FanDuel Single-Game Daily Fantasy Football Helper: Week 7 Monday Night (49ers at Vikings)

The San Francisco 49ers are coming off a surprise loss to the Cleveland Browns, but they're in a good spot to get back on track against the Minnesota Vikings. According to the NFL odds on the FanDuel Sportsbook, the 49ers are 7.0-point road favorites, and the over/under is at a middling 43.5.

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.

FanDuel Research's Brandon Gdula has done a deep dive on single-game strategy, and numberFire has projections if you select the game from the slate tab. It's worth checking out both before making your lineups.

MVP Candidates

Christian McCaffrey ($17,500) is questionable but is reportedly expected to play. Prior to Week 6's abridged outing, CMC was averaging 135.6 scrimmage yards off 19.8 rushes and 4.8 targets per game. He's scored at least one touchdown in every game this season, including last week. Even with some re-injury concerns, McCaffrey is the chalk MVP.

Quarterbacks Brock Purdy ($15,500) and Kirk Cousins ($15,000) are projected for the most FanDuel points behind McCaffrey, per numberFire's model. However, given their lack of rushing upside and key injuries to pass-catchers Deebo Samuel and Justin Jefferson, I'm more inclined to leave these two as flex options in most lineups.

But if we're going here, Purdy is the more appealing MVP. This isn't a daunting matchup for him against a Vikings D that's allowed the ninth-most FanDuel points per game to QBs. He's averaging a solid 18.0 FanDuel points per game as the QB12, and his plethora of weapons has helped him crack 20 FanDuel points in half his starts this season.

As a quarterback on a heavily favored team, Purdy will probably be a fairly popular MVP, though, which is something to keep in mind.

It's tough to see Cousins having a ceiling game against a San Francisco defense that's allowed the second-fewest FanDuel points per game to quarterbacks, so his appeal is strictly as the contrarian MVP option between the two signal-callers. Cousins wasn't able to get much going without Jefferson in a soft matchup against the Chicago Bears last week, which doesn't exactly inspire confidence.

Still, if Minnesota falls into a hole early, we could see him chucking it early and often, and he could accumulate points in garbage time, too.

But if I'm picking a favorite non-CMC player for the multiplier slot, it's probably Brandon Aiyuk ($14,000). In his five games, Aiyuk has amassed a 30.3% target share, 50.5% air yards share, and 40.0% end zone target share. The absence of Samuel could lead to even more looks coming his way.

As is, Aiyuk has blown up for 129 and 148 yards this year, and that's the type of performance we could be looking at tonight. The Vikings have allowed the fourth-most FanDuel points per game to wideouts.

George Kittle ($10,000) has mostly been a fantasy bust this year, yet he went off for three touchdowns just a couple of weeks ago, and he also has a 7-catch, 90-yard outing on the books. The ceiling is still there when he's in the game plan. We saw all-or-nothing results from Kittle last year, too, but the highs included five games with multiple touchdowns and/or 90-plus receiving yards.

While his 16.0% target share isn't super exciting, he does lead the team in end zone share (42.9%). Particularly with Samuel out, he could be worth rolling the dice with at MVP.

It's tough to get behind any Vikings player against this defense, but T.J. Hockenson ($12,000) looks likely to be Cousins' top target with Jefferson out. Last week, Hockenson led the team with 8 targets (26.7% share) and was second in air yards share (31.4%). San Francisco has given up the fourth-fewest FanDuel points per game to tight ends, but as long as the volume is there -- and it should be -- Hockenson could still come through.

Assuming the vast majority of attention goes to the 49ers' players, Hockenson should see a more modest MVP roster percentage.

Flex Breakdown

The other noteworthy options for the Vikings are Alexander Mattison ($12,500), Jordan Addison ($11,500), and K.J. Osborn ($9,500).

Since Minnesota acquired Cam Akers, Mattison has averaged 14.3 carries and 3.7 targets in three games together, proving he's still the lead back. Mattison dominated snaps over Akers last week (78.2% to 16.4%), so it's unlikely that the latter is much of a factor.

Of course, it's fair to question whether this game remains close enough for Mattison to accumulate fantasy points, but he's seen six-plus targets three times, typically giving him a solid floor. If this game does stay close, we could see his usage spike as it has in some prior weeks.

Addison and Osborn ran 100% of the routes with Jefferson out last week, but they saw just five targets apiece, leading to a 16.7% share each. However, Addison saw more deep targets, helping him to a team-high air yards share (37.4%).

In any case, it's clear these two are the top pass-catchers behind Hockenson. Addison has more upside, but Osborn's easier to fit in at his salary.

Minnesota's third wideout is Brandon Powell ($7,500), who got up to a 58.2% snap rate and 75.8% route rate in Week 6. He saw just one fewer target than Addison and Osborn, so he shouldn't be overlooked as a value play.

On the 49ers, Ray-Ray McCloud ($7,000) could be the big winner with Samuel out. McCloud finished last week with the third-most snaps among Niners pass-catchers (69.1%), which included running the same number of routes as Kittle (83.3%). If that's any indication of his role tonight, we should see McCloud on the field for the vast majority of snaps. That makes him enticing at his current salary.

Jauan Jennings ($8,000) played a little over half the snaps in Week 6 and has garnered a modest 8.9% target share this season. McCloud looks like the preferred play, but Jennings has enough of a fringe role to be in the mix, too.

The San Francisco D/ST ($9,000) is firmly in play as a top defensive unit that should have game script on its side. While Cousins is middle of the pack when it comes to sacks, he has the league's second-most fumbles (seven) and figures to be under pressure all night. Niners kicker Jake Moody ($8,500) is in a good spot to bounce back in a dome after missing two crucial kicks last week.

Interested in playing NFL DFS? Head over to FanDuel’s daily fantasy football lobby to see all the offerings for this week's slates.

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The above author is a FanDuel employee and is not eligible to compete in public daily fantasy contests or place sports betting wagers on FanDuel. The advice provided by the author does not necessarily represent the views of FanDuel. Taking the author's advice will not guarantee a successful outcome. You should use your own judgment when participating in daily fantasy contests or placing sports wagers.