Playoff FanDuel Picks: NFL DFS lineup advice for Steelers-Chiefs Wild Card single-game tournaments

Sunday’s final wild card games features the Steelers and the Chiefs in what could be Ben Roethlisberger’s last game in the NFL, and we’re calling on two of his pass-catchers to go along with a healthy dose of chalk on the Kansas City side. Our FanDuel single-game lineup has injury risk, a boom-or-bust, and a rookie TE that’ll hopefully give us enough differentiation for DFS tournaments.

Here are the key scoring settings for FanDuel single-game contests: The point total for the “MVP” is multiplied by 1.5, but he doesn’t cost any additional money like the “Captain” in DraftKings Showdown contests. FanDuel’s default scoring is half-point PPR and four-point passing TDs, and there are no bonuses for 100/300-yard games like on DraftKings.

MORE FD SINGLE GAME: How to win a FanDuel single-game contest

FanDuel Single-Game DFS Picks: Steelers vs. Chiefs

$50,000 budget, need at least one player from each team.

MVP: (1.5x points): WR Tyreek Hill, Chiefs ($13,500)

Hill has averaged fewer than 10 FD points per game in his past three contests (left Week 18 early) and is dealing with a heel injury. This means we can do one of two things — fade him or double down. We’re going aggressive with him in our MVP spot, the injury concerns should keep much of the field away Pittsburgh is strong against TEs but generous against WRs, so we’re banking on a classic Hill explosion to get the Chiefs started in the playoffs.

FLEX: TE Pat Freiermuth, Steelers ($8,500)

Freiermuth was out in the first matchup against Kansas City with a concussion, and here’s to Big Ben feeding him a ton of volume. Freiermuth is tied for first among tight ends in red-zone targets (20), and whether he scores in garbage time or early in the game, those fantasy points count the same.

FLEX: QB Patrick Mahomes, Chiefs ($17,500)

Mahomes is the chalkiest play possible, but we’re rolling with him here. We’re running a classic QB-WR-WR stack here and avoiding Travis Kelce, so hopefully we can still include Mahomes while getting some differentiation.

FLEX: WR Diontae Johnson, Steelers ($12,500)

Johnson drew 10 or more targets in 12 games this season, and although FanDuel isn’t full-PPR scoring, he’ll have plenty of opportunities to produce. The Steelers are already a pass-first offense, and with Kansas City on the other side of the ball, expect Big Ben to throw 50-plus passes in an effort to keep his career alive for one more week. Johnson has also scored seven touchdowns this year, so it’s not as if he’s purely a PPR machine.

FLEX: WR Byron Pringle, Chiefs ($8,000)

The last time these teams squared off, Pringle scored 22.5 FD points with a two-touchdown, 75-yard day. Travis Kelce was out of action on the reserve/COVID list so that certainly helped, but we’ll take Pringle as a DFS dart throw since he obviously presents a matchup problem for the Steelers. Especially if the Chiefs jump out to a huge lead, expect Pringle to get plenty of snaps in an effort to rest Hill (after Hill has scored plenty of points, of course). Garbage time could work to the benefit of both teams in DFS.