Every week the First Look article gives you a taste of the slate and some of the more intriguing salaries that DraftKings releases. The goal is to identify early-week cash game considerations, as well as potential tournament plays before we piece together the stacking options. On Tuesdays, I share some of these insights on the Fantasy Footballers DFS & Betting Podcast if you want further commentary on some of the salary standouts.
Check back later in the week when Matthew Betz and I share our official DraftKings and FanDuel picks for cash and GPPs exclusively in the DFS Pass.
Overview
Here are the games for this week’s main slate* including implied team totals (TIP) for each matchup.
There are a number of ways to play this slate for DFS depending on your preference:
- 2-game Saturday only
- 2-game Sunday only
- 4 game slate
I’ve also added a glossary of metrics at the bottom if you want a quick refresher or definition of some of the statistics used below.
Quarterbacks
High-Priced Studs: I mentioned this last week but I need to repeat the same refrain: Josh Allen ($7100) is incredibly cheap considering we were paying close to $8000 last year at this time despite averaging relatively the same fantasy points per drop back (0.69 versus 0.72 last year). The Denver matchup might scare some off as he sports the lowest pass rate of any team remaining in the playoffs…
In 2024, Josh Allen became the 1st top-5 fantasy QB without a top-36 scoring WR or top-12 TE.
In 2025, he did it again. Same exact thing. pic.twitter.com/A6H4bdhjYE
— Kyle Borgognoni (@kyle_borg) January 13, 2026
Matthew Stafford ($6600) is an absolute red zone monster: 33 of his 46 passing TDs were inside the 20-yard line. For context, only 3 QBs had 30+ total passing TDs on the season. Part of that overall TD volume were due to his league-leading 52 “end-zone” pass attempts (aka receiver physically standing in end zone)….
Points per $ Cash Guys: It is hard arguing with the pottential league MVP Drake Maye ($6300) regardless of the matchup. He absolutely crushed man coverage (#1 in fpts/db) this year and the Texans showed some holes in the defense over the final 6 weeks when they did run Cover-1 looks. Worth noting at the beginning of the week…. Sam Darnold ($5400) and the Seahawks are more than a TD favorite at home so his price tag stands out early in the week.
GPP Intrigue: Caleb Williams ($6100) is quite erratic as I detailed in my 25 QB Statistics article. He ranked dead last in completion percentage versus zone coverage (59.8%) and 34th among 18 qualifying QBs in catchable target rate (69%). However, the Rams defense has bottomed out recently as they were tied for the most fantasy points per drop back allowed (0.53) utilizing zone coverage over the final six weeks of the season.
Running Backs
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