In Monday's featured Showdown, The Las Vegas Raiders visit the Los Angeles Chargers. For a breakdown of this game, check out Rich Hribar’s Fantasy Football Worksheet.

The Chargers are favored by just over a field goal. Most of the top options are fairly priced and are remotely close in value, so this had a fair chance to be the first featured Showdown in a while that has a majority of 3-3 builds from the field. However, the optimizers are once again spitting out 5-1 and 4-2 onslaughts for the favored team.

(Updated) Roster Strategy:

Justin Herbert Is the consensus most popular player, expected near 17% CPT with 72-80% total ownership. Next is a group containing Austin Ekeler, Keenan Allen, Mike Williams, Derek Carr and Darren Waller with no clear order. all of these players are fairly priced up, so it will be difficult to fit four or more if one is CPT. Normally I would say that using two or more players not on this list would help differentiate, but salary constraints might force people to do that anyway.

Josh Jacobs is questionable and could certainly shake things up if he plays, pending a successful pre-game warmup. Currently, Peyton Barber and Kenyan Drake are projected to split the RB work almost evenly, with similar ownership. I would recommend negatively boosting them to reflect their negative correlation or even limiting to a maximum of one.

It looks like another great opportunity to go over the field on underdog stacks. Henry Ruggs III offers great leverage and a high ceiling, and I also like Carr and Waller. Hunter Renfrow has the worst correlation with Carr, so I would prefer Brian Edwards who has a much higher upside as a deep threat. For extra differentiation, consider mixing in Jalen Guyton or one of the DST.

DK Values

  • Larry Rountree III ($1000) 
  • Jared Cook ($4400)
  • Either Kicker ($3800-4000)

DK Leverage

  • Peyton Barber ($6800) – Underdog RB priced higher than Drake in a split backfield 
  • Bryan Edwards ($5000) – Raiders fourth receiving option

DK Build Ideas

  • Max 1 DST, Max 1 K
  • Max 2 depth WR/TE/RB
  • Max 1 dart throw group (or 1 per team if MME)
  • Max 1 TE per team
  • Negative boost same team RBs
  • If CPT QB, include one depth option in stack
  • If CPT RB, negative boost opposing DST/K
  • If CPT WR/TE boost team QB and force at least 1 QB (either team)
  • Cumulative exposure under 250%
  • Use rostership product to reduce duplicates

FD Values

  • Kenyon Drake ($8000)
  • Jared Cook ($7500)

FD Leverage

  • Bryan Edwards ($9000) – Raiders 4th receiving option
  • Jalen Guyton ($7000) – Chargers WR3

FD Build Ideas

  • No K at MVP
  • Focus on 3-2 build construction
  • No solo CPT in 1-4 construction
  • Negative boost opposing QBs (Lineups with both only win 30%)
  • If WR CPT, boost QB
  • QB is overused but RB and WR are underutilized at MVP
  • Don’t stack 3 pass catchers from the same team
  • Don’t force the max salary

For more optimizer build rules to consider, check out the list for each DK and FD here.