Sunday Night Football FanDuel Picks: NFL DFS lineup advice for Week 4 Buccaneers-Patriots single-game tournaments

In what may go down as the most anticipated — or overhyped — regular-season football game of all-time, Tom Brady makes his return to New England on Sunday Night Football to lead the Buccaneers against the Patriots. We’re not reinventing the wheel with our NFL DFS picks. Our FanDuel single-game lineup is built around Brady and the Bucs’ passing attack. Even if the Patriots are able to keep things competitive — they opened as six-point underdogs — Tampa has too much offense to be held down for too long. 

Here’s what you need to know about the scoring for FanDuel single-game contests: The point total for the “MVP” is multiplied by 1.5, but he doesn’t cost any additional money like the “Captain” in DraftKings Showdown contests. FanDuel’s default scoring is half-point PPR and four-point passing TDs, and there are no bonuses for 300-yard/100-yard games like on DraftKings. 

MORE FD SINGLE GAME: How to win a FanDuel single-game contest

FanDuel Single Game DFS Picks: Buccaneers vs. Patriots

$60,000 budget, need at least one player from each team 

MVP (1.5x points): QB Tom Brady, Buccaneers ($16,000)

Unless you’re trying to zig against the field’s presumptive zag, there’s little reason to roll with anyone else as MVP. Sometimes a mouthful of chalk isn’t the worst snack. We’re happy to put the responsibility on the rest of the lineup to set us apart from the pack.

MORE SNF DFS: DraftKings Showdown Lineup

FLEX: WR Chris Godwin, Buccaneers ($14,000)

Godwin is operating as the Bucs’ co-No. 1 receiver and will likely be tasked with handling a few extra targets with Rob Gronkowski (ribs) and Giovani Bernard (knee) slated to miss this matchup.

FLEX: WR Mike Evans, Buccaneers ($13,000)

Evans is tied with Godwin atop the team’s target leaderboard with 25. The duo will almost certainly remain busy Sunday night, especially considering the targets that will be available thanks to the absences of Gronkowski and Bernard.

FLEX: WR Antonio Brown, Buccaneers ($10,000)

Brown landed on the COVID list and missed last Sunday’s contest, but he’s set to return against one of his former teams. We’ve already seen Brown deliver a dominant performance with 21.2 FanDuel points in Week 1. Gronk and Bernard have commanded 35 targets this season, so Brady may look Brown’s way a few more times Sunday.

FLEX: RB Rhamondre Stevenson, Patriots ($6,500)

This is a roll of the dice, but the Patriots running backs coach, Ivan Fears, has spoken positively about the rookie back’s progress following a rough Week 1 introduction (one carry, one fumble lost). James White (hip) is out for the season, opening the door for Stevenson to earn a second chance. J.J. Taylor ($6,500) is also in the mix to replace White and is an alternative to consider if you can’t bring yourself to trust a rookie who has been in Bill Belichick’s doghouse most of the season.