Patriots vs Seahawks DFS Showdown: DraftKings Picks (9/9/26)
Patriots vs Seahawks DraftKings Showdown picks for September 9, featuring Captain options, FLEX values, a sample lineup and an ownership outlook.
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Our Patriots vs Seahawks DFS Showdown picks start with Jaxon Smith-Njigba’s receiving ceiling and Rhamondre Stevenson’s expanded opportunity. The trick is fitting that upside around the right quarterback and affordable receivers, not filling the last two spots with players who might barely touch the ball.
DRAFTKINGS SHOWDOWN · NFL WEEK 1
Patriots at Seahawks
September 9, 2026 · 8:20 PM ET · Lumen Field
$50,000 salary cap · 1 Captain + 5 FLEX · Players from both teams
Morning edition. Salaries are from the September 9 Showdown table. Captain costs and scores 1.5 times the FLEX amount. DraftKings rules · Kickoff information
The slate: what changes tonight
The morning slate data lists Seattle favored by 4.5 with a 44.5 total. That supports a competitive game, not an automatic five-Seahawks build. I prefer starting with a 3–3 split or four players from the team whose offense I’m backing.
TreVeyon Henderson is out. Stevenson has the clearest opportunity boost. Corey Kiner is behind him, but that does not establish a guaranteed touch split.
Seattle’s secondary needs a final check. Ty Okada is out and Nick Emmanwori is questionable. Receiver Tory Horton is also questionable. A.J. Barner has no game designation after full practice participation. Injury report
A.J. Brown and Romeo Doubs are both first-team receivers on New England’s unofficial depth chart. Their arrival makes last season’s target distribution a starting point, not a forecast. Ben Brown’s absence affects offensive-line depth; the Patriots report that their starting five remains intact. Team injury analysis
Best Captain options
TOP CAPTAIN
Jaxon Smith-Njigba · SEA
CPT $15,900 · FLEX $10,600
His 119 catches, 1,793 yards and 10 touchdowns in 2025 make the appeal clear. Receptions and the receiving-yard bonus give him ways to outscore his quarterback. I prefer pairing him with Darnold rather than hoping Seattle’s biggest receiving performance comes without useful passing production.
VALUE CAPTAIN
Rhamondre Stevenson · NE
CPT $12,600 · FLEX $8,400
He saves $3,300 versus JSN at Captain. Stevenson caught 32 passes for 345 yards last season, so his case is not limited to rushing touchdowns. Henderson’s absence improves the workload outlook, but Seattle is still a difficult matchup. I like the opportunity, not an assumed 25-touch guarantee.
QUARTERBACK CAPTAIN
Drake Maye · NE
CPT $15,000 · FLEX $10,000
Maye added 450 rushing yards and four rushing touchdowns to his 2025 passing production. That rushing matters when choosing him over a receiver at Captain. Pair him with one or two Patriots pass catchers; Brown and Doubs are the first places I’d look.
TOURNAMENT ALTERNATIVE
A.J. Brown · NE
CPT $14,400 · FLEX $9,600
Brown is the alternative when backing a concentrated Patriots passing attack. His Captain case is a game in which the yards and touchdowns run through him rather than being shared across several receivers. I’d pair him with Maye. The uncertainty is his first regular-season target share in this offense, not his place in the player pool.
FLEX core and value plays
The Captain options remain priorities in FLEX when they are not wearing the multiplier. These are the complementary pieces I would build around them.
Roles: Patriots depth chart and Seahawks depth chart. Several core salaries are also listed in RotoBaller’s September 9 preview.
Seattle’s backfield, kickers and defenses
Jadarian Price $7,200, George Holani $4,200 and Emanuel Wilson $4,000: Seattle’s unofficial depth chart lists Holani first. That does not establish the touch split, but it is enough to keep me from treating Price as an unquestioned workhorse. Holani is the cheaper tournament bet; Price needs a larger share of the offense to justify the extra $3,000.
Jason Myers $5,400, Andy Borregales $5,000, Seahawks DST $4,400 and Patriots DST $3,400: keep them available for builds in which drives stall or turnovers matter. I prefer one kicker to forcing an uncertain backup into a balanced lineup. I would avoid pairing a defense with several opposing pass catchers unless I’m deliberately betting on sacks or a defensive touchdown overcoming the points allowed.
A potential DraftKings Showdown lineup
This 3–3 tournament build pairs JSN with Darnold and uses Stevenson, Doubs and Henry for New England’s production. It is a construction example, not an optimizer result or a guaranteed best lineup.
The trade-off: this leaves out Maye and Brown. It works best when Seattle’s passing production concentrates around JSN and New England’s points come through Stevenson and the cheaper receivers. A big Maye–Brown night is the obvious way it falls behind.
Two-quarterback alternative: replace Stevenson and Doubs with Maye and Kupp. The revised build costs $49,900 and becomes four Seahawks with two Patriots. That is a different bet on the game, not an automatic upgrade.
Captain and FLEX ownership outlook
Ownership matters differently in Showdown than on a full NFL slate. There is only one Captain slot and five FLEX positions, so a player can be extremely common overall without being nearly as popular at Captain. The goal is not to fade every popular player. It is to understand where the field is likely to concentrate and build combinations that still make football sense.
Captain attention
JSN and Maye project as the two strongest Captain magnets in this early estimate, with Darnold, Brown and Stevenson forming the next group. A popular Captain can still be the correct play. Differentiation can come from the five players around him.
FLEX chalk
JSN, Maye, Brown, Darnold and Stevenson all land around the top of the projected FLEX pool. Playing two or three of them together is completely reasonable. The lineup starts becoming more duplicated when the cheap pieces around that core are also the same players everyone else reaches for.
Where leverage appears
Barner, Shaheed, Kupp and Holani sit in a more interesting ownership range because they can change the construction without requiring a near-zero-volume punt. Doubs also stands out because his projected Captain ownership is considerably lower than the premium Patriots while his FLEX salary still keeps strong combinations alive.
Before lock
Check the final inactive lists and any Seattle backfield news. Remove players ruled out, reconsider Horton-dependent assumptions, and recheck the salary total after every swap. This is a full-game Showdown preview, not a second-half or in-game slate.
COVER THE SLATE · EARLY OWNERSHIP ESTIMATES
DraftKings Showdown Ownership Projections
Here is our early estimate of how large-field DraftKings Showdown entries could distribute between Captain and FLEX. These are CTS estimates, not official DraftKings ownership, and the field can move as inactive news and late sentiment develop.
What the ownership suggests
JSN is the clearest chalk. Our early estimate has him leading both Captain and FLEX ownership. That does not make him a fade. With the highest receiving ceiling on the slate, he can easily be necessary. The tournament question is whether you pair him with the same five players as everyone else.
Maye and Brown create an interesting Patriots decision. Brown sits only slightly behind Maye in projected FLEX ownership but considerably lower at Captain. If you believe New England’s passing production concentrates around Brown, using him at Captain while keeping Maye in FLEX is one of the cleaner ways to attack that game script differently.
Stevenson is likely to become popular because Henderson is out. His role still makes him one of my favorite plays, but the injury is obvious to everyone building tonight. Using Stevenson does not provide leverage by itself. Stevenson Captain paired with a less common surrounding combination is more interesting than simply forcing a fade.
Doubs, Barner, Shaheed and Kupp are where I start looking for usable leverage. They have legitimate offensive roles without carrying the same projected ownership as the premium core. Those are the types of players I prefer over throwing a low-volume $1,000-range player into a lineup solely because he is different.
CTS tournament approach
Eat the chalk when the role and ceiling justify it. Find leverage through Captain choice, correlation, mid-tier players and the combination of six players rather than automatically fading the best plays on the slate.