Best DFS picks for Patriots-Chargers in Wild Card round matchup

The Los Angeles Chargers head to Foxboro this Saturday evening to take on the New England Patriots in the first round of the playoffs. The Patriots are 3.5-point favorites in this matchup, with the total at 46.5 points. The Patriots have been on fire, going 13-1 after an inauspicious 1-2 start to the season. The Chargers have dealt with injuries to their best two offensive linemen, but their defense has stepped up to help mitigate some offensive lapses.

Below we will take a look at the best DFS plays for this Wild Card showdown.

Captain’s Picks

Drake Maye, QB, Patriots (FLEX $13,200, CPT $19,800)

Maye is always my first Patriots’ player to consider at captain because the team likes to distribute the ball widely. You aren’t getting top fantasy usage out of any Patriots player not named Maye. His ability as a rusher makes him a prime candidate for the captain’s spot, as he has shown himself to be a great deep ball thrower as well as a touchdown scorer with his legs. He can put up fantasy points quickly.

Omarion Hampton, RB, Chargers (FLEX $11,200, CPT $16,800)

Hampton appears to still be dealing with his ankle injury, but he did just come off one of his better usage games, as he had 22 touches in Week 17 against the Texans before being rested in Week 18. And eight of those touches were receptions. The team does not seem afraid to throw him the ball and give him big workloads, even with Kimani Vidal there. The Patriots run defense has been statistically strong for the season, but injuries have hurt and I see Hampton as a strong play as long as he gets in a full practice and isn’t listed on the injury report.

Rhamondre Stevenson, RB, Chargers (FLEX $9,600, CPT $14,400)

TreVeyon Henderson was supposed to win the running back job at some point, but Stevenson held him off and will continue to do so into the playoffs. The team just trusts him more, which is saying a lot when you think of how often he fumbled early in the season. Unfortunately, leading the backfield in snaps doesn’t mean he’s getting a ton of touches each week. He continues to split those with Henderson and will even fall behind him at times, but Stevenson is getting the bulk of targets and goal line looks. He now has six touchdowns over his last three games and has been extremely efficient. At this point, it would just be weird to see Henderson out touch Stevenson in their first playoff game.

Value flex plays

Tre Harris, WR, Chargers (FLEX $4,200, CPT $6,300)

Harris hasn’t put up big numbers, but has seen 17 targets over the last four games. He’s only caught 10 of those for 139 yards, but the usage is good enough to use him as a cost saver if you need it.

Kayshon Boutte, TE, Patriots (FLEX $6,400, CPT $9,600)

Boutte had a great thing going on early in the season where he and Maye converted a big play about every time he was targeted. That efficiency slowed down as you might expect, but there is little doubt these two can hook up for a deep bomb at about anytime. He’s too expensive, but that means it will tougher for others to fit him in.

Oronde Gadsden, TE, Chargers (FLEX $5,400, CPT $8,100)

Gadsden cooled down considerably in the second half of the season, but we saw his upside in Week’s 4-7. He’s still getting usage, just not the big target numbers he had early on. He’s still garnering enough targets to be worth a value DFS play and if things break his way, he has upside for much more.