The NFL returns to London for some American football across the pond. Unfortunately we have to watch the Jets and Falcons, but nobody ever said “No” to early morning football. It’s a great way to start the week and we’re treated to a London game these next two weeks. Here’s what we’re looking at for Sunday morning’s Showdown contests.

New York Jets vs. Atlanta Falcons (-3); Over/Under 45.0 points

Atlanta Falcons Injuries

  • WR Calvin Ridley – OUT
  • WR Russell Gage – OUT
  • S Erik Harris – DOUBTFUL
  • DT Marlon Davidson – OUT
  • CB Avery Williams – DOUBTFUL

New York Jets Injuries

  • CB Brandin Echols – QUESTIONABLE
  • DT Nathan Shepherd – QUESTIONABLE
  • S Adrian Colbert – OUT
  • TE Tyler Kroft – OUT
  • WR Jeff Smith – OUT

Here are some tips and guidelines that I follow when building Showdown lineups. You’ll see these reiterated throughout the article as just a reminder.

  1. Don’t bother with a D/ST or Kicker in the Captain/MVP slot.
  2. If you have a pass catcher (wide receiver or tight end) in the captain spot, you should also have his quarterback as a Flex option. Most of my optimal lineups in Showdown contests have usually had a pass catcher in the captain slot so capitalize with the appropriate correlation.
  3. Don’t have more than 12% exposure to either Quarterback in the Captain/MVP slot.
  4. If you have a quarterback in the Captain/MVP spot, you should have at least two of his pass catchers in the Flex.
  5. Running backs are okay in the Captain/MVP slot, but I typically don’t go over 15% exposure in that slot with this position. I reserve heavier exposure for pass-catching RB’s and absolute studs.

Captain/MVP Candidates

Quarterbacks – You certainly can go the route of playing either Zach Wilson or Matt Ryan in your captain spot. Typically though, in large field GPP’s, a quarterback as your captain is only optimal about 13-15% of the time and that’s usually when a running quarterback went off. If I had to guess we’ll likely see each as captain in about 8-10% of lineups in GPP’s. That’s about where my Captain exposure will land on both Ryan and Wilson. They’re much better suited as Flex plays since neither offers a ton of rushing upside.

 Kyle Pitts – He’ll probably be the most popular captain on tomorrow’s slate. I’d say he likely lands in about 20-25% exposure as a captain, which is fairly high. I may try to be lighter than the field. It’s obviously a great spot for Pitts with Calvin Ridley and Russell Gage ruled out. He could see double-digit targets and possibly find the end zone. But you have to imagine the Jets account for his presence and scheme appropriately for him. I may aim for about 12-15% exposure in the captain slot, but that’s just me. He’s a big target for Matt Ryan. Perhaps a trip to London can give him the breakout performance we’ve been waiting for. On DraftKings, he’ll only cost $10,800 as your captain and I can see people jumping all over that.

Corey Davis – These next two players are where I will aim to be heavier than the field. Wilson loves targeting Corey Davis. He has at least seven targets in three of four games to start the year and the Falcons are terrible against opposing wide receivers and the secondary is a little depleted heading into Sunday’s game. Assuming this game stays close, we’re looking at an opportunity for the Jets to pick apart the Falcons secondary through the air.

Jamison Crowder – Everything that was said about Davis can be applied to Crowder. In his 2021 debut last week he caught seven-of-nine targets for 61 yards and a touchdown. It was refreshing to see him get such a heavy target share in his first game especially after all the contract storylines we heard during training camp. For both Davis and Crowder I’m looking to have them each around 20% exposure as my captain.

Flex Options

Cordarrelle Patterson – Patterson is a guy I might be light on for this Showdown. I anticipate people chasing last week’s performance and while it was great, he’s way too efficient at the moment and it’s wildly unsustainable. He only played 23 snaps last week and found the end zone three times. With no Ridley or Gage, sure he’ll be involved, but I’m going to zig while others zag. He’s not someone I want to play as my captain because of the regression he’s due for. But I will have a respectable amount of shares with him as a Flex.

Mike Davis – Davis has frustrated fantasy owners in season-long leagues, but in DFS he’s provided an okay floor. Despite the Cordarrelle Patterson resurgence, Davis has still had at least 15 touches in each game. He hasn’t done much with that workload, but it’s still there. Touchdowns are hard to predict, workload really isn’t. In his last three games he’s caught all 13 of his targets out of the backfield.

Michael Carter – I don’t love the $6,400 price tag on DraftKings but I do like how his involvement in the offense has trended as the season has progressed. He scored his first touchdown last week and he was on the field for 50% of the snaps. He’s also been getting more involved in the passing game as well, which aids his value a little bit. He should be in line for at least a dozen touches in this game.

Elijah Moore – It’s quite possible we get Moore at incredibly low ownership. He was inactive last week in Crowder’s debut, but Moore does not carry an injury designation this week. He’s only $5,000 on DraftKings and he is someone that Wilson looks to as a deep target. He had 18 targets through his first three games and could be an afterthought going into Sunday morning’s game. You can sprinkle him in as a captain in about 5% of your lineups because I don’t see too many people playing him in that spot but be disciplined at least.

Defense/Special Teams and Kickers – Both D/ST’s and Kickers are in play. My suggestion is only play one in each lineup. I don’t really like playing a D/ST and a kicker together, especially if the lineup doesn’t correlate. Not that it needs to be mentioned, but just to cover my bases again, you don’t need to play these positions in the Captain spot. These are nice paydown options but it’s rare that we see an optimal lineup featuring a D/ST and a kicker in the same build. Here’s a little blurb I wrote up earlier this week for the waiver wire article regarding both defenses…

If we’re being honest, both these defenses are terrible. I had much more faith in Atlanta coming into this season, but Dean Pees hasn’t been able to turn them around just yet. The Falcons and Jets will travel to London for the first of two games across the pond this year for the NFL. Now there have certainly been a couple shootouts in the London games, but we’ve also seen some teams struggle. In the four London games in 2017, the losing teams scored 7, 0, 0, and 16 points. The next year, the losing team scored 3, 19, and 18 points but it’s worth mentioning neither of those games totaled over 43 points. 2019 saw a couple shootouts, but a couple offensive duds as well:

  1. Raiders 24, Bears 21
  2. Panthers 37, Buccaneers 26
  3. Rams 24, Bengals 10
  4. Texans 26, Jaguars 3

Value Punts

Hayden Hurst – Given the state of the pass catching group, I’d be interested in seeing Atlanta run more 12 personnel and get both Hurst and Pitts on the field. Hurst has been used sparingly, but he does have nine catches on ten targets and last week he caught all four of his targets. He likely needs to find the end zone to really return value if he’s only getting four targets, but I like Hurst as a leverage play especially since most DFS players will likely flock to the next player on the list.

Olamide Zaccheaus – OZ is going to be very popular with Ridley and Gage out. He has 13 targets over his last four games and he’s cheap enough where he’s easy to squeeze into your lineup. The game script could be there for Atlanta to throw a lot and it’s possible he gets six-to-eight targets and he’s only $1,800 on DraftKings. He will be the cheap player that everyone plays in their lineup. I’m okay with having a couple lineups with him as a captain because he provides so much flexibility with your salary, but I’m not going crazy with that particular exposure. In this price range you can also look at Tajae Sharpe as well.

Wayne Gallman – I will let everyone flock to OZ as the cheap paydown. Sure I’ll have plenty of exposure there, but Gallman is a guy I’m very interested in. He’s only $200 on DraftKings and in his first appearance in 2021 he had six carries for 29 yards after being a healthy scratch for the first three games. The Jets are pretty bad against the run and if he can vulture a touchdown that’ll be great for his value. Not quite sure why he’s basically free, but this doesn’t mean he’s a free square. If he finds the end zone and gets maybe 30 yards there’s a good chance he’s in the optimal lineup.