The Seahawks and Cardinals will clash in the desert in the Week 4 edition of Thursday Night Football, an NFC West tilt that should feature plenty of offense. As always, the Sporting News has optimal DFS lineups assembled to help you win your DraftKings and FanDuel contests.
Few NFL fans seem to have noticed, but Seattle has been red-hot over the past couple weeks. The Seahawks have collectively outscored the Steelers and Saints 75-30 over the past two Sundays, with Sam Darnold, Kenneth Walker III and Jaxon Smith-Njigba leading the charge.
Like Seattle, the Cardinals have gone 2-1 to start the season. They almost beat the 49ers in Santa Clara last weekend, but James Conner's injury and San Fran's defense proved too much and Arizona ultimately lost 16-15. Trey Benson will now step up as Kyler Murray's lead back, with Marvin Harrison Jr. and Trey McBride remaining the Cards' top pass-catchers.
Enough chit-chat — let's get to our daily fantasy selections. Most of you already know about this column: we highlight the players with the best chance of optimizing your DFS lineups for single-game contests. That means one fantasy football lineup for DraftKings Showdown contests, and one lineup for FanDuel single-game tournaments.
Here's tips on how to play DFS on Thurdsay using The Sporting News' optimal lineups for Cardinals vs. Seahawks in Glendale. Good luck, have fun, and enjoy Thursday Night Football!
FANTASY TOOLS FOR WEEK 4:
Sleepers | Busts | NFL News | Player Stats | Injury Reports
Cardinals vs. Seahawks NFL DFS picks: Optimal DraftKings TNF Showdown lineup
Before we get into our lineup and strategy, here are the key scoring settings for DraftKings Showdown contests: They're full-point PPR, and they feature three-point bonuses for 300 passing yards, 100 rushing yards, and 100 receiving yards. The Captain pick costs 1.5 times a player's original price, but he also gets his point total multiplied by 1.5.
| POS | PLAYER | TEAM/OPP | SALARY |
| Captain | Trey McBride, TE | Cardinals vs. SEA | $14,700 |
| FLEX | Jaxon Smith-Njigba, WR | Seahawks at ARI | $11,000 |
| FLEX | Kenneth Walker III, RB | Seahawks at ARI | $10,400 |
| FLEX | Trey Benson, RB | Cardinals vs. SEA | $8,800 |
| FLEX | Emari Demercado, RB | Cardinals vs. SEA | $3,800 |
| FLEX | Dareke Young, WR | Seahawks at ARI | $1,200 |
Captain: Trey McBride, TE, Cardinals ($14,700)
We're all over McBride as our Captain, for a number of reasons. For one, he's arguably the best pass-catcher and playmaker in the Cardinals offense. He has caught 17-of-24 targets for 182 yards and he scored a touchdown last week against the 49ers.
An even bigger reason to put McBride in the Captain's chair? Seattle has surrendered an NFL-high 20.7 DK points per game to the tight end position this season. This team just cannot seem to slow down TEs, year after year, so McBride with the odds boost is the play of the day.
FLEX 1: Jaxon Smith-Njigba, WR, Seahawks ($11,000)
We've been experiencing a breakout of epic proportions from JSN, who has averaged 21.8 PPR points per game through three weeks. Is this guy the next superstar wide receiver in the NFL?
Smith-Njigba's target share (40.3%) and yards per game (107.7) have been insane, and now he draws an Arizona D that has surrendered the eighth-most PPR points to wideouts this season. JSN at $11K is a must.
FLEX 2: Kenneth Walker III, RB, Seahawks ($10,400)
Walker is a cheat code when healthy, and it's been a delight to witness him run free in Klint Kubiak's offense. He scored two TDs last weekend in Seattle's beatdown of the Saints, and he amassed 118 yards and a TD in Pittsburgh two weeks ago. Keep riding with the Big Dog they call K9.
FLEX 3: Trey Benson, RB, Cardinals ($8,800)
FLEX 4: Emari Demercado, RB, Cardinals ($3,800)
We almost went with Marvin Harrison Jr. and Tory Horton in these spots, but we opted for the Cardinals running back monopoly instead. This way, if one of these two primary backs scores — or runs wild — we get the points.
Seattle ranks among the 12 most vulnerable run defenses in the NFL, so we have confidence in this duo's ability to combine for 150 yards and maybe a TD. We'll pour out a little Ginger Ale for James Conner (foot) before the game starts.
FLEX 5: Dareke Young, Seahawks ($1,200)
We nailed our sleeper flex pick in last week's Thursday Night Football game, getting a touchdown from widely unknown Bills tight end Jackson Hawes. He only cost us $600!
Now we're hoping to carry over that luck with a Dareke Young score. He caught his only target last week — crazier things have happened.
Cardinals vs. Seahawks NFL DFS picks: Optimal FanDuel TNF single-game lineup
Here are the key scoring settings for FanDuel single-game tournaments: They're half-point PPR with three-point bonuses for 300 passing yards, 100 rushing yards, or 100 receiving yards. The MVP pick multiplies that player's total by 1.5 and, for the first time, the MVP pick also costs 1.5 times that player's salary.
| POS | PLAYER | TEAM/OPP | SALARY |
| MVP | Trey McBride, TE | Cardinals vs. SEA | $16,000 |
| FLEX | Jaxon Smith-Njigba, WR | Seahawks at ARI | $13,000 |
| FLEX | Kenneth Walker III, RB | Seahawks at ARI | $11,600 |
| FLEX | Marvin Harrison Jr., WR | Cardinals vs. SEA | $9,800 |
| FLEX | Tory Horton, WR | Seahawks at ARI | $5,400 |
| FLEX | Elijah Higgins, WR | Cardinals vs. SEA | $3,200 |
We opted for more balance with our FanDuel lineup, but the top three power players of our squad remain the same. Between the opportunity volume and the touchdown upside, these guys feel like no-brainers.
Harrison Jr. makes for a strong upside play at $9,800, even though he has been underwhelming the past couple weeks. And rookie Tory Horton scored two TDs for Seattle in Week 3, so here's hoping he has more fuel in the tank for us this week.
Like our DraftKings lineup, we've got a bit of a scrub in our final flex spot. However, Higgins hasn't posted a donut once this season, and he's caught 4-of-6 targets total. If he can replicate his Week 2 production — two catches on three targets for 45 yards — we will be ecstatic.