top of page
Search

Week 1 DraftKings DFS Picks & Fades (2025)

Updated: Sep 25

DraftKings DFS picks

NOTE: This content is for a previous week of fantasy football. But don't fear!


NOTE FROM MIKEY: Basement Brewed Fantasy Football is happy and proud to offer a space for friends of BBFF to share their own articles, thoughts and analysis, like what you're about to read below.


That said, please note that what you're about to read does not necessarily represent the views, opinions or beliefs of Mikey or anyone at Basement Brewed Fantasy Football.


The regular season is upon is! Welcome to the first of back-to-back chaotic weeks of DFS play before things normalize.


In week one, pricing has been out for a month, so it's super soft - you can build pretty much anything you want. Nearly everyone is healthy, and there's no bye weeks, either. We need to find some differentiated plays for DraftKings tournaments to try and propel us to the top.


Here are my week 1 DraftKings DFS picks & fades that I'm considering for my lineups this week. Best of luck!




Week 1 DraftKings DFS Stack of the Week


Indianapolis Colts - QB Daniel Jones ($5,100) + WR Michael Pittman Jr. ($4,900)+ TE Tyler Warren ($4,400). Total stack cost: $14,400.


We can play almost any offense with pricing this soft and we picked Daniel Jones to be our quarterback? Yes, yes we did. Doesn't it make you want to vomit? It sure makes me want to vomit!


Remember what I said earlier, though - we want some low ownership plays here, and there's upside to be had in a game that is tied for the highest game total on the entire slate.


With this stack, we get a rookie tight end with a lot of hype to his name in Tyler Warren, plus one of the top two wide receivers with Michael Pittman Jr. I went with Pittman over Downs simply due to being more sure about health, but both are in play.


The Miami Dolphins defense is, at best, average, to the point that I expect Jonathan Taylor to get plenty of ownership in his own right. And there are plenty of options to bring back on the Dolphins side, as the Colts aren't exactly stalwarts on the defensive end, either.


So let's run this down. We got...

  • A low-owned offense? Check!

  • One of the highest game totals? Check!

  • A close spread (Colts -1.5 as of this writing) allowing for bring backs? Check!

  • Leverage on another higher-owned player on the offense? Check!

  • Plenty of leftover salary to do whatever we want after the stack is in there? Check!


Grab your puke bags, ladies and gentlemen.




Week 1 DraftKings DFS Picks


RB Christian McCaffrey, San Francisco 49ers ($7,300)


Christian McCaffrey is healthy and the cheapest he's going to be all season. I simply do not care how much chalk he will be. His matchup against the Seahawks defense is not prohibitive - and regardless, he's basically matchup-proof. Plug and play, but you have to find lower owned players around him.


WR Emeka Egbuka, Tampa Bay Buccaneers ($4,600)


Probably also chalk, but for good reason - he's the defacto WR2 this week due to a multitude of injuries, and the Bucs/Falcons game is also tied for the highest total on the slate. There's some risk that this turns into the Bucky Irving show, but the upside is that he gets the Chris Godwin volume from early last season, which was basically top-12 WR level production. I don't think he gets that much in his first-ever NFL game, but at this price point, he doesn't need much to pay off. He'll get the opportunity for it.


TE David Njoku, Cleveland Browns ($4,700)


The Bengals defense might be one of the worst pass defenses in football this season, and the Browns might not be good overall, but they'll be trailing! With Joe Flacco at QB, they should be competent enough to keep things semi-competitive, and David Njoku has feasted in games like this before. David Njoku is priced as a top-five TE this week, and I believe it's deserved.




Week 1 DraftKings DFS Fades


RB Jacory Croskey-Merritt, Washington Commanders ($4,000)


There are a multitude of reasons why I believe he's the best fade you can make this week.

  • He's going to be highly owned.

  • I believe that Chris Rodriguez is going to get the bulk of the early-down work in this game.

  • Even if I'm wrong on that, he's still in a time share, with Austin Ekeler handling the passing down work.

  • You don't need the salary savings!


Why are we forcing a high-owned time share back on our teams on the softest pricing slate of the year? You can get legitimate starters in the $5,000+ range who may have full three-down workloads. There's no need to do this.


WR Garrett Wilson, New York Jets ($6,300)


Garrett Wilson is priced as the 11th highest wide receiver on the slate. He's playing in easily the worst game of the slate, with the Steelers/Jets total sitting at a disgustingly low 38.5 total points as of this writing. Justin Fields hasn't looked that great throwing the football, and the team has already come out and said they want to establish the running game with multiple backs. On the other side, they wan to do the same thing, and Aaron Rodgers is notorious for using as much clock as possible.


Yes, this is a double-revenge game for the QBs, but in both cases, I'm not sure what revenge they're really going to get. So paying high prices for Garrett Wilson, in a game where a ceiling outcome is unlikely, feels like a losing bet, even if he gets peppered with 11 barely-on-target throws.


TE Sam LaPorta, Detroit Lions ($5,000)


There's simply a lot of uncertainty regarding this Lions offense heading into 2025. Not in regards to there being too many mouths to feed - the offense is really condensed, and we normally love that - but how involved each mouth will be.


There's been increasing noise regarding a boost for Jahmyr Gibbs' usage, which likely comes at the expense of David Montgomery, but if it's pass-down usage we're talking about, then it's going to cut into Sam LaPorta. And on the wide receiver front, Jameson Williams has been hyped as a player ready to take another step forward, running more of the intermediate and deep routes.


Amon-Ra has proven to be a reliable option for Jared Goff, and I suspect that trust will continue this season. So where are the Sam LaPorta targets coming from?


Green Bay has also recently bolstered their defense this offseason, including the widely-publicized theft of Micah Parsons.


To me, there's just more risk than their needs to be at this price point, when there are other guys around him or lower (see: Njoku, David) that offer likely similar or better floors - and likely higher ceilings, too.




Basement Brewed Fantasy Football has you covered for week-to-week DFS decisions


I incorporate the weekly Weekly Winners tool (formerly Heat Map) into my DFS process during every regular season week, and our private Discord server features sharp minds for DFS, sports betting, redraft, dynasty, best ball, and more. And despite the name, the chatter is multi-sport, too - there's MLB discussions, PGA discussions and more going on.


Sign up to Basement Brewed Fantasy Football today and start making smarter lineup decisions that can dominate through the 2025 NFL season.

bottom of page