NFL DFS: Week 3 DraftKings Plays

The Week 3 DraftKings main slate for the NFL is live. And we have some standout salaries. We’re still adjusting to roles and matchups. That creates a great opportunity for this DraftKings slate. Up first, we are going to talk about a quarterback who could routinely find himself in the favorite plays section for the rest of the season.

More Fantasy Football Fun!: | Sneaky Starts | Fantasy Football Waiver Wire | Weekly Sleepers & Streamers | Starts & Sits | Skrip’s Week Winners | Players You Can Drop | NFL DFS | NFL Player Props | IDP Analysis | Bold Predictions | Re-Draft Trade Targets | Survivor Picks | NFL Injury Report | Dynasty Trade Targets | Dynasty Risers and Fallers | Weekly Rankings | Game Previews

Week 3 NFL Main Slate DraftKings Plays

Quarterback

Favorite Play: Lamar Jackson, Baltimore Ravens ($7,500)

Lamar Jackson is back to his MVP form, and he’s facing a perfect defense to keep that trend going. The Dallas Cowboys had high expectations for their defense, which quickly faded after a poor Week 1 showing against the New York Giants. Jaxson Dart threw for three touchdowns to lead them to a win. The Dallas Cowboys are allowing the fifth most fantasy points to the position. And that is including a half from Marcus Mariota this past week.

Enter Lamar Jackson, who is coming off a down game against the New Orleans Saints. However, the Ravens have the third-highest team total entering the weekend. Dart also used his legs and found great success, adding 54 rushing yards. Jackson has 74 so far this season. With a great situation, a high team total, and a return to MVP form, Jackson is in a great spot to put up some DraftKings points this weekend.

Contrarian Play: Geno Smith, New York Jets ($4,900)

Geno Smith was in contention for my favorite play of the week overall on DraftKings. The Jets quarterback enters Week 3 with the most favorable QB matchup against the Detroit Lions. Detroit is giving up the most fantasy points to opposing quarterbacks at 33 FPPG. And yes, I do account for the fact that they had to play Josh Allen. Still, on paper, their defense is one of the league’s weakest. Pair that with the fact that Geno is one of the cheapest starters on DraftKings. And that makes for a relatively great DraftKings play. Smith also threw the ball 41 times last week against the Green Bay Packers. He could easily match or exceed that number, with the Jets as 6.5-point underdogs against a Lions offense that is still one of the best in the league.

DraftKings users can easily stack Smith with A.D. Mitchell ($4,300) and Kenyon Sadiq ($3,500) for a value stack. Or they can stack him with Garrett Wilson ($6,400). Either way, the Jets profile as a great sleeper team this week against a team that allows the second-most points per game in the NFL.

Running Back

Favorite Play: Kenneth Walker III, Kansas City Chiefs ($7,400)

Through two weeks, could it be anyone else? Walker leads the league in carries (47) and rushing yards (290). He has completely transformed the Chiefs’ offense these past two weeks. Now he faces the Miami Dolphins. The Dolphins are allowing the second-most fantasy points to opposing running backs. Walker is impossible to ignore, especially since DraftKings hasn’t priced him near his ceiling yet at $7,400. That is the fifth-highest salary for a running back on DraftKings for Week 3. For the highest-scoring fantasy option at the position going against a defense that has not guarded the run well. Walker feels like a lock for lineups.

Christian McCaffrey scored twice last week, while Ashton Jeanty scored twice through the air in Week 1. Jeanty also eclipsed 100 yards on the ground. The Chiefs are 10.5-point favorites in what should be an easy win for a talented squad. My only concern is that Emmett Johnson, who has earned extra touches because of his excellent play in the first two weeks, sees the field a little more. Walker is still my choice because of DraftKings salaries, but Jahmyr Gibbs and Derrick Henry are close behind.

Contrarian Play: Jeremiyah Love, Arizona Cardinals ($5,500)

I would rather be a week early than a week late with the Cardinals rookie running back. His DraftKings salary is hard to ignore at $5,500. Listen, it is not pretty, but +160 odds for a touchdown are some of the better odds users will get at this DraftKings salary. The 49ers aren’t great at stopping the run, ranking 17th in rushing yards allowed. Love’s role will grow as the season progresses. His DraftKings salary better reflects his role now, with about 12 to 15 touches per game. So even if Love is not a play this week, he will eventually be in a GPP winning lineup. Remember, he had a preseason ankle sprain that he is still working through. If I had to make another contrarian pick, it would be Travis Etienne Jr. because his usage has been puzzling at the start of the season, despite landing a huge contract in the offseason from the New Orleans Saints.

Wide Receiver

Favorite Play: Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Seattle Seahawks ($8,600)

Despite being the most expensive wide receiver on DraftKings by salary, Smith-Njigba is still easily the top play on the board. This week, he gets a weak Commanders secondary that just allowed 38.3 DraftKings points to CeeDee Lamb. Smith-Njigba is leading the position in fantasy points per game, expected fantasy points per game, targets per route run, yards per route run, and every major wide receiver stat through two weeks. His matchup will likely be Mike Sainristil. PFF rates him the 96th-best cornerback out of 96 qualified cornerbacks, with a grade of 31.2. This isn’t a DraftKings play worth overthinking. The NFL’s arguably best receiver against the worst cornerback is a free space for DraftKings lineups this week.

Contrarian Play: KC Concepcion, Cleveland Browns ($4,300)

Denzel Boston has gotten all of the hype on the Browns and deservedly so. Boston is WR10 this season thanks to two long touchdowns. And Boston’s salary is only $200 on DraftKings this week. That tells us where users will gravitate. Boston has been the one scoring points, but he and Concepcion are actually tied in targets with 11 through two games. The big separator between the two has been average depth of target. Boston’s is 15.8 yards per target, while Concepcion’s is 6.8 yards.

The Panthers allowed 59 points in Week 1 to the Chicago Bears, but much of it came on the ground. Over two weeks, they allowed only four passes over 20 yards. That is also because they played the Atlanta Falcons in Week 2. They did not have a play in the red zone in their first two games. Ask their fans on X how that is going.

Despite that, Carolina isn’t getting beat through the air to start the season. Jaycee Horn is a big part of that. The star cornerback has helped the Panthers allow the sixth-fewest points to outside receivers. However, the team is allowing the ninth-most points from the slot. Concepcion has lined up approximately 70% of the time. I’m expecting a big game for the rookie in this contest.

Tight End

Favorite Play: Dalton Kincaid, Buffalo Bills ($5,500)

Realistically, I should list my favorite tight end play as Trey McBride until I can’t. In the spirit of making things different. I will highlight Dalton Kincaid as my second favorite play of the week on DraftKings. Kincaid has been nothing but stellar to start the season. He is finally getting the route participation everyone wanted. He’s running about seven more routes per game than he did in 2025 (23 to 16). On top of that, he is also leading the position in air yards through two weeks with 182.

Now he gets to play against arguably the most dysfunctional team in the NFL, the Los Angeles Chargers. The Chargers currently allow the ninth most fantasy points to the position. I will say that statistic is largely due to Trey McBride and how the Cardinals ran the offense through him in Week 1. However, the Bills might need to do the same with Keon Coleman and D.J. Moore missing practice on Thursday. Moore will likely play, but it remains to be seen how effective he is after that collarbone injury. Either way, treat Dalton Kincaid as a high-end TE1 for the rest of the season.

Contrarian Play: Tyler Warren, Indianapolis Colts ($5,300)

Warren’s role is being saved by touchdowns right now. His average depth of target is currently less than a yard at 0.83 yards per target. Against a tough Texans defense, nobody will be looking his way on DraftKings. It is a risky play nonetheless. However, his role should expand with the absence of Alec Pierce. Josh Downs will be the main beneficiary of the injury. Warren is second on the team in targets and will likely stay there until Pierce gets back. He needs to expand his route tree downfield for this play to be worth it on DraftKings. That will require a lot of ifs for the scenario to play out. That’s why this play is purely contrarian.

Check out all of our Week 3 Rankings: Flex Rankings | QB Rankings | RB Rankings | WR Rankings | TE Rankings | MOP Rankings

Final Thoughts

Week 3 of the DraftKings slate will hopefully be a better one than what we got in Week 2. It was definitely a rollercoaster, to say the least. Hopefully this slate will be better. The early games need to pick up the slack from last week in terms of DraftKings points. The afternoon slate carried all the weight of Week 2. Best of luck for the main slate on DraftKings!

Make sure to check out all of our Week 3 Fantasy Football Rankings and Analysis!