In what should be one of the better games of NFL Week 10, Jimmy Garoppolo and the 49ers (4-4) host Justin Herbert and the Chargers (5-3) on Sunday Night Football. Since acquiring Christian McCaffrey in a blockbuster trade-deadline deal, the 49ers are riding high and fresh off a bye. The Chargers, meanwhile, are facing road blocks aplenty, battling injuries to difference-makers on both sides of the ball and listed as 7-point underdogs. This is a tough one to bet, but a great game to put together a FanDuel single-game lineup, which is exactly what we will do today.
San Francisco started the season with multiple high-profile injuries, including starting back Elijah Mitchell (sprained MCL) and starting QB Trey Lance (ankle). Then edge rusher Nick Bosa and several other key defensive cogs went down, as did pass-catchers Deebo Samuel and George Kittle. But now, all except Lance are primed to take the field with shiny new toy CMC in this Golden State battle.
WEEK 10 DFS LINEUPS: DraftKings | FanDuel
Could it be that the injuries actually benefited San Fran? In the absence of Lance, Jimmy G has been very good, and wideout Brandon Aiyuk has enjoyed a bounce-back campaign with Samuel banged up. And the CMC acquisition — a move GM John Lynch might not have considered if Mitchell never got hurt — has breathed new life into this organization.
Now it’s the Chargers who have fallen on hard times. The Bolts have seen five-time Pro Bowler Keenan Allen (hamstring) play just 45 snaps all season, and fellow wideout Mike Williams could now miss a total of eight games with his ankle sprain. Top edge rusher Joey Bosa (groin) has not played since Week 3, and stud cornerback J.C. Jackson (knee) is shelved for the season.
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As the saying goes, “besides all that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?” The Bolts are in an unenviable position with injuries, something that Shanny and the Niners can certainly sympathize with from their own ill fortunes over the years. But this game should still be much more entertaining than its spread suggests, and it should make for some fun and potentially-lucrative DFS contests.
Let’s dive right into our Sunday Night Football Showdown lineup, and offer our reasoning for each one of our picks.
Before we get into our picks, here are the key scoring settings for DraftKings Showdown contests: They’re full-point PPR and there are three-point bonuses for 300 passing yards, 100 rushing yards, and 100 receiving yards. The Captain pick costs 1.5 times a player’s original price, but he also gets his point total multiplied by 1.5.
MORE FD SINGLE GAME: How to win a FanDuel single-game contest
FanDuel Single Game DFS Picks: Chargers at 49ers Week 10 Sunday Night Football
$60,000 budget, need at least one player from each team.
MVP (1.5x points): RB Christian McCaffrey, 49ers ($17,000)
Anyone who already read my DraftKings Showdown lineup for this game knows I made a contrarian play and put CMC in my flex with Brandon Aiyuk in the 1.5-time Captain multiplier. But that’s because DK charges 1.5-times the player’s cost to Captain them — in FanDuel, you don’t pay up a penny to elect someone your MVP and get that boost. Thus, we’re going with the obvious play. CMC is easily the best offensive player in this game and should see the highest usage. The Chargers have been gashed by running backs all season, allowing the third-most FanDuel points to the position. Sometimes you just have to make the most logical move and try your hardest not to overthink it.
AnyFlex RB Austin Ekeler, Chargers ($16,500)
We’re going with a ‘stars and scrubs’ build, grabbing both elite running backs and passing on both Jimmy G and Herbert. It’s a bold move — but one that could certainly pay off in this type of matchup, as both offenses currently operate primarily through the running back position. Shanahan’s system has always been run-first, and incorporated plenty of RB targets well before CMC arrived. And Ekeler was the main breadwinner in the Chargers’ offense last season, as injuries to Allen and Williams are not exactly unprecedented. There is some risk here: San Fran has allowed the fewest FanDuel points to RBs this season. However, those numbers are skewed by RB-depleted squads like the Rams (twice) and the Seahawks before Pete Carroll took the rookie leash off Kenneth Walker III. Ekeler is different — he’s a shifty, surprisingly-strong back with vision, quickness, and a low center of gravity. He has fantastic elusiveness, great footwork and cutting ability, and strong hands. If the Falcons could put up 168 rushing yards on the Niners in Week 6, I’m confident Ekeler can produce 100-plus scrimmage yards and a score or two. Fortune favors the bold!
AnyFlex WR Brandon Aiyuk, 49ers ($12,000)
Aiyuk cracked both my DraftKings and my FanDuel lineups, so I guess he’s my ride-or-die ‘yuk. I love what we have seen from this kid over the past few weeks, clearly putting his 2021 cold streak in the rear-view mirror. Aiyuk has stepped up big time, catching 21-of-28 targets, averaging 82 yards, and hauling in three TDs over the Niners’ past three games. And with Deebo Samuel returning this week, I think the third-year receiver’s opportunities remain plentiful. L.A.’s depleted back-seven will be focused on Samuel and tight end George Kittle, on top of McCaffrey and Mitchell out of the backfield. Keep eating, ‘yuk!
AnyFlex WR DeAndre Carter, Chargers ($8,000)
It don’t gota be pretty just find a way to win! On to the next one! #BoltUp pic.twitter.com/XE5jlAURAy
— DeAndre Carter (@DCarter_2) November 8, 2022
Okay, scrub time. Well, Carter’s not a scrub per se, but he’s certainly a scrub compared to the first couple players on this squad. Here’s why he’s worth drafting: the Chargers could very well be without Keenan Allen again this week, and they’ll definitely be without the services of Mike Williams. Gerald Everett will have trouble getting anything going in the middle of the field against San Fran’s stout tight-end defense. And Carter has been quietly very good this season when given the opportunity. Despite battling through an illness last week, he put up 7.8 FanDuel points. With Herbert and the Bolts most likely playing from behind, they will be airing the ball out plenty — and Carter is the speedy home-run threat who could lead your DFS squad to victory.
AnyFlex RB Elijah Mitchell, 49ers ($6,000)
I had you so worried in the beginning that my ‘scrubs’ were going to be Michael Bandy and Sony Michel. Nope, these scrubs are actually viable DFS plays who could very well see 5-10 opportunities throughout what oddsmakers expect to be a decently high-scoring game (the over/under is currently listed at 45.5 points). CMC can’t play every snap — he goes too hard to play 100 percent of the time. And the Niners said on Friday that Mitchell is good to go and won’t be limited Sunday as long as he doesn’t suffer any setbacks in Friday’s practice. At 3:30 p.m. ET, I still haven’t heard of any setbacks! So let’s fire the man up — Mitchell sits right up with Tony Pollard, Kareem Hunt, Khalil Herbert, and former Niner Jeff Wilson Jr. as a top-five RB sidekick. Hopefully he finds whatever pay-dirt CMC and Aiyuk don’t find for San Fran, and we come away with a massive DFS windfall!
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