Finding any DraftKings DFS bargains in the 49ers team has been hit-and-miss all season. Their offense revolves around 4 players (Purdy, McCaffrey, Samuel, and Kittle). The Chiefs offense is more multi-faceted but nowhere near as clinical. At least not until Travis Kelce went all “superhero mode” against the Ravens. The 49ers defense will surely be designed to keep him under wraps. And that will give plenty of others some opportunities.
DraftKings Bargains for Super Bowl LVIII
The Ultra Reliable DraftKings DFS Pick – Harrison Butker
He hasn’t missed a kick during this playoff run. And kickers have accounted for 27% of the points the 49ers have conceded in the postseason. Butker will cost just $5,000 in this DraftKings DFS slate. And he could well be the Chiefs’ highest scorer.
The Trending Upward DraftKings DFS Pick – Marquez Valdes-Scantling
If they line him opposite Amby Thomas MVS will either draw a DPI penalty or rack up some big receiving yards. But he should actually line up opposite Charvarius Ward and he’s been the 49ers’ best defender. During the regular season, he only allowed 54.1% of passes to be completed. In the playoffs that’s gone up to 62.5%, but he has only been targeted 8 times in the 2 games.
Valdes-Scantling does have a height advantage over Ward, and he has played more snaps in every game. He only played 32 against the Dolphins in the arctic conditions in Arrowhead, but that had increased to 67 last time out against the Ravens. Valdes-Scantling has caught 4 of 6 targets in the last 2 games and he’s racked up 100 yards on those receptions.
Valdes-Scantling is yet to catch a touchdown in the postseason, but if he does, he’ll score about 13 points. And at just $3,000 on the DraftKings DFS slate that would make him the king of bargains.
The Secret Weapon Pick – Noah Gray
The tight end come fullback come quarterback (and that’s the key role) is just $1,800 on the DraftKings DFS Captains Showdown slate. And he might be the Swiss army knife the Chiefs use to discombobulate the 49ers defense. The Lions began the NFC Championship game by keeping the 49ers defense off balance metaphorically rather than physically. The pre-snap motion and end-around kept San Francisco on the back foot. Somehow the Lions got away from that and decided that running Amon-Ra St. Brown straight into the heart of the 9ers’ defense from the I formation was a good idea. Spoiler alert, it wasn’t.
Gray hasn’t played quarterback since he was in high school, but the Chiefs have lined him up under center as a de facto QB to sneak over the goal line. Seems like now would be the perfect time to line him under center to fake the sneak and throw a pass instead.
The Big Size Matchup DraftKings DFS Pick – Jauan Jennings
At $4,000 in the DraftKings DFS Captains Showdown Jennings sneaks in under the bargain bar. And he is the closest 49er to the “big 4” when it comes to receptions. During the regular season he made 19 catches for 265 yards, that’s 5 more than Kyle Juszczyk who caught 2 of his 3 targets last time out and had a single carry for 3 yards. So, Juszczyk will be on Steve Spagnolo’s radar (and I picked him last time out, ya gotta mix it up) so he probably won’t be a high-scoring bargain pick this time out.
Jennings figures to be lining up Trent McDuffie this week. And McDuffie has been nothing short of magnificent this season. He allowed 65.8% of passes to be completed during the regular season and just 33.3% in the playoffs (6 out of 18). But Jennings had a massive advantage over McDuffie. He’s 6 feet 3 inches tall, that’s 4 inches taller than Chiefs’ Nickelback. Jennings is also 19lbs heavier than McDuffie. To say Jennings’ usage is erratic would go down as the understatement of the year. He saw 6 targets against the Packers in the Divisional round but just 2 in the Championship game.
The Redemption Story To End All Redemption Stories Pick – Kadarius Toney
I’m just going to keep banging on about the Toney redemption story because I’m a hopeless romantic. Or a total idiot. Or a romantic idiot, two things can be true at once. He hasn’t played since the 17th of December. And he only caught 2 passes in that game against the Patriots. But he’s just $1,400 on the DraftKings DFS slate this week. And he’s never played against the 49ers, so they won’t know what to expect from someone who the phrase “mercurial” was invented.
Main Photo: Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports
