The NFL is officially back, and we’ve got an excellent Sunday Night Football matchup on tap for Week 1. The New York Giants will host the Dallas Cowboys, with the Cowboys listed as 3.0-point road favorites. The total sits at 48.5 points.
Dallas has the potential to be one of the best teams in the NFC this season. They already had one of the best offenses in football, and they’ve spent significant resources upgrading the defense. They were already significantly better after acquiring Quinnen Williams before the trade deadline last year, and they added some more potential impact defenders through the draft and free agency.
Meanwhile, the Giants are a clear x-factor team this season. They brought in John Harbaugh to take over as head coach, and he has a reputation for being one of the best in the business. They also have plenty of blue-chip talent on their roster, with the biggest question being at quarterback.
Let’s dive into all the fantasy options for Sunday Night Football.
As news breaks throughout the week and we adjust our projections (powered by the award-winning expert ranker, Sean Koerner), player ratings in our Player Models will change as the projections change. For updates, visit the models directly.
And don’t forget about the tools that FantasyLabs has to offer, like our Lineup Optimizer to effortlessly create up to 300 lineups, or use our Lineup Builder if you like to hand-build your lineups.
Or you can just use our NFL DFS sims to effortlessly create advanced lineups.
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You can also combine them to create your own aggregate projections:
NFL DFS Stud Picks
The Cowboys have arguably the best wide receiver duo in football. While George Pickens led the team in fantasy production last year, CeeDee Lamb still profiles as the team’s top receiver overall. He had a slightly higher target and air-yards share last season, but injuries limited him at different points throughout the season. Now that he’s healthy, he should return to being one of the very best receivers in fantasy.
Lamb draws a strong Week 1 matchup vs. the Giants. They allowed the ninth-most fantasy points per game to opposing receivers last season, and they didn’t do much to upgrade their secondary this offseason.
That said, Lamb is the most expensive player on DraftKings, and he doesn’t grade out as a particularly strong value. He’s merely third in both median and ceiling projection, and he’s eighth in projected Plus/Minus. Lamb still has the potential for a strong performance, but he’s a bit overpriced for his median outcome.
It’s much easier to get excited about Dak Prescott. While Lamb has to worry about Pickens eating into his target share, Prescott benefits from both of his stud receivers being in the lineup. He racked up more than 4,500 yards and 30 touchdown passes last season, his second straight full season hitting both benchmarks. Despite not possessing much in terms of rushing upside, Prescott notched a QB5 finish in 2025-26.
Like with Lamb, the Giants represent a strong opponent for Prescott to start the year. They allowed the 10th-most fantasy points per game to opposing QBs last season, and Prescott carved them up in his lone full meeting with them. He finished with 361 passing yards and two scores, while the Cowboys hung 40 points on the scoreboard.
That doesn’t stand out as an outlier. Prescott has historically done some of his best work as a divisional favorite, averaging just under 21.5 fantasy points per start (per the Trends tool).
Prescott ultimately stands out as one of the strongest targets on this slate. He owns the top median and ceiling projections in our NFL Models, and he’s No. 2 in projected Plus/Minus.
NFL DFS Midrange Picks
Jaxson Dart will be under center for the Giants, and he’ll look to start his sophomore campaign on a high note. For fantasy purposes, Dart was already close to an elite option at the position as a rookie. That stemmed primarily from his rushing ability. He averaged more than 40 rushing yards per game with nine rushing scores in his 12 starts. As long as Dart continues to utilize his legs and stay out of the blue medical tent, that gives him an outstanding floor for fantasy.
The big question is what Dart can add with his arm in Year 2. Dart wasn’t awful as a passer last season, but he wasn’t great either. Still, quarterbacks tend to make their biggest statistical leaps in between their first and second seasons. We just saw that with Drake Maye, who went from a below-average passer to an MVP runner-up in his second season.
That’s the type of upside that Dart brings to the table this year. Getting back an elite wide receiver will only help, making Dart a fantastic option on this slate. Even with the Cowboys’ improved defense, Dart ranks first among all players in projected Plus/Minus.
While Pickens may be the WR2 in Dallas, I’m not sure he deserves to be $1,000 cheaper than Lamb. The metrics between the two were extremely close last year:
- Lamb: 23% target share, 25% targets per route run, 34% air-yards share
- Pickens: 22% target share, 22% targets per route run, 31% air-yards share
Pickens made up for his slightly reduced volume by being the greater touchdown threat. He led the Cowboys receivers with a 31% end-zone share, and he brought down nine scores.
Touchdowns can be volatile from year-to-year, but Pickens should be pretty safe in that department. He’s a big, physical receiver, and big plays should be his specialty.
Ultimately, he and Lamb are separated by less than 1.5 fantasy points in our projections. That makes him the superior value. He also has a better correlation with Prescott (+0.60 vs. +0.46), making him an excellent stacking partner.
It’s very possible that the best fantasy receiver in this contest will suit up for the Giants. Malik Nabers has been nothing short of a target hog since arriving in the NFL. He led all players with a 35% target share as a rookie, and he had a 30% mark before getting hurt last year.
The only question is how much he’ll be limited in Week 1. Nabers has been limited after ACL surgery all offseason, and he’s technically questionable for Sunday Night Football. While it seems like he’s going to be in the lineup, it’s possible that he is on a pitch count.
However, if Nabers isn’t limited, he stands out as too cheap for his upside. He could end up being a top-five WR for fantasy purposes when all is said and done this season.
Javonte Williams looks like a serious value at the moment. The rest of the Cowboys RBs are dropping like flies. The team chose to cut Jaydon Blue after training camp, while backup Malik Davis went down with an injury in practice this week. It leaves Williams with minimal competition for touches, so he could be a true bell-cow back.
We saw what Williams was capable of in this offense last year. Through the first 14 weeks of the season, he averaged 14.9 half-PPR points per game. That was the seventh-best mark at the position.
Williams also excelled in his lone matchup vs. the Giants last season, torching them for 97 yards and a score on the ground and six catches for 33 yards through the air. With the backfield basically to himself and the Cowboys listed as road favorites, Williams could be poised for a big showing.
Things aren’t quite cut and dry in the Giants backfield. It’s possible that they could use four different running backs at some point in this contest.
However, Cam Skattebo should be their top option. He was a revelation as a rookie before going down with an injury. From Weeks 2 through 8, Skattebo averaged 16.0 half-PPR points per game, displaying better pass-catching prowess than anticipated. He posted a 14% target share during that stretch, which is an above-average figure for a running back.
Unfortunately, it’s hard to imagine him duplicating that in Year 2. The Giants have better pass catchers at the position than they did during that stretch, so Skattebo will likely be more of an early-down grinder. That still gives him some upside if he can find the paint, but it makes his fantasy outlook a bit less inspiring for his price tag.
Harbaugh brought Isaiah Likely with him from Baltimore, and he could be the Giants’ de facto No. 2 receiver this season. He drew plenty of rave reviews during training camp, especially when Nabers was sidelined.
It will be interesting to see what Likely is capable of with a full workload. He never had that opportunity in Baltimore, as he was forced to split snaps with Mark Andrews. He has a clear runway for snaps and targets in New York, so he could be a breakout fantasy option at tight end.
On the other side, Jake Ferguson quietly turned in a TE8 finish in half-PPR scoring last year. That said, his season wasn’t quite as impressive as it appeared on paper. He feasted in the few games where Lamb was out of the lineup, and he failed to crack double-digit fantasy points in his final 10 games played. He only cracked seven half-PPR points in two of those outings, so he really fell off down the stretch.
Still, we don’t need a ton of production from Ferguson at his current price tag; any sort of touchdown catch should result in positive value. He’s a high-floor, low-ceiling type of play.
Malachi Fields rounds out this price range. He’s expected to serve as the Giants’ No. 2 receiver this season. The rookie did enough during training camp that the Giants felt comfortable releasing Darius Slayton. He’s been a key piece of the Giants’ passing attack over the past handful of seasons, and Fields should step right into that role.
That makes him a pretty intriguing option at $5,000 on DraftKings. He could have an 80+% route participation in his first NFL game, especially if Nabers is at less than 100%.
NFL DFS Value & Punt Picks
- Defenses & Kickers – These options are always in play in the single-game format. The kickers stand out as the better values in our NFL Models, but the Cowboys defense is also in play. They’re grading well in Sim Labs, with their optimal lineup rate exceeding their projected ownership.
- Darnell Mooney ($4,000 DraftKings, $7,200 FanDuel) – Mooney was expected to be the Giants’ No. 2 receiver this season, but his spot in the pecking order is unknown. He’s definitely behind Nabers and Fields, and it’s possible he’s behind Odell Beckham Jr. as well. Mooney should still see the field some, but he’s considerably overpriced.
- Ryan Flournoy ($3,800 DraftKings, $5,800 FanDuel) – Flournoy is a stronger WR3 in this contest. He’s poised for an uptick in responsibilities this season in one of the best passing attacks in football. He has some week-to-week upside.
- Tyrone Tracy ($3,000 DraftKings, $3,800 FanDuel) – The fact that the Giants brought in Najee Harris late in training camp isn’t exactly the biggest sign of confidence in Tracy. That said, he’s still probably the No. 2 back in this offense. He could get the pass-catching work out of the backfield, though that is still TBD.
- KaVontae Turpin ($2,600 DraftKings, $3,000 FanDuel) – Turpin is a gadget player, but the Cowboys try to get the ball in his hands a couple of times a game.
- Odell Beckham Jr. ($2,200 DraftKings, $2,600 FanDuel) – Beckham secured one of the final spots on the Giants’ 53-man roster, but he’s still not expected to be much of a factor this season.
- Najee Harris ($2,000 DraftKings, $3,400 FanDuel) – Harris is my preferred Giants backup RB target on this slate. He was reportedly promised a real role with the team before signing, and he could be the one to earn pass-catching responsibilities in the backfield.
- Theo Johnson ($1,800 DraftKings, $5,400 FanDuel) – Johnson had some solid performances with Dart under center last season. While the addition of Likely is a massive blow to his fantasy stock, Johnson could still see a solid role in two-TE sets.
- Emari Demercado ($1,000 DraftKings, $3,600 FanDuel) – Demercado will serve as Williams’ backup in Week 1, and he could also handle some of the responsibilities on passing downs. That’s enough to make him worth a flyer at $1,000.
Pictured: Jaxson Dart
Photo Credit: Vincent Carchietta, Imagn
