Draftkings NFL Showdown Picks: Chargers vs. Falcons 12/1/24

This Sunday afternoon, the NFL presents Draftkings football fans with a matchup featuring the Los Angeles Chargers and the Atlanta Falcons. Let’s take a look at this NFL game from a DFS perspective.

Before we dive into the Los Angeles Chargers vs. Atlanta Falcons game let’s review the rules for the Draftkings single game showdown contest.

Draftkings Single Game Showdown Contest Rules

You have $50,000 to utilize on five players from either team. However, one of those players will be designated as your team captain. The captain accumulates 1.5 times the standard fantasy points. Additionally, the captain is 1.5 times the standard cost of the flex position.

The remaining four players in your lineup will receive the standard fantasy points. Having stated that, it is highly important for you to identify the correct player for your captain position if you hope to win a large field DFS GPP (guaranteed prize pool) showdown contest.

If you have additional questions regarding the rules for the single game showdown contest, I recommend that you check out the Draftkings website for more details.

I recommend that all readers review the starting lineups for both teams prior to setting your DFS lineup for this one game slate.

Here are my Draftkings picks for this week’s Los Angeles Chargers vs. Atlanta Falcons matchup.

Captain-Justin Herbert, Quarterback, Los Angeles Chargers $9,200

How important has quarterback Justin Herbert been to the Los Angeles Chargers offense this season? Let’s review Herbert’s relevant player data from the 2024 NFL regular season to answer that question.

In the 11 games that Herbert has played for the Los Angeles Chargers in the 2024 NFL regular season, quarterback Justin Herbert compiled a massive 2,404 passing yards, 13 passing touchdowns, 211 rushing yards, and two rushing touchdowns.

More recently, in the Los Angeles Chargers 34-27 win over the Cincinnati Bengals two weeks ago, Justin Herbert certainly played at a high level. More specifically, Herbert accumulated 279 passing yards, two passing touchdowns, and added 65 rushing yards.

I definitely like Justin Herbert from a general matchup perspective in this NFL regular season matchup. Why? The Atlanta Falcons have had issues containing opposing quarterbacks this season. Let me be more specific. Through 12 games played in the 2024 NFL regular season, the Atlanta Falcons are ranked a rather low 26th in total Draftkings points allowed a game (19.2) to the quarterback position. It is noteworthy that the NFL has 32 teams in the entire league. Having stated that, being ranked 26th in any defensive category is clearly not good.

In summary, I think quarterback Justin Herbert is the most likely player to post the most Draftkings points in Sunday afternoon’s NFL regular season game. For that specific reason, I am backing Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert at the captain position for this one game Draftkings NFL Showdown slate.

Flex Plays

Kirk Cousins, Quarterback, Atlanta Falcons, $10,000

In the 11 games that quarterback Kirk Cousins has played for the Atlanta Falcons in the 2024 NFL regular season, Kirk Cousins has accumulated 2,807 passing yards and 17 passing touchdowns.

More recently, in the Atlanta Falcons 31-26 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last month, Kirk Cousins tallied a massive 276 passing yards and four passing touchdowns.

Looking at the data just presented more closely, in the Falcons victory over the Buccaneers just noted, Kirk Cousins compiled 28.6 Draftkings points.

Additional flex plays I like to perform well (Draftkings price noted): Darnell Mooney, Wide Receiver (Atlanta Falcons) $7,600: Gus Edwards, Running Back (Los Angeles Chargers) $8,400: Ladd McConkey, Wide Receiver (Los Angeles Chargers) $9,000.