New England at Seattle opens the 2026 season on Wednesday night, and it is a one game slate on both sites. Below is the full FTA projection board for the DraftKings showdown, the captain leverage board, the optimal lineup against the leveraged build, and the low owned screen.
New England Patriots at Seattle Seahawks kicks off on Wednesday September 9 at 8:20 PM Eastern, and it is a one game slate. Below is the full FTA projection board for the DraftKings showdown, the optimal lineup, the captain leverage board and the low owned screen, with every number taken from the same simulation set that feeds our tools.
What the slate shape says before you look at a single player
Two numbers set the frame in showdown, and both are available before lineups lock. The posted total of 44.5 puts this game in the average band, and a 3 point spread puts it in the pick'em band. Across the 163 showdown slates in our study, pick'em games sent the captain to the favorite 66 percent of the time, and average games produced a wide receiver in that slot 29 percent of the time against 27 percent for running backs and 25 percent for quarterbacks.
That is a lean toward Seahawks, not a rule. The same study found the perfect lineup took players from both sides in almost every slate, with a three to three or four to two split accounting for the clear majority. Building entirely on one team is the single most common way to lose a showdown you had right.
The top of the DraftKings board
The eight highest projections on the slate. The full board of 28 players, the value board, the captain leverage board and the optimal lineup are below for FTA+ members.
That is the free preview
You are seeing the top two runenvironments. The rest of the slate, every remaining game with full projected lineups, salaries, home run rates, starting pitcher outlooks and stack notes, is in FTA+.
Unlock with FTA+