The NFL is finally back on Thursday, as the Dallas Cowboys hit the road to battle the Philadelphia Eagles in this year’s Kickoff game.
It’s going to be awesome to see real, meaningful football again, but it’ll be just as nice (if not better) to be able to build daily fantasy football lineups. This is a Showdown slate and anything can happen, but I’ll offer my favorite plays to target, as well as my personal strategy for the season-opening slate.
I’ll start with the top NFL DFS picks in the Captain slot. Before I get going, consider joining Sleeper and using our code (build), as you can get a 100% match up to $1,500 on your first deposit.
Top NFL DFS Showdown Captains
- Jalen Hurts
- Saquon Barkley
- AJ Brown
- CeeDee Lamb
- Dak Prescott
These are the best plays on the board and the guys who will also garner some fairly hefty ownership in the CPT slot. The only guy that (maybe) won’t be above 10% ownership is Dak, but QBs tend to be quite owned, so I’m not even sure I buy that.
Hurts is the top projecting player and he’s coming in at 25% ownership. I expect that to hold or come in over that number. He will be very owned, and rightfully so. Due to his high ownership, I prefer sliding him to the Flex, but if you want to lock him in as a chalky Captain, I’m OK with it.
Anyone else gets you pretty instant leverage on Hurts, as all these other guys are maxing out at about 11% ownership. By default, that’s a huge edge with several viable options.
My favorite is Lamb, as he will be needed in this game and we know his ceiling is massive. Barkley is a pretty great pivot away from Hurts at half the ownership, too.
Dak is fine and Brown also has immense upside. I am a tad worried about Brown just because he’s been banged up for the past month, but he’s still an interesting play.
Best GPP Captain Picks
- Javonte Williams
- George Pickens
- DeVonta Smith
Obviously there are more GPP plays to consider, but these are my favorite. These guys are all still pricey enough in the CPT slot, but they have very little ownership compared to the studs above.
Pickens and Williams stand out for me, as they should be heavily involved. The natural inclination is to fire up Eagles, as they are at home and favored. However, if they are leading, the Cowboys should rack up stats as they play catch up.
Williams could already be washed, but for the moment he is the top back for Dallas. In theory, that means he is a solid bet to get catches and red-zone looks. Miles Sanders and Jaydon Blue could also be viable if the game gets out of hand, but Williams seemingly has an underrated role with minimal ownership.
Pickens is safer than Williams and I like him about the same. He has explosive upside, he is the Cowboys’ new toy they probably wouldn’t mind unleashing, and he could have added volume if the game gets out of control. If Philly is successful in slowing down Lamb, Pickens could tee off.
The story is similar for Smith. If Brown is not 100%, I can see Smith getting more volume than usual. He also can take the top off the defense, so he may honestly only need one play to deliver.
Top Flex Plays
Even if you don’t like Williams as a Captain GPP play, he looks too cheap in the Flex. Jake Ferguson also looks like a strong Flex play, but isn’t really on my CPT radar, personally.
Both kickers are viable, while the Philly D is an OK option. Values like Turpin, Dotson, Sanders, Blue, and Shipley are solid Flex options I’ll get exposure to – but none of them are guarantees to hit. Based on ownership (and especially if I am not playing Javonte), Blue is the most compelling.
I broke the entire slate down here, too:
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