Perfect Week 5 MNF FanDuel Showdown Lineup: Find High-Upside with Brashard Smith
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Monday Night Football looks to be a unique, yet very intriguing matchup that finds the Kansas City Chiefs heading to face the Jacksonville Jaguars. Trevor Lawrence is leading a dynamic and thriving new offense under Liam Coen that provides a ton of sleeper opportunity. The Chiefs have their usual trustworthy unit that will also now gain back Xavier Worthy. I am really looking forward to this game. If the Jaguars pull it out, it may be time to consider them a sleeper AFC contender.
MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL PREVIEW - CHIEFS VS JAGUARS
The Jaguars have an elite rushing offense that ranks 4th in the NFL with 144 Yards per Game. This has been their bread and butter, which proves reason for the lacking output of Brian Thomas Jr and Travis Hunter. However, this team is 3-1, so who are we to question them.
The Chiefs have been slightly banged up, but they are still an above average offense. As time goes on, they will surely mold into a fine NFL unit. They rank 12th in the pass and 19th in the run. Both of these offenses are quite comparable in regards to their true level of offense at this time.
I am anticipating a tough matchup that will come down to the end. Many people will side with the Chiefs as they are the popular team, but the Jaguars are very well in the mix to win. They field the 2nd ranked pass rush and 2nd ranked run stop. They also lead the NFL in turnovers by a wide margin. The Jaguars have 13 turnovers on the year, followed by the next best at 10 (Steelers). Do not expect the day to come easy for Mahomes.
The key will be for the Jaguars to run the ball effectively as they have. If they struggle at this, perhaps Lawrence may struggle in forcing the pass. He has proven to be just a mid-tier passer of the ball. This is the first true test of Liam Coen as an NFL head coach.
PERFECT MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL FANDUEL SHOWDOWN LINEUP
MVP - 1.5X PTS - Travis Etienne Jr ($17,700)
Advanced metrics show that the Jaguars should be able to run the ball effectively. The Chiefs are ranking just 24th against opposing running backs in regards to fantasy football. Meanwhile, the Jaguars run a very swift and effective run scheme with Brenton Strange as a dominant, dual-threat tight end. Salary projects to be spread out today with no dominant ownerships on display. Given that fact, we should attack with our highest upside, highest scoring options. For me, that is Etienne Jr.
Travis Etienne’s 2025 pace:
— SleeperNFL (@SleeperNFL) October 2, 2025
1,674 Rushing Yards
13 Touchdowns
Is he an RB1 rest of season? pic.twitter.com/0bDyT1pf2v
AnyFLEX - Patrick Mahomes ($13,800)
The salary his hefty, but still valuable per my projections. The Chiefs have historically been a team that does actually run first. In 2025, that is not the case. The Chiefs have passed extremely heavily, especially when in the red zone. If we are correct in seeing this a tight game where the Chiefs even chase, we are against the grain and thus, see further opportunity for Mahomes to reach his ceiling. He is averaging 22 Points per Game, per FanDuel.
AnyFLEX - Trevor Lawrence ($11,200)
We have some sleeper picks down the line with tremendous upside. What that means is that it is fair to chase the highest scorers. Today, that should be both quarterbacks. The Jaguars have equal scoring by running backs as they do by the passing game. They also spread the ball around as much as any team in the league. This reduces their risk and I am okay achieving just 12-15 Points, with 20+ upside. If we nail down one sleeper pick, it is all worth it.
AnyFLEX - Travis Kelce ($9,200)
If anyone was considering Kelce "washed up", I was agreeing with them. I will now admit that I was wrong. Kelce is yet to have a breakout game but he looks great thus far. Kelce is catching 75% of his targets and has 182 Yards on the season. The Jaguare are mediocre against the tight end this year and for $9,200, we can either hit 100 yards, and/or one touchdown to pay huge upside. I trust Kelce over other options. He is the lowest risk with Worthy back in the passing offense. We know that if the Chiefs are down in the 4th quarter, Kelce will see the ball. Game script favors him more today than any other game, in my opinion.
AnyFLEX - Dyami Brown ($4,000)
The Jaguars appear to trust Brown just as much, if not more than Travis Hunter. Brown has three red zone targets, tied for the best on the team, and dating back to his Commanders days, he has been a great red zone target. Coen is brilliant as is Kliff Kingsbury. Back healthy, Brown has tremendous touchdown opportunity. This price is way to cheap allowing us to cash in value without much output, but with huge upside.
AnyFLEX - Brashard Smith ($3,000)
#Chiefs rookie RB Brashard Smith has seen an increase in trust and production on the field.
— Sports Radio 810 WHB (@SportsRadio810) October 2, 2025
Andy Reid told @pgsween, "He's willing to listen, very humble kid, and works hard." pic.twitter.com/60GA58ZclN
Rumors have been hitting the internet this week that Smith is going to see increased work in this offense. Rumors are rumors and they can be hard to trust, but logically this makes a ton of sense. The Chiefs are not threatening at all in the running game. Over the year, Andy Reid has been a coach to leverage the run and find very valuable fantasy running backs. It would not surprise me in the slightest if Smith lead the team in running back touches this week. For $3,000, I will take that risk. I would kick myself if Smith scored tomorrow with a ton of yards and I went against that pick. Reid has made the rarest gems out of sleeper picks.
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Thomas Carelli is a sportswriter based on Northern New Jersey. He is a massive New York Jets and Mets fan, but that is not where is sports fandom stops. He loves to watch and play golf, all things football, baseball, and much more. If he can watch it, he will. Thomas graduated from William Paterson University in 2018 with a Bachelor's Degree in Sport Management. He spent 4 years working at a local golf course, volunteered past PGA events, and spent some part-time experience with the New York Jets events team. His passions for sport runs deep and his articles show for it.