Super Bowl DFS Tips: How to Win on Super Bowl Sunday

By Kurt Boyer

Updated: February 1, 2024 

FanDuel's DFS Tips on the Fantasy Picks of Super Bowl LVIII

National Football League playoff games can be very lopsided. But last week's were full of lingering drama. To move forward, fantasy gamers must clear their minds of the episodes of last weekend, in which the losing teams made terrible mistakes and game-management blunders. For example, the Detroit Lions have now become the latest tragic 4th-down controversy of the professional football world, as Motor City fans ask why the Lions passed up a glorious chance to go up by 17 points over San Francisco again late in the game. 

The obvious head-coach matchup angle going into Super Bowl Sunday in Nevada is a potential distraction for those who consider a Fantasy score as important as final scores. Head Coach Kyle Shanahan of the 49ers is known for having blown 2 leads late in Super Bowl games, first in Tom Brady and the New England Patriots' record-setting comeback over Shanahan's Atlanta Falcons of Super Bowl LI, and later in Super Bowl LIV, when coaching the San Francisco 49ers of 2019-20 against the Kansas City Chiefs. 

Chiefs head coach Andy Reid is only growing in stature after prodding KC's meek receiving corps to another Super Bowl dance. Preconceptions that the Chiefs’ offense could sag are tilting analysts toward the 49ers. 

The 49ers were considered a "sexy" moneyline underdog in February of 2020 going into the clubs' previous Super Bowl matchup. Spearheaded by yet another upstart QB in Jimmy Garoppolo, the 49ers built a late lead before the Chiefs ignited for a Lombardi Trophy conquest in the 4th quarter. It's easy to forget the final frame of NFL football played before COVID-19 following Kansas City's bad second-half offense against the Baltimore Ravens. But it's also hard to dispute that in the later 2020s, the defending champs are playing an even fiercer brand of defense, making both teams a potential "DST" winner on 2/11. 

The San Francisco 49ers have not won a Super Bowl championship since 1994 and Super Bowl XXIX. The formerly overlooked "Mr. Irrelevant" draft pick, Purdy, rose to prominence with the 49ers in the 2022-23 postseason. The 24-year-old San Fran starter is 4-1 in 5 NFL playoff games and combined with Brandon Aiyuk on a Week 21 touchdown that pleased DFS gamers who'd drafted the underdog QB-receiver combination. 

The defensive backfield for San Francisco has intercepted more opponent's passes (22) than it has allowed passing TDs (20) on the season. Our NumberFire partners are predicting that San Francisco has a 53% chance to win Super Bowl 58, while the Kansas City Chiefs are predicted to have a 47% chance to triumph. While the Chiefs have a comparably stingy defense, they've generated far fewer opposing turnovers. 

Mahomes is working on an NFL postseason resume that could eventually rival Tom Brady's, presuming the Chiefs continue to reign over the AFC. Patrick Mahomes has now passed for 39 touchdowns and nearly 5000 yards in NFL playoff and Super Bowl games. Meanwhile, Purdy's scrambling was a key component of San Francisco's win over Detroit, and the upstart may need his legs again against the Chiefs’ fierce pass-rushing. Kansas City produced an amazing 57 quarterback sacks in this campaign and out-edge-rushed the Baltimore Ravens, who led the NFL in sacks, in the AFC's championship game. Fantasy sharks who drafted TE Travis Kelce of the Chiefs were pleased with the AFC title game. Kelce accumulated most of KC’s reception yards and points-scored in the opening frames. Jackson also starred in the Ravens' early flourish of offense. But it was the 49ers-Lions scrum that brought Fantasy spoils, as Purdy rebounded from a poor opening half and combined with superstar Christian McCaffery for 400+ combined yards and 3 TDs.

What could hold Purdy's "underdog" Fantasy price back more than anything in comparison to Mahomes is that tight end Travis Kelce of Kansas City is on top of his game, while George Kittle's relatively disappointing NFC Championship Game leaves Fantasy gamers asking just how many weapons Purdy has left in the aerial game. On the flip side, the 49ers' inside-outside weapon Deebo Samuel makes the upcoming Super Bowl's most intriguing Fantasy WR choice. 

What Super Bowl 55 Taught Daily Fantasy GMs 

In 2021, Phil Mickelson's major championship win was the only time a Champions Tour-eligible golfer has won a Grand Slam event. Perhaps "Lefty" proved once and for all that 50 is the new 50 in sports. But as the saying goes, "nobody was hitting Phil Mickelson." It's still somewhat of a shock that 2 NFL athletes with 75+ years between them—Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski—dominated in Tampa Bay during Super Bowl 55. 

Some other legendary QBs have played out their days as publicity stunts for poor NFL teams. Brady traveled to Tampa and led the long-suffering Buccaneers to a Super Bowl championship. Tampa Bay's defense is so solid, and its offense so finely-tuned under coach Bruce Arians, that another QB can potentially lead the Buccaneers to the postseason in years to come. But it was still Tom Terrific who stirred the drink for Tampa back in 2021. 

The numbers produced by Tampa during Super Bowl 55 were more than adequate for GMs to beat opponents with KC-heavy drafts, given the sluggish flow of the game and Tampa's lopsided lead. Compared to the regular seasons, Brady became a far better DFS pick in the playoffs. 

QBs will dominate Fantasy ledgers until RBs like Derrick Henry can stay healthy for consecutive seasons. That doesn't mean a RB isn't still an important piece of a Super Bowl DFS roster, though. Despite sharing rush attempts with Ronald Jones,  Tampa tailback Leonard Fournette rushed for 89 yards and a TD in Super Bowl 55. 

Emerging as a do-it-all TD threat is Deebo Samuel, while Travis Kelce continued to surpass top wide receivers' DFS stats in prime-time kickoffs. Those performances show that the classic "#1 WR" DFS pick can be complicated in the 2020s. TEs and "slash" players can be as deadly in the passing game as prominent DFS wide receivers. "Gronk" scored 2 touchdowns in Super Bowl 55, while opposing tight end Travis Kelce racked-up yardage points for Daily Fantasy GMs with 133 yards on 10 catches.

For picking a Super Bowl "DST" unit, try to draft the most active defense, and not necessarily the most efficient defense. If a Super Bowl team gives up 35 points but also notches 5 sacks and 3 interceptions, its "defense and special teams" DFS total goes up faster than if a cautious "Cover-2" defensive unit quietly gives up 21 points. 

Tips for Super Bowl DFS: How to Be Successful With a Super Bowl Draft 

Most times NFL coaches who reach the Super Bowl need to adjust their tactics for the big game. Skippers who have held banged-up players out of games on the road to Super Bowl Sunday will often roll the dice and allow an injured superstar to give it a go. Rookie draft picks who have emerged in the postseason can be inserted into the lineup to provide fresh legs and energy. There’s not as much long-term thinking because the future is now, and the Lombardi Trophy is up for grabs. 

It is pretty similar for fantasy football players. Fantasy junkies who engage in full-season NFL competition are used to making picks with 10 or more weeks’ worth of potential performances in mind. But when making DFS, or Daily Fantasy Sports picks on a Super Bowl “team” of your own choosing, other considerations must be first looked over. 

That’s not to say that an injury can’t hurt your roster of DFS picks for the Super Bowl. If your QB pick goes down in the 1st quarter, that’s never a good thing. But for instance, if a running QB like Lamar Jackson or Deshaun Watson is playing for an NFL championship, you might pass on drafting him at the start of a fantasy season due to the threat of wear and tear due to hundreds of rushing attempts. By the time he makes it to a Super Bowl and is healthy, that ship has sailed. Big-picture concerns go out the window. DFS picks on the Super Bowl are about who’s going to gain more yards and score more points than other players. 

If you’re still not confident in how to start handicapping the best roster here’s a brief selection of tips on making sure every Super Bowl DFS pick you make has a solid chance to help your fantasy roster victory. 

Tips on DFS Picks in the Super Bowl: Know the Rules 

Our most important tip for making Fantasy picks on the Super Bowl is also the simplest—understand the lay of the land. FanDuel’s roster rules are easy enough to memorize, but it might be a good idea to commit most of the scoring table to memory as well. Scoring rules are not something you want to be constantly double-checking while making time-sensitive picks prior to the Greatest Show on Earth. There are an awful lot of Fantasy tips available on the internet, but a tip is only worth something if it corresponds to the rules of the Fantasy or Daily Fantasy game you’re playing when the NFL season comes to an end. 

The FanDuel DFS roster rules allow for players to pick a QB, a pair of RBs, a trio of WRs, a kicker, a “Flex” position, and a team defense from the NFC and AFC representatives at the Super Bowl. DFS players are granted a $60,000 salary cap of DFS funds with which to select a roster. (Hot tip: If someone ever gives you 60K actual dollars for signing up on a website, refrain from spending it all on fantasy picks.) 

Below are FanDuel’s scoring rules for DFS picks, including the Super Bowl:

 

Just note that not only do FanDuel’s scoring rules lend themselves to lots of defensive points—a far cry from ages past when many DFS sites didn’t even bother with defense—but some of the risk/reward scenarios lead to strange cheering situations. 

One example is, a good tip for old-fashioned fantasy consumers is to pick kickers on teams that often stall in the Red Zone. Some traditional fantasy leagues still score field goals on a straightforward basis, so that players benefit from accurate kicking no matter where the ball is teed-up from. FanDuel’s DFS scoring offers progressively higher points for field goals kicked from far away, meaning that clients can play “conservative” and hope for lots of chip-shot FGs from a PK, or go-for-broke and pick a strong-legged kicker who can nail a 55-yarder with room to spare, but who sometimes misses from closer in. 

Player Picks: Tips for DFS Super Bowl 

Fortunately, not everything is upside down in the modern world of quick-draw DFS drafting for the Super Bowl. There are many time-honored tips on roster picks that still work in the present. 

You’re more than welcome to try any of the tips listed below, or at least be forewarned that your opponent might choose to utilize the same ones. 

Choose a QB and a top WR from the same team. This goes in the basic “look both ways before crossing the street” category of tips for Super Bowl DFS competitors. If your QB pick and top WR pick play for the same offense, you can score massive points if the pair hook up for multiple TD passes. The only time the advice doesn’t work is if a WR corps gets shut down altogether. 

Arrange and prioritize the kicker position in your picks. Kickers are some of the most reliable DFS point-scorers in the NFL, and can score significant numbers of points even in games in which their teams lose. PKs also benefit whenever an offense crosses into field goal range or scores a TD, at least adding an XP (and possibly more) to your scoring ledger. Unless, of course, the coach chooses a 2-point conversion attempt after a touchdown. NFL coaches, however, are happy to call for a simple XP in most circumstances … especially in the high-pressure atmosphere like that of Super Bowl Sunday. 

Keep things equal, choose a play-making defense. FanDuel’s DFS rules allow competitors to benefit from a team-defense pick that does not allow many points. However, individual plays from scrimmage, such as sacks, interceptions, and fumble recoveries, produce valuable bonuses on the DFS scoreboard, if not the Super Bowl scoreboard. If your defense plays bend-but-don’t-break style pigskin and gives up less than 28 points by forcing the opponent to kick field goals, great. But it’s better if they’re all over the field making plays, sacking the opposing QB, and forcing turnovers. 

Follow the injury report carefully. Just because long-term injury issues are not a factor in making picks for a Super Bowl DFS contest doesn’t mean a lingering wound can’t reduce the ability of your pick to score fantasy points. The NFL compels its teams to release complete, accurate injury info in the week prior to any game, though certain clubs are known to be as devious as possible when filling out the injury report, *cough cough* The New England Patriots.

Super Bowl DFS Tip: Don’t Lie About Your Experience Level 

Note that it may not be “macho” to take-on easier opponents in a competition. But it’s hard for a beginner to find success in DFS Super Bowl games when they're playing against fantasy sports veterans. 

It’s easier to handicap NFL superstars who are analyzed in the news all the time. But when there are only a pair of teams left on Super Bowl Sunday, choosing a roster of solid DFS picks means having lots of knowledge about players who may not be household names. Expert DFS players are also good at handicapping the likely outcome of a postseason contest before making their picks. It’s a science—and there’s no such thing as getting a science down pat on your first go around. 

FanDuel Sportsbook keeps the DFS beginner in mind as well as the fantasy champion. Super Bowl fans signing up for FanDuel’s Daily Fantasy Football can choose from different skill levels of opponents, including a “beginners only” option in which newcomers can play exclusively against others of the same skill level. 

When signing up to make Super Bowl picks, honesty is the best policy especially when it comes to claiming your skill level. It might not be the most “macho” tip in the world…but following it can help you win almost immediately. 

Super Bowl DFS (Daily Fantasy) and Sportsbook FAQ 

Is it Impossible to Win as A DFS Beginner?

At FanDuel, new Daily Fantasy players are allowed to pick their level of opponent, whether it be a newcomer, an intermediate gamer, or an expert Fantasy shark. Feel free to sign up for a Super Bowl contest even if you didn't "practice" during the regular season—there's no need to take on an advanced Daily Fantasy champion at FanDuel unless you feel comfortable and confident in doing that. 

Which Players Are Eligible to Play on My DFS Team? 

A QB, running backs, WRs, a TE, and a kicker are also supposed to be included by GMs. Customers may also choose a “flex” roster spot from eligible skill players and are allowed a single team "Defense and Special Teams" draft pick to go with the selected skill-position lineup for their Sunday faceoff. 

What Are FanDuel's DFS Football Scoring Rules? 

The point-scoring rules of DFS are quite similar to the rules of weekly Daily Fantasy games or even good old-fashioned Fantasy Football. A touchdown pass manufactured by a drafted QB-to-WR combo is still a DFS-point bonanza, while running backs like Christian McCaffery, who can score TDs in many different ways, are considered the most valuable Daily Fantasy players on game day. 

Who Has Scored the Most Fantasy Points at a Super Bowl?

QB Fantasy Points: Steve Young, San Francisco 49ers, Super Bowl XXIX (41.9 Points)

RB Fantasy Points: Terrell Davis, Denver Broncos, Super Bowl XXXII (36.5 Points)

WR Fantasy Points: Jerry Rice, San Francisco 49ers, Super Bowl XXIX (33.9 Points)

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