DraftKings DFS Picks: August 23, 2025

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It's another full-ish slate of games on Saturday for the final week of preseason action. Given the staggered times, as we saw last weekend, DraftKings has split this into two different playing slates, with the "Early Preseason" slate coving the five early games and the "Preseason" slate covering the four later games.

In the spirit of making sure we get enough picks out there, we'll grab two picks from each projected slate below.

Here are the four DraftKings DFS picks I'm considering in my lineups for Saturday, August 23rd, 2025.

DraftKings DFS Picks: Early Slate

QB Stetson Bennett, Los Angeles Rams

I don't really want to overcomplicate this one.

• Matthew Stafford is maybe hurt (who knows), but wasn't going to play in this game regardless because the Rams are resting starters.

• His backup, Jimmy Garoppolo, also isn't playing in this game because they don't want to risk him in case Matthew Stafford can't go for week one.

• Stetson Bennett is the definitive number three QB on the roster, and last took literally every snap last week en route to a 324 yard, 3 touchdown and 1 interception line.

• Yes, the Rams have a fourth QB on the team currently, but I guess they just don't want to see him throw a football?

I get it, though - if Matthew Stafford is starting (continuing?) his decline, and they know Jimmy G is a stop-gap measure, they need to see what they have in Stetson Bennett now so they can figure out what the transition plan looks like.

Anyways, taking every snap in a preseason game is absurd and shouldn't happen, but hey - if there's anyone with a chance to do it this week, it's probably going to be the guy that did it last week.

WR Xavier Hutchinson, Houston Texans

One of the presumably biggest beneficiaries from a making-the-roster standpoint of the trade that sent John Metchie III to Philadelphia is Xavier Hutchinson, who is presumably now competing with just rookie Jaylin Noel for the WR4 position. I'd expect both of these receivers to get extended first-half looks, at a minimum, as they jockey for that position, but as the third-year player on a team that seems to keep drafting guys to replace him, Hutchinson has the most to lose from a dud performance here.

DraftKings DFS Picks: Late Slate

WR Tez Johnson, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

With both Chris Godwin and Jalen McMillan on the mend, the Bucs receiver room looks a lot thinner than it did even a week ago. They'll rely on Mike Evans, Emeka Egbuka and presumably Sterling Shepard to kick off the regular season.

What it's done is open up a door for other players to make an impact and become the WR4 to start the season, and in my mind, the natural inside track should belong to rookie Tez Johnson, who is also operating as a kick returner for this team. He probably needs another solid performance this week in order to solidify that and hold of the other guys in the room (Rakim Jarrett and Ryan Miller are likely his competition), so I'll take the leap knowing he led the receiver room in snaps last week.

WR Skyy Moore, San Francisco 49ers

It's rare that I include newly-acquired players on this list, but I'll make a rare exception here for Skyy Moore, who was acquired on Thursday.

Kyle Shanahan has already come out and said he will suit up, and that's probably for good reason - it's presumed that starters Jauan Jennings and Ricky Pearsall won't play, and behind them and the still-injured Brandon Aiyuk are an injured Jacob Cowing, an injured Jordan Watkins, an injured Russell Gage, Robbie Chosen, and a bunch of other guys unlikely to make the roster.

They're going to want to find ways to get Skyy Moore the ball to get him acclimated to the team and the offense, even if it's by default that he's the only one out there.

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