4 FanDuel NFL Studs to Target for Wild Card Weekend

Hitting on high-salary players is the first step to having success in daily fantasy football on FanDuel.

These players take up the biggest chunk of your salary cap, and they need to deliver quality performances for your lineup to reach its ceiling.

Here are four studs to target on this week's main slate.

All betting odds come from the NFL odds at FanDuel Sportsbook.

NFL DFS Studs to Target for Wild Card Weekend

Dak Prescott, QB, Dallas Cowboys

FanDuel Salary: ($8,600)

After winning the NFC East, it's time for Dak Prescott and the Dallas Cowboys to finally show what they're made of in the playoffs.

Securing the No. 2 spot in the NFC will set them up to take on the Green Bay Packers -- a team that is red-hot in their own right. The Cowboys have all the advantages, however, over the Packers, and it's why we're rolling with Prescott confidently this weekend as the stud at quarterback.

Prescott was arguably the best passer in football this season. The Cowboys' quarterback finished off his 2023 campaign with a four-touchdown performance against the Washington Commanders. That outing locked in his spot as the leading touchdown passer with 36. He also completed 34 money throws, per Player Profiler -- the best in the league.

Throughout the season, he averaged 20.7 FanDuel points, good for the fourth-most among quarterbacks who played the majority of the year.

The Packers have been a team around the middle of the pack in terms of stopping the pass. Per numberFire's scheduled-adjusted metrics, Green Bay ranks 19th but has allowed 15.6 FanDuel points per game to the position. We should have all the confidence that Prescott can take advantage of that while at home in AT&T Stadium.

numberFire's model has Prescott projected for more points than any player this weekend, expecting him to finish with 22.0 FanDuel points.

Isiah Pacheco, RB, Kansas City Chiefs

FanDuel Salary: ($8,000)

There's something about an ice-cold football game that screams Isiah Pacheco dominating on Saturday night.

When the Kansas City Chiefs face off with the Miami Dolphins at Arrowhead Stadium, it's going to be a potential record-breaking cold with wind gusts as high as 28 mph and the chill feeling -30 degrees, per Andy Slater.

At this stage, it sure feels as if most pundits are calling the Dolphins out of this game considering their record in cold weather, which is what brings us to making Pacheco the must-start stud to target over other running backs.

First off, Pacheco was a machine over his last four games. He's recorded a touchdown in each game (5 total) while also recording over 80 scrimmage yards in three out of four. Pacheco finished the season as strong as possible, rushing for 130 yards while adding 7 receptions for 35 yards and a touchdown in Week 17 as the focal point of the offense.

With all the struggles that the Chiefs have dealt with this year on the offensive side of the football, giving the rock to Pacheco in as many ways as possible feels like their obvious path to victory on Saturday night.

The Dolphins were the 9th-best offense at stopping the run, according to numberFire's scheduled-adjusted metrics, but did allow 17.3 FanDuel points per game to the position. In an atmosphere like Arrowhead, all bets are off.

Pacheco is projected to finish with 13.8 FanDuel points, per numberFire.

CeeDee Lamb, WR, Dallas Cowboys

FanDuel Salary: ($10,000)

If we're going with Prescott, it's only right to follow up with CeeDee Lamb to continue his season of domination.

Lamb has been the best wide receiver in football since Week 6. He's in the midst of an unbelievable run where he's now scored a touchdown in 9 of his past 11 games. On the overall season, he finished with 135 receptions for 1,749 receiving yards and 12 touchdowns. This isn't to discount what Tyreek Hill has done in any way this year, but Lamb has been the most unstoppable player in football when the Cowboys needed him to be exactly that.

The wideout has averaged 23.4 FanDuel points since going off in Week 6, backing up the reason to start him all the more, with the opponent having little effect at this stage.

Green Bay allowed 26.3 FanDuel points per game to opposing wide receivers, meaning that there should be plenty of room for Lamb to do damage on Wild Card Weekend.

numberFire has Lamb projected as the top wide receiver this week, expecting him to finish with 19.6 FanDuel points.

David Njoku, TE, Cleveland Browns

FanDuel Salary: ($7,000)

Are Joe Flacco and David Njoku the most dangerous combination in the playoffs right now?

Okay, yes, it's still the likes of Prescott and Lamb or Tua Tagovailoa and Hill, but after that, it's time to put some respect on the Flacco-to-Njoku connection.

Since the second week of Flacco becoming the starter for the Cleveland Browns, Njoku has averaged 9.75 targets and 93.25 receiving yards, and he has added 4 touchdowns, as well. They've been unstoppable, and in what will be the biggest game of their season, there's no reason to believe that this combo can't keep cooking against a Houston Texans team that the Browns were able to torch just a few weeks ago.

According to numberFire's schedule-adjusted metrics, the Texans ranked 20th in stopping the pass, opening up many possibilities for this offense to keep surging as they've been in recent weeks. And for what it's worth, Houston allowed the sixth-most FanDuel points to tight ends in 2023, giving up 10.8 per game.

Njoku has a great chance to have a huge game this weekend, but for now, numberFire's model projects him for a modest 10.6 FanDuel points, second behind the struggling Travis Kelce.

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Interested in playing NFL DFS? Head over to FanDuel’s daily fantasy football lobby to see all the offerings for this week's slates.

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The above author is a FanDuel employee and is not eligible to compete in public daily fantasy contests or place sports betting wagers on FanDuel. The advice provided by the author does not necessarily represent the views of FanDuel. Taking the author's advice will not guarantee a successful outcome. You should use your own judgment when participating in daily fantasy contests or placing sports wagers.