Monday Night Football has a 36.5 projected total with the New York Giants in Pittsburgh, facing the Steelers as 6.0-point road dogs. This total and relatively close projected outcome add to the strategy and decision points across the NFL DFS world. In this week’s NFL DFS picks breakdown, we’re taking a deep dive into the Giants-Steelers Monday Night Football clash for Week 8, highlighting key NFL DFS ownership projections and player projections for DraftKings and FanDuel to help you build winning lineups.
NFL DFS Picks: Giants-Steelers Monday Night Football Week 8
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NFL DFS Picks for Giants-Steelers Monday Night Football Week 8: Malik Nabers
Malik Nabers
DFS Salary
DraftKings: $10,000
FanDuel: $16,500
Fantasy Points
DraftKings: 15.54
FanDuel: 12.62
Malik Nabers has the biggest salary cap hit of any player on DraftKings and FanDuel, along with the highest median fantasy point projection on the former. The blue site, of course, uses half-PPR scoring, which drops Nabers down to the fifth-best projection.
Pittsburgh has been solid against the pass, allowing only eight aerial scores on the season. In Week 4, Michael Pittman Jr. got to them for 113 yards, while Josh Downs had 82 and a score. Josh Reynolds had 93 yards in Week 2 and Jalen Tolbert in Week 87 as the only receivers with more than 63 yards this season.
After missing Weeks 5 and 6 with a concussion, Nabers played on 93% of the snaps in Week 7, getting eight targets for four receptions and 41 yards against Philadelphia. Those represent his lowest totals for each of those categories, which means there is definitely room for a bounce back on Monday Night Football. Darius Slayton took the biggest hit, getting 11 targets in each of the games without Nabers but only three on Sunday. Wan’Dale Robinson was able to maintain his opportunities, with his nine targets being above his season average of seven-ish.
The rest of this position has been a desolate wasteland this season, as Jalin Hyatt has seen eight targets and Isaiah Hodgins one. Despite averaging nearly 29 pass attempts per game this season, neither the volume or the production has been there for the secondary wideouts.
New York Giants Positional Preview
Quarterback | Giants-Steelers NFL DFS Picks for Monday Night Football Week 8
Daniel Jones has barely been mediocre, averaging 206 passing yards per game with six total touchdowns and four interceptions. He has been sacked 21 times, which is tied with Sam Darnold but well behind the 33 of Deshaun Watson. Danny Dimes has the seventh-lowest QBR (46.4), even getting pulled for Drew Lock during last week’s loss. Whenever the coaching staff decides he is no longer helping the development of Nabers, they are likely to turn to Lock, with concern that a significant injury to Jones could have the team on the hook for his salary and a dead cap hit if they release him.
Lock and Jones are both 27 years old, and it looks like they are each better off as backups. Jones was a first-round pick in the 2019 NFL Draft, while Lock went in the second round. Sorry, Giants fans — it just isn’t your year.
Tight End | Giants-Steelers NFL DFS Picks for Monday Night Football Week 8
Rookie Tyrone Tracy Jr. looked good in Weeks 5 and 6 when Devin Singletary was out, and he out-snapped the veteran 39-12 last Sunday. However, despite the playing time disparity, Tracy had six carries for 23 yards on the ground, catching all three of his targets for 9 yards, while Singletary had 5/18/0 and his lone look from Jones turned into a 3-yard reception. This is probably closer to a split backfield than it appears on the surface, and both running backs are going to find a tough row to hoe in Pittsburgh tonight.
The Stokastic NFL stat projections have Singletary for 9.4 carries, 34.7 rushing yards, 1.5 targets, 0.9 receptions and 6.8 yards with a 25% probability of recording a touchdown.
Tracy has an identical rushing projection, though two more targets and just over double the receiving stats.
Tight End | Giants-Steelers NFL DFS Picks for Monday Night Football Week 8
The tight end position has seen just 19 targets this season, which is only two more than Tracy. Daniel Bellinger is the blocking tight end, and while he was pressed into duty each of the last two seasons as “more than a blocker” because of injuries, that is not really his game. This season he has just three targets, catching each of them for 31 total yards.
Rookie Theo Johnson was a fourth-round selection out of Penn State. He has three or more targets in four game, but only 16 total and two games with no opportunities. Still, he is a potential discount dandy on DraftKings at $2,400.
Kicker | Giants-Steelers NFL DFS Picks for Monday Night Football Week 8
Greg Joseph continues to haunt me, but I will try to be neutral in this analysis. Minnesota and Joseph parted ways after the 30-year-old was its kicker for three seasons. Green Bay signed him as a free agent to compete with Anders Carlson, who missed a league-high five extra points after being a sixth-round draft pick. Neither made the Packers, with Carlson finally getting a second chance for San Francisco after the team had injuries at the position in Weeks 5 and 6.
Joseph landed on the Detroit practice squad, and the Giants signed him after Graham Gano was injured in Week 2. Week 3 was not great for Joseph as he missed his lone field goal attempt, only to go on to nail all five against Dallas in a 20-15 loss on Thursday Night Football after yours truly called him a shaky play. I wasn’t wrong, just early — only two weeks later, he missed a pair of fourth quarter attempts in a 17-7 loss to Cincinnati. Finally, last week the soon-to-be-released kicker made his only attempt, preventing a shutout in a 28-3 loss to Philadelphia.
Defense | Giants-Steelers NFL DFS Picks for Monday Night Football Week 8
It is impressive how many sacks the Giants have this season, leading the league with 31, which is more than Denver (30), Houston (27) and Baltimore (24), in one fewer game. Basically it has been like they were facing Deshaun Watson the entire season. In seven games, the Pittsburgh offensive line has had five different starting combinations. Expect some sacks tonight, and while New York has only six takeaways this season, Wilson should bestow a gift interception to this unit, allowing it to double its season-long total.
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NFL DFS Picks for Giants-Steelers Monday Night Football Week 8: Russell Wilson
Russell Wilson
DFS Salary
DraftKings: $9,600
FanDuel: $12,000
Fantasy Points
DraftKings: 15.08
FanDuel: 14.91
Last week on Sunday Night Football, the Steelers turned to a mostly healthy Russell Wilson (calf) for the first time this season, despite Justin Fields leading the storied franchise to a 4-2 record. In an interesting twist, coach Mike Tomlin has said there were some different packages prepared for Fields on Monday Night Football, though it appears that the 11th selection in the 2021 NFL Draft has “tweaked” his hamstring and is likely going to be inactive tonight. Could he be traded? Maybe — or perhaps the team will keep him around for the inevitable Wilson soft tissue injury that is likely to occur before the holidays.
For Monday, it is going to be Wilson under center, though do not believe all the hype articles after last Sunday’s game. Yes, the “moonballs” to George Pickens were fun to watch, but make no mistake: The longtime Seahawk and future Hall of Famer had a lot of favorable things go his way last week. For most of his career, Wilson has been a deep-ball maestro who also excels at hitting the tight windows. Ciara’s husband will be celebrating his 36th birthday next month, and he still is one of the most sacked quarterbacks in the last decade.
Since leaving Seattle, Wilson has a 12-19 record as a starter while averaging 221 passing yards and 1.4 aerial scores per game, but he also has a whopping 101 sacks in these 31 starts. The Jets sacked Wilson only once last week; however, the Giants lead the league with 31 sacks and had 16 in the last three games, with seven against Seattle, four against Cincinnati and five against Philadelphia. That, Wilson’s age and his proclivity for holding onto the ball too long increase his in-game injury rate.
Pittsburgh Steelers Positional Preview
Running Back | Giants-Steelers NFL DFS Picks for Monday Night Football Week 8
New York is allowing 138.1 rushing yards per game, which is in the bottom 10. Even more dreadful is the 5.4 yards per carry, the worst among all 30 teams and nearly a full yard more than league average. Last weekend Saquon Barkley dropped 176 rushing yards on his former team on just 17 carries. Brian Robinson Jr. got to them for 133 yards on 17 totes in Week 2, and Aaron Jones had 94 yards on 14 carries in the opener.
In Week 7, Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren were the only running backs to take the field on offense, and they basically split the plays. In Week 6 when Warren returned from a two-game absence, he played on 25 of 67 snaps, with Aaron Shampklin (4) and Jonathan Ward (6) working into the mix. Cordarrelle Patterson (ankle) is missing his fourth consecutive game, so expect the heavy lifting to go to Harris and Warren once more.
Najee had back-to-back 100-yard rushing games and one touchdown in each effort. The targets have slipped, though, as he has had only three total in these tilts. Warren had six carries for 7 yards in his return, and he doubled his attempts last week with 12 for 44 yards while also seeing a trio of targets in each matchup.
Wide Receiver | Giants-Steelers NFL DFS Picks for Monday Night Football Week 8
New York has allowed the fourth-highest passer rating this season, and while the Giants have allowed only eight aerial scores, they have just one interception. Opposing teams have been able to work them over on the ground enough that very few signal-callers have been forced into passing volume.
That could be masking this matchup for George Pickens, who finally found the end zone in the most recent game while also posting his second 100-plus-yard effort. He converted five of his nine targets, and we should expect a couple of Wilson’s patented “moon balls” to go his way tonight.
Pittsburgh tends to run a lot of two-tight end sets, which really curtails the wide receiver opportunities. On the season, Pickens has averaged a 73% snap share, followed by Van Jefferson (66%), Calvin Austin III (51%) and Scotty Miller (24%), with the rest of the flotsam and jetsam getting just over a 5% share.
Austin had four targets last week, giving him nine in the two most recent games and 21 on the season. Jefferson had three last week and none in Week 6 for a paltry 16 on the season, though that is still dramatically better than Miller, who has two targets, both coming in Week 3.
This is all about Pickens, with Austin and Jefferson barely playable, even at the FanDuel $7,500 minimum salary for wideouts. Austin does stand out at $3,000 on DraftKings, though he will need a touchdown in order to score more than a handful of points, even in the full-PPR format.
Tight End | Giants-Steelers NFL DFS Picks for Monday Night Football Week 8
Darnell Washington tied Austin with four targets in Wilson’s debut, while Pat Freiermuth had three looks. Throughout his time in the NFL, Wilson has leaned on this position, particularly in the red zone. It is also important to note that he typically has not played favorites, which opens the door for Washington to potentially overtake Freiermuth, who slipped to a season-low 71% snap share. Washington was on the field for 53% of the plays, which was a little higher than normal, but the wild card was MyCole Pruitt playing on 44% of the snaps after missing the preceding four games with a knee injury.
Pruitt never been much of a threat as a pass catcher, getting just 99 career targets in his nine-plus NFL seasons. However, anything can happen in a single-game slate, and of course, this is the extension of National Tight End Day.
Kicker | Giants-Steelers NFL DFS Picks for Monday Night Football Week 8
Chris Boswell continues to chug along, converting all 14 of his point after touchdown attempts and 19 of 20 field goal tries. He already has seven attempts from beyond 50 yards, including his lone miss. That 6-for-7 mirrors his production from that range in 17 games last season, and it is clear the team is looking to him to keep putting points on the board.
Defense | Giants-Steelers NFL DFS Picks for Monday Night Football Week 8
Tonight Cam Heyward will be passing Pittsburgh legend Donnie Shell for most games played. He continues to be a disruptive force in the middle alongside four-time All-Pro T.J. Watt and disruptors Minkah Fitzpatrick and Joey Porter Jr. This unit should be good for a handful of sacks and takeaways, with a pick-6 or scoop-and-score in play.
NFL DFS Picks for Giants-Steelers Monday Night Football Week 8: Rankings
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Now let’s jump into the final rankings for this Giants-Steelers MNF slate.
Top 10 NFL DFS Showdown Picks for Giants-Steelers
- Russell Wilson: Everyone loves a good redemption story.
- George Pickens: Viable in the multiplier slot.
- Malik Nabers: Best chance the Giants have for offensive production; the defense will be all over him tonight.
- Najee Harris: Far from sexy; perfect player for the Steelers ethos.
- Daniel Jones: Is going to be benched at some point, but that does not have to be tonight.
- Wan’Dale Robinson: Hopefully the defense will lose track of him a couple times.
- Pittsburgh D/ST: Rare top-10 sighting for a D/ST.
- Chris Boswell: Ideally he will get more than extra points tonight.
- Darnell Washington: Just a hunch; should be four spots lower based on his median projection.
- Jaylen Warren: Likely to push things closer to an even workload split with Harris.
Secondary Options
- Tyrone Tracy Jr. and Devin Singletary: Not really enough production available to use both on the same roster.
- Greg Joseph: The bane of my DFS existence this season.
- New York D/ST: The sacks are real, as is the lack of turnovers.
- Pat Freiermuth: Trending to be more popular than Washington.
- Calvin Austin III: Could get a couple of hot routes if the Giants can keep up pressure on Wilson.
Lottery Tickets
- Darius Slayton: Has the best rapport with Jones; talent has ebbed for this veteran.
- Theo Johnson: The rookie has flashed a few times already.
- Van Jefferson: Replacement-level talent on his best days.
- Jalin Hyatt, Scotty Miller, and Eric Gray: Understudies to the backups but in play for those making 50-plus lineups.
- Daniel Bellinger, Connor Heyward and MyCole Pruitt: Over/under is 1.5 combined targets, with -160 on the over.
- Drew Lock and Justin Fields: They have to be mentioned given the many quarterback pressures, hits and takedowns that both defenses have been generating this season.
- Aaron Shampklin, Chris Manhertz, Jonathan Ward, Brandon Johnson, Ihmir Smith-Marsette, Gunner Olszewski and Bryce Ford-Wheaton: Trick or Treat!
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