DraftKings NFL picks and advice for Saturday Wild Card Round contest to build a winning lineup.
For the first time in league history, Wild Card Weekend in the NFL Playoffs will include six games. Not only does that mean more action for fans to consume but that also means better slates for DraftKings NFL DFS players to enjoy. And if you look at the bigger contests, they are divided into Saturday and Sunday contests of three games apiece. So our DFS fantasy football endeavors start with the Saturday Wild Card slate.
The three games on Saturday for the Wild Card Round are the Indianapolis Colts at Buffalo Bills, Los Angeles Rams at Seattle Seahawks, and Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Washington Football Team. That should offer us plenty of DraftKings goodies and picks to delve into.
We’re going to go position-by-position through the DraftKings NFL Saturday Wild Card slate and figure out the best picks and values before constructing a lineup for tournament plays. Let’s start at the quarterbacks.
Saturday Wild Card DraftKings NFL picks: Quarterbacks
Picking the right quarterback on a three-game slate is pivotal because there are less likely to be more big-time smash plays. So we start at the most expensive player with Bills quarterback Josh Allen ($7,500). His dual-threat ability make him the most obvious play but a matchup against a streaky and talented Colts defense does give me some pause — but not too much.
The next two highest-priced quarterbacks are Tom Brady ($6,900) and Russell Wilson ($6,500). We know both players are playoff proven but they also both draw tough Wild Card Round matchups against good pass defenses. However, I’m fading Wilson but buying Brady as the veteran seems equipped to handle the Washington front seven and his weapons can pick apart a secondary that has largely played above its head this season.
Jared Goff ($6,000) is listed as questionable and it remains to be seen if he’ll play on Sunday. And even if he does, it’s hard to imagine he sees 100 percent of snaps after having thumb surgery less than two weeks ago. To me, that makes backup John Wolford ($4,900) a fascinating value play against the generous Seattle defense, especially with the fact that Wolford rushed for 50+ yards last week.
I’m staying away from the Washington quarterback situation as they face a good Tampa Bay defense and Alex Smith ($5,100) and Taylor Heinicke ($4,100) are likely to split snaps. But Philip Rivers is a possible contrarian play at $5,400 as the Bills defense has not been consistently good against the pass.