Week 3 NFL DFS Picks: Core Plays, GPP Targets, and Stacks
Jahmyr Gibbs ($8,800), Jaxon Smith-Njigba ($8,600) and Josh Allen ($8,000) carry three of the five biggest price tags on the DraftKings Week 3 main slate, and any one of them can break a slate by himself. Are any of them absolute musts? Not quite, but two of them are in my core. My Week 3 NFL DFS picks build around Gibbs, Smith-Njigba and a $4,200 Dalton Schultz, save money at quarterback with Patrick Mahomes at $6,200, and chase leverage with a Jets stack on the other side of the Gibbs game.
The 2026 NFL season is blowing past us, and Week 3 is already here. If you’re playing the main slate on DraftKings, you’re dealing with a hefty one: 13 games, with nine kicking off at 1:00 PM ET and four more in the late window. It’s loaded with superstars who also happen to be quite expensive, so below are my top spends, best values, GPP targets and favorite stacks for the week.
Thirteen Games, Three Kickoff Times and Late Swap
The DraftKings main slate for Week 3 covers 13 Sunday afternoon games: nine at 1:00 PM ET, Cardinals at 49ers and Vikings at Buccaneers at 4:05 PM ET, and Raiders at Saints and Ravens vs. Cowboys at 4:25 PM ET. That last one is played at Maracanã Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, with Dallas as the designated home team. Rams at Broncos on Sunday night and Eagles at Bears on Monday night are not on the main slate, so if you want those two games in play, DraftKings also runs a 15-game Sunday-to-Monday classic slate. Rosters are the usual nine spots (a quarterback, two running backs, three receivers, a tight end, a flex and a defense) under a $50,000 cap.
Gibbs is the most expensive player in the pool at $8,800. Smith-Njigba ($8,600), Christian McCaffrey ($8,300), Ja’Marr Chase ($8,100) and Allen ($8,000) are the only other players priced at $8,000 or more.
What DraftKings’ Lines Say About Week 3
Ravens vs. Cowboys in Rio owns the top total on the slate at 53.5, three points clear of Chargers at Bills (50.5), and no other game sits above 48.5. Buffalo (28.75), Baltimore (28.5), Kansas City (28.0) and San Francisco (28.0) carry the four highest implied team totals, with Detroit next at 27.5. Washington’s 16.5 is the lowest on the board, and the Chiefs are the biggest favorite at 10.5 points in Miami.
Our archive of DraftKings lines shows how much this board has moved since the look-ahead numbers we captured at the end of August. Seattle was a 3.5-point road favorite in Washington then and is 7.5 now, after Jayden Daniels dislocated his left elbow last week and Marcus Mariota was named Washington’s Week 3 starter. Buffalo has gone from a 3-point favorite to a 7-point one against the 0-2 Chargers, the Titans-Giants total has fallen from 44.5 to 38.5 as the forecast soured, and the Ravens-Cowboys total has climbed from 51.5 to 53.5.
| Game | Kickoff (ET) | Spread | Total | Implied Team Totals |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chargers at Bills | 1:00 PM | BUF -7 | 50.5 | BUF 28.75 / LAC 21.75 |
| Jets at Lions | 1:00 PM | DET -6.5 | 48.5 | DET 27.5 / NYJ 21.0 |
| Patriots at Jaguars | 1:00 PM | JAX -3 | 45.5 | JAX 24.25 / NE 21.25 |
| Chiefs at Dolphins | 1:00 PM | KC -10.5 | 45.5 | KC 28.0 / MIA 17.5 |
| Panthers at Browns | 1:00 PM | CAR -2.5 | 42.5 | CAR 22.5 / CLE 20.0 |
| Bengals at Steelers | 1:00 PM | CIN -3.5 | 42.5 | CIN 23.0 / PIT 19.5 |
| Texans at Colts | 1:00 PM | HOU -1.5 | 42.5 | HOU 22.0 / IND 20.5 |
| Seahawks at Commanders | 1:00 PM | SEA -7.5 | 40.5 | SEA 24.0 / WAS 16.5 |
| Titans at Giants | 1:00 PM | NYG -2.5 | 38.5 | NYG 20.5 / TEN 18.0 |
| Cardinals at 49ers | 4:05 PM | SF -8.5 | 47.5 | SF 28.0 / ARI 19.5 |
| Vikings at Buccaneers | 4:05 PM | MIN -1.5 | 42.5 | MIN 22.0 / TB 20.5 |
| Ravens vs. Cowboys (Rio) | 4:25 PM | BAL -3.5 | 53.5 | BAL 28.5 / DAL 25.0 |
| Raiders at Saints | 4:25 PM | NO -3 | 43.5 | NO 23.25 / LV 20.25 |
Lines via DraftKings, captured Friday afternoon, September 25. Implied team totals split each total by its spread. They are the market’s numbers, not projections, and they move.
Rain and Wind Are the Story at MetLife Stadium
Ten of the 13 games are played outdoors, and one forecast should change how you build. The National Weather Service forecast for East Rutherford calls for rain on Sunday (a 90 percent chance) with a north wind around 20 mph and gusts as high as 40 mph for Titans at Giants. That game already owns the lowest total on the slate at 38.5, and none of my stacks come from it.
Seahawks at Commanders is the other one to watch, with a 40 percent chance of rain in Landover and a northwest wind of 10 to 20 mph that could gust to 28 mph. That matters for Smith-Njigba, my top receiver spend. The rest of the outdoor games look fine, with sunny or partly sunny skies in Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Jacksonville, Santa Clara and Tampa, and 83 degrees in Miami. In Rio, the forecast calls for about 70 degrees, overcast skies and light wind at the 5:25 PM local kickoff. Ford Field and the Caesars Superdome have fixed roofs and Lucas Oil Stadium has a retractable one. These are Friday forecasts, so check again Sunday morning.
Top Spend at Each Position for Week 3
Patrick Mahomes is my top quarterback spend, Ashton Jeanty my top running back, Jaxon Smith-Njigba my top receiver and Trey McBride my top tight end. Mahomes is the discount of the group, and the other three come with roles that are hard to find anywhere else on the slate.
Patrick Mahomes Is the Quarterback Discount
Josh Allen projects better than any other quarterback in my numbers, and Lamar Jackson ranks second. They’re both terrific spends, but I prefer rolling with Patrick Mahomes, who costs $1,300 less than Lamar and $1,800 less than Allen and is still sniffing a 20-point projection.
Mahomes has posted 22.7 and 32.0 DraftKings points through two games, and he just carved up the Colts for 382 yards and three touchdowns. He ranks fourth in my quarterback projections and faces a Miami defense that got obliterated by Brock Purdy last week, when Purdy completed 20 of 22 passes for 287 yards and accounted for three touchdowns in a 35-13 San Francisco win. The Chiefs are also the biggest favorite on the slate at 10.5 points, which cuts both ways, and I’ll get to the blowout risk in the stacks section.
Ashton Jeanty’s Workload Outruns His $7,100 Price
There is a lot to like at running back. Technically speaking, Jahmyr Gibbs is the top running back spend in terms of both price and projection, and I’ll be getting to him a lot. My favorite dollar-for-dollar play at the position is Jeanty, though.
His role is insane. Jeanty has handled 29 and 28 opportunities (carries plus targets) in his two games, and he turned the first of them into 35.7 DraftKings points against Miami. Last week’s 10.3 at the Chargers was a dud at 2.3 yards per carry, but the volume never left. Now he gets a Saints defense that Jahmyr Gibbs ran all over in Week 1 (156 rushing yards and two scores), and Derrick Henry still found the end zone against it last week.
Jaxon Smith-Njigba Just Might Be Worth $8,600
JSN is very expensive, but he just might be worth it. He understandably owns the top projection among wide receivers in my numbers, and he has wrecked to the tune of 29.2 and 45.5 DraftKings points through his first two games. In Week 3 he faces the Commanders, who gave up 38.3 fantasy points to CeeDee Lamb last week and have allowed 61 points in two games.
Washington’s side of this game got worse, too. Jayden Daniels is out with a dislocated left elbow, so Marcus Mariota starts, and Seattle has moved to a 7.5-point favorite. The wrinkle is on Seattle’s end: Smith-Njigba put up those numbers with Drew Lock throwing him the ball after Sam Darnold hurt his glute five plays into Week 1. Darnold practiced fully Thursday and Friday and carries no injury designation, so he is cleared to return if Seattle goes back to him. Either way, check the wind in Landover on Sunday morning.
Trey McBride Got Cheaper for No Good Reason
Trey McBride crushed in Week 1 (24.5 DraftKings points) and was still very good again last week (18.1), and yet his price somehow came down from $6,900 to $6,700. Arizona is targeting him at will, with 23 targets across the two games, and he put up 30.5 DraftKings points (10 catches, 115 yards and a touchdown) the last time he saw the 49ers, back in November.
The matchup does stink, and San Francisco is an 8.5-point favorite at home. But the role, projection and ceiling all look good, especially since I expect the field to save at tight end this week.
Best Values for Salary Relief
Tyler Shough, Aaron Jones, Isaiah Williams and Dalton Schultz are my favorite ways to save salary at each position, and Schultz is the one I’m happiest to eat as chalk.
Tyler Shough Is My Favorite Cheap Quarterback
There is a lot of good value at quarterback, with guys like Kyler Murray ($5,100) and C.J. Stroud ($5,500) looking pretty good. Shough just projects better than both of them in my numbers, is the thing.
The Saints play an aggressive brand of football: they’re 4-for-4 on fourth down, Kellen Moore went for two to win in overtime at Detroit, and they’ve scored 30 and 24 points. Even when Shough isn’t firing on all cylinders, his floor comes from volume (he threw it 56 times for 410 yards in Week 1), and he can steal a short rushing score like the fourth-down sneak he punched in at Baltimore.
Aaron Jones Stays My Top Running Back Value
I had Aaron Jones as my top running back value last week, and as long as he’s okay to play, I’ll keep him here. The Vikings say he is: Jones sat out Wednesday’s practice with a sore knee, was a full participant Friday and carries no game designation. He’s still under $6,000 at $5,900, and he has a massive role with Jordan Mason on injured reserve.
He weirdly has not caught a single pass this year, but the workload (23 carries for 105 yards in a 9-3 win at Chicago last week) is too good to pass up. The matchup is the knock. Tampa Bay is 0-2 and has allowed 33 and 23 points, but its run defense has given up just 150 rushing yards across those two games, so this is a volume play more than a soft-matchup play.
Isaiah Williams Is a Punt with a Real Role
Want to punt at wide receiver for one of your slots? Then give Isaiah Williams a look at $3,300. Normally I wouldn’t go this far down, but New York is likely to be shorthanded in Week 3. The Jets are already without first-round rookie Omar Cooper Jr., who is on injured reserve with an ankle sprain, and Adonai Mitchell is questionable after hurting his finger in Thursday’s practice.
The Jets, meanwhile, face a Lions defense that has allowed 71 points and 915 yards in two games, and Williams already had a small role to begin with. He caught all six of his targets against Green Bay last week after seeing just one in the opener, and he returns kicks, too.
Dalton Schultz Is Chalk I’m Happy to Eat
Nico Collins has been ruled out with a hamstring strain, setting Dalton Schultz up to once again soak up targets. He had a highly improbable 12 catches on 14 targets for 140 yards against Cincinnati last week, and I wouldn’t bank on him repeating that. But he also had eight targets the week prior, and he’s facing a bad Colts defense that let a 36-year-old Travis Kelce catch nine passes for 101 yards and a touchdown last week.
Chalky or not, Schultz looks amazing in Week 3. Indianapolis has allowed 74 points through two games, the most in the league, and this one is played under the Lucas Oil Stadium roof.
Best GPP Picks to Target
Justin Herbert, Chase Brown, Justin Jefferson and Dalton Kincaid are my favorite tournament targets. GPP stands for guaranteed prize pool, and the ownership notes below are my expectations for how the field will build, not measured ownership numbers.
Hardly Anybody Is Going to Play Justin Herbert
I don’t expect many people to play Justin Herbert this week. Hey, I get it: the Mike McDaniel offense hasn’t clicked yet, with the Chargers losing 26-14 at home in each of their first two games, and now the Bolts are at risk of falling to 0-3 as they head to Buffalo to battle the 2-0 Bills.
I agree they probably lose, and Buffalo is a 7-point favorite. But the 50.5 total is the second-highest on the slate, and a Bills offense carrying the slate’s top implied total (28.75) should force the Chargers to keep throwing. Herbert’s price has dropped from $6,100 in Week 1 to $5,800, and I expect his ownership to follow, which sets him up as a pretty alluring tourney play.
Chase Brown Comes at a Discount in Pittsburgh
At running back, we can get a discounted Chase Brown ($6,600, down from $7,100 in Week 1) in what should be a winnable matchup, with the 2-0 Bengals a 3.5-point favorite in Pittsburgh. Bijan Robinson dropped 31.3 DraftKings points on this defense in Week 1, and last week we saw TreVeyon Henderson pop off for a 39-yard touchdown run.
The matchup is fine, the price is nice, and Brown owns a top-10 projection at running back in my numbers while looking like a low-ownership play.
Justin Jefferson Gets Kyler Murray Back
We admittedly don’t know what Justin Jefferson and Kyler Murray’s connection looks like yet. Murray left the opener with a concussion in the first quarter, sat out last week and has been cleared to start at Tampa Bay. But if Jefferson can thrive with Carson Wentz, he’ll probably be fine: he caught eight passes for 92 yards and two touchdowns from Wentz in Week 1, good for 31.2 DraftKings points.
He was quiet last week (three catches for 55 yards), but it wouldn’t be shocking to see him fire off against the Buccaneers. Tampa Bay struggled to contain Browns rookie Denzel Boston last week (five catches, 95 yards and a 55-yard touchdown), after all. Despite Jefferson being one of the game’s top receivers and holding a top-10 projection in my numbers, the field doesn’t appear to be giddy to see the Griddy. We can rectify that.
Dalton Kincaid Is the Tight End Pivot
Dalton Kincaid projects to be pretty low-owned, which seems shocking when you see he has cleared 20 DraftKings points in both games (21.0 and 22.5) and is in another smash spot, with Buffalo’s 28.75 implied total leading the slate. It’s a slate-dependent thing: Trey McBride is up top, and the value below both of them is insane. In tourneys, we can take advantage of all the Dalton Schultz love and play up to Kincaid.
Top NFL DFS Stacks for Week 3
My favorite Week 3 stacks start with Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson and Patrick Mahomes, and my favorite low-owned one runs through the Jets. There are 13 games, which means there are 26 stacking situations stemming from the quarterback position, and the seven below are the ones I like the most. Each is listed with its team’s implied total from the betting market, and our guide to over/under betting explains where those numbers come from.
Paying for Allen or Lamar Means Milking the Whole Stack
Allen and Lamar are very expensive. If I’m going to commit that much cash to the quarterback position, I definitely want to make sure I’m milking the guys who benefit from them, too, which means Kincaid or James Cook with Allen and Mark Andrews or Derrick Henry with Lamar. Ravens vs. Cowboys in Rio also owns the highest total on the slate at 53.5, so a Baltimore stack comes with the best game environment on the board. Check both receiver rooms before you lock these in: Buffalo lists Keon Coleman and DJ Moore as questionable, and Baltimore’s Zay Flowers (hamstring) is questionable after returning to a limited practice Friday.
Mahomes Stacks Come with Blowout Risk
I prefer to save a bit at quarterback, personally, so I’m either rolling out Mahomes stacks or just punting the position. Mahomes is my favorite dollar-for-dollar quarterback play, but there’s blowout risk with Kansas City laying 10.5 points in Miami, plus there’s always the chance Kenneth Walker III (K9) just wrecks the game on his own. DraftKings lists Walker at 32.0 fantasy points per game, the best average of any running back on the slate.
The Jets Are My Favorite Low-Owned Stack
One of my favorite low-owned stacks is the Jets. Geno sickos unite, as the Lions should push the pace and force New York to score, with Detroit’s 27.5 implied total ranking fifth on the slate. You can keep it simple with Garrett Wilson, but I don’t mind tacking on Isaiah Williams or rookie tight end Kenyon Sadiq, especially with Mason Taylor (thumb) ruled out.
The other options are safer, with Murray and Shough looking slightly more appealing than Stroud simply because they have their main weapons and can add points with their legs (Shough has four rushing touchdowns in 13 career games). Stroud is without Nico Collins again, which is also why Schultz is getting so much love.
Building Your Week 3 NFL DFS Lineups
The name of the game is stacking and leverage. You’ll still want to eat some chalk and play some good plays, and my way of doing that is probably going to be rostering Gibbs, Smith-Njigba and Schultz.
That’s a pretty simple core to fall in love with, and I can quickly shoot over to a Jets stack on the other side of the Gibbs game. I could also just load up on Chiefs and get to whatever value makes sense.
The main point is that it’s fairly easy to get to whoever you want on this slate. Just make sure you have a good reason for every play or stack you use, and lean on logic rather than playing guys for the sake of getting different. If you’re splitting entries between contest types, my breakdown of NFL DFS cash games vs. GPPs covers how to build for each, and more slate breakdowns live on our daily fantasy sports hub.
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Frequently Asked Questions
A 13-game slate with a split afternoon window and a soggy forecast in New Jersey raises a few questions. Here are the ones I get asked most about Week 3.
What Does GPP Mean in NFL DFS, and How Is It Different from a Cash Game?
GPP stands for guaranteed prize pool. Those are the big tournaments where only the top slice of the field gets paid, so you want high ceilings, lower-owned players and correlated stacks, which is why Justin Herbert and Dalton Kincaid sit in my tournament tier. Cash games (head-to-heads, double-ups and 50/50s) pay roughly half the field, so they reward safe floors more than big ceilings.
Can I Still Swap Players in the 4:05 and 4:25 Games After the 1:00 PM ET Games Lock?
Yes. The DraftKings classic format allows late swap, so anyone in Cardinals at 49ers or Vikings at Buccaneers (4:05 PM ET) or Ravens vs. Cowboys in Rio or Raiders at Saints (4:25 PM ET) stays editable until his own game kicks off. Inactive lists post 90 minutes before each kickoff, around 2:35 PM ET and 2:55 PM ET for those windows. Five of the 12 players in this article play in the afternoon.
How Much Does Nico Collins’ Hamstring Injury Help Dalton Schultz?
Collins has been ruled out with a hamstring strain, which makes Schultz one of the easiest targets on the slate at $4,200. He caught 12 of his 14 targets for 140 yards against Cincinnati last week, and the Colts have allowed 74 points in two games, the most in the league. It’s also why I lean toward Kyler Murray or Tyler Shough stacks over C.J. Stroud, who is missing his top receiver again.
Which Week 3 Games Should I Target for NFL DFS Stacks?
Start at the top of the board. Ravens vs. Cowboys in Rio de Janeiro has the highest total at 53.5 and Chargers at Bills is next at 50.5, while Buffalo (28.75), Baltimore (28.5) and Kansas City (28.0) carry the highest implied team totals. My favorite low-owned option is a Jets stack with Geno Smith and Garrett Wilson against a Lions defense that has allowed 71 points in two games.
Will Rain or Wind Affect Any Week 3 Main Slate Games?
Titans at Giants is the one to worry about. As of Friday, the National Weather Service had rain likely all day Sunday in East Rutherford, with a north wind around 20 mph and gusts as high as 40 mph, and that game already owns the lowest total at 38.5. Seahawks at Commanders has a 40 percent chance of rain and gusts near 28 mph. Everything else looks dry or plays under a roof, but check again Sunday morning.
