4 Best FanDuel NFL DFS Stud Picks for Week 2

Hitting on high-salary players is the first step to having success in NFL DFS 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.

With some help from our NFL DFS projections, here are four studs to target on this week's main slate, which starts at 1 p.m. ET.

All betting odds come from the NFL odds at FanDuel Sportsbook and may change after this article is published.

NFL DFS Stud Plays for Week 2

Josh Allen, QB, Buffalo Bills

FanDuel Salary: ($8,800)

Despite popping for 41.8 FanDuel points (FDP) in last week's season-opener, Josh Allen "only" carries a $8,800 salary for FanDuel's Week 2 NFL DFS main slate. Granted, that tops all quarterbacks, but it's not exactly a lineup-altering tag. Consider this -- Josh boasted a $9,100 salary in his final main slate appearance in 2024, and that came after he'd only gone for 12.2 FDP the week prior.

While it's hard to call the highest-salaried quarterback a value, Josh Allen is the rare stud who also projects as one of the slate's best point-per-dollar options in Week 2. Our NFL DFS projections peg him at 23.7 FDP. Not only is that the highest projection on the main slate, but it also makes him the best value (2.69x).

We saw firsthand the kind of upside Josh Allen brings in any given week. Even against a Baltimore defense which carried high expectations coming into the season, Josh shredded. He ranked sixth in EPA per drop back and eighth in passing success rate. Of course, he tacked on two rushing touchdowns on 14 rush attempts. This is Josh Allen we're talking about, after all.

Now, on paper a road date with the New York Jets isn't the best spot for fantasy upside. But New York is just one week removed from letting up 25.7 FDP to a 41-year-old Aaron Rodgers. Rodgers averaged 8.1 yards per attempt and tossed 4 touchdowns against this new-look Jets defense -- and that was in spite of him having next-to-no mobility.

Josh Allen, as we know, has plenty of mobility -- and that rushing is what makes him such a reliable DFS play this week. That's especially true on the road where Josh has averaged 45 rushing yards and 10 rushing FDP per game over the past three seasons.

In fact, Allen's shown even more fantasy upside on the road in recent years. He's cleared 25 FDP in 52% of away games dating back to 2022 -- the highest rate in the NFL.

Christian McCaffrey, RB, San Francisco 49ers

FanDuel Salary: ($8,900)

The San Francisco 49ers offense suffered two major causalities with Brock Purdy and George Kittle both injured in Week 1. Neither will suit up for this week's road date against the New Orleans Saints.

That's bad news for San Fran in general, but it shouldn't scare us off Christian McCaffrey.

CMC was his usual dominant self in Week 1, notching 18.7 FDP despite failing to score a touchdown for just the 11th time in 32 games with the Niners. He totaled a staggering 42 adjusted opportunities (carries plus 2x targets) after rushing 22 times for 69 yards and gaining another 73 yards via 9 receptions (on 10 targets).

Even without a score, McCaffrey still produced on volume in a low-scoring game. But it's not like he didn't have chances to score -- per Brandon Gdula's expected touchdown numbers, CMC registered the most xTDs (1.3) of any player in Week 1. His 8 red zone rush attempts led the league.

I'd expect that to reverse course, even if San Francisco's overall offensive expectations are lower with Mac Jones under center. They at least have a decent matchup in Jones' first start with the team: indoors versus a Saints side that's 24th overall in our latest NFL power rankings.

The Niners still have a near-22-point implied total here, so it's not like there's no scoring upside with CMC. And with Kittle also sidelined, I'd be surprised to see anything less than another bonkers usage game for Christian McCaffrey.

Even if he sees volume closer to his current projection (16.7 attempts and 6.1 targets), we still have his median projection at 17.2 FDP -- third-highest among any flex-eligible player.

CeeDee Lamb, WR, Dallas Cowboys

FanDuel Salary: ($8,700)

It's hard to be disappointed with CeeDee Lamb's Week 1 line. He corralled 7 of 13 targets for 110 yards and 17.5 FDP in the season-opener. Obviously, we'll take that every week.

But it's fair to wonder how big of a fantasy performance Lamb could've had if not for a few back-breaking drops in the 4th quarter. That's not a reason to fade Lamb, however. In fact, those critical mistakes are part of the reason I want to buy into CeeDee in DFS this week.

It's not like Lamb's salary has been discounted in the aftermath of those drops. He's the second-highest salaried receiver, after all. But we could've seen an even bigger tag attached to his name had his Week 1 shook out a little differently.

Lamb still saw a monster 39% target share, and he was targeted on a bonkers 43% of his routes. Dak Prescott was consistently looking him deep, for Lamb led the league in air yards (173.2) and saw 7 targets of at least 10 yards downfield. He saw more air yards in Week 1 than he did all of last season, and only once in 2024 did he see more downfield targets in a single game.

That deep work is what makes me so intrigued by him leading into a Week 2 home date with the New York Giants. New York gave up the 8th-highest aDOT and 10th-highest passing success rate in Week 1.

Lamb's cooked in the matchup in recent years, scoring 20.1 and 34 FDP in his last two head-to-heads with Dak under center against the Giants. He's gone over 100 yards in three of seven career games against New York when Prescott's been healthy -- an important benchmark given FanDuel's 100-yard bonus.

Trey McBride, TE, Arizona Cardinals

FanDuel Salary: ($7,000)

With Kittle injured and Brock Bowers off the Week 2 main slate, Trey McBride is far-and-away the top tight end for DFS -- at least in terms of raw fantasy output.

McBride is coming off a productive Week 1 in which he secured 6 of 9 targets for 61 yards, finishing with 9.1 FDP. That's solid, sure, but it's not exactly what we're looking for at this high salary.

But that target total is right in line with his position-leading 9.2 per-game average from 2024. His overall target share (31%) was actually a tick higher than last season's (29.3%). Sure, he didn't see as much downfield work in Week 1 -- and we'd like to see more than 1 red zone target -- but the volume is certainly there.

McBride was also a massive touchdown regression candidate entering the season. With the Arizona Cardinals showing a 25.5-point implied total, we could see that regression finally translate to on-field production.

That's especially true given how poor this Carolina Panthers defense is. Even if they had a decent showing in Week 1, Carolina still let up 7.9 FDP to Jacksonville's Brenton Strange. That came following a 2024 campaign which saw them allow the most FDP per target and most total touchdowns to the tight end position.

And while we did get an encouraging opener from second-year receiver Marvin Harrison Jr., Carolina does at least have a shutdown corner in Jaycee Horn -- one who helped hold Brian Thomas Jr. to a single reception in Week 1.

Horn's presence should help facilitate another hefty target total McBride's direction, further solidifying his clear-cut TE1 status for the Week 2 FanDuel DFS main slate.

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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.