Week 3 NFL Preseason DFS Picks for Friday (8/28/2026)
Mike Macdonald has already told us that Jalen Milroe starts and plays the entire preseason finale at Kansas City, with Sam Darnold and Drew Lock held out, and on a nine-game board where DraftKings prices all 559 players at the same $5,500, a coach handing one quarterback four quarters is the closest thing to a free square. Milroe is my top play on Friday night. Behind him I want Vikings rookie Demond Claiborne at running back, Bengals rookie Colbie Young at receiver and Texans rookie Marlin Klein at tight end.
The slate doubles in size from Thursday’s four-game board, and that cuts both ways. More games means more roster-hopeful snaps to hunt, but it also means more fringe guys nobody saw coming will pop and steal a tournament. Cuts land Sunday, so the pressure on the bubble is at its absolute peak. The trick is not getting lost in the chaos: build around the handful of rooms where a coach has actually explained his plan, then take your swings everywhere else.
Nine Games, Four Kickoff Windows and One 7:00 Lock
The DraftKings main slate locks at 7:00 PM ET, and only two of the nine games have started by then. Falcons at Dolphins and Texans at Panthers kick at 7:00. Buccaneers at Jaguars and Giants at Jets follow at 7:30. Four more go at 8:00: Bengals at Eagles, Seahawks at Chiefs, Cardinals at Packers and Saints at Cowboys. Vikings at Broncos does not begin until 9:00 PM ET at Empower Field. That means seven of your nine games are frozen before anyone runs onto the field, and the Denver game locks two full hours early.
Pricing is flat for the seventh preseason slate in a row. All 559 players in the pool cost exactly $5,500, which puts a nine-man roster at $49,500 against the $50,000 cap and leaves no value tier to hunt. The pool skews hard toward pass catchers: 219 receivers, 129 tight ends, 125 running backs and 68 quarterbacks, plus the 18 team defenses. Roster counts are nearly even across all 18 teams, from 34 Giants down to 27 Falcons.
What the Market Says About Friday’s Nine Games
Every game on the board sits inside a field goal and a half, which is what happens when nobody knows how long anyone plays. DraftKings has the widest spreads on Falcons-Dolphins and Vikings-Broncos at 3.5, and the tightest on Texans-Panthers, Cardinals-Packers and Seahawks-Chiefs at 1.5. Splitting each total by its spread produces the implied team totals below. In August these numbers describe coaching plans far more than they describe talent, and the Seattle-Kansas City total of 33.5 is the market telling you it expects two backup offenses to grind.
| Game | Kickoff (ET) | Total | Implied Team Totals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Falcons at Dolphins | 7:00 PM | 36.5 | ATL 20.0 / MIA 16.5 |
| Texans at Panthers | 7:00 PM | 35.5 | HOU 18.5 / CAR 17.0 |
| Buccaneers at Jaguars | 7:30 PM | 34.5 | TB 18.5 / JAX 16.0 |
| Giants at Jets | 7:30 PM | 36.5 | NYG 19.75 / NYJ 16.75 |
| Bengals at Eagles | 8:00 PM | 36.5 | PHI 19.5 / CIN 17.0 |
| Seahawks at Chiefs | 8:00 PM | 33.5 | KC 17.5 / SEA 16.0 |
| Cardinals at Packers | 8:00 PM | 36.5 | GB 19.0 / ARI 17.5 |
| Saints at Cowboys | 8:00 PM | 38.5 | DAL 20.75 / NO 17.75 |
| Vikings at Broncos | 9:00 PM | 37.5 | DEN 20.5 / MIN 17.0 |
Lines via DraftKings, captured Friday morning. Implied totals are the market’s numbers, not projections, and they move.
Jacksonville Is the Only Weather Worth Watching
Eight of the nine games are outdoors, and only one of them has a forecast that should touch a lineup. The National Weather Service forecast for Jacksonville has 81 degrees with a 56 percent chance of precipitation and “showers and thunderstorms likely” at the 7:30 kickoff, which is the one spot on this board where a passing game could get squeezed or a start could get pushed. Charlotte is second at 79 degrees and 46 percent, with the heavier activity forecast to clear before 7:00.
Everything else is clean. Miami sits at 87 and mostly clear, Kansas City at 85 and clear with a 6 mph breeze, Lambeau at 76 and mostly clear, Philadelphia at 78 with essentially no wind, MetLife at 79 with a slight chance of a shower, and Denver at 83 with a small storm chance late. AT&T Stadium has a retractable roof, so Saints-Cowboys is weatherproof no matter what happens outside.
Best NFL Preseason DFS Quarterbacks for 8/28
Jalen Milroe is my top quarterback and the safest player on the entire board. Joe Milton III is the pivot, Garrett Nussmeier is the name most of the field will miss, and Jalon Daniels is the rushing-floor dart. This is a big slate with very little confirmed playing time, so hang your hat on what we actually know first, and what we know starts in Seattle.
Jalen Milroe Is the Easiest Click of the Night
Milroe is the play because Seattle has said the quiet part out loud. Head coach Mike Macdonald announced that Milroe starts against Kansas City and, barring an emergency, plays the entire game, with Darnold and Lock both held out after the injuries the Seahawks picked up in Tennessee. Macdonald’s stated reasoning is that letting Milroe run the whole thing from the opening snap should get him into a rhythm instead of dropping him in cold at halftime.
We could go back and forth on past performance and expected production, but the name of the game here is field time. Milroe has talent and untapped upside, the organization needs to see more out of him, and he is the rare preseason quarterback with a guaranteed four-quarter workload and a rushing floor underneath it. He will be heavily owned. I am eating that chalk and getting different everywhere else.
Joe Milton III Is the Cleanest Pivot Off the Chalk
Dallas has shown no intention of playing Dak Prescott this preseason, which has left Milton with the keys, and he took them last week. He went 9 of 13 for 179 yards with two touchdown passes against Arizona and added a rushing score, a very different quarterback from the one who bailed on clean pockets a year ago. He stood in, he took off only when he had to, and he flipped the QB2 conversation in Dallas on its head.
The one wrinkle worth knowing is on the other sideline. New Orleans head coach Kellen Moore had not said whether his starters would play after they sat the first two preseason games, so this is the single game on the slate with a real chance of live first-team defense showing up. That is a reason to prefer Milton in tournaments over cash.
The Backups Nobody Is Talking About
Geno Smith, Baker Mayfield and Jalen Hurts are all unlikely to suit up, which opens the door for Klubnik, Daniels and McKee. Klubnik has pulled ahead of Bailey Zappe for the Jets backup job over two preseason games, so he is the one I want out of that room. McKee has outplayed Andy Dalton for the Eagles QB2 spot but the job is still open, which means the reps get split.
The name I keep coming back to is Nussmeier. Kansas City announced the seventh-round rookie as its starter against Seattle, and with Chris Oladokun in concussion protocol, he could play the entire game. That is a Milroe-level workload at a fraction of the ownership. Daniels rounds out the group: he went 9 of 14 for 71 yards and a touchdown last week while adding 19 rushing yards on seven carries, and if Mayfield sits as expected he should get a full half.
Running Back Is the Deepest Pool and the Loudest Guessing Game
Demond Claiborne is my top running back, Jacardia Wright is the leverage play attached to Milroe, and Jaleel McLaughlin is the veteran with the widest range of outcomes. There are 125 backs in this pool and I could have listed 25 of them, because half the league is holding an open competition at the position with cuts two days away.
Demond Claiborne Has the Best Mix of Talent, Need and Snaps
If you are looking at who brings the best combination of narrative, talent and playing time, it is the Vikings rookie. Minnesota traded up in the sixth round to take Claiborne out of Wake Forest, he runs in the 4.3s, and he is in a straight fight with Zavier Scott for the third running back job with nothing settled. Blitz pickup has been the knock on him all summer, and it is the kind of flaw that keeps a back off the field in September. It does not keep him off the field in a preseason finale where Minnesota is sitting Justin Jefferson and every other top-line starter.
The honest counterweight is that his last game was not good: eight carries for 18 yards and one catch for seven in the loss to Baltimore. That is exactly why he plays a lot tonight. A back who has already proved his case gets wrapped in bubble wrap this week. A back who has not gets the ball until the coaches have seen enough.
The Seattle Backfield Is the Best Stack on the Board
Milroe playing four quarters is only half the story. The other half is that Seattle has almost nobody to hand the ball to. Zach Charbonnet is out working back from an ACL injury, Emanuel Wilson is questionable with a hamstring, Jadarian Price has not played this preseason, and George Holani has barely been used. That leaves Jacardia Wright, an undrafted free agent who ripped off a 69-yard touchdown run against Tennessee at 20.93 mph on Next Gen Stats.
Pairing Wright with Milroe gives you a four-quarter quarterback and the back most likely to be next to him for all of it, at no salary cost, in a game the market has projected for the fewest points on the slate. The low total is the argument against. The workload is the argument for, and in preseason DFS workload wins that argument most nights.
Denver and Dallas Are the Two Backfields Worth Solving
McLaughlin looks like a killer play if the runway is cleared, but the runway is not cleared yet. J.K. Dobbins was cleared to practice this week after a soft-tissue injury, and when Sean Payton was asked whether he expected Dobbins to suit up he said “we’ll see, yes,” while adding that the team is “just being smart with it.” RJ Harvey has been starting, and fourth-round rookie Jonah Coleman has been the second back in. McLaughlin, Tyler Badie and Cody Schrader are the three genuinely auditioning for the 53, which is the read I trust more than any depth-chart guess.
Dallas is a cleaner story. Javonte Williams is the starter and the RB2 race is between Jaydon Blue and Malik Davis, with Davis having arguably passed Blue after a strong two weeks and Blue dealing with shoulder trouble since the Seattle game. Phil Mafah is the third man and the one on the bubble, and he was barely used a week ago. If the Cowboys want to know what they have before Sunday, this is the night they find out.
Six More Backs Worth a Look
- Cash Jones (Falcons): 103 total yards and a touchdown on 11 touches against Indianapolis, split between 7 carries for 42 and 4 catches for 62. The receiving ability is real and he is an undrafted rookie who needs one more game like it.
- Owen Wright (Texans): DeMeco Ryans confirmed no Houston starters play, and the room behind David Montgomery is thin enough that Wright and the recently signed Deuce Vaughn should split real work.
- Josh Williams (Buccaneers): He caught one screen for 16 yards last week while Sean Tucker scored. Tampa Bay is resting its regulars, and Williams is the back who still needs a longer look.
- Emmett Johnson (Chiefs): The fifth-round rookie ran 7 times for 25 and a score against Tampa Bay and added two kick returns. He was the third back to touch it behind Kenneth Walker III and Emari Demercado, so this is about the order behind Walker, not the No. 2 job.
- Damien Martinez (Packers): Matt LaFleur is sitting the starters, Josh Jacobs is questionable and MarShawn Lloyd has missed most of the summer with hip and hamstring problems. Martinez and Pierre Strong Jr. should carry it.
- Kendre Miller (Saints): New Orleans is banged up at the position and Miller has looked sharp since returning from a back issue. He is closer to a roster lock than a bubble player, which slightly caps the desperation angle.
Wide Receiver Options Feel Endless on a Nine-Game Board
Colbie Young is my top receiver and the one name on this slate with confirmed volume and a confirmed opportunity. After him the board is a wide-open scrum of rookies and bubble guys, and with 219 receivers in the pool the honest answer is that you can talk me into a lot of them. What follows is the group I actually want, and why each one should be on the field.
| Receiver | Team | Why He Plays |
|---|---|---|
| Colbie Young | Bengals | 12 targets in two games, Zac Taylor confirmed starters sit |
| Kevin Coleman Jr. | Dolphins | 5 targets vs. the Giants, no defined role yet |
| John Metchie III | Panthers | 6 of 7 targets for a game-high 77 yards last week |
| Montorie Foster Jr. | Seahawks | Caught a 24-yarder from Milroe, fighting for the 53 |
| Josh Cameron | Jaguars | 2 catches for 41 yards, separated from a veteran corner |
| Lewis Bond | Texans | No Houston starters, but three added receivers debut |
| Ted Hurst III | Buccaneers | Third-round rookie, most established of the group |
| Malachi Fields | Giants | Rookie in a room with four questionable receivers |
| Isaiah Neyor | Packers | LaFleur is sitting the starters at Lambeau |
| Cyrus Allen | Chiefs | 10 targets in two games from backup quarterbacks |
Colbie Young Is Getting the Volume, So Do Not Fade It
Cincinnati took Young in the fourth round out of Georgia at pick 140, betting on athleticism translating rather than on college production, and the bet is starting to pay. He turned eight targets into three catches for 48 yards and a 17-yard touchdown against Chicago, beating press coverage to get free, and he now sits at 5 catches for 76 yards and a score on 12 targets across two preseason games.
The confirmation that matters came this week: Zac Taylor said Cincinnati’s starters will not play against Philadelphia, so there is no Ja’Marr Chase or Tee Higgins to pull snaps away. Young is auditioning for the No. 4 receiver job to open the regular season, and if the Bengals have any plans of giving him that kind of volume again, I do not see a reason to be off him.
The Rooms That Lost Bodies Are Where the Value Sits
Miami’s Kevin Coleman Jr. is the rookie I keep circling. The fifth-round pick caught two of five targets for 32 yards against the Giants, including a 30-yard grab in double coverage, and he still has no defined role, which normally means snaps. The risk is the opposite of the usual one: there is chatter that Miami may put him on ice for Week 1 rather than expose him again. Caleb Douglas and Chris Bell are the same-team pivots if that happens.
Carolina fed Metchie the ball last time out, 6 of 7 targets for a game-high 77 yards, though he did not catch his first pass until the second half. With Dave Canales sitting the Panthers starters, Metchie should be on the field from the opening drive instead of waiting his turn, and he is still not a lock for the final roster.
Houston is the one read I would adjust from a week ago. No Texans starters play, which is good for Lewis Bond, but Kayshon Boutte, Zay Jones and Sterling Shepard are all set to make their Houston debuts in this game. Three added veterans arriving at once is a lot of targets to share, and it makes Bond a tournament dart rather than a featured piece.
Tight End Is Still the Worst Position in Preseason DFS
Marlin Klein is my top tight end, and the position gets better than it was Thursday without ever getting good. There are 129 tight ends in this pool and almost none of them have a defined role, which is the whole problem: at a position that needs volume to score, nobody can tell you who is getting it. I would spread my exposure here more than anywhere else on the board.
Marlin Klein Has the Athletic Traits and the Snaps
Looking at narrative, talent and upside together, Klein is the most appealing tight end to lock into a lineup tonight. Houston took the German-born Michigan product 59th overall in the second round, and he drew rave reviews in his debut, catching one pass for 31 yards down the middle on just 11 snaps. He profiles as a terrific athlete with real receiving upside, and he has been involved across both preseason games.
There is always a chance Houston holds him back now that he has shown he can play. The counter is Ryans’s confirmation that no starters dress, which puts Dalton Schultz and Cade Stover on the sideline and leaves Klein as the tight end the Texans actually want to look at. They have let it rip with him so far, so I will bet on the traits one more time.
Four Tight Ends With a Real Case
- Elijah Arroyo (Seahawks): The best pure stacking partner for Milroe. He opened Seattle’s scoring in Tennessee on a 36-yard seam route and has looked great all summer. His only issue is whether the Seahawks decide he is a risk they no longer need to take.
- Rivaldo Fairweather (Cardinals): Arizona’s room is gutted, with Tip Reiman out, Elijah Higgins questionable and Trey McBride not playing a preseason finale. Fairweather saw five targets last week, though two penalties on him wiped out scoring plays, so the volume comes with a mistake risk.
- Drake Dabney (Packers): Green Bay is high on him after his Baylor production, and the room ahead of him is thin. Tucker Kraft is questionable, Luke Musgrave is out and headed for a PUP decision, and the newly signed Jonnu Smith is unlikely to play much in his first week.
- Justin Joly (Broncos): The fifth-round pick out of NC State has caught all three of his preseason targets, but for only 10 yards. Denver has zero reason not to give him a long leash in the last exhibition game of the year.
Two more names round out the position. Will Kacmarek is Miami’s third-round rookie and a legitimately good run blocker, but he is more likely to make the roster on that trait than to catch four balls tonight, and Greg Dulcich still carries the receiving role ahead of him. Jared Wiley has no carved-out job in Kansas City behind Travis Kelce and Noah Gray, and the former TCU standout is in a four-way scrap with Jake Briningstool and Tre Watson for whatever is left. Tanner Koziol is the Jaguars’ fifth-round rookie and a fine size-and-athleticism dart, though he has yet to see real snaps.
Building Winning NFL Preseason DFS Lineups on 8/28
My strategy for tonight is simple. Milroe is an absolute lock, because he is getting the entire game to himself in Kansas City. Even if he plays badly, the rushing floor and the four-quarter volume should keep him useful. You can fade the chalk if you want. This is one popular preseason play I am simply going to make.
From there, the sheer size of this board is the problem and the opportunity at once. Nine games means more fringe guys will pop that nobody saw coming, which makes a tournament takedown harder. It also means the reliable plays are easier to find, because only a handful of rooms have a coach on record about who plays. I would stack a Seattle piece with Milroe, spread tight end exposure widely across a lot of entries, and take my shots at running back and receiver rather than agonizing over them.
More than anything, the name of the game is playing time. Make sure anyone you use is actually active and has a clear path to substantial snaps. Avoid big-name starters and anyone who has clearly won his position battle, because a player with nothing left to prove is the first one wrapped in bubble wrap in the last week of August. I would also stay away from anyone who has been dealing with any kind of injury in the past week. If you want the full framework for when to take the safe floor and when to reach for the lower-owned ceiling, our guide to NFL DFS cash games versus GPPs lays it out.
One last lever worth using: a defense costs the same $5,500 as everyone else, and preseason offenses are backups behind patchwork lines, so sacks and takeaways are cheap. Pointing a defense at the chalk is a cleaner way to differentiate than guessing at a fourth-string running back. Multiple lineups remain the right approach in August, and the step I would not skip is the last news check before 7:00 PM ET, because seven of these nine games are frozen before they start. More breakdowns for every slate live on our daily fantasy sports hub.
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Frequently Asked Questions
A nine-game finale with four kickoff windows, flat pricing and a cut deadline two days away raises questions I do not get on a normal DFS night. Here are the ones readers keep sending in about this slate.
Why does the whole DraftKings slate lock at 7:00 PM ET when seven of the nine games kick off later?
Because a DraftKings classic slate locks with its first kickoff rather than game by game. Falcons at Dolphins and Texans at Panthers start at 7:00 PM ET, Buccaneers at Jaguars and Giants at Jets go at 7:30, four more games kick at 8:00, and Vikings at Broncos does not begin until 9:00. Inactive lists arrive roughly 90 minutes before each kickoff, which means Miami’s and Carolina’s are the only two you get to read before you are locked in. If you want to act on the later news, DraftKings runs a five-game late classic slate that locks at 8:00 PM ET, plus single-game Showdowns for Giants-Jets at 7:30 and Vikings-Broncos at 9:00.
If every player on the slate costs the same $5,500, how do I decide who to roster?
Let certainty of playing time decide, because salary cannot. All 559 players in the pool are priced at $5,500 for the seventh straight preseason slate, so a nine-man roster costs $49,500 against the $50,000 cap and there is no value tier to find. That turns the whole exercise into a snap-count question. Seattle has said Jalen Milroe plays all four quarters, Kansas City named Garrett Nussmeier its starter, and Houston, Carolina, Cincinnati and Green Bay have all confirmed their starters sit. Weight your lineups toward the rooms where a coach has explained the plan, and treat everything else as a tournament dart.
Which quarterback should I build around on this slate?
Jalen Milroe, and it is not particularly close. Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald said Milroe starts against Kansas City and plays the entire game barring an emergency, with Sam Darnold and Drew Lock both held out. A quarterback with four guaranteed quarters and a rushing floor at the same price as everyone else is the closest thing to a free square in preseason DFS. Joe Milton III is the pivot, since Dallas has not played Dak Prescott and Milton went 9 of 13 for 179 yards with two touchdowns last week. If you want the lower-owned angle, Kansas City named seventh-round rookie Garrett Nussmeier its starter and he could go the distance with Chris Oladokun in concussion protocol.
Are any starters actually playing on Friday, or is this whole slate backups?
Almost none, and the one team to watch is New Orleans. Head coach DeMeco Ryans said no Houston starters play, Dave Canales said the same for Carolina, Zac Taylor confirmed Cincinnati sits its starters, Matt LaFleur is resting Green Bay’s, Andy Reid is sitting Patrick Mahomes, Mike Macdonald is holding out Seattle’s veterans, and reporting indicates Philadelphia rests Jalen Hurts. The exception is the Saints, whose head coach Kellen Moore had not said whether his starters would play after they sat the first two preseason games. That makes Saints-Cowboys the one game where live first-team football could show up.
Does the weather matter on any of these nine games?
Only in Jacksonville, and secondarily in Charlotte. The National Weather Service has 81 degrees with a 56 percent chance of precipitation and showers and thunderstorms likely at the 7:30 kickoff at EverBank Stadium, which is the one spot where a passing game could get squeezed or a start pushed. Charlotte is at 46 percent with the heavier activity forecast to clear before 7:00. Everything else is benign: Miami is mostly clear at 87, Kansas City is clear at 85, Lambeau is 76 and calm, Philadelphia has essentially no wind, and Denver carries only a small late storm chance. AT&T Stadium has a retractable roof, so Saints-Cowboys is weatherproof.
Why would I roster a fourth-string running back over a name I recognize?
Because the name you recognize has already won his job and does not need this game. Cuts to 53 land Sunday, so the players who actually see the field in a finale are the ones fighting for a roster spot or a practice-squad slot. That is the entire logic behind Demond Claiborne, who is still in a live battle with Zavier Scott for Minnesota’s third running back job, and behind Jacardia Wright, an undrafted back in a Seattle room where Zach Charbonnet is out and Emanuel Wilson is questionable. Recognition is a liability in the last week of August, not an asset.
