This is a slate-specific article. If you haven’t already read my short NFL Showdown Primer, please start there for more general NFL Showdown advice.
Studs
These are the top-projected players on the slate. I'd recommend having at least three of these players in most of your lineups, either as captain or in a flex spot.
Patrick Mahomes ($10,000) averaged 18.3 fantasy points per game in 2024. Chiefs coaches have talked up wanting to throw downfield more this season. Mahomes has a somewhat tough matchup with a Chargers defense that allowed the tenth-fewest schedule-adjusted fantasy points per game to quarterbacks last year.
Justin Herbert ($9,800) averaged just 17 fantasy points per game last year, but put up 23 or more in each of the final three regular-season games. He’ll face a Chiefs defense that allowed the tenth-most schedule-adjusted fantasy points per game to quarterbacks last year.
