Our NFL DFS picks for week 5 start with one game. Detroit at Arizona carries a 54.5 total, seven points clear of anything else on the slate, and our projections put the top stacks, the top running back and the top tight end in it. Everyone will see that. The real work is deciding how much of it you want, what to pair with it, and where the cheap volume elsewhere frees up the salary to get there.
Top games and implied totals
Detroit is implied for 30.0 points as a 5.5-point road favourite, with Arizona at 24.5. No other team clears 25.2.
- DET@ARI (54.5): Lions 30.0, Cardinals 24.5. The slate’s centre of gravity.
- CHI@GB (47.0): Bears 24.2, Packers 22.8. Close spread, two offences that can trade scores, and far less attention than it deserves.
- SF@SEA (46.5): Seahawks 24.8, 49ers 21.8. The natural late-window pivot.
- CIN@MIA (43.5): Bengals 25.2, the second-highest team total on the board, against Miami’s 18.2.
- LV@NE (45.0): Patriots 24.2 at home.
Houston at Tennessee sits at 38.0, but the Texans are 7-point favourites against a 15.5 implied total. That matters for defence, not offence.
Best stacks
Jacoby Brissett with Trey McBride and Michael Wilson is our highest-projected stack on DraftKings at 57.4 points for $18,400. On FanDuel it ties Detroit at 50.0 but costs $20,400 against $23,100 for the Lions trio. That price gap is the whole case. Arizona should be throwing from behind, the volume runs through McBride and Wilson almost exclusively, and Brissett is cheap enough to let you pay for Jahmyr Gibbs.
The concern is ceiling. Brissett is a short-area passer and this offence has not been explosive. His floor is excellent. His path to 30-plus is narrower than Jared Goff’s.
Jared Goff with Amon-Ra St. Brown and Sam LaPorta projects for 56.8 on DraftKings at $19,400. We actually prefer being on the Detroit side in tournaments. Arizona’s defence plays a lot of straightforward base coverage without much pass rush, which suits a play-action passer, and Goff is the best quarterback in our projections on every site. The risk is that Gibbs does the scoring and the passing game only has to be efficient. A Goff stack with McBride as the bring-back is a sensible way to own both sides.
Burrow, Chase and Higgins projects for 52.0 on DraftKings at $22,100, but it depends entirely on who suits up. Both receivers carry injury questions worth monitoring through the weekend. If either sits, this stack changes shape completely.
For leverage, Jordan Love with Christian Watson and Matthew Golden (45.3 on DraftKings, $17,800) is our favourite under-the-radar build. Green Bay leans on the pass, and the Bears-Packers total is better than its attention level.
Core plays by position
Quarterback
Goff leads at 22.25 on DraftKings ($6,600) and 21.86 on FanDuel ($8,100). Brissett is the best value on both: 19.46 at $5,500 on DraftKings and 19.34 at $6,800 on FanDuel. Drake Maye (20.19, $6,300 on DraftKings) is the quiet third option with New England implied for 24.2 at home.
Running back
Jahmyr Gibbs projects for 28.07 on DraftKings ($9,800) and 25.21 on FanDuel ($10,000), the top individual projection on the slate by a distance. He will be popular. We are still playing him in cash.
D’Andre Swift is the easiest click on the board. Kyle Monangai is on the injured list, leaving Swift a full workload against a Green Bay run defense that has been leaking yards. He projects for 19.44 at $6,200 on DraftKings, nearly matching Jonathan Taylor’s 19.46 at $7,800.
Chase Brown (18.64, $6,900 on DraftKings) draws a Miami defence that has struggled with backs, and his receiving role could grow if the Bengals receivers sit.
Wide receiver
Jaxon Smith-Njigba tops the position at 22.49 on DraftKings ($8,800). St. Brown follows at 21.13 ($7,900). Michael Wilson is the standout price: 17.88 on DraftKings at $6,200 and 14.62 on FanDuel at $6,400, where he looks especially underpriced for a near co-lead role in Arizona’s target tree.
Tight end
McBride projects for 20.11 on DraftKings ($6,700), clear of Brock Bowers at 17.59 ($7,000). Detroit has been generous to tight ends and McBride’s volume is already elite. LaPorta at $4,900 (13.41) is the cheaper way into the same game.
Defence
The Commanders are the value at $2,900 on DraftKings and $3,300 on FanDuel, both projecting 7.70. The Texans lead outright at 8.29 against Tennessee’s 15.5 implied total.
Value plays
- Braelon Allen (NYJ): Breece Hall is on the injured list, and Allen has been taking virtually all the backfield work. 16.14 at $5,400 on DraftKings, 14.68 at $5,900 on FanDuel.
- Mike Washington Jr. (LV): 12.71 at $4,200 on DraftKings. This only works if Ashton Jeanty is ruled out, so treat it as a status-dependent play and check Sunday morning.
- Tre’ Harris (LAC): Quentin Johnston is on the injured list and Harris has been leading a thin Chargers room in routes. 11.85 at $4,100 on DraftKings.
- Hunter Henry (NE): 10.22 at $3,700 on DraftKings, a fine salary saver for Maye builds.
- Malik Willis (MIA): 15.63 at $4,600 on DraftKings is a strong points-per-dollar number, though Miami’s 18.2 implied total keeps him in single-entry or deep-punt territory.
Roman Wilson is worth a look in Pittsburgh with Michael Pittman Jr. on the injured list, mainly as a cheap piece in an Aaron Rodgers stack.
Fanteam picks
Fanteam pricing makes the Lions-Cardinals game slightly more expensive to stack than elsewhere. The Goff trio projects 54.1 for 51.3 credits, and the Brissett trio 53.9 for 48.8. Either leaves enough of the 110 budget to add Gibbs (21.5 credits, 26.45 projected), but only if you hit on the cheap running backs.
Those are the best values on the site. Braelon Allen at 10.3 credits projects 15.47, a value of 1.5, and Mike Washington Jr. at 7.7 projects 11.35 if Jeanty sits. Swift at 14.3 credits (18.37) is the safer middle option and should be in most lineups.
At tight end, McBride (16.7, 18.95) and Bowers (15.0, 16.6) both rate above 1.1 in value. If you need savings, Oronde Gadsden at 7.9 credits (8.49) is a viable punt. Efton Chism III at 6.5 credits (7.21) and Tre’ Harris at 9.9 (10.88) are the receiver fillers.
Maye at 17.6 credits (18.93) matches Goff’s value and is the contrarian quarterback. Fanteam’s injured list includes Marvin Harrison Jr., Stefon Diggs, Michael Pittman Jr., Breece Hall and Kyle Monangai, so confirm nobody slips into your lineup by default. For defence, the Commanders at 8.3 credits (7.45) beat the Texans on value.
Yahoo picks
Yahoo’s half-PPR scoring with no yardage bonuses trims receivers and rewards touchdowns and rushing. The Arizona stack is the efficient build here: 48.0 projected for $77, against $94 for Detroit’s 48.3. Maye ($30, 19.67) is a strong quarterback alternative.
The cheap backs carry this site. Mike Washington Jr. at $10 (11.41) and Braelon Allen at $13 (14.18) rank as the top two values on the board. Emanuel Wilson at $17 (12.81) adds another cheap workload in Seattle. Swift at $29 (17.12) pairs naturally with any of them. Tucker Kraft at $17 (9.21) is a reasonable tight end pivot, and the Commanders defence at $10 (7.7) is the clear choice.
Fades and pivots
Christian McCaffrey projects for 19.02 at $8,200 on DraftKings, which looks fine until you note Swift projects for more at $2,000 less. Seattle’s run defense is a hard draw, and his opportunity share has been slipping as cheaper backs take on full workloads. We would only use him in a 49ers-Seahawks pivot stack.
Isaiah Likely is the most interesting disagreement on the slate. His target share is outstanding and Washington has struggled with tight ends, so the role argument is strong. Our projections disagree on price: 11.53 at 12.3 credits on Fanteam is a sub-1.0 value, and 9.39 at $5,300 on FanDuel trails LaPorta and Kittle. He is a tournament play with a real ceiling, not a core piece. He also carried a practice designation, so confirm he is active.
Jonathan Taylor is the pivot we like most. The field will spend at running back on Gibbs and save with Swift, leaving Taylor overlooked despite a projection level with Swift’s on DraftKings. If Indianapolis keeps it close in Pittsburgh, his workload can win a tournament.
George Kittle (13.17, $5,200 on DraftKings) is the low-owned tight end to pair with Brock Purdy and a Smith-Njigba run-back.
Projections update through Sunday, and several values on this slate depend on injury designations. Check late news on Jeanty, Chase, Higgins and the Washington receivers before lock.
Full, sortable projections for every player — with a CSV download for your own optimizer — are on our NFL DFS projections page.