandin Cooks, Robert Woods, and Cooper Kupp are all viable. Woods had a massive Sunday and at the lowest price of the three will probably carry the most ownership. I actually like Cooks the most as the Vikings have struggled with #1’s.

On the other side of the ball, if Aqib Talib and Marcus Peters are out for the Rams, the Vikings duo of Stefon Diggs and Adam Thielen could have monster games. I like Diggs more on FD, but on DK Thielen is a lock for me. He had 14 catches last week, in a loss! The volume is just so high regardless of game script that he should smash value.

Check out our fearless leader FFootballGeek’s Monday Night showdown podcast here!       —–> Geek’s MNF Steelers vs. Buccaneers Showdown Pod

Want to try a free month of DFS Army VIP Membership? See How

Tight End:

Yuck. I don’t like anyone here. I think OJ Howard is overpriced. People will chase Jesse James performance from week 2, but he split snaps with Vance McDonald and they had the same amount of targets. McDonald is probably my favorite TE for the price here and situation. If you want to pay up for Kyle Rudolph I get it, but he just hasn’t done much this year, even in great spots. The Rams funnel passes to the TE so it’s a viable option.

Defense

Double Yuck. Two game totals of over 50 (The Vikes/Rams will get there) I really don’t know where to go here and I don’t think it really matters. In these two game slates you have to play some players against your D for the most part so that doesn’t matter. I’m rostering the Bucs mostly just because I think Big Ben can throw a couple picks. Everyones O line is good and there isn’t much upside for sacks for anyone so I’ll take my chances on playing a D against Big Ben when he’s on the road.