Football is back! Every NFL week starts with a Thursday Night Football game for most of the remainder of the 2023 season, and these are our favorite slates to play Daily Fantasy Football. The TNF showdown slate allows you a smaller crop of players to choose from, and if your cheap sleeper pick hits, you can cash big in your tournaments or easily win your head-to-head DFS matchups. Tonight, we kickoff Week 13 with the Dallas Cowboys hosting the Seattle Seahawks.
Every week, I'll get the Thursday Night DFS picks from our experts and we'll feature them below. We'll take a mix of lineups from our panel of experts that feature builds on Fanduel. But first, let's preview the matchup and what we might expect.
The whackiest TNF games between two losing teams can sometimes turn into the most fun Daily Fantasy slates and although the public is expecting a Cowboys blowout, it will be interesting to see what Seattle has in store with everything on the line.
On the Cowboys side, Dak Prescott is playing arguably the best football of his career. He is processing the game so fast after the snap and his rapport with CeeDee Lamb has taken another leap. Lamb has evolved into one of the most valuable players in Fantasy and he will be one of the most highly-rostered players on tonight's DFS slate. The matchup isn't as promising for Cowboys tight end Jake Ferguson so you might want to keep him out of your lineups. The Cowboys will be heavily stacked in this one so if you're looking for a contrarian play, let's look into Seattle's side.
On the flip side, the Seahawks need a bounce back game tonight from their best offensive weapons. Dave Richard is expecting a big night from DK Metcalf. He wrote him up as a must-start in his lineup decisions:
"Metcalf has at least nine targets in each of his past three games and in five of his past six. That kind of usage, especially in a game where the Seahawks figure to pass a bunch, makes him a borderline must-start. But on the 12 targets he's seen that have traveled at least 15 Air Yards over the past four weeks, Metcalf has caught just three. More alarming: Five of the targets were knocked away by defenders who were right on him when the ball arrived. He's not really zooming past anyone these days, and he's not winning contested catches regularly either. Pair that with the expectation that he'll line up across from DaRon Bland for much of the game (Bland usually plays right cornerback; Metcalf primarily lines up at left wide receiver) and it could be a rough one. Bland has allowed one touchdown and has allowed just a 52.5% catch rate with 13 passes defensed and seven interceptions. It's the volume you're banking on this week -- I'd start Metcalf in PPR over Adam Thielen, Cooper Kupp and Jayden Reed, but I like the upside for Rashee Rice and Courtland Sutton just a little bit more."
Sportsline's Jacob Gibbs does the deep dive on the Bears-Panthers with a breakdown of all the players who should be in your captain consideration, a break down of the FLEX plays by tiers and more. Mike McClure has you covered with optimal lineups for the TNF slate on both DraftKings and FanDuel. Or you can lean on former Millionaire Maker winner Jimmie Kaylor for his picks.
Without further ado, here's a look at who our experts are picking on this DFS Thursday Night Football slate:
Dave Richard
FanDuel:
MVP: Dak Prescott $17,500
FLEX: CeeDee Lamb $16,000
FLEX: Jaxon Smith-Njigba $8,000
FLEX: Michael Gallup $7,500
FLEX: Dallas DST $10,000
Jamey Eisenberg
FanDuel:
MVP: Dak Prescott $17,500
FLEX: CeeDee Lamb $16,000
FLEX: Brandin Cooks $10,500
FLEX: Rico Dowdle $7,500
FLEX: DeeJay Dallas $7,000
Heath Cummings
FanDuel:
MVP: Dak Prescott $17,500
FLEX: CeeDee Lamb $16,000
FLEX: Zach Charbonnet $11,500
FLEX: Jake Ferguson $9,000
FLEX: Luke Schoonmaker $6,000