NFL Week 2: Thursday Night Football DFS

Week 1 of the 2021 NFL season is officially in the books and things didn’t go as expected, DFS wise. Mark Andrews, Ronald Jones, and O.J. Howard all were huge letdowns. Week 2 begins with a Thursday Night Football divisional matchup between the New York Giants and the Washington Football Team. Let’s take a look at the top players in this matchup.

DraftKings Captain

Washington D/ST (DK 8,400)

A great way to gain an edge in large DFS tournaments is to play a defense at captain, especially in what’s expected to be low-scoring affair on Thursday. This will save you enough money to get the top offensive players. Both teams combined in Week 1 to only score 29 points. That’s less than what 12 teams scored by themselves. The over/under is also only set at 40 points. Washington’s defense will be going up against Giants quarterback, Daniel Jones, who turned the ball over 16 times last season. New York’s signal-caller already had one fumble last week against the Denver Broncos. Look for Chase Young and company to get into the backfield and wreck some havoc on the turnover-prone quarterback.

FanDuel MVP

Antonio Gibson (DK 9,600 | FD 12,500)

Gibson got his fair share of targets and carries in last week’s game against the Los Angeles Chargers. He was unable, however, to find the end zone. Despite that, he still output a solid day of fantasy production. In a game where players will likely struggle to put up fantasy points, Gibson should get enough volume to be one of the top scorers on the slate. Especially with young quarterback Taylor Heinicke getting the start, Washington head coach Ron Rivera will likely lean on Gibson heavily. Look for them to play good defense and control the clock with the ground game against a Giants defense that gave up 165 rushing yards last week.

Flex Plays

Sterling Shepard (DK 8,000 | FD 11,500)

With Golden Tate in the slot over the last couple of seasons, Shepard moved to the outside to make room for Tate. Shepherd returned to the slot last week and he thrived. In Week 1, he had 113 yards and one touchdown. Shepard is not nearly as good as Keenan Allen, but Allen was able to do some damage against Washington catching nine passes for 100 yards. Look for Shepard to have a similar type of game this week.

Dustin Hopkins (DK 3,800 | FD 9,500)

Selecting a kicker isn’t always the best decision to make because they typically have low ceilings. However, if Thursday night’s game is in fact a lower-scoring showdown, Hopkins could be one of the highest scorers on the slate. Last week, he kicked three field goals and missed one. The Giants’ defense is solid and with Heinicke under center, Washington will likely struggle to finish drives.