NFL DFS: Week 1 NFL preseason daily fantasy football picks, Thursday lineups for DraftKings, FanDuel
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- Week 1 of the 2026 NFL preseason kicks off Thursday at 6 p.m. ET, giving DFS players their first lineup-building opportunity in nearly six months, with every game on the slate carrying an over/under of at least 37.5 total points.
- R.J. White — SportsLine's No. 1 all-time NFL ATS expert and a two-time Westgate Las Vegas SuperContest casher who also serves as CBS's Fantasy expert — released his top DFS picks for the Thursday slate.
- Lions quarterback Luke Altmyer is White's top play at the uniform minimum salary ($5,500 on DraftKings, $6,000 on FanDuel), with starter Jared Goff sitting out and Josh Dobbs only newly competing for the backup role after Teddy Bridgewater's abrupt retirement.
- Texans running back Noah Whittington is another core building-block pick, with Houston likely sitting most starters because two other RBs are injured, potentially limiting Woody Marks' workload and opening the door for the undrafted 5'8" back who led the Big Ten in yards per carry (6.4) last season.
- Raiders vs. Cardinals carries the slate's highest total at 40.5 points, a matchup built around rookie quarterbacks Fernando Mendoza and Carson Beck that underscores the week's theme of evaluating young backup passers in live action.
Why it matters: The preseason notoriously complicates DFS lineups because teams vary wildly in how much they play their stars. White's picks leverage specific opportunity shifts — Bridgewater's retirement opening Altmyer's snaps and Texans' RB injuries clearing Whittington's path — meaning heavy-workload backups at the uniform $5,500/$6,000 minimum salary are the differentiator between cashing Thursday's slate and going home empty.
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