Here’s a breakdown of one-game DFS contests for the Week 7 Thursday Night Football matchup featuring the Kansas City Chiefs at Denver Broncos at 8:15 p.m. ET on FOX and NFL Network.
Cash Game Strategy
Balky ankle or not, Patrick Mahomes is the highest floor, highest ceiling play and best value by far in our DraftKings Showdown Models. He belongs in the 1.5x spot in cash. The public is generally down on him, so this is also one of the best weeks yet to play him in tournaments.
In cash, Phillip Lindsay and Royce Freeman are also must-plays going against a Kansas City defense getting spanked for 161.8 rushing yards per game and 5.2 per carry, both third-worst in the NFL. And despite the advantage the Broncos have in the run game, you also have to get Joe Flacco in cash due to the scoring potential of the Chiefs offense.
That leaves choosing between the Chiefs backfield. Though Damien Williams dominated usage share two weeks ago with 35 snaps and 12 touches to LeSean McCoy‘s 14 snaps and two touches, it was McCoy had a nearly identical edge in snaps (29-22) and touches (10-2) last week. The extreme splits leading into a short week suggest Williams was being conserved for a larger role on the short week.
I would lean Damien and Darrel Williams in the last two spots over a McCoy-Byron Pringle combo, but given the uncertainty I think the best option is actually Emmanuel Sanders and Pringle. Sanders is projected for over 1.00 points more than both top Chiefs RBs, and the Chiefs have seen the eighth-most pass attempts in the league this season and are now without starting cornerback Kendall Fuller (thumb).
On FanDuel, pricing essentially leaves you no choice but to fade Flacco and go with a Mahomes-Lindsay-Freeman-Sanders-Courtland Sutton combination. The four latter four have combined for 233 of the team’s 293 touches and nine of their 10 offensive TDs. so it still makes more sense than going down to another tier and essentially picking between dart-throw options.
Core GPP Plays
