NFL Prime Time Games: Showdown Week 9 Thursday Night Football (FREE)

Greetings Gamers! Welcome to the Awesemo NFL DFS Single Game Prime Time series for FanDuel and DraftKings showdown slates. For each of the featured games, typically Thursday, Sunday and Monday nights, we will be providing a free analysis for the single-slate action. This will include team capsules as well as player rankings and comments for all your daily fantasy needs. We’ve got loads to get into on this TNF slate between the San Francisco 49ers and Arizona Cardinals, with thoughts on Kyler Murray, Tevin Coleman, George Kittle and more!


Tune into NFL Thursday Night Showdown Picks on Thursday at 12:30pm ET as Alex “Awesemo” Baker and Ben Rasa break down Thursday’s game for Showdown formats.


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San Francisco 49ers at Arizona Cardinals +9.5 / 42.5

Tonight, we have another lopsided prime time game. There are a variety of injuries on both sides and of course, it is a matchup of divisional rivals at opposite ends. While Arizona has turned the ship around from a rough start, the 49ers have been the class of the NFC, at least according to their record and defense.

San Francisco 49ers 26.0 implied points

Quarterback

It will be interesting to see what happens on Thursday night with the 49ers passing game. Over the first seven games, Jimmy Garoppolo has failed to top 200 passing yards four times. On the other hand, we have the Cardinals who have allowed the most fantasy points to opposing signal-callers this season. San Francisco has bolstered their receiving corps with the addition of Emmanuel Sanders and that should be a boost for Garoppolo. For the full slate, Garoppolo comes in around QB18-23 which is not exciting, but tops for this game.

Running Back

There are several question marks here for San Francisco on the short week. Both Raheem Mostert (knee) and Matt Breida (ankle) are questionable. That means that Jeff Wilson may be the primary backup for Tevin Coleman. Keep an eye on the inactive report that is released about 90 minutes before kickoff. If one or both are out, Wilson becomes a phenomenal discount dandy.

Coleman is coming off of a phenomenal game with three rushing and one receiving touchdowns against the Panthers last week. He will be wildly popular in this matchup as we know that the 49ers prefer to rely on the run.

Wide Receiver

It was a bit of a surprise to see Emmanuel Sanders so heavily involved in his post-trade debut. Though when we remember he is an 11-year veteran and San Francisco needed wide receiver consistency. It looks like rookie Deebo Samuel will be the next best option. This season, he has a rushing and a receiving touchdown as well as a two-point conversion. The rest of the 49ers receiving corps features just route runners, at best.

[table id=1295 /]

Tight End

George Kittle is the de facto WR1 for San Francisco and he leads the team in targets, receptions and yardage. He is worthy of NFL DFS Captain/MVP consideration, even with his lofty price tag. On the week, he is the top tight end option and is on the cusp of being a top-10 overall receiver.

Defense/Special Teams

Impressively, rookie Kyler Murray has not been intercepted in his last four games. Arizona has also not ceded a fumble yet this year and they have allowed only seven sacks in their last four games. San Frnacisco’s defense is carrying quite a premium on DraftKings and would need a touchdown to pay off their number.

Arizona Cardinals 16.5 implied points

Quarterback

The 49ers have held six of the seven teams they have faced to 194 or fewer passing yards. Only Andy Dalton has topped that mark (311) and that was back in Week 2. Additionally, they have given up only 30 rushing yards to opposing signal-callers. This is a tough matchup for Murray, who is the second-most expensive player on both DraftKings and FanDuel.

Running Back

Chase Edmonds (hamstring) is out for Thursday. David Johnson (ankle) is highly questionable and likely to be limited if he does play. That leaves Kenyan Drake, who was acquired from Miami a few days ago and Zach Zenner. Zenner played for New Orleans in Week 7, so he is not exactly an experienced Cardinal.

Oh, it does not stop there as D.J. Foster is dinged up so Alfred Morris was also signed to be a part of the potential committee. Now we know why the 49ers D/ST is so pricey.

Wide Receiver

It is feasible that Arizona may need to throw 40 times tonight. Of course that does not mean these will be catchable targets. Over the last five game, San Francisco has allowed an averaged of 117 receiving yards.

[table id=1296 /]

Larry Fitzgerald and Christian Kirk lead the options with KeeSean Johnson, Pharoh Cooper and Damiere Byrd as complete dart throws.

Tight End

Shout out to Charles Clay for a season-high 88 yards, catching all three of his targets. He did not crack the top-30 tight end options this week on any of the five projection systems I looked at.

Defense/Special Teams

San Francisco is allowing two sacks and 1.5 turnovers per game. They are also third in the league scoring 29.6 points per game.

Thursday NFL DFS Strategy

The core build on both DraftKings and FanDuel is going to be centered around George Kittle, Tevin Coleman and Jimmy Garoppolo. Jeff Wilson becomes the value option du jour if either Matt Breida or Raheem Mostert are inactive.

Single Game Ranking (taking into account projected production, pricing and popularity)

NOTABLE INACTIVES: Marquise Goodwin, Kyle Juszczyk, Damiere Byrd, Chase Edmonds, David Johnson

NFL DFS Top 10

  1. Tevin Coleman: he is easily the best play as he can run, catch and is one of the few healthy running backs.
  2. George Kittle: just consider him the primary wide receiver and the price is justified.
  3. Jimmy Garoppolo: in contention to be the top point scorer of the night.
  4. Jeff Wilson: if Breida or Mostert are out, he will allow you maximum roster flexibility.
  5. Kyler Murray: he could always run one in.
  6. Larry Fitzgerald: maybe we will get lucky with San Francisco allowing their sixth passing touchdown.
  7. Kenyan Drake: trial by fire and he is more talented than Zenner or Smith.
  8. San Francisco D/ST: even with the price bump, they are projected to be popular.
  9. Emmanuel Sanders: makes sense that they give him some work in preparation for more important games.
  10. Christian Kirk: hoping he gets some YAC on a seam route.

NFL DFS Secondary Plays

  1. Robbie Gould: what if he only gets extra points?
  2. Damiere Byrd: nine total targets in the last three games.
  3. Deebo Samuel: we may only see 20 pass attempts from the 49ers.
  4. Matt Breida: even if he is active, how much will they risk additional injury aggravation?
  5. Zane Gonzalez: still lucky to be kicking for the team.
  6. Zach Zenner: sadly, no bonus points for the double Zs.
  7. Alfred Morris: at least Morris was with the Cardinals during the preseason. Oh and REVENGE!

NFL DFS Tricks or Treats

  1. Cardinals D/ST: they need a return touchdown.
  2. Charles Clay: he is the main receiving tight end.
  3. Raheem Mostert: much like Breida, why risk additional injury.
  4. Kendrick Bourne/Dante Pettis: lost major value with the addition of Sanders.
  5. Max William: has caught every ball thrown to him. Sadly only once has he had more than a single target.
  6. Pharoh Cooper, Andy Isabella and Richie James: kick returners.
  7. Ross Dwelley: go trick or treating!

As always, you can reach out to me in Awesemo.com Premium Slack or Twitter @EMacDFS if you have any questions.

Good Luck NFL DFS Gamers! ~ EMac

 

Eric "EMac" MacPherson won the 2007 Fantasy Baseball grand prize (trip for two to the MLB All-Star game) in the Roto format on ESPN. He won again in 2008, this time in the H2H format. As one of the early adopters of daily fantasy sports, EMac has been providing content for baseball and basketball as well as both professional and college football since 2012 for a variety of websites including DraftKings Playbook, FanVice, RotoWorld, Daily Fantasy Bootcamp, and RotoGrinders. He is well into his third decade of fantasy sports and has a wealth of knowledge and experience. Follow him on Twitter @EMacDFS or contact EMac by emailing [email protected].

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