NFL DFS First Look at Salaries & Matchups for Super Bowl LVIII (Fantasy Football)

Player pricing on the major DFS platforms is available to us well before we even start our process of building lineups and allows us to identify the inefficiencies, a tool within the toolbelt of someone who wants to win consistently in DFS. For the complete list of DraftKings and FanDuel prices, check out this week’s DFS rankings found in the Ultimate DFS Pass.

Make sure you listen to this week’s Fantasy Footballers DFS Podcast  DFS Super Bowl Preview+ DFS Awards!

Check back later in the week when Matthew Betz and I share our official DraftKings and FanDuel picks for cash and GPPs exclusively in the DFS Pass.

DraftKings LINE

Showdown Strategy Thoughts

Playing a Showdown slate is incredibly different than the DFS you have likely been soaking up for the 2023 season.

What site am I playing on? DraftKings “captain spot” operates on a premium salary basis by multiplying the player’s salary times 1.5 and their fantasy points by 1.5. On FanDuel, the “MVP” spot only is a point multiplier. Thus, we can’t always compare apples to apples across both sites. There is an opportunity cost playing Christian McCaffrey at $18,000 on DK knowing you likely will have to find a cheap option somewhere on your roster. However, on FanDuel, it is just a straight salary game and finding the highest points per dollar.

Do I need to look at positions? Because Showdown slates deal with every single player as a FLEX, it can be easy to disregard traditional position allocation in DFS. Theoretically, you could have Brock Purdy with three 49ers with him and not even think twice about it. But the combinations are endless despite only having to fulfill six spots.

Who is your captain? Guess this right, and you, my friends, have simply opened the first door to taking down a tournament. The multiplier of 1.5 tells a partial story as roster percentages need to be taken into account. Here is a rough projection of what historically DraftKings Showdown games like this one look like:

• QBs- 45+ %
• RB1s- 12-15 % (CMC changes things dramatically)
• RB2s- < 5 %
• WR1s- 20 %
• WR2s- < 5 %
• TEs- < 5 % (But Kelce & Kittle change things)
• DSTs- < 5 %

Notice that TE is usually a contrarian position for Showdown slates but with Travis Kelce in the mix, I expect him to be the 2nd or 3rd most popular captain choice roughly 12-15 percent of the field. Kittle could probably add another 3-4% CPT spot. The WR2 options are where you gain the most leverage and are one of my favorite spots to attack on Showdown slates, especially on a full PPR site with bonuses like DraftKings.

What type of game script are you running with? I will discuss all the different outcomes in the Pace of Play article coming out this week.

DraftKings Salaries

Quick Player Thoughts

• It’s rare in this day and age that an RB is the top option on a Showdown Slate. But then again, we are dealing with a mutant from the future named CMC. At $12K, this is the most expensive player in a Super Bowl Showdown in the last four years. I prefer Christian McCaffrey as a priority CPT and plan on being slightly underweight on my FLEX exposure compared to the field.

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