FanDuel NFL DFS Cheat Sheet: Week 1 Picks And Stacks
By Sam Smith
September 7, 2026 · Updated September 13, 2026
The free FanDuel NFL DFS cheat sheet re-ran Sunday morning, Sept. 13. A defense leads two of its six panels, so Week 1 is not decided at the top of the projection sheet.
The Quick Answer
Start with the Titans defense: the field has them outside the ownership top five (cut line 20.1%), the Sims first in top-150 exposure at 66.7% and first in leverage at 46.7%. That is the widest gap on the board. Raise Ashton Jeanty (22.0% owned, 44.7% exposure); trim Jahmyr Gibbs (47.4% owned, 39.3% exposure). Where the FLEX goes is below.
The Week 1 Board, Sunday Sept. 13
| Panel | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Top Projections | Gibbs 21.6 | Jackson 21.3 | Burrow 21.3 | Hurts 20.6 | Allen 20.2 |
| Highest Ownership | Gibbs 47.4% | Chase 27.6% | Olave 25.4% | Jeanty 22.0% | Bijan Robinson 20.1% |
| Top Values | Murray 2.77 | Shough 2.66 | Burrow 2.60 | Herbert 2.58 | Titans 2.58 |
| Top Exposures | Titans 66.7% | Jeanty 44.7% | Gibbs 39.3% | Robinson 35.3% | Chase 32.7% |
| Leverage Plays | Titans 46.7% | Jeanty 22.0% | Lloyd 18.6% | Swift 17.0% | Mayer 16.7% |
| QB+2 Stacks | Burrow 14.0% | Jackson 6.7% | Williams 4.0% | Herbert 2.7% | Lawrence 2.7% |
The Titans row is the one I keep coming back to. This panel is cut from the 150 highest-ROI simulated lineups the Sims build, where stack correlations and ownership as a distribution price in. In Week 1 that outranks a projection built on camp.
Half PPR Reorders The Value Panel
On FanDuel a catch is worth half a point, not a full one, which guts the high-volume, low-yardage receiver. That is why four quarterbacks and a defense own the value column (points per $1,000 of salary), and why Chris Olave, the field's third-most-popular play at 25.4%, misses both sim panels. Kyler Murray (2.77) and Tyler Shough (2.66) price better, but neither cracks the stack top five, so Burrow (2.60) is the row I act on.
More on this: DraftKings NFL DFS Cheat Sheet: Week 1 Picks And Stacks · How To Make Your Own NFL DFS Projections · FanDuel NFL Showdown Cheat Sheet: Week 1 MNF · FanDuel NFL Showdown Cheat Sheet: Week 1 TNF · DraftKings NFL Showdown Cheat Sheet: Week 1 MNF
Worked Example: Burrow To A Nine-Man Roster
FanDuel's nine seats (QB, two RB, three WR, TE, FLEX, D) hold more Bengals than a QB+2 uses, so the short stack is a choice, not a cap.
- Stack: Burrow, Ja'Marr Chase (32.7% exposure), one more Bengal. The panel names only the quarterback, so pull partners from the NFL DFS projections, ownership and stacks in the DataHub.
- Backs and defense: Jeanty, Bijan Robinson (35.3% exposure, 20.1% owned), Titans.
- FLEX: the leverage seat. D'Andre Swift (17.0%), Michael Mayer (16.7%), or MarShawn Lloyd (18.6%) if he is Green Bay's lead back. I take my edge here instead of fading Gibbs harder.
The cheat sheet is free. Code CHEAT takes 15% off your first payment on paid Stokastic NFL DFS packages: the full Sims, Ownership Projections and the simulated-ROI lineup pool behind these panels.
The Gibbs trim is a nudge. The Titans overweight is the position, and the call the field has to be wrong about for Week 1 to pay.
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