FanDuel Single-Game Daily Fantasy Football Helper: Divisional Round (Bengals at Titans)

The top-seeded Tennessee Titans host the Cincinnati Bengals at 4:30 p.m. EST Saturday afternoon in the first Divisional Round clash of the weekend.

On NFL odds, the Titans are 3.5-point favorites in a game with a 47.0-point total. That makes the implied score 25.25-21.75.

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

We're not hurting for MVP options on this single-game slate as our model projects six players to score at least 14.1 FanDuel points -- a group that includes each team's quarterback, starting running back and number-one receiver. The plethora of viable choices should help keep MVP popularity somewhat spread out.

Let's start with Derrick Henry ($16,000 on FanDuel), who was cleared for contact earlier this week and is trending toward making his return from injury. There is obvious risk with him. Henry hasn't played since Week 8, and there's a chance the Titans don't immediately toss him right back into the massive role he was handling prior to getting hurt.

With that said, Henry has been practicing for nearly three weeks now and could be ready to rock. Tennessee is a home favorite, and in the six wins in which he played, Henry averaged 120.3 rushing yards per game while scoring nine total touchdowns. Plus, Cincy's defense allowed the 13th-most FanDuel points per game to running backs (21.3). Henry could blow up if he gets big-time volume, and our algorithm expects him to do just that as we project him for a co-slate-best 19.6 FanDuel points.

Of the two quarterbacks -- Joe Burrow ($16,500) and Ryan Tannehill ($15,000) -- Burrow is the more appealing as Tannehill has surpassed 18.62 FanDuel points only once across his last nine starts (last time out against the Houston Texans). Burrow, meanwhile, is playing superbly and popped for ceiling games of 34.84 and 38.10 FanDuel points over his final two regular-season contests. Tennessee permitted the 10th-most FanDuel points per game to signal-callers (18.5), and we have Burrow going for 19.6 FanDuel points compared to 16.6 for Tannehill.

My favorite MVP plays on the slate are Ja'Marr Chase ($14,000) and A.J. Brown ($13,500). Both offer elite upside and probably won't see as much MVP love as Henry and Burrow do.

A week ago, the Bengals prioritized Chase, feeding him 12 targets on 34 Burrow attempts. The star rookie turned the volume into nine catches for 116 yards. He's posted at least 116 yards in three of his last four games, and with Tennessee surrendering the second-most FanDuel points per game to receivers (33.8), there's little reason to expect anything other than a good game from Chase. We peg him to produce 16.9 FanDuel points.

AJB was very productive late in the year once he came back from injury. Over the final three weeks, he got elite volume -- 33% target share and 48% air yards share -- and produced a spike game of 26.0 FanDuel points in Week 16. The negative for Brown is that the Titans could go run-heavy if they get a lead, but Henry's return boosts the whole offense. Tennessee averaged 5.5 yards per play this year through Week 8, and a more efficient offense means more touchdown opportunities for all. And, if Tennessee winds up falling behind, Brown could eat. We have him scoring 14.1 FanDuel points.

If a running back who sees great volume is going to be overlooked at MVP, we should be very interested. That might be the case with Joe Mixon ($13,000) on Saturday. Not only do we have several other quality options for the multiplier slot, but Mixon has an unquestionably difficult matchup versus a Tennesse defense that gave up the fewest FanDuel points per game to running backs (16.1).

But volume can trump matchup, and Mixon has seen at least 18 total touches in 10 straight games. He's been targeted at least five times in each of the last three games, so a negative game script won't be a killer for him. He's a really fun MVP play. Our algorithm forecasts Mixon to put up 14.6 FanDuel points.

Flex Breakdown

Outside of Tannehill, Brown, and Henry, the Titans don't have much to get excited about. I can, however, talk myself into taking a shot on one of Julio Jones ($10,500) or Nick Westbrook-Ikhine ($8,000).

After an underwhelming season, Jones' arrow is pointing up. The bye week should help him get healthy, and he ended the year with a season-high nine targets in Week 18. As mentioned before, the return of Henry is a rising tide that lifts all boats in the Titans' offense.

Unfortunately, Julio is over-salaried at $10,500, and that pushes me to Westbrook-Ikhine, who comes at a similar projection, is tied with Jones at a 12% target share since AJB came back, and is $2,500 less.

Westbrook-Ikhine's salary fits nicely into a stars-and-scrubs build, letting you get exposure to a couple of the high-salary studs. The floor is terrifying, especially if Tennessee jumps out to a sizable lead. We saw that play out in Week 17 as Tennessee thumped the Miami Dolphins and NWI goose-egged. But Westbrook-Ikhine's projection of 4.6 FanDuel points isn't far from Julio's projection of 5.7, and on a slate where the value options are pretty rough, Westbrook-Ikhine is a guy I can stomach.

The secondary options on the Bengals' side are a little more palatable, starting with Tee Higgins ($11,000).

Higgins was one of the chalk plays of Wild Card Weekend, and he busted so hard, ghosting his way to a single grab for 10 yards on four targets. It'll be interesting to see how much that hurts his popularity this weekend. With Cincy a road 'dog, the volume should be better for Higgins, and he's been in on at least 80% of the snaps in four straight. At the same time, Higgins has now seen five or fewer looks in three of his last four games. Our model is a fan, slating him to score 11.9 FanDuel points.

It feels point-chasey, but C.J. Uzomah ($8,500) is worth a look and is much easier to get behind at his salary than Tyler Boyd ($11,500) is at his. Uzomah's 15.4 FanDuel points last week were his most since mid-October. On the flip side, he's garnered at least six targets in five of his last six games, so he's a fine process play. He's just likely to be fairly popular after his big game against the Las Vegas Raiders. Our model projects Uzomah for 6.5 FanDuel points.

According to our projections, the two kickers rate out as the top point-per-dollar plays among those salaried under $10,000. Kickers are best suited for lower-scoring games, per Brandon Gdula's single-game study, and this contest's 47.0-point total fits the bill. We project Evan McPherson ($9,500) and Randy Bullock ($9,000) for 8.6 and 8.5 FanDuel points, respectively.