DraftKings Top 10 Plays

Top 10 DraftKings DFS Plays for NFL Week 1

DraftKings dropped its Week 1 salaries back on July 31, more than six weeks before kickoff, so Week 1 is often about finding those mispriced players and making critical decisions based on whether you want to start or fade those players. There are two types of players, those that are just getting the speculative bump such as a Luther Burden who has skyrocketed the last several weeks, or real news such as Brock Bowers being out and the pricing opportunity that opens up for a player like Michael Mayer.

Quarterback

Jared Goff, Detroit Lions, $6,000 (vs. New Orleans)

Goff's salary sits well below the top tier at quarterback even though his game environment might be the best on the whole slate. Detroit is a 6.5 point home favorite with a total near 49.5, the second highest on the board, and Goff threw for 4,564 yards and 34 touchdowns a season ago. New Orleans actually had a respectable pass defense last year, so this isn't a total smash spot, but the size of Detroit's implied team total gives Goff more scoring equity than a lot of quarterbacks priced meaningfully higher.

Joe Burrow, Cincinnati Bengals, $6,900 (vs. Tampa Bay)

The Bengals and Buccaneers carry the highest total on the entire slate, somewhere around 51.5, and Burrow gets to attack a Tampa Bay defense that struggled for much of last season with a fully healthy Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins both on the field. He's the priciest quarterback most people will roster this week, but that price comes with one of the clearest paths to a monster ceiling game if this one turns into the shootout it's projected to be. Pairing him with Chase is the obvious stack on the board, and obvious doesn't make it wrong.

Running Back

Jahmyr Gibbs, Detroit Lions, $8,000 (vs. New Orleans)

Gibbs is the single most expensive player on the entire main slate, running back or otherwise, and he's earned that price tag. David Montgomery is gone to Houston, which means for the first time in his career Gibbs isn't sharing touches in a timeshare, and Detroit's top backup is currently on injured reserve behind him. He caught 77 balls from Goff last season even in a part time role, and a near full workload in a plus matchup against an exploitable New Orleans run defense gives him a real shot at the top score on the whole slate.