DraftKings Super Bowl Showdown Picks, Strategy, & Mock Lineup For 49ers vs. Chiefs (2/11/24)
If you had a tough fantasy football season and want to get back in the game one last time, or if things went extremely well and you want to keep on rolling, the DraftKings Super Bowl Showdown Daily Fantasy Sports contest might be for you. Let’s talk about how it works, discuss some strategies, and build a potential lineup for Super Bowl Sunday.
What Is A Super Bowl Showdown Contest?
If you’ve played fantasy football, the concept will be easy to understand. Each player has a “salary” assigned to them, and you have a budget of $50,000 with which to build the best possible team of six players. Players accumulate points based on their in-game actions, such as racking up yards or scoring touchdowns.
In the DraftKings contest, you must designate a “captain” who costs 1.5x as much as he normally would, but also accrues 1.5x as many points. Another stipulation is that both the 49ers and Chiefs must be represented in your lineup.
It costs $15 to enter this contest, and your payout is based on how many points your team racks up compared to the other contestants, of which there will be over 470,000. If you finish first, you can win an outrageous one million dollar prize, while contestants that finish just outside of the top 100,000 can earn a nice $25 to secure a profit.
How Does Scoring Work?
The scoring system is very similar to fantasy PPR scoring, as receptions are worth a point each, receiving or rushing touchdowns are worth six, passing touchdowns are worth four, 25 passing yards are one point, and 10 rushing or receiving yards are worth a point. There are also bonuses for 100+ yard games for skill players, or 300+ yard passing games.
Kicking and defense are a bit more complicated, with different values for kicks of different lengths, and different brackets of yards and points allowed for defenses. That being said, this system is essentially what you see for fantasy sports, so it should be familiar to many users.
Mock Showdown Lineup
Captain: Isiah Pacheco ($12,000)
Pacheco is probably the most reliably productive player who is priced low enough to be a palatable captain option. Many of the players we’ll discuss below should be in for a big game, but are simply too expensive to make captain if we want to build a full roster.
Pacheco wrapped up the regular season with a season-high 130 rushing yards against the Bengals, and is averaging 85 yards per game this postseason, with a score in all three contests. Those numbers are slightly deflated by a run-in with a hyper-elite Ravens defense, and he should be comfortable against a very average Niners run-stopping unit.
Flex: Christian McCaffrey ($12,000)
It would be great to have McCaffrey as your captain, but the increased price tag simply makes it too tough to build a viable lineup. He’s averaging nearly 130 scrimmage yards per game this year, and is easily the league’s most prolific running back.
Against a Chiefs run defense that ranks bottom-5 in most categories, McCaffrey could be in for a truly heroic Super Bowl performance.
Flex: Patrick Mahomes ($10,600)
Getting Mahomes on your roster is a must, especially since the Chiefs are underdogs and could be throwing. He could also be a threat to break off a big run or two, as we’ve seen him choose to put himself in harm’s way for the good of the team in big playoff moments.
This is a tough Niners defense, and not the best Chiefs offense we’ve seen, but it still flows through Mahomes. Unless you expect the team to be totally blanked, he’s going to be a huge factor.
Flex: Travis Kelce ($10,200)
If we’re investing in Mahomes, we should also look at Kelce, by far his top target. The two have linked up to a historic degree in postseason play, and with San Francisco’s top corners focusing on Rashee Rice, there should be plenty of opportunities for the big tight end, especially with star box safety Talanoa Hufanga out for the year.
Flex: 49ers Defense ($4,400)
After frontloading our roster with superstars, we have to start dialing it back a bit to stay under budget. We’ll pick the 49ers defense, whose strengths line up really well with the Chiefs’. They’re a top-5 unit against the pass by most measures, featuring a solid secondary and fearsome pass rush, so they could make things tough for Mahomes and perhaps even force a turnover or two.
Flex: Kyle Juszczyk ($800)
Rounding out our final payroll at exactly $50,000, we’ll spend 800 dollars on 49ers legend Kyle Juszczyk. It’s hard to know what his role will be any given Sunday, but he’s capable, and always on the field; at this price point, one big run or better yet, a touchdown from him, could make your day.
Best QB/Receiver Stacks
Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce ($10,600 and $10,200)
In this postseason, Kelce and Rashee Rice have essentially received the same target share, but that could change given the strength of the Chiefs’ outside defenders. Kelce is also the first look for Mahomes around the red zone, so he’s much more likely to earn six DFS points from a touchdown.
Brock Purdy and Christian McCaffrey ($10,000 and $12,000)
No, this one doesn’t technically involve a wide receiver either, but given the Chiefs’ strengths and weaknesses, Purdy could link up with the versatile McCaffrey more than anyone else, even if the Niners end up in a pass-first script, but especially if they’re leading and staying conservative.
Overall Strategy
As we know, PPR scoring places an emphasis on not just high-performing receivers, but specifically, those who receive plenty of targets, rather than striking big just a few times. That points us to Kelce, by far Mahomes’s favorite target, especially in the short field.
This could be a run-first game for both teams, given the defensive strengths and weaknesses, hence Pacheco’s inclusion.
Last but certainly not least, both of these trends direct us towards Christian McCaffrey, the best and most dynamic player on the field.
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