I hope everyone had a great week 2, and hopefully you loaded up on the Ravens – Dolphins game in your drafts. On Monday Night Football, we get a special 2 game slate with the Titans traveling to Buffalo to face the Bills (-10) with a 47.5 o/u and the Vikings traveling to Philadelphia to face the Eagles (-2.5) with a 50.5 o/u.
Underdog Fantasy capitalized on the fact there were two games, releasing a 2-game slate contest names the Monday Night Madness with a $5 entry point, 33,996 entries, and a $50k top prize. The biggest difference between this contest and the single game/showdown contests is this contest is identical to the main full slate contest, only with 2-games. So, instead of the normal 4 round drafts with only skill position players that we get on a typical single game slate, we get the full experience with full rosters tonight.
Let’s dig in.
Draft Strategy for Week 2 Monday Night Football – Titans @ Bills – Vikings @ Eagles
One of the main differences (other than the rosters) between this slate and the main slate & showdown slates is the slate doesn’t have refreshing/updating average draft position (ADP). Therefore, players are shown by their projection causing the 4 QBs to be a part of the top 8 projected players in the contest leading to them getting drafted toward the beginning of drafts. Since you can’t select more than one quarterback, it may be advantageous to wait to load up at the skill positions (RB, WR, TE, FLEX) when your draftmates grab their QB early.
There are downsides to waiting on QB and that is you may be giving up significant projection due to lack of rushing upside. This implies that your draftmates grab Josh Allen, Jalen Hurts, and Ryan Tannehill, leaving you with Kirk Cousins. Due to projection alone, you may be left with Tannehill, who has scored exactly 7 rushing touchdowns in both of the last two years. Paired with Kirk or Tannehill would hopefully be at least 2 Justin Jefferson, Derrick Henry, Dalvin Cook, Stefon Diggs, and AJ Brown to make up for the points left on the table by not having Hurts/Allen.
A major point to the slate will be that Gabe Davis (the #2 WR for the Bills) was downgraded to questionable due to an ankle injury sustained during practice on Saturday. The potential inactivation of Davis would have large lasting ripple effects. With Gabe down, it could lead the Bills to incorporate their receiving tight end, Dawson Knox, more in the offense. With how shallow it is at TE (only 4 projected “playable” TEs), his increased involvement would be important toward winning the contest. Other than Knox, it could cause the Bills to make Khalil Shakir active on gameday (he was a healthy inactive last week) and immediately see routes on the outside (Isaiah McKenzie and Jamison Crowder work almost exclusively out of the slot), providing immense upside at an almost unowned level.
As 10-point underdogs, the Titans should be forced to throw the football. We saw that Treylon Burks was a part-time player but showed burst and was debatably their most explosive player. I would expect him to play more and have the ability to rack up yards after the catch while potentially breaking a long one.
In the other game, both #1 WRs owned their passing attacks, however, don’t think that continues. Devonta Smith is a dynamic playmaker and should be involved moving forward. His projection feels light for his deep-play ability (especially with the 50.5 o/u). Adam Thielen, on the other hand, has 2-TD upside in a potential shoot-out.
The key to the slate may be the RB position with both the Eagles’ and Bills’ rushing attacks being split backfields. Devin Singletary could be utilized more (as a 3-down back) or Zack Moss could continue to steal goal-line looks, meanwhile, if the Eagles get behind early, expect a heavy dose of Kenneth Gainwell instead of Miles Sanders.
As stated in the Thursday article, it is most important, since only 24 players are selected in total (6 per team), you want your roster to tell a story. Think about how each individual player hits their ceiling outcome and what that means for players on their team vs. the other team.
Top Plays for Drafts
- Josh Allen – The best player in the universe right now. He can throw for 300 yards and run for another 100. Contains the highest ceiling on the slate
- Justin Jefferson – We saw how we Kevin O’Connell will use him last week. With his talent, last week’s outcome is repeatable.
- AJ Brown – Super talented and we saw the connection between him and Jalen Hurts.
- Stefon Diggs – Still the #1 WR for Allen and the Bills
Players That Could Differentiate Your Lineup
- Khalil Shakir – Truly depends on Gabe Davis’ health
- Zack Moss – Potential goal-line back for the Bills
- Treylon Burks – Titans should be in a negative game-script leading to Tannehill getting him the ball.
