Top DraftKings DFS Plays for NFL Week 1

The Week 1 DraftKings slate for the NFL season is upon us. The schedule has already delivered some wild games. And that will likely continue on Sunday. In this article, I’ll list eight DraftKings plays; four will be my personal favorites on the site. These plays ignore a player’s roster popularity and focus on pure points. The other four will be contrarian and focus solely on ownership percentages. Those will be low-owned plays to differentiate from the field. We will start with two of my favorite quarterbacks on DraftKings for the first week of NFL action.

Best DraftKings Plays: NFL Week 1 DFS

Quaterback

Favorite Play: Tyler Shough, New Orleans Saints ($5,600)

Big underdog with a moneyline that’s +265 and a point total that’s the second-highest at 49.5 points. That sounds like a pass-heavy game script if I’ve ever heard of one. The Saints threw the eighth-most passes in 2025. And they’ll have to throw a ton this Sunday to keep up with Jared Goff and company. The Lions were fifth in both passing yards and total touchdowns this past season. With Sam LaPorta back from injury, they are also at full strength.

However, the Lions’ problem was never the offense. It has been the defense in recent memory. Detroit gave up the 11th most points last year, largely due to their secondary. They did add Chuck Clark to the safety rotation, but not much else. For that reason, Shough, Chris Olave, and even Juwan Johnson will find themselves in plenty of DraftKings lineups.

Contrarian Play: Cam Ward, Tennessee Titans ($5,100)

The DraftKings contrarian plays will largely come from teams with low team totals this week. And the Tennessee Titans are no exception to that rule. They have the seventh-lowest team total for Week 1. However, they face one of the league’s worst defenses, the New York Jets. The Jets gave up the second-most fantasy points to the position last season. And with Cam Ward at $5,100, no one will play him; DraftKings players will naturally go up to Kyler Murray or Tyler Shough, who are in the mid $5,000 range for salary. The team will have seven new starters on defense, so this past season’s overhaul could work out for the Jets. Many signal callers make the leap in year two after a year of acclimating to the NFL. And maybe Ward’s preseason is not a sign of things to come, but necessary growing pains. Brian Daboll helped Jaxson Dart in his rookie year; let’s see if he can do it again with Ward.

Favorite Play: Saquon Barkley, Philadelphia Eagles ($6,900)

Barkley has played the Washington Commanders four times as a member of the Philadelphia Eagles. Barkley’s PPR points in those games were 33.8, 27, 31.2, and 21.2. Barkley is in a prime position to repeat that performance, with the Commanders still rebuilding their defense. The team added Sonny Styles and Odafe Oweh, among others, to help a run defense that was third-worst in the league. The improvements should help, but this defense still has a low ceiling. Barkley will be behind a now-healthy offensive line that was banged up most of 2025. He also has a new offensive coordinator, Sean Mannion, who should help him get looks outside the tackles. Something that the offense lacked under Kevin Patullo for much of last season.

Barkley is in a better scenario this season with the arrow pointing up for the Eagles’ offense as a whole.

Contrarian Play: Breece Hall, New York Jets ($6,200)

A player I am not seeing any buzz regarding is Breece Hall. That is likely because he has a groin injury before the season even starts. However, Breece is good to go for Week 1 and will start for the Jets. Offseason comments about the backfield being a committee have soured expectations on Hall. Braelon Allen could potentially get the goal-line work in what could be a low-scoring offense. So it makes sense users will pivot to players with better matchups like D’Andre Swift or Bucky Irving. I predict that Hall will be on less than five percent of rosters on the main slate for Sunday against an average defense. No matter the split, Hall will still handle the pass-catching work and provide a safe floor with slate-breaking upside.

Wide Receiver

Favorite Play: Ja’Marr Chase, Cincinnati Bengals ($7,800)

I will not lie, I was picking between the LSU wide receivers for this one. Both Chase and Justin Jefferson are fantastic plays this Sunday in what should be high-scoring matchups. I chose Chase because of offensive stability. The Bengals threw the ball the second-most times in the league last year, while the Vikings threw the ball the fourth-fewest. Granted, that is likely to change with Kyler Murray at the helm now. However, we know this Bengals offense runs through Chase, Tee Higgins, and Chase Brown. All three will see heavy usage in this game, and the team has the third-highest point total this weekend at 27 points. An argument can honestly be made for any of the receivers at the top of the DraftKings salary board.

However, I went with Chase because of DJ Turner popping up on the injury report. The projected total is sitting at 50.5, and if Turner sits, this could easily get out of hand. So, keep an eye on his injury status heading into Week 1. I want pieces of this game and the one in Detroit in my DraftKings lineups to have the best chance of winning on Sunday.

Contrarian Play: Brian Thomas Jr., Jacksonville Jaguars ($5,500)

The ultimate contrarian play on DraftKings after an offseason of Parker Washington hype. It would only be right for Thomas Jr. to wipe it all away in game one of the season. Cleveland was one of the better defenses last season, but when you have Myles Garrett, he can elevate the entire unit. Regression should be expected from this defense after losing a player of that caliber. Adding to that regression, Jakobi Meyers was practicing in a non-contact jersey on Thursday. He said himself that he will play, but how effective will he be with the hand injury? Jacksonville was middle of the pack in passing plays last season, 14th in the league. That was before they lost Travis Etienne, which could shake up their scheme. I believe they will pass the ball more this season, and while I do buy into the Parker Washington hype, their salaries are only separated by $100 on DraftKings. So, best believe everyone will gravitate toward Washington in Week 1.

There will be enough volume for two receivers to produce, and with Meyers’ injury, it looks to be Thomas Jr. and Washington. I will have exposure to both in my DraftKings lineups, but Thomas Jr. is the ultimate contrarian play if I’ve ever seen it on DraftKings.

Tight End

Favorite Play: Michael Mayer, Las Vegas Raiders ($2,900)

Unfortunately, to the dismay of many fantasy managers. Brock Bowers will miss at least one to two weeks, and potentially more. Fortunately for the Raiders, they have another highly-drafted tight end waiting in the wings to assume the role of starter. Mayer was the 35th overall pick in 2023, the year before the team drafted Brock Bowers 13th overall in 2024. Mayer’s career got off to a slow start, as most tight ends do, but then a generational prospect walked through the door and capped his upside.

Despite that, Mayer did have a few opportunities last year as the starter. Last year, Bowers missed four games, and Mayer produced two top-ten finishes, including a TE4 finish where he had ten targets. Now, he walks into a great matchup against the Miami Dolphins. The Dolphins gave up the fifth-most points to the position last season. And while they did get a bit of an overhaul in the form of four new rookies and a handful of free agents, they still project as a bottom-five defense. Mayer has the second-best receiving line on the team at 39.5 receiving yards, right behind Tre Tucker. They also have the fourth-best odds to score in the game at +230. Vegas expects Mayer to be heavily involved in a good matchup. He will likely be chalk and on a ton of rosters, but sometimes you have to take the free space on DraftKings.

Contrarian Play: Harold Fannin Jr. ($4,200)

A large portion of the field will play Mayer/McBride/Loveland/Warren/Pitts, likely in that order. I would predict Goedert would be the sixth name. So getting different without sacrificing from a talent perspective, and Fannin Jr. is the perfect player for that. He had the greatest college season of all time, then followed it up with a spectacular rookie season. He had the sixth-highest target share at the position last season as a rookie. And I expect that to continue in 2026. It is also being underrated that the Jaguars lost several key pieces of their defense, with Devin Lloyd and Greg Newsome II departing via free agency. The team gave up the 11th most fantasy points to the position in 2025 and arguably got worse on defense. If the Browns’ quarterback play is average, Fannin could have a big day with next to no ownership on DraftKings.

Final Thoughts

Week 1 is the perfect place to make bold calls on DraftKings. Many roster decisions are based on offseason reports and what they believe. Look at the game on Thursday: Kaelon Black got a chunk of the backfield work from Christian McCaffrey. So anything can happen, so do not be afraid to take risks here in Week 1. The data will quickly follow as we progress through the season, so now is when the playing field will be the most even for the rest of the season on DraftKings. Best of luck to everyone with their Week 1 lineups!