Week three in the NFL is almost here. There should be a crime against the speed the NFL season flies by at. We wait for this thing for half a year, and it breezes by like it doesn’t even care.
As cold as the NFL gods can be – and boy, were they crude on last week’s main slate – they still grace us with a Thursday Night Football game. Showdown slates aren’t for everyone, but I love how you can get a massive edge in these types of contests.
Is there a big advantage going into the week three tilt between the Miami Dolphins and Buffalo Bills? I tend to think there is. All things considered, here are my favorite Captain plays, as well as my top GPP targets in TNF NFL DFS contests.
Top TNF Captain Picks
- Josh Allen
- De’Von Achane
- James Cook
- Tua Tagovailoa
- Tyreek Hill
- Jaylen Waddle
These are easily the best CPT plays for this slate. Josh Allen is a beast with a terrific matchup at home on a short week, albeit with obscene ownership (above 25%). For cash games he is a lock here, and you could argue that’s the case, regardless. But for the sake of getting different in tourneys, a pivot does make sense.
If you fade Allen in the Captain you’re automatically getting different, so you don’t necessarily have to try too hard beyond that. Achane is going to be the second most popular play, but factoring in ownership might make him the best.
Naturally, he also makes for a fun guy to target at Sleeper, especially since they are setting the bar pretty low for new users.
With Allen and Achane the two best and chalkiest plays of the slate, one idea is to roster one or both, but in the Flex. Literally anything else you do in CPT will be inherently unique, and you’ll just need to make maybe one more obscure move to avoid getting duped.
Miami is my favorite way to attack this slate in general, as Allen is uber chalk and they should be trailing. With the Dolphins playing catch up, Tyreek Hill, Tua Tagovailoa, and Jaylen Waddle (in that order) really stand out.
I’ll also mention James Cook. He and Allen don’t always positively correlate, so while he absolutely has a solid floor and a nice ceiling, playing them together might not make sense. I think you can get away with Captaining Allen and still play Cook, but I don’t like it the other way around as much.
Regardless, Cook is appealing due to a strong start (20+ fps in both games this year), a good matchup, and low ownership. If he’s actually pulling just 5% like he projects, he is severely overlooked.
Best GPP TNF Captain Picks
- Ray Davis
- Malik Washington
It’s a Showdown slate, so there are endless options. I could touch on a ton of guys, but I only want to focus on the values I feel very strongly about.
For all my other plays, check out my TNF DFS Showdown video:
That said, Ray Davis is very appealing for a guy who carried the ball nine times last week. If we are to believe Buffalo takes care of business as the betting odds suggest, he could again see work late as the Bills put the finishing touches on a win.
On the other side is Malik Washington, who operates as Miami’s third wide receiver. If the Dolphins are going to be trailing in this game like most believe they will, he should end up being fairly busy. Miami has been trying to get him involved as both a runner and a receiver. With the Bills trying to slow down Tyreek and Waddle, I think there’s a decent chance he has his best game so far this year.
Other values such as Ty Johnson and Tanner Conner also stand out, but they’re a lot more volatile than Davis or Washington.
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