Monday Night Football DFS Breakdown: Miami Dolphins vs. Tennessee Titans

There are two Monday night games this week, and this one... probably isn't what you'd call 'The Good One.' No, these 0-3 Titans and 1-2 Dolphins already know that this year won't be their dream season, for various and differing reasons. Miami might have been able to put something together, but the indefinite absence of Tua Tagovailoa (concussion) has already trashed the plan for 2024. Tennessee was probably more hopeless all along, perhaps slightly indicated in its 0-3 record, but new coach Brian Callahan has so far found that being an NFL head coach is a lot more difficult than being Zac Taylor's caddie, and calling dad for help doesn't quite work as well as it used to, either. Mike McDaniel is at least a real, self-made coach and might be able to find a way around the Titans even with recent pickup Tyler Huntley taking over at quarterback. The home-team Dolphins are favored by 2.5 points, and the over/under is a bleak 37.0.

QUARTERBACKS

Will Levis ($9200 DK, $13000 FD) has been truly awful in 2024, but to be fair his first two opponents (Chicago and the Jets) could both possess top-five defenses. The Dolphins are definitely not close to that, so this should be the most comfortable Levis has looked to this point in the year. If he can't start turning things around here it would be a bad look, however. Levis should comfortably make it to double-digit fantasy points in this game, but it's hard to tell if he's capable of much more than that.

Tyler Huntley ($9600 DK, $13500 FD) has major limitations as a passer but at the very least is a major upgrade over the likes of Tim Boyle and Skylar Thompson. Huntley struggles to push the ball downfield, but if he can prove punctual and accurate underneath then Huntley has a real shot to produce in this offense, giving the high YAC capabilities of Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle. There's a real chance McDaniel cooks up some cool novel play designs for Huntley that catch defenses by surprise, if only for a little while. With all of this said, the Tennessee defense has a lot of talent and is clearly the strength of the Titans roster. They have three quality corners and a few standout players in the front seven. Huntley will need to be on his game to avoid danger here.

RUNNING BACKS

De'Von Achane ($10600 DK, $15500 FD) is arguably the star of the slate, if only given the absence of competition. The Dolphins wideouts would normally be the challenger or even favorite for the distinction, but with the quarterback situation murky at best it's no longer easy to just take it for granted that Hill and Waddle will go off in a given game. Indeed, some of the usage that was denied to Hill and Waddle last week landed on Achane specifically, as he saw a mammoth Week 2 workload of 22 carries and six catches. Week 3 was less successful against the Seahawks, but switching from Thompson to Huntley should open up the offense for Achane again. The problem with Huntley is whether he can throw a 10-yard pass, but he at least can comfortable operate the depths up to that point. Jaylen Wright ($2800 DK, $7500 FD) is an exciting rookie but it's not clear whether he'll get much chance to play in this game – in Week 3 Wright played only 13 snaps while Jeff Wilson ($3000 DK, $8000 FD) played 14. Wilson can't produce like Wright can on a per-touch basis, but it might nonetheless be Wilson who has more touches for the foreseeable future.

Tony Pollard ($10000 DK, $12500 FD) is the clear lead running back for the Titans, and given Levis' struggles one has to assume the Titans will lean heavily on Pollard in this game. The Dolphins run defense has been a mess to this point in 2024, and if that continues here then this is a chance for Pollard to post volume and efficiency at the same time. Tyjae Spears ($5800 DK, $8500 FD) is a capable if not overqualified RB2, but so far Spears has been a true passing-down specialist in an offense that doesn't throw that much and almost never does it well.

WIDE RECEIVERS + TIGHT ENDS

Calvin Ridley ($7800 DK, $11500 FD) has been inconsistent and inefficient through three games, though not any more so than anyone could fault the guy for given the quarterback play in Tennessee. It still might be true to say that DeAndre Hopkins ($7400 DK, $10000 FD) is more immune to Levis' erratic play, however, if only because Hopkins is always somewhat open – Hopkins thrives against physicality and can make catches even when he's not reading as cleanly open, whereas in Ridley's case there's a greater need for both separation and the ability of Levis to correctly anticipate/identify separation. Tyler Boyd ($5400 DK, $7500 FD) has predictably done next to nothing in Tennessee's cramped offense, so much so that tight ends like Chigoziem Okonkwo ($3600 DK, $8000 FD) and Josh Whyle ($2400 DK, $6500 FD) might have about as good of odds to produce usefully. Nick Westbrooke-Ikhine and Treylon Burks sometimes play wideout snaps but have been invisible to this point.

Tyreek Hill ($11000 DK, $15000 FD) and Jaylen Waddle ($8000 DK, $11000 FD) are still profoundly limited by their quarterback play, but it's probably worth pointing out that Huntley by any measure is much better than Skylar Thompson. Huntley is probably only capable of making dink-and-dunk throws, but that's still more than Thompson or Tim Boyle are capable of. With Huntley, at least Hill and Waddle have a chance to show what they're capable of, though the matchup otherwise could still prove difficult against Tennessee's strong corner group. Tight end Jonnu Smith ($3200 DK, $8500 FD) could also benefit from the switch to Huntley, as Huntley threw often to Mark Andrews in Baltimore. Unfortunately for Smith and the Dolphins, one of the few clear errors Mike McDaniel is guilty of is that he keeps Smith off the field to subsidize snaps to blocking specialists Durham Smythe and Julian Hill, and in Hill's case especially he's not even a better blocker than Smith. The Dolphins are clearly being hurt by McDaniels' inability to see this. Braxton Berrios should see upwards of 20 snaps in this game but is purely a punt bet.

KICKERS

Jason Sanders ($4800 DK, $9000 FD) is a capable kicker and he could have some field goal opportunities in this one if the Dolphins can just get some short fields or/and get into scoring range a few times. It's unlikely that the Dolphins convert yardage into touchdowns at an especially good rate here, but if Levis provides short fields the Dolphins could still find themselves in kicking range, and desperate for even three points in each case.

Nick Folk ($5000 DK, $9000 FD) is also a quality kicker – maybe even one of the best in the league – but through three games the Titans offense has utterly failed to set up field goal opportunities for Folk. Perhaps that changes in this game – it's unlikely that the Dolphins score fast enough to make the Titans abandon three-point opportunities – but clearly something needs to change for Folk to show off his uncommon kicking abilities.

DEFENSE/SPECIAL TEAMS

It's tough to rule out either defense in this game, if only given the dreariness of the two offenses involved. With that said, the Titans ($4000 DK, $9500 FD) seem to have more talented at the moment and boast the more complete defense of the two. Both the run and pass defense seem good with Tennessee, it's just been difficult to prove as much because they've spent so much time on the field due to their bad offense.

The Dolphins ($4200 DK, $9500 FD) by contrast have been abysmal against the run and inconclusive at best against the pass. It's true that Levis and his boneheaded plays can make any defense look good, but that is the specific thing you're probably banking on here by selecting the Dolphins. They need to defend the run well in this game to prevent the Titans from getting into a groove, because Tennessee probably wouldn't want to expose Levis to more pass rush than they need to. Particularly if the Titans go ground-heavy it might be difficult for the Dolphins to make any plays on defense.