NFL DFS Showdown Lineup Picks: Giants-Commanders

By Matt Schauf 3:36pm EST 12/18/22

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On World Cup championship day, this game kinda feels like Extra Time on the 1st matchup.

The Giants and Commanders played to a 20-20 tie just 2 weeks ago, the last time Washington hit the field.

Taylor Heinicke finished that week 9th among fantasy QBs but threw a lot more often than usual. His 41 attempts were 8 more than his previous high this season and 12 more than in any of his past 4 outings. Washington loaded up on passing volume as the offense chased to catch up in the 4th quarter and then try for the win. Expect Heinicke's attempt total to land somewhere back in the 20s this week.

Daniel Jones finished close behind, 12th among fantasy QBs for Week 13. He totaled a more repeatable 200 yards and 1 TD on 31 pass attempts and ran for 71 yards.

Jones might have trouble completing 80% of his throws again, as he did in that game. But he has been delivering a sturdy fantasy floor lately. The Giants QB reached 20 fantasy points in 4 of his past 6 games (depending on your scoring format) and 5 of his past 7. Jones cracked 30 in 2 of those games. And even his down week among the past 5 still found him scoring 16.8 against the Cowboys.

Rushing has been key, with Jones averaging 44.6 yards per contest over that 7-game stretch. Washington's defense has improved lately but still arrives as a neutral QB-scoring matchup for the year.

The Commanders have proved much tougher on RB scoring -- 2nd toughest in the league -- which is obviously bad news for Saquon Barkley. The Giants significantly limited his playing time last week, but the RB has been off this week's injury report and should be back at last close to normal.

TE Daniel Bellinger, on the other hand, is questionable with a rib injury that knocked him out of Week 14. His absence would unlock a value option on DraftKings, which we'll address in a minute.

The Commanders don't present any significant injury questions. So that leaves us to just figure out who will be the top DFS value picks from that run-favoring offense ...

DraftKings

TE Nick Vannett filled in when Bellinger lost time to his rib injury last week. The veteran checks in at minimum price on DK, so anything he'd give us would be a bonus from that $200 starting point.

Brian Robinson Jr. doesn't profile as an attractive PPR play, but he tallied a solid 13.1 points in the last meeting with the Giants, falling just 4 yards shy of the 3-point DK bonus at 100. He hit that bonus the week before against Atlanta and has garnered 15+ carries in 4 straight games. Robinson has even caught 2 passes in each of his past 2 outings.

The Giants, meanwhile, have allowed 5 different RBs to reach 100 yards this season -- with another 3 cracking 90 on the ground.

FanDuel

Three Washington wideouts got 7+ targets in the 1st meeting. But as I said, Heinicke's 41 attempts in that game were out of line with his usual. Terry McLaurin still easily led the way, claiming shares of 29.3% targets, 29.6% receptions and 38.2% yards. He has averaged 5.7 receptions and 82.6 yards per game in 7 contests since Heinicke took over, drawing 28.8% of Heinicke's total pass attempts.

McLaurin's target share in Carson Wentz games: just 15.9%.