Winners Club: Thursday Night Football Player Spotlight and Best Bets, Plus NLDS Betting Breakdown
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We’ve got win-or-go-home playoff baseball and Thursday Night Football on tap tonight, and the NBA season is just days away. Today’s Winners Club covers all of that and more to help you set your fantasy lineups and prepare your weekend bets.
Keep reading for picks, props and player rankings, but we begin with a spotlight on the two most important players in tonight’s game between the Eagles and Buccaneers.
Thursday Night QB Battle: Tom Brady vs. Jalen Hurts
Two of fantasy football’s top quarterbacks face off in Philadelphia tonight. The Buccaneers’ Tom Brady is the No. 1 quarterback in fantasy football, while Eagles signal caller Jalen Hurts sits in the sixth spot. Stylistically, they couldn’t be more different — yet they’ve seen individual fantasy success this season all the same.
Tim Heitman/USA TODAY Sports
Brady is 44 years old and is in his 22nd NFL season. Hurts, 23, is just a few games into his sophomore season. Tampa Bay is 4-1 and a legitimate Super Bowl contender. The Eagles sit at 2-3 and are trying to buy themselves some time with first-year coach Nick Sirianni while waiting to see if Hurts is the guy. Brady leads the NFL in passing yards (1,767) while Hurts leads his team in rushing yards (256). What I’m trying to say is there are very different ways of being an elite fantasy football quarterback, and these two embody completely opposite methods of climbing that mountain.
Hurts has either rushed for a touchdown or thrown for multiple touchdowns in every game this season. His performances haven’t exactly been pretty, though. The Eagles’ last game against the Panthers saw Hurts on his way to a single-digit performance at halftime, only to be salvaged by a pair of second-half rushing touchdowns that buoyed his fifth consecutive 20-point outing. But whether it’s throwing a trio of touchdowns against Atlanta, running for a season-high 82 yards against the 49ers or passing for a season-best 382 yards against the Chiefs, Hurts is getting you points.
Brady, on the other hand, gets his points pretty one dimensionally. But there’s nothing boring about passing for 15 touchdowns and 1,767 yards in five games. His only dud this season came against New England, his former team. Brady was kept out of the end zone and was uncharacteristically inaccurate. Aside from that game, he’s passed for five touchdowns in a game twice this season, including last week against the Dolphins when he scored a season-high 37.7 points (which somehow wasn’t the QB1 performance thanks to Justin Herbert and Lamar Jackson).
Hurts and Brady will likely tear up one another’s defenses tonight as they have against the rest of the league. Tampa Bay’s defense has not been what it was cracked up to be in the offseason and will be without linebacker Lavonte David. Philadelphia has been stout against the pass despite facing Dak Prescott and Patrick Mahomes this season, but Brady may be the first quarterback to pass for 300 yards this season against Philadelphia tonight.
Kim Klement/USA TODAY Sports
Reading
Giants-Dodgers Game 5 Betting: Matt Ehalt has all the info you need to place your bets on tonight’s game between Los Angeles and San Francisco. See who’s on the mound, how each offense has fared and who Ehalt is picking.
TNF Player Props: Jennifer Piacenti has a pick and four player props for tonight’s game between Philadelphia and Tampa Bay. I really like the longshot bet on Tom Brady to score a non-passing touchdown. See what the other bets are and place them over on SI Sportsbook.
Start ‘Em, Sit ‘Em: It’s the weekly series you know and love from Michael Fabiano and there are a few players for TNF who made the “start” list. Find out who and set your lineups accordingly.
College Football Composite: Richard Johnson CFB model has dozens of picks for this weekend’s slate of games. There were plenty of high-profile upsets last week, and there are few underdogs the model likes in these games, including UCF +21 against No. 3 Cincinnati.
NBA MVP Best Bets: Basketball begins Tuesday night and I’m making the case for some of the favorites for every season-long individual NBA award. I started off with MVP — see what it would take for Giannis Antetokounmpo or Stephen Curry to win their third MVP and which bet I like the most.
Fantasy Player Rankings: Shawn Childs has in-depth rankings and stat projections for every fantasy football start or bench option you could think of to help you sort out your roster decisions. Christian McCaffrey, who’s a game-time decision for Sunday, is back at the No. 1 RB spot.
Subscriber Questions
Send your fantasy football lineup questions to winnerslcub@si.com for a chance to have it be answered in Sunday’s newsletter! You can also hit me up on Twitter @Kkylewood or tweet at @SI_Fantasy for trade advice or lineup concerns.
Play of the Day and Games I’m Watching
Play of the Day: I like DeVonta Smith in DFS tonight. The Bucs’ secondary is depleted. Cornerbacks Sean Murphy-Bunting and Carlton Davis are both on injury reserve and safety Antoine Winfield Jr. was ruled out of Thursday Night Football with a concussion. Tampa Bay has the worst passing defense in football so far this season.
Smith has 14 receptions for 199 yards over his last two games and he’s clearly the top receiving threat for Jalen Hurts. The Bucs’ trio of receivers are all more expensive than Smith. Just by sheer volume he’s bound to outperform his relatively modest DFS price. If he scores for the first time since his debut, he will more than justify the investment.
Games I’m Watching: You know what they say about SEC football? It just means more. The last time an upstart SEC team traveled to Athens, the Bulldogs demolished Arkansas. Maybe this week will be different — maybe not. Either way, I’m interested to see No. 11 Kentucky battle No. 1 Georgia Saturday at 3:30 p.m. ET on CBS. The Wildcats proved themselves against Florida and Saturday presents an even tougher, bigger opportunity.
John Reed/USA TODAY Sports
There’s a QB controversy in Norman, Oklahoma, for the Sooners. (Shoutout to the OU Daily!) Still, OU remains top four in the nation after last week’s epic come-from-behind win against Texas. Can No. 4 Oklahoma keep it up against TCU Saturday at 7:30 p.m ET on ABC, regardless of who’s behind center?
That’s all for today, folks. I’ll be back on Sunday bright and early ahead of another London game.
