Sunday Night Football brings us the 5-2 Seattle Seahawks vs. the 3-5 Washington Commanders. The Commanders are coming off three losses in a row, including a loss to the Chiefs last Monday night. They’ll have a shorter turnaround than usual, while the Seahawks should be well rested as they come off their bye week. Washington does get Jayden Daniels back from a one-week absence due to a hamstring injury and a home game, but will once again be without WR Terry McLaurin. The Seahawks are 3-point favorites on the road.
Seattle has been dominant against the run, allowing a league best 3.2 yards per carry. They are also strong against the pass, not allowing any quarterback to throw for more than two touchdowns or rush for one. Overall, this is not a team you’re happy to see on the schedule for fantasy.
The Commanders on the other hand are giving up the fifth-most fantasy points to quarterbacks and 13th-most to running backs. They rank dead last in yards per completion allowed and the fifth-most receiving yards on passes over 20 yards downfield. They’re worse against the pass than run, but they aren’t good against the run either.
Below we will take a look at the best DFS plays for this Sunday night showdown.
Jaxon Smith-Njigba, WR, Seahawks (FLEX $13,400, CPT $20,100)
With the Seahawks splitting work between two running backs, Sam Darnold not scoring fantasy points with his legs, and Smith-Njigba leading the league with an absurd 38.3% target share, it is difficult to feel good about any Seahawks player other than their stud wide receivers as the captain in this game. The matchup is ridiculously good, Cooper Kupp is questionable, and we know he’s going to get all the work he can manage. He’s expensive to roster for good reasons.
Jayden Daniels, QB, Commanders (FLEX $12,800, CPT $19,200)
Daniels returns from a one-week hamstring injury to play in this game. The injury is worrisome for his rushing ability, but he was a full practice participant and wasn’t listed on the final injury report. We can reasonably expect him to run the ball in a game where he will likely need to make some hero plays for them to pull out a win.
Jeremy McNichols, RB, Commanders (FLEX $4,400, CPT $6,600)
The Seahawks are willing to give up receptions to running backs underneath, while they look to stop big plays to wide receivers. They’ve given up a league high 47 receptions and the fourth most yards to the position. If the Seahawks push the Commanders into passing situations, which they often do based on their run defense and +57 point differential this year. On FanDuel he isn’t as exciting at half-ppr, but his skill set works well in this matchup.
Luke McCaffrey, WR, Commanders (FLEX $7,500, CPT $5,000)
With Terry McLaurin out, McCaffrey appears to be the best bet to see increased work. Even with McLaurin back last week, McCaffrey was still involved and overall played the second-most snaps on the team. He’s shown big play ability on limited targets and has a good shot of outplaying his price this week.
Tory Horton, WR, Seahawks (FLEX $3,000, CPT $4,500)
I’m going with a post-bye rookie bump for my next two picks, that could coincide with Cooper Kupp missing this game. First is wide receiver Tory Horton, who started off well this season, but has been non-existent over the last two games before their bye. My wish casting has the Seahawks reevaluating how they use him over the bye, and then bumping his usage in a good matchup. That becomes easier to do if Kupp is out this week.
Elijah Arroyo, TE, Seahawks (FLEX $4,500, CPT $5,100)
The Commanders have given up the seventh most yards and fifth-most touchdowns to tight ends and rank fifth-worst in DVOA allowed to the position. The Seahawks starting tight end is AJ Barner and he has value this week, but the hope is we get the rookie Arroyo a bit more playing time and usage. In the game against a tough Texans defense before the Seahawks bye, Barner had the majority of the snaps, but Arroyo was second on the team with five targets, in which he caught four for 42 yards. If Kupp is out and he gets a rookie bump, there is decent upside for him this week.
