In Sunday night’s Showdown, the Seattle Seahawks, led by Geno Smith, will visit the Pittsburgh Steelers. For a breakdown of this game, check out Rich Hribar’s Fantasy Football Worksheet.
The Steelers are five-point favorites, which is significant given the low total hovering near 42.5. Russell Wilson, Chris Carson, and Juju Smith-Schuster are the relevant injuries.
Projections in the Daily Roto optimizer are not bullish on Seahawks players for this one, with the top 12 lineups projected as 4–2 Steelers builds. There isn’t a single lineup in the top 100 with four or more Seahawks, so we have another opportunity to differentiate by building as if the underdogs exceed expectations. I also didn’t see any 5–1 Steelers onslaughts, so that may go under-utilized by the field.
Strategy
Najee Harris is expected to lead captain rostership with between 18– 22% and 66–76% total. Diontae Johnson and Chase Claypool are next and expected nearly dead even with 13–14% CPT and 50–62% total. Given that most solo winning lineups occur in very low scoring games, and neither offense is that exciting, I’d recommend going underweight on those three most popular choices. Ben Roethlisberger seems washed and Gino Smith is a mediocre back up, but it’s rare that both QBs are well under 10% at CPT. Besides the Steelers kicker, Chris Boswell, anyone price below $5600 will be very low owned and offered plenty of leverage. Normally it’s advisable to force a QB into the lineup when playing a wide receiver or tight end at CPT, but with such a low total, I don’t see a need to force it. I do think Geno Smith has some rushing upside, and I like the idea of using plenty of depth options from each team with a max of two per lineup.
DK Values
- Deejay Dallas ($600)
- Freddie Swain ($2400)
- Pat Freiermuth ($2800)
DK Leverage
- Any TE ($1600–4600) – Each team using two low-projected TEs
- Any RB2/3 ($400–800) – Seattle without Carson may rotate more RBs and Pittsburgh could give more work to Benny Snell Jr. in a dominant win.
DK Build Ideas
- Max 1 DST, Max 1 K
- Max 2 depth WR/TE/RB
- Negative boost same team RBs
- If CPT QB, include one depth option in stack
- If CPT RB, negative boost opposing DST/K
- Cumulative ownership under 250%
- Leave salary unspent
FD Values
- Alex Collins ($9500)
- Deejay Dallas ($5000) – Low projection but not much cheap value
FD Leverage
- Anybody $7500 or below
FD Build Ideas
- No K or TE 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.