Updated: Sunday, 9/21 at 8:55am ET

And just like that, we're gearing up for our NFL Week 3 DFS contests. It's amazing how quickly we can move through an NFL season, but seeing as how we continue to study the data and the trends, the further we get into the year, the easier it's going to be to build ourselves some winning DFS lineups. Typically, this week has been a strong one for the NFL Week 3 DFS Playbook. We feel stronger about our interpretation of the numbers, we've begun to identify more holes in defensive schemes, more exploitable matchups and we typically find more values as the DFS sites continue to adjust their pricing. It's no wonder we've had some big winners like Bob Boris and Millionaire Mike during Week 3. The 2025 NFL Week 3 should be no different. This is actually going to be an interesting week because of two things – the value opened up by NFL injuries at the quarterback position and specific matchups we know the mainstream DFS players are targeting.

 

 

After watching last week's Milly Maker winner on DraftKings take down the top prize with a $4,000 Mac Jones in the quarterback spot, we know that we will be seeing a ton of lineups with min-priced quarterbacks like Carson Wentz and Marcus Mariota. Whether that's the right move or the wrong one depends on how you build your lineup around these players, but we know ownership will be high. People will not only use a min-priced quarterback, but they will also try to find themselves a dart-throw or two so they can stack their lineups with top Plays like Bijan Robinson, CeeDee Lamb and Brock Bowers. As we build our GPP tournament lineups, studying the DFS Ownership projections will be extremely important.

Ownership will also be important for our cash game lineups as we know the masses will be targeting the Dallas Cowboys/Chicago Bears game. With a game total set at 50.5, it is the highest projected total on the DFS main slate and is riddled with players people are going to use in their lineups. We are also seeing some strong value open up due to other injuries, with the most popular being the Minnesota Vikings' loss of Aaron Jones and the increased workload for Jordan Mason. That means we're going to be handed a few "free squares." If you're new to DFS, a “free square” is when ownership on a player is so high that you play him without care of performance. If he crushes it, you keep pace with the majority of the field and if he doesn't, it doesn't matter because you're all in the same boat. While it's always nice to have one or two of them in your lineup, you have to remember that if you use all the chalk, you're not getting anywhere.

That's why the DFS Playbook is so important. Not only do we identify the chalk plays and free squares, but we also have string plays the mainstream players who use DFS lineup optimizers won't have. Projections and algorithms are nice and all, but there is plenty of football to interpret and project that the computers don't get. So get, ready, #FANation! We've got a hot one for you this week!

 

 

As a reminder, all of our content, our tools and everything else that has made us the leading site for all of your fantasy football needs – seasonal and daily – are here and even more accessible. 

We have also made some enhancements to our NFL tools. We continue to crunch the numbers and tweak our algorithms so that our daily fantasy football projections are the best in the industry and that, in turn, has improved things like our Lineup Generator/DFS Optimizer and our NFL DFS Ownership Projections. Again, all right here on one site for your convenience.

If you are new to the #FAmily, welcome! All the aforementioned tools are, obviously, at your disposal as well, but please allow me to point you towards more of the content and tools we provide to help you crush your DFS contests each week. It also makes for a nice introduction to our DFS team.

In addition to the positional coaches, you also have plenty of other research content to use like the weekly DFS Watch List, where I provide you with a daily-updated list of players I am looking at throughout the week. You will also want to watch our weekly NFL DFS Show with me and Jon Impemba as we break down every position, highlight our favorite plays, offer a core group of players to build around and then drop an example lineup into out NFL DFS channel on Discord. 

For those looking for the DFS bargains, you'll see my weekly DFS Dart Board as well as Impemba's Value Plays video. And for those looking to separate themselves from the herd, we also have our Contrarian Plays video too.

Need more data? Craving more research? Many of our seasonal fantasy football articles also double as kick-ass DFS research. You have the WR/CB Match-Up Report from Drew Scott, full game previews from Mark Lammey and the team, Coop's Target Report and all of our fantasy football tools from snap counts to red zone touches.

That should cover it. Now let's get to the NFL Week 3 DFS Playbook picks!

 

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