UFL DFS is pretty volatile and an expansion draft messed this seasonal football league up even more. Now that two weeks are in the books, however, we have a better understanding of player roles.
With that, I’m breaking down the top week 3 UFL DFS picks you’ll want to roster, while also touching on some potentially low-owned GPP plays, as well as the top games to target. Let’s build!
🏈Slate Overview
- Top injury news to monitor: Seth Williams, Nolan Henderson, Hunter Dekkers.
- Best value plays: Ellis Merriweather, Elijhah Badger, and Tyler Neville.
- Top game to attack: Gamblers/Defenders (47.5 total) and Aviators/Renegades (46.5).
- Top stud: Austin Reed (27.7 ppg) and Deon Jackson (22.2).
- Blowout risks: Gamblers/Defenders (6.5-point spread) and Aviators/Renegades (7).
Top UFL DFS Picks for Week 3
- Austin Reed, QB, Dallas Renegades ($10k)
- Deon Jackson, RB, DC Defenders ($8.8k)
- Elijhah Badger, WR, Orlando Storm ($5.9k)
- Ellis Merriweather, RB, Dallas Renegades ($4.9k)
🏈New to DFS? Core plays are the guys you put in most or all of your lineups. They have strong matchups, clear roles, and either prices that make it easy to fit premium players elsewhere, or are simply too good to not play.
I don’t see much of a reason to go away from Austin Reed or Deon Jackson. They are the two legit studs in the UFL right now and they’re both crushing at the moment with 20+ fantasy points in their first two games.
Austin Reed has been nothing short of sensational, as he set the record for passing yards in a UFL game in his 2026 debut.
If you were worried that was a fluke, Reed answered back with another stellar effort in week two. This week he could be looking at another huge outing as he faces an Aviators defense that just got stomped by the Defenders, 44-26.
Jackson has displayed explosive ability and has a good role for the defending champion Defenders. They got bottled up in week one and he still generated 12.7 fantasy points due to volume. In week two he wasn’t needed as much in terms of workload, but he generated big plays and found the endzone three times.
I wouldn’t bet on that again, but there are precious few UFL DFS options that are actually worth paying a premium for. In week three he draws a solid matchup against Houston, who have allowed the second most points in the UFL so far this season and also have allowed a rushing score in consecutive weeks to begin the year.
You can opt to fade Jackson due to price, but I’d first consider pairing Ellis Merriweather with him, or replacing him as your stand alone RB. Merriweather is easily one of the best values of the week, as he has a solid role with the best offense in the UFL.
In week one Ellis didn’t get things going on the ground, but he did see 13 carries and also managed to haul in six catches and a score. In week two he still held onto a solid rushing role (11 carries) and saw two more balls come his way. Dae Dae Hunter is the more explosive back in Dallas, but I like the role and savings we can tap into with Merriweather.
The best value of the entire slate is probably Badger, though. You’ll want to spend at wide receiver and go get Tyler Vaughns as a stacking option with Reed if you can, but either way Badger stands out due to price, role, and matchup.
Badger hauled in four catches for 59 yards and a score last week and in week three he gets that same exact matchup again. Teammate Chris Rowland (10 targets!) is the safer bet to produce, but Badger has been involved (4+ targets in both games) and displayed explosive ability in week one.
We want to go get the studs where we can, but we also need some reliable value we can trust to a certain degree. Merriweather and Badger seem to be as good as any on this week 3 UFL DFS slate.
Strategy
I am paying up for Reed, Jackson, and Vaughns. They will be popular, but they’re the three best studs on a slate where not that many guys are super reliable. Some of these UFL offenses are flat out awful and it stems from shaky quarterback play. Others want to try to run the ball but they’re terrible at it.
We can definitely entertain pivoting off of Vaughns and leveraging ownership by stacking Dallas up in different ways – Greg Ward and Dae Dae Hunter – but I don’t think I’d deviate from that stack very much.
If anything the best route might be the comeback in that game, or furthering the stack. Maybe that means going and getting Tay Martin from Columbus or fully stacking Dallas with their RBs or targeting a low-owned option with a shaky floor like Denzel Mims or Drake Stoops.
The core strategy here is to eat the good chalk and differentiate with stacks or targeting some GPPs that won’t be very owned.
- 🟢 SAFE – Reed/Jackson. They can always disappoint (it’s the UFL!), but they look very safe.
- 🟡 BOOM/BUST – Merriweather and Badger. Both look good but the first one I’d fade is Ellis since he shares the rushing workload with Hunter.
Best UFL DFS Game Environments for Week 3
🏈New to DFS? We look for games with high point totals because more points scored = more fantasy points available. The “total” is the sportsbook’s projected combined score for both teams. Higher is generally better for DFS.
- Houston Gamblers vs. DC Defenders (47.5 total)
- Columbus Aviators vs. Dallas Renegades (46.5 total)
The two best stacking environments also have the thickest spreads. Dallas and DC are quite good offensively. The Defenders struggled in a week one loss, then remembered they were good and scored 44 points last week.
Dallas has looked incredibly sharp through two weeks, scoring 31+ points in both games. It’s always possible they have a dude or that DC reverts back to their week one form, but in a league of uncertainty, we should embrace good players and solid teams when they reveal themselves.
In tournaments we can hope these games under-perform or blow out, but I don’t think stacking up the Storm and Kings feels very good. If I go away from the chalk, it’d be one-offs from that game (bat best) or firing up what should be a totally overlooked Stallions vs. Battlehawks game.
Week 3 UFL DFS GPP Pivots
🏈New to DFS? GPP stands for Guaranteed Prize Pool — the big tournaments. To win tournaments, your lineup has to be different from everyone else’s. A “GPP pivot” is a player who will be lower-owned than his upside deserves, giving you a tournament edge if he performs well.
- Jashaun Corbin, RB, Orlando Storm ($8.5k)
- Matt Corral, QB, Birmingham Stallions ($9.8k)
- Hakeem Butler, WR, St. Louis Battlehawks ($8k)
Corbin has been Not Good through 2 weeks, but he got bailed out by two rushing scores in week one. Orlando has not run the ball well at all, but the workload is there and his team is favored to beat the Kings after doing exactly that last week as well.
That Louisville run defense has actually been solid and they stifled Corbin last week. That, plus the fact that studs like Reed/Jackson/Vaughns exist could combine to keep Corbin’s ownership muted. He looks like a pretty solid pivot for big GPPs.
Corral is an obvious direct pivot off of Reed. Reed has been on fire and isn’t a guy I want to aggressively go away from, but a sprinkling of the dynamic Corral isn’t a bad idea in tourneys. Corral is the inferior pure passer, but he can do stuff with his legs and he’s been passable with 12 and 15 fantasy points through his first two games.
His game is being overlooked a bit, but it has a decent total (for the UFL) and a tight spread, so it’s very possible it over-performs. He really hasn’t made an impact on the ground yet, but if/when he does, he just might break a slate. It’d still require Reed failing, though.
Lastly, let’s fire up some Hakeem Butler. I like this just the same if you want to load up and get gross with punts, but he’s also a solid leverage play on an almost definitely chalky Tyler Vaughns. Butler missed week one but is healthy after playing last week and turning an awesome nine targets into four catches for 56 yards (12.6 fps).
Butler’s role is massive and he is a big-bodied, physical specimen who can win in the red-zone. Again, this game is going to be somewhat overlooked and if we can get quite arguably the UFL’s most dominant weapon at low ownership, that’s something to get excited about.
I mentioned him briefly, but Greg Ward is more potential Vaughns leverage, but within his own team. He’s not as reliable, but he’s $2k cheaper and still gets you really nice exposure to the best passing stack of the slate.
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