Welcome in to a new year of Ben’s NFL DFS Building Blocks for DraftKings and FanDuel! In this article, I will highlight my favorite NFL DFS plays at each position for small-field tournament formats. If you’re interested in signing up for premium access, which grants you Core Plays for every slate, projections, Final Thoughts player pool + expert picks and our premium Discord click HERE. You can also sign up for our plethora of AI-driven sports betting tools and access to my weekly betting card by clicking HERE. Let’s get into the plays…
Quarterback
Highest pOWN% QB’s: Kyler Murray, Jayden Daniels, Joe Burrow, Justin Fields
My Conviction Plays: Kyler Murray, Jayden Daniels, CJ Stroud, Caleb Williams, Justin Fields, Deshaun Watson, Andy Dalton
There is one clear game to target this week, sporting a 50 O/U and forcing all of the QB ownership onto Kyler Murray and Jayden Daniels. Both have looked great this season, and both can be used in all formats. If choosing one, I would lean Daniels for the rushing equity in the red zone but both are great options and will be owned as such.
For tournaments, it only makes sense to give CJ Stroud a long look in Week 4. We have yet to see a Stroud eruption this season, and there is no better spot here than coming home against a horrific Jaguars defense. He’s currently projected for around 6% ownership on DratKings, but it feels like that number will come up on Sunday given the massive pOWN% numbers on his WR’s. He won’t be sneaky, but he has the 300-3 or 4 ceiling you’ve really needed from your DFS QB’s this season and I’m certainly interested for small-field and single-entry tournaments. Jacksonville is one of the few teams still running a super man-heavy scheme and that could be a tough spot against the likes of Nico Collins and Stefon Diggs.
There are a slew of strong cheap QB’s this week, and I have interest in everyone I listed. Justin Fields is someone I’ve wanted to play this season, but he never actually made my player pool. This is essentially the nut match-up for him given the pace that Indianapolis plays this, this will be one of the few times all season we can project a moderately high play volume for the Steelers offense.
Deshaun Watson was horrible in real-life again last week, but “got there” with 18 DK points — a solid score at his price. This is actually a really strong match-up for him. Cleveland’s offensive line is in shambles, but the Raiders rank bottom-five in both QB Pressures and Pressure% and will now be without Maxx Crosby. You have multiple stacking options for Watson, and clear run-backs on the Raiders side given the consolidated target share sans Davante Adams.
I think this is a big breakout spot for Caleb Williams at home against a lackluster Rams defense. Los Angeles has far and away been the worst defense this season in Net Yards Gained per Pass Attempt (9.0) and it looks like Williams will have a full compliment of weapons for the first time since Week 1. Williams is 22/1 to lead the Sunday slate in passing yards and I will be betting that and playing him in DFS.
Running Back
Highest pOWN% RB’s: Jordan Mason, Najee Harris, Brian Robinson, Chuba Hubbard, Bijan Robinson, Kyren Williams
My Conviction Plays: Najee Harris, Aaron Jones, James Conner, Zack Moss, Saquon Barkley, Breece Hall
Once again in Week 4, roster construction will lead to the $6K tier at RB, with Bijan Robinson the most likely spend-up option to catch ownership.
Jordan Mason saw a floor game in Week 3 of just under 11 DK points, but he was stuffed at the GL multiple times. It’s a tough match-up, but he has one of the safest workloads overall and is viable in all formats. If he is, in fact, the highest-owned RB I will likely be underweight.
Najee Harris is not someone we usually play into chalk, but the situation is different this weekend with Jaylen Warren out. He’s viable in all formats in a great set-up for the Steelers offense.
James Conner is my favorite tournament play on the board, especially when factoring in that the passing attacks are how everyone wants to play this game. Washington has allowed the fourth-highest rushing yards per attempt in the league while Conner has had an extremely secure role + a monopoly on red-zone touches.
Aaron Jones is in a great set-up here as well in all formats. He’s been tackled inside the five multiple times, and also lost a fumble as he was going into to score once as well. Minny has ran super hot with passing touchdowns, something I expect to correct in favor of Jones + we have to factor in the obvious #REVENGE against the Green Bay Packers. I’m expecting Jones to be heavily involved in the game play early, and he’s my favorite bet to score a TD in Week 4.
I love the mid-tier again this week, but it could make sense to get up to guys like Saquon Barkley or Breece Hall is they aren’t going to be crazily owned. Barkley could feature a massive workload with AJ Brown joins DeVonta Smith on the sidelines and we have seen him look fantastic all season. Breece Hall is among the league leaders in touch count, and he is the type of guy I don’t want to play as chalk typically, but would love him at low-ownership.
Wide Receiver
Highest pOWN% WR’s: Rashee Rice, Diontae Johnson, Stefon Diggs, Nico Collins, Tre Tucker, Michael Wilson, Greg Dortch, Chris Godwin
My Conviction Plays: Rashee Rice, Nico Collins, Stefon Diggs, Diontae Johnson, Chris Godwin, Tee Higgins, George Pickens, Jakobi Meyers, Noah Brown
Once again this week, the mid-range at WR is loaded with quality plays and that appears to be where the ownership will concentrate.
Rashee Rice continues to ascend in this Chiefs offense. He’s completely taken over Travis Kelce’s role over the middle of the field and has dominated the team targets.
Diontae Johnson‘s season was revitalized by Andy Dalton last week. After an injury scare, he logged a full practice on Friday and is good to go for this game. Cincinnati’s defense has fallen off a cliff this season, and he is underpriced for this role with Dalton now at the helm of the offense.
Both Nico Collins and Stefon Diggs are strong plays in all formats with Tank Dell out this week. Nico is one of my favorite plays on the slate, and someone I will plan on being overweight on in Week 4. As I noted above, Jacksonville plays the most man-heavy scheme in football this season — while Collins has absolutely cooked man coverage ranking top-five overall in YPRR vs the coverage since the start of 2023. Collins has been ascending to true alpha status this season, and is a smash play this week in all formats. The match-up is just as strong for Diggs, as well, with JAX being very leaky in the slot through three weeks.
It’s another elite spot for Chris Godwin, who continues to operate as Tampa’s “Cooper Kupp” and has scored a touchdown in every game. Philly has been very vulnerable in coverage this season, and are once again a bottom of the barrel team in slot coverage. Last week, Godwin got squeezed in ownership due to the plethora of strong plays around him. I could see that happening again in Week 4, and I want to plan around that and get over the field on Godwin vs the Eagles.
There are a few strong pivots I like in the mid-tier as well, namely George Pickens and Tee Higgins. This is the spot of all spots for Pickens, who looks primed for a huge breakout game. He had the reputation as an outside clasher coming into the season, but has quietly been elite in terms of getting separation through three weeks. If he truly has taken that next step as a WR, the sky is the limit and this is the best possible match-up for him. Indy’s pace of play will increase play volume for the Steelers offense, and they run Cover 3 at one of the highest rates in football under DC Gus Bradley. Pickens himself grades out very well against this coverage split, but Indy has also gotten cooked by the likes of Rome Odunze and Nico Collins. I think this is a great buy low spot on Pickens in both DFS and prop betting. As for Higgins, he should have scored two touchdowns last week and looked fully healthy. Carolina has really struggled in coverage, and more and more teams have seemed interested in using bracket coverage on Ja’Marr Chase. Cincy is one of the few teams that have skewed pass-heavy this season, and I want to buy into that in a strong match-up.
My favorite cheap play by far is Noah Brown, and you can use him in a game stack or as a mini with James Conner. His routes run have come up in each of his first two weeks of playing time, while it’s important to remember how efficient he was in Houston. This is not your normal punt WR, he’s actually a good football player and as Matt Domsic pointed out to me — he ranks FIRST overall in separation among all WR’s with over 20 routes. He was tackled at the one yard line last week, and had he gotten into the end zone the ownership would be much higher-owned on this punt option.
It’s worth noting that with Davante Adams out, Tre Tucker is catching some steam as a cheap play. I prefer getting to Jakobi Meyers in the mid-tier or settling on Brock Bowers, who I think is the biggest winner as a whole.
Tight End
Highest pOWN% TE’s: Dallas Goedert, Brock Bowers, Elijah Higgins, Tommy Tremble, Brenton Strange
My Conviction Plays: Brock Bowers, Tommy Tremble, Elijah Higgins, Jordan Akins
This week is unlike the first few, featuring a few cheap Tight End plays that I really like.
Starting with Elijah Higgins, who is expected to be one of the highest-owned options this week stepping into a larger role with Trey McBride out for the Cardinals. Higgins already has one touchdown this season, and is a converted WR that was the talk of Cardinals training camp. The cardinal rule for DFS tournaments is to avoid cheap TE chalk, but in the highest total game on the slate he fits into game stacks. I would avoid him in any non-Kyler or Daniels teams, however.
We also have Tommy Tremble, who can take on a larger receiving role with Adam Thielen down for the Panthers. Tremble ran a route on over 50% of Dalton’s dropbacks in Week 3, and is even cheaper than Higgins on DraftKings.
Dallas Goedert and Brock Bowers are the mid-tier / spend-up options where ownership is concentrating. Goedert is coming off a monster game vs the Saints, and will be Hurts’ most trusted pass catcher with DeVonta Smith ruled out and AJ Brown looking truly questionable. I loved Goedert last week, but I’m less enthused on him in GPPs, if the ownership is going to be significantly higher. As for Bowers, he’s my preferred play once again against an underwhelming Browns defense. He has yet to find the end zone this season, but that could change this week especially with DaVante Adams out. This is a bet on talent play, and someone I will continue to be overweight on in DFS.
Jordan Akins is my favorite tournament play at the low-end. He will come in much lower owned than Higgins/Tremble and is in no worse of a match-up against the Raiders. He can be used in a Watson stack — or as a one-off at this price. As I noted above, I typically like to use low-owned cheap TE’s and Akins fits that mold this week.
Written by Ben Hossler (Follow @BenHossler on Twitter)
