This article is part of our DFS NFL series.
Week 1 is firmly in our rearview mirror, and now all eyes will shift to an exciting Thursday Night Football matchup between the Chiefs and Chargers. This star-studded matchup also brings another opportunity to play on Monkey Knife Fight.
Three Game Types are offered, including "More Or Less," "Rapid Fire" and "Stat Shootout." For a full breakdown of the rules for each game, see the House Rules page. Let's dive into some of the contests within each Game Type, and discuss how things might play out.
More Or Less Contest
An interesting 2/2 goal for 3.5X the prize consists of pass completions for both Patrick Mahomes and Justin Herbert. Mahomes' number is 26.5 completions, while Herbert's is 25.5. Mahomes came away with 30 completions during a blowout win over the Cardinals in Week 1, while Herbert finished with 26 receptions against the Raiders.
When these two teams played each other last season, Mahomes finished with 27 and 31 completions, respectively. Herbert finished with 26 and 22, respectively. They both have capable pass-catching running backs, which helps with completions. This should also be a high-scoring game between two prolific offenses, despite Tyreek Hill no longer being on the Chiefs and Keenan Allen (hamstring) being out for the Chargers. Give me the over on completions for both players.
Rapid Fire Contest
For this contest, let's focus on a 2/3 goal for 1.7X the prize. The options are passing yards Patrick Mahomes vs. Justin Herbert (with Herbert getting a +26.5 yards bonus), receiving yards Travis Kelce vs. Mike Williams (with Williams getting a +14.5 yards bonus) and rushing yards Austin Ekeler vs. Clyde Edwards-Helaire (with Edwards-Helaire getting a +11.5 yards bonus).
With regards to receiving yards for Kelce vs. Williams, I'll take Williams. Not only does he receive a significant yardage bonus, but he'll be the Chargers' top wide receiver with Allen out. He's very much a boom-or-bust player, which was evident in the two matchups that he had with the Chiefs last season. In the first game, he had 122 receiving yards and two touchdowns. In the second game, he finished with 49 yards and no scores.
For the rushing prop, give me Ekeler to outproduce Edwards-Helaire, even though he doesn't have a bonus. Although he only finished with 36 rushing yards in Week 1, Ekeler had 14 carries and is the clear top running back for the Chargers. Edwards-Helaire only have seven carries against the Cardinals in Week 1, and he has more competition for carries in Jerick McKinnon and Isiah Pacheco, who combined for 16 carries in Week 1.
Stat Shootout Contest
Among the options for this contest is to select three players to combine for more than 223.5 receiving yards for 2X the prize. The players to go with are Kelce, Williams and JuJu Smith-Schuster. Kelce and Williams are both options to go for at least 100 receiving yards. Kelce has played in three games versus the Chargers the last two seasons and finished with at least 90 receiving yards in each, including a huge performance in Week 15 last year when he had 191 receiving yards.
Smith-Schuster's debut with the Chiefs couldn't have gone much better. He caught six of eight targets for 79 yards, showing an immediate chemistry with Mahomes. In what is shaping up to be a shootout, it wouldn't be a surprise to see all three of these plays challenge for 100 receiving yards each.
