With Monday night being taken over by the College Football Playoff semifinals Sunday night is the last chance for some DraftKings DFS fun in Week 17. And what fun it promises to deliver. The Packers and the Vikings all have some rising stars on offense (and Jaren Hall will be playing too).
Both teams have significant injury issues, though. The Vikings have been dealing with the loss of Kirk Cousins since Week 9, and now Alexander Mattison is injured too. The Vikings have a total of 10 players on injured reserve and a further 10 are dealing with injuries this week. Jordan Addison and Jalen Nailor are among those dealing with injuries this week and that means there are only three healthy receivers on the active roster in Minnesota!
The Packers only have two players on their IR list, but they have 14 players recovering from injuries this week. Amongst their injury problems are AJ Dillon, two tight ends, and three receivers! According to the Ourlads depth chart, the Packers only have three healthy receivers on their active roster, too!
Sunday Night DraftKings Bargains
The Actually Healthy Wide Receiver DraftKings DFS Pick – Brandon Powell
Powell is one of the lucky Vikings receivers who isn’t injured this week. So that’s not a bad starting point. Powell will cost $3,200 on this DraftKings DFS slate and he’s averaging 10.3 yards per touch this season.
It’s difficult to know how the Packers’ defense will look with so many injuries, but Keisean Nixon doesn’t feature on the injury report. So, he may see more snaps than usual, and Joe Barry might end up lining up in a nickel base more than he normally would. Nixon is allowing 78.4 passes thrown his way to be completed. And he’s conceded 2 touchdowns this season, so Powell could be in luck this week.
The Actually Healthy Running Back DraftKings DFS Pick – Patrick Taylor
Now, this is very much a “prisoner of the moment” pick. Currently, the Packers are listing Adam Jones and AJ Dillon as “questionable”. And Emanuel Wilson is one of the players on IR. The Packers do have running backs (who are all $200 if you’re feeling speculative) on their practice squad so they may call up one of them. But even if they do, Taylor figures will see more action than usual with the two senior guys recovering.
The Vikings have allowed nine touchdowns to running backs in 2023. The running back position averages 20.1 points per game against Minnesota. Taylor is just $1,200 on this DraftKings DFS slate which will be an absolute bargain if he replaces Dillon or Jones. Taylor is averaging 4.6 yards per touch, so with extra touches, he’ll rack up some yards.
The “Surely He’s Going To Play” DraftKings DFS Pick – Bo Melton
Melton reverted to the Packers practice squad on Monday, but they surely have to bring him back up before Saturday. He’s kind of the opposite of Patrick Taylor, he’s currently not due to have any impact at all, but he has featured in the last two Packers games.
Melton is averaging 9.7 yards per touch, and he’s even run the ball this season. Melton has caught 5 of his 8 targets in the last two games. He racked up 51 yards from scrimmage in Carolina last week, scoring 9.1 DraftKings DFS points in the process. Melton will cost just $2,400 on this DraftKings DFS slate, my fingers are crossed that the Packers promote him to the active roster.
The Young Kickier DraftKings DFS Pick – Anders Carlson
The rookie kicker is having a great season when it comes to kicking field goals from inside 40 yards. He hasn’t missed one yet, but he’s had some issues with longer-range kicks. He only costs $4,800 on the DraftKings DFS slate though and according to DraftKings stats he’s playing a team who are 27th in the league against kickers. Carlson averages 7.4 DraftKings points per game so he should be productive indoors.
The Counterintuitive Pick Packers D/ST
The Vikings are favorites to win this game, which is odd given Nick Mullens threw four interceptions last week! And he ended the game against the Lions with a QBR of 42.0! There seems to be some confusion about who will start at quarterback for the Vikings this week.
Justin Jefferson is only catching 65% (last season it was 69.6%) of his targets since he came back from his injury and seven of the Vikings’s defense did not practice this week. De’Vondre Campbell is the only Packers defender who hasn’t practiced this week. And while he is an important player, one is a lot fewer than seven!
Main Image: Brad Rempel-USA TODAY Sports
