FanDuel Single-Game Daily Fantasy Football Helper: Week 7 Thursday Night (Saints at Cardinals)

We might finally get a fun Thursday night game -- emphasis on might.

On FanDuel Sportsbook, the Arizona Cardinals are 2.5-point home favorites over the New Orleans Saints in a game with a 43.5-point total. That makes the implied score 23.0-20.5 in favor of the Cards.

For those unfamiliar, single-game slates feature five flex spots with identical scoring to the main slate. However, kickers are included in these contests, and there is an "MVP" roster slot. The MVP receives 1.5-times his total fantasy points, making this spot crucial.

Our Brandon Gdula has done a deep dive on single-game strategy, and we have projections for the single-game slate if you select the game from the slate tab. It's worth checking out both of those things before you make your lineups.

MVP Candidates

Kyler Murray ($17,000 on FanDuel) is the standout MVP option on this single-game slate, according to our model. We project him for 19.4 FanDuel points, 4.0 clear of anyone else.

Even with all that's gone wrong for Arizona this season, Murray is still averaging 19.6 FanDuel points per game. He's run for at least 26 yards in five of six games, and he's fresh off a 100-yard rushing day in Week 6. While the loss of Marquise Brown is a blow, Murray gets back DeAndre Hopkins ($12,500), and the return of Hopkins could be the spark this offense needs. Murray averaged 4.8 more fantasy points per game with Hopkins last year. The lone negative with Murray tonight is that he figures to be the chalk MVP.

While you can make a case for Hopkins as an MVP pivot off Kyler, especially with Marshon Lattimore out for a Saints defense that's reeling, I'm more into Alvin Kamara ($15,000). Kamara has gone for 15.4 and 20.4 FanDuel points over the past two weeks, and he's done that without a touchdown, getting a massive 42 carries and 15 targets. Yes, please. Kamara made six catches in both of those outings, and his ceiling is through the roof if he can find paydirt. We have Kamara scoring 14.7 FanDuel points, the most among non-quarterbacks.

It appears Andy Dalton ($14,000) is in line for another start over Jameis Winston ($14,000), per beat reporters. Dalton is an uninspiring option and has scored between 10.48 and 13.74 FanDuel points in his three appearances. With that said, he's unlikely to be a popular MVP pick, and he's capable of a spike game against an Arizona D that is giving up the 11th-most FanDuel points per game to signal-callers (18.7).

Winston offers a little more fantasy juice than Dalton does, so I would be more interested in using Winston if he gets the nod. Winston does not have an injury designation, so if he doesn't start, he's fallen behind Dalton on the depth chart.

Eno Benjamin ($11,000), James Conner ($12,000) and Chris Olave ($11,000) are also decent MVP shouts.

Michael Thomas and Jarvis Landry are out, so Olave could get peppered with targets. We have him scoring 12.0 FanDuel points.

Benjamin operated as a workhorse back last week with Conner (and Darrel Williams) out, playing 87% of the snaps and amassing 15 carries and three catches. Conner is a game-time call for this one, but he didn't practice this week and seems more likely than not to sit out. If Conner plays, we could see these two split work. If Conner is out, Benjamin becomes a top-notch play.

Flex Breakdown

Rondale Moore ($9,000) and Zach Ertz ($10,000) have been busy in recent games, and it's not a lock Hopkins assumes a target-monster role right away. The loss of Brown could somewhat cancel out the addition of Hopkins, resulting in Moore and Ertz still seeing good volume.

Moore has logged 18 looks over the past two games and played nearly every snap in Week 6. While his low average depth of target is a bummer, Moore has the wheels to bust a big play if can get the ball in space. Ertz has been targeted at least 10 times in five of the last six games. He's likely to be a reliable option again for this game, and he's my preference between these two.

On the Saints' side, Marquez Callaway ($7,000), Juwan Johnson ($6,500) and Tre'Quan Smith ($8,000) are worth a look as salary-savers. Johnson interests me the most from this group.

Arizona has permitted the second-most FanDuel points per game (15.1) to tight ends. Johnson has at least four targets in two of the last three games, including a six-target outing in Week 6.

With all of Landry, Thomas and Olave out last week, Callaway and Smith led the way in snaps among New Orleans' receivers. Smith hit for a touchdown on three targets while Callaway was targeted seven times. We project Callaway as the best point-per-dollar play among those with a salary under $11,000, but there's a chance these two play a distant second fiddle to Olave.

I'm mostly fading Taysom Hill ($10,500). After his blow-up game in Week 5, Hill played just 21% of the snaps this past week. Even in his huge game, Hill was in on only 30% of the plays. It's possible he pilfers a goal-line touchdown from Kamara, but I just can't commit that kind of salary to a player who will barely be out there.

We've seen kickers and defenses be pivotal pieces on a lot of the primetime single-game slates. It could happen again tonight.

Of the two defenses, our model likes the Arizona D/ST ($9,000) considerably more, projecting them for 8.1 FanDuel points, compared to a projection of 6.4 for the New Orleans D/ST ($9,000).

Kickers Wil Lutz ($9,500) and Matt Prater ($9,500) are solid options in this indoor game. Prater is questionable, and if he can't go, Rodrigo Blankenship -- who the Cards recently signed to their practice squad -- figures to be the next man up. But Blankenship is not in the FanDuel player pool as of Thursday morning.