Wednesday's Madden showdown is a single game, CIN @ BUF, and it locks at 12:00 p.m. ET (9:00 a.m. PT). The cap is $50,000, and the captain slot scores 1.5x points at 1.5x salary, so the captain choice shapes the whole build.
Our model's top-ranked play is Joe Burrow at $11,200. He carries a DraftKings average of 22.5 and a ceiling of 42.3, the highest on the sheet. Josh Allen sits next at $10,600 with a ceiling of 35.2 and an average of 18.7. Ja'Marr Chase ($9,800, ceiling 35.3) and Chase Brown ($8,400, ceiling 35.4) round out the top of the CIN side, with averages of 17.5 and 16.7.
The value is on the CIN side too. Andrei Iosivas costs just $5,200 but has a 38.3 ceiling, second only to Burrow, against a DraftKings average of 12.2. On the BUF side, DJ Moore at $7,000 (ceiling 26.1) and Dalton Kincaid at $6,600 (ceiling 28.3) offer cheaper routes to exposure. James Cook III at $9,000 has a 27.9 ceiling and a 14.7 average, a pricier option on that side.
The crowd is headed straight for the quarterbacks. Burrow is projected at 67% ownership and Allen at 54%. Cook and Chase both sit at 47%, while Brown is at 30%. Moore is projected at 24%, Kincaid at 20% and Iosivas at 18%, so those three offer a way to stand apart from the field.
Our model's top lineup uses $49,100 of the $50,000 cap. It puts Josh Allen in the captain slot at $15,900, then fills the FLEX spots with James Cook III ($9,000), Khalil Shakir ($7,400), DJ Moore ($7,000), Andrei Iosivas ($5,200) and Keon Coleman ($4,600). It leans on BUF while using Iosivas as the one CIN piece.
Lock is Wednesday at 12:00 p.m. ET.
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