Thursday Night Football kicks off Week 10 with an NFC East rematch at MetLife Stadium, where the 5-2-1 New York Giants host the 2-5-1 Washington Commanders at 8:15 p.m. ET on Prime Video. The teams played to a 27-27 tie in Week 5, and with the Giants favored by about 2.5 points and a total near 41, this is a low-scoring script where a handful of players will drive nearly all of the fantasy production. These are our top NFL DFS picks for the Thursday Night Football DFS slate.
Single-game slates are a different animal than a full Sunday main slate. On DraftKings Showdown you get $50,000 to fill a captain (1.5x points and salary) and five flex spots, so ceiling matters more than floor. Rain is a real factor too, with roughly a 74% chance around kickoff, temperatures near 50 and gusty wind. That pushes us toward quarterbacks who run, the most targeted pass catchers, and cheap players with defined roles. Here are the five TNF value plays we are building around.
Jayden Daniels, QB – Commanders ($10,000 DK flex / $15,000 captain, $12,600 FD)
Daniels is the most obvious building block on the board, and for good reason. He has completed 63.9% of his passes for 1,250 yards and seven touchdowns while adding 252 rushing yards and two scores on the ground, averaging 8.1 yards per carry. In the Week 5 tie against these same Giants he ran for 103 yards and two touchdowns on nine carries and finished with a season-high 35.3 DraftKings points.
He has not run as much since then, scoring 15.0 and 15.6 DraftKings points against the Eagles and Rams, but the matchup tilts back in his favor. New York has allowed the fifth-most DraftKings points per game to quarterbacks this season, and Joe Milton III ran for 64 yards on them last week. With Terry McLaurin out for the season and Jacory Croskey-Merritt sidelined, Daniels may have to carry even more of the offense with his legs. He is expected to be the most popular captain, so consider using him at flex if you want to differentiate.
Malik Nabers, WR – Giants ($11,000 DK)
Nabers is the centerpiece of the Giants passing game, leading the team with a 30.0% target share and ranking 11th in yards per route run (2.39) among receivers with at least 50 targets. He put up 21 or more DraftKings points in four straight games before a knee injury limited him to 9.3 last week, and he returned to full practice this week. Against Washington in Week 5 he scored 32.1 DraftKings points.
The matchup is excellent, as the Commanders have allowed the ninth-most schedule-adjusted fantasy points per game to wide receivers. He is pricey, but in a game this tight the target hog on the home side is worth the salary, and he is a strong captain candidate if you want a Giants-leaning build.
Isaiah Likely, TE – Giants ($8,200 DK)
Likely may own the best positional matchup on the entire slate. Only the Lions give up more schedule-adjusted fantasy points per game to tight ends than Washington, and the Commanders have been surrendering more than 16 PPR points per game to the position. Likely has the second-highest target share on the Giants (26.5%) and his six receiving touchdowns tie Brock Bowers for the most among tight ends this season.
At $8,200 he costs far less than Nabers and offers a similar share of the passing game. If the wet weather forces New York to throw short and over the middle, Likely is the biggest beneficiary and a core flex play.
Cam Skattebo, RB – Giants (contrarian captain option)
Skattebo returns from a hamstring injury that cost him last week and carries no injury designation after full practices. In Week 7 against Houston he rushed for a career-high 124 yards on 17 carries, good for 22.1 DraftKings points, his best output of the season, before the injury ended his day. Devin Singletary handled the work in his absence, running 21 times for just 31 yards against Philadelphia, so the Giants have a clear reason to hand the lead role back.
Ownership is expected to be low because he lost snaps after a fumble in the first Commanders game and Singletary may still mix in. That is exactly why he is an intriguing captain pivot. In a wet, run-heavy script with J.J. McCarthy at quarterback, a workhorse back can easily out-produce his price tag. Check his salary on your site of choice before locking him in, as it varies by platform.
Chig Okonkwo, TE – Commanders ($5,800 DK)
With McLaurin done for the year, Washington needs secondary targets behind Stefon Diggs and Antonio Williams. Okonkwo has seen six or more targets in three of his last four games and has reached double-digit DraftKings points in three of his last four starts. In the loss to the Rams he played the second-most snaps (46) and ran the second-most routes (35) among Commanders pass catchers.
At $5,800 he is the type of mid-priced Commanders flex that lets you afford Nabers and Likely in the same lineup. If you need an even cheaper way to get exposure to the Washington backfield, Austin Ekeler at $4,600 splits work with Rachaad White and only needs a few catches or a touchdown to pay off.
Building Your Lineup
On a two-team slate, correlation is king. The cleanest build is a Daniels captain with Diggs or Okonkwo as a stack partner and a Giants bring-back such as Nabers or Likely, since a Washington upset likely means a shootout where both quarterbacks score. If you believe in the Giants and the weather, flip it with Nabers or Skattebo in the captain slot and a Daniels flex as your hedge.
Salary is tight once you pay up for Daniels ($10,000) and Nabers ($11,000), so pair them with cheaper plays like Okonkwo, Ekeler or a kicker. Because Daniels will be the most popular captain, pivoting to Skattebo or Nabers is the simplest way to separate your lineups in big-field tournaments. Check the final inactives about 90 minutes before kickoff, and keep an eye on the rain, which could shift more of the offense toward the ground game.
