DraftKings NFL DFS Picks For Week 3 Main Slate: Pay Up for JSN?

The DFS pricing is starting to get a little tighter, but there are still plenty of underpriced players to choose from on the Week 3 slate. And with injuries not slowing down by any means, it shouldn’t be too difficult to stumble across some value when constructing lineups.

Quarterback

Kyler Murray @ Tampa Bay Buccaneers ($5,100)

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Murray is set to return from a concussion, and we’ve yet to see his potential fantasy upside in Minnesota. Murray missed most of his final season in Arizona due to injury, but when he was on the field, he still hinted at fantasy upside. He handled 11% of the designed rush attempts to go along with a 9% scramble rate. His 34.6 rushing yards per contest ranked fifth among quarterbacks last season, while rushing for at least 25 yards in all five starts. This past season was the first in Murray’s seven-year career where he failed to finish as top-12 QB on a PPG basis, so he clearly has the track record.

So does O’Connell.

Nick Mullens, Joshua Dobbs, Sam Darnold, Kirk Cousins. All former quarterbacks under Kevin O’Connell in Minnesota. And all averaged 18+ PPG for either stretches or an entire season. Now enter Murray, who also offers way, way more rushing upside than any of those aforementioned signal callers.

As for Week 3, Murray is one of the top quarterback values on the slate. The Vikings take on the Bucs, a massive pass-funnel defense that has allowed 75.7% of the yardage against them to come through the air, the third-highest rate in the NFL. This Tampa Bay secondary just allowed Deshaun Watson to throw for 238 yards and two touchdowns last week, to go along with 22 rushing yards.

Others to consider:

Patrick Mahomes @ MIA ($6,200)
Jared Goff vs. NYJ ($6,300)
Tyler Shough vs. LV ($5,400)

Running Back

Derrick Henry vs. Dallas Cowboys ($7,700)

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Father time makes no exceptions.

Apparently no one told Derrick Henry.

Henry’s 32-year-old season is off to a great start, rushing for 212 yards and four touchdowns on 40 carries. It’s early, but Henry’s 3.92 yards after contact per attempt is his highest mark since the 2020 season, showcasing that he still has plenty left in the tank. We’ve even seen new OC Declan Doyle finally involve him in the screen game, allowing Henry to get out in space and downhill. Henry already has had three designed screen routes this season, which ties the amount he had all of last season. It’s a nice added wrinkle to his strong rushing volume and elite goal line role. The Ravens are throwing the football inside the 10-yard line just 20% of the time, the third-lowest rate in football, while Henry leads the league with seven goal-to-go carries.

After the Ravens inexplicably got away from Henry in the second half of last week’s game (just five second-half carries), I expect Doyle and the Ravens to feature Henry, especially with Zay Flowers out once again. As for the matchup, while I expected the Cowboys defense to improve this year, it hasn’t happened yet. The run defense has been a disappointment. Dallas has missed the eighth-most tackles in the run game, while also allowing the seventh-most yards before contact per rush (1.87).

Quinshon Judkins vs. Carolina Panthers ($5,500)

This honestly might be the only week all year you’d even consider playing Judkins in any DFS lineups. It was good to see Cleveland show some fight last week, and if they can build on that and keep this game close, Judkins could finally find some success in the run game.

Carolina’s run defense has been atrocious to start the season, surrendering 2.73 yards before contact per rush (2nd-most) and 3.58 yards after contact per rush (4th-most). The Panthers are stuffing just 8.3% of runs at or behind the line of scrimmage, easily the lowest rate in the NFL. Already a poor run defense, Carolina will now be without top linebacker Devin Lloyd, as well as starting safety Nick Scott. Judkins can finally find some running room in this game, and he has seen a slight uptick in pass game usage since Dylan Sampson’s injury. He caught all five of his targets last week, even seeing a designed screen.

Jaylen Warren vs. Cincinnati Bengals ($5,700)

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Yes, the Bengals run defense has suddenly transformed into a top unit thanks to Dexter Lawrence and Jonathan Allen. And no, I don’t expect Warren to have the most efficient game in the world.

But his volume should make up for it.

The Steelers will be without Rico Dowdle on Sunday, paving the way for Warren to operate as a featured running back. With Dowdle sidelined for much of the second half last week, Warren ended up logging 72% of the snaps, the highest rate of his entire career. We also saw his route rate climb from 31% in Week 1 to nearly 60% on Sunday. We’ll see what he does on the ground, but I’m really excited for what Warren can do through the air.

Aaron Rodgers continues to check the ball down, as 32.9% of his pass attempts have been at or behind the line of scrimmage, the third-highest rate in football. The Bengals' run defense is much, much improved, but they are allowing the most targets per game to opposing backfields (8.0). DK Metcalf has another tough cornerback matchup with DJ Turner, so it wouldn’t surprise me to see Rodgers rely on Warren out of the backfield. And for what it’s worth, we did see Dowdle and Warren combine for 11 targets back in Week 1.

Others to consider:

Kenneth Walker @ MIA ($7,400)
Chuba Hubbard @ CLE ($6,100)
David Montgomery @ IND ($6000)

Wide Receiver

Jaxon Smith-Njigba @ Washington Commanders ($8,600)

Basically all of the truly elite wide receivers are available on this slate. And still, JSN easily projects as the best. His absurd target share from 2025 has carried over into 2026, as Smith-Njigba is sporting a whopping 44% target share, by far the highest rate in the league. He’s coming off a hat trick in Week 2, and whether it’s Sam Darnold or Drew Lock under center on Sunday, I truly wouldn’t be surprised if he did it again.

Washington has one of the worst pass defenses in all of football, ranking bottom-10 in both yards per reception and air yards per target to opposing wide receivers. The Commanders continue to dial up the blitz and play Cover-2 on the back end, blitzing on 40.6% of dropbacks, the fifth-highest rate in the league. JSN, meanwhile, has been targeted on 38% of his routes against the blitz since the start of last season, while averaging nearly a fantasy point per route.

Josh Downs vs. Houston Texans ($5,700)

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Downs is coming off a very strong primetime showing against the Chiefs, catching 7-of-9 targets for 72 yards. He consistently moved the chains for the Colts, which was much needed following the injury to Alec Pierce, who will now miss time after aggravating his heel injury. Always good at getting targets, Downs should lead the Colts in that department the rest of the way.

Since entering the league in 2023, Downs has been targeted on 30% of his routes with both Pierce and former Colts receiver Michael Pittman off the field. The departure of Pittman and the injury to Pierce will obviously lead to a lot more playing time for Downs in two-wide sets, but even in 13 personnel. Last season, Downs ran just 17 routes out of 12 personnel, which ranked outside the top-100 wideouts in football. But in that very small sample size, Downs was targeted seven times.

No matter what the personnel or situation, Downs simply earns targets. And while I truly believe Downs' route-running and release allow him to make plays against press-man coverage (11th in TPRR vs. man last year at 29%), it does help that the Colts are moving him around. His 15 routes run from motion are tied for the fifth-most in all of football.

Houston’s defense is certainly better than it has shown thus far. And they are allowing the second-fewest PPR PPG to the slot (7.8). But that was against the Bills (DJ Moore hasn’t played much in the slot) and Bengals, who rarely throw to their slot receivers/Mike Gesicki. This will be their first legitimate slot receiver on their schedule, one who is now the focal point of his team’s passing attack.

Others to consider:

Amon-Ra St. Brown vs. NYJ ($7,900)
Garrett Wilson @ DET ($6,300)
Ladd McConkey @ BUF ($5,900)
Xavier Worthy @ MIA ($4,400)

Tight End

Dalton Schultz @ Indianapolis Colts ($4,200)

Dalton Schultz.webp

You know, I’ll be honest. Even with Nico Collins sidelined, I wasn’t sure Schultz had a 100-yard game in him, let alone 140.

I apologize, Dalton. Apparently I was not familiar with your game.

Schultz was the entire Houston passing game last week, accounting for 28% of the targets. He caught 12-of-14 looks and while plenty of his production came against soft zone coverage in catch-up mode, Schultz still projects as Houston’s top target as long as Collins is out. Since last year, Schultz has been targeted on over 21% of routes with Collins off the field, and he should be able to post at least a 25% TPRR on Sunday. He projects well against a zone-heavy Colts defense that just coughed up 101 yards and a touchdown to Travis Kelce.

Others to consider: