Cowboys (

25.25) at
Giants (

22.25)

Xandamere is one of the most respected and consistently dominant Showdown players in DFS, breaking down strategy thoughts and rules for every TNF, SNF, and MNF game

XANDAMERE’S SHOWDOWN SLANT

Sunday night has the Cowboys visiting New York to take on the Giants in a 48 point total game in which the Cowboys are favored by three. The Giants will look different than they did most of last year with Cam Skattebo back, Jaxson Dart firmly installed at QB, and Malik Nabers….is a giant question mark. Nabers will be returning from an ACL tear at some point, but it’s a question mark as to when. He got in full practices this week which would normally make me think he’s playing, but there have been whispers about the team doctors still having other items of concern, and both coach Harbaugh and Nabers himself have been not exactly forthcoming. He’s being projected in around the industry, so I’ll be assuming he plays for now, but covering how I think things play out if he misses. We may know Sunday morning if we get a Schefter tweet, but otherwise, we probably won’t know for sure until 90 minutes before kickoff.

NEW YORK

We’ll start with the Giants and their backfield. Cam Skattebo is back and will be the lead back, with some combination of Najee Harris, Tyrone Tracy, and Devin Singletary backing him up. He’ll be facing a Cowboys defense that allowed 30.1 points per game last season, most in the NFL, but that absolutely shut down opposing run games after trading for Quinnen Williams in the middle of the season. It’s an awful matchup and Skattebo is just returning from a season-ending injury, which could result in efficiency issues and/or workload restrictions. I’m kind of down on Skattebo here, but RB1s in Showdown always belong in player pools…I wouldn’t remove him entirely, but for me it’s an underweight position. The RB2 position is guess work as the Giants have currently listed all of Harris, Tracy, and Singletary as RB2s. Thanks, Giants. I’d guess Harris is the RB2, but I could be wrong. Take a guess. Good luck.

In the passing game, Nabers is a massive wildcard. Does he play? If he plays, is he a full go or is he on a snap count? We’ll have to see if we get news, but for now this is a tough spot to project. If Nabers plays, he’s a high-risk, high-reward play – he’s too cheap for his talent at full health, so he’s worth exposure, there’s every possibility he just doesn’t play enough. Malachi Fields won the WR2 job and will play regardless and then some combination of Darnell Mooney, Odell Beckham, and Braxton Berrios will fill in….these guys are all dart throws if Nabers plays, but if Nabers misses, it’s Mooney or Beckham who make the most sense to fill in for him, not so much Berrios. Any of them would be playable, but I’d have more faith in Mooney, who at least played in the NFL last year, than Beckham. Fields at $5k would likely become extremely popular. And then we come to tight end, where Isaiah Likely followed coach John Harbaugh from Baltimore – Likely is, overall, my favorite skill position player on the Giants. He might go overlooked if Nabers plays, but if Nabers sits he’s going to be popular – and I’m ok with that. On an extremely lackluster receiving corps, facing a pass funnel defense, and with a coach who knows him and whose offenses heavily featured tight ends, I think Likely leads the team in targets.