Arggh! The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have set sail to play the Buffalo Bills tonight on TNF. We’ll look to take advantage of what should be an explosive matchup tonight. With fantasy glory and a hefty $500,000 on the line, it’s now more crucial than ever to assemble a winning DraftKings lineup that can dominate the competition. This article offers DFS insights on who should take the coveted captain slot, which core player should anchor your player pool, a value gem that can boost your salary cap flexibility, a sleeper pick with breakout potential, and one player to steer clear of – the dreaded bust. Get ready for an interesting DFS showdown on TNF.
*Disclaimer: These picks have been constructed with the mindset of building a single lineup. When building large field/multi-entry tournaments, if the player sees the field you’ll want to have a piece of him somewhere, my “busts” included.*
Thursday Night Football DFS Picks
Captain
Josh Allen
DraftKings Captain Salary- $17,700
Josh Allen and the Bills will be coming off of a brutal divisional loss against the New England Patriots. They’re probably thankful and eager to be playing on TNF. Sometimes a short week can be just what a team needs after a loss. It can feel good for a team to not have to wait a full week to bounce back. Statistically speaking, Josh doesn’t have much to bounce back from.
Last week the veteran QB threw for 265 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Allen also added 17 yards and a touchdown on the ground. In tonight’s matchup, Allen may be forced to do even more to guarantee the victory for his squad. His 7 rushing attempts last week marked his highest total of the season. That’s a number we’d like to see stay or increase going forward. There was a time when Allen’s rushing floor was higher. If he’s making strides back towards the “Old Josh Allen” that loves to run a ton, then we could all be in for a treat tonight.
Core Play
Stefon Diggs
DraftKings Salary- $11,400
Nine times out of ten, when Josh Allen pops off, Stefon Diggs benefits. In fact, there has only been one game this season where Diggs did not score the most fantasy points amongst Bills skills players. That occurred in Week 2 when James Cook scored 22.9 DraftKings points against the Raiders. Apart from that, it has been Diggs leading the charge. I do not expect that to change on TNF.
Stefon Diggs is a target junkie, and Josh Allen is the world’s biggest enabler. Allen has been connecting at will with his WR1. Last week marked Diggs’ third straight game with at least 11 targets. Targets like that from a quarterback such as Allen should lead to a ton of opportunities for Stefon Diggs to make a splash. tonight. He’ll look to bounce back from a low-yardage game (58 yards) that broke his streak of four straight games over 100 receiving yards.
Value
Dalton Kincaid
DraftKings Salary- $5,000
It has been confirmed that veteran tight end Dawson Knox (wrist) needs surgery. Knox is OUT for tonight’s TNF matchup and a timetable for his return to play is still undetermined. In the meanwhile, rookie Dalton Kincaid will have a shot to create some separation in the committee that he’s been a part of. Last week Kincaid earned his second-largest snap count percentage of the year (61%), a number that should see a sharp increase tonight.
In last week’s loss to the Patriots, Kincaid and Allen seemed to be on the same page. Kincaid caught all eight of his targets for 75 scoreless yards. Speaking of, Dalton Kincaid has yet to capture his first NFL touchdown, a feat that I believe he can accomplish tonight as Josh Allen’s second favorite target tonight.
Sleeper
Chase Edmonds
DraftKings Salary- $200
The Buccaneers activated Chase Edmonds from injured reserve on Wednesday. There’s not a whole lot of analysis that I can provide for a player who has not taken a single snap this season. I can only tell you how uninspiring all of the other running backs from Rachaad White to Ke’Shawn Vaughn, all the way down to Sean Tucker have been to this point. The Buccaneers are in search of some juice out of their backfield.
The only obvious negative that sticks out to me is the fact that Rachaad White and Edmonds share a similar third-down skill set. So it remains to be seen just how much work Edmonds will get, and in which situations. Edmonds, similar to a Giovanni Bernard of old, has been regarded as a quality pass protector. Something that Baker Mayfield is in desperate need of. It obviously wouldn’t take much for Edmonds to catch fire on TNF priced at just 200 DK dollars. He’s a solid salary-saving dart throw tonight.
TNF Bust
Rachaad White
DraftKings Salary- $8,000
Rachaad White has gotten a ton of volume this season. The production on the ground had been virtually non-existent to date. White’s best rushing performance came in Week 2 when he rushed for 73 yards and a touchdown against a very beatable Bears run defense. White hasn’t even reached 60 yards since that game, and he hasn’t come close to finding the end zone again. A place where White does make his bread though is in the passing game. Last week White caught all six of his targets for 65 yards. Those numbers were all season highs and seem like an outlier as it is. Combine that with the fact that Chase Edmonds may possibly take some third-down work away from White, and I no longer have a reason to play Rachaad on TNF.
Week 8 Rankings: Quarterback | Running Back | Wide Receiver | Tight End