It is back in all its glory this year: My 10 favorite DFS plays under 10% projected ownership. Low-owned players — especially low-owned stacks — are how you can fly up leaderboards Sunday and take home those top prizes.

Guys with low roster percentages are how to get contrarian on popular players or find leverage off them. For all our FTN Daily DFS ownership projections, head here.

One new feature in our brand-new NFL DFS Optimizer is that you can force the opto to include a set number of players below any ownership projections you want. I highly recommend forcing at least one player at sub-10% ownership to differentiate yourself from the field. 

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Here are my 10 under 10% for Week 5:

Justin Herbert, QB, Los Angeles Chargers

DraftKings ownership projection: 4.5%
FanDuel ownership projection: 5.6%

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Justin Herbert has now played 19 career games and has thrown for three touchdowns or 300 yards in 16 of those 19 games. Herbert is one of the best players in all of football and takes on a banged-up Browns defense that will be without starting corner Greg Newsome, while Myles Garrett, Jadeveon Clowney and Denzel Ward are all questionable. The Browns sit as a bottom-five defense against the deep ball this year and were carved up by both Tyrod Taylor and Patrick Mahomes in their first two games. Herbert’s low ownership is a great way to get the ownership of chalky Keenan Allen down, while Mike Williams, Nick Chubb and Odell Beckham are all under 10% projected ownership as well. This gamestack is going overlooked and getting a QB with his weapons at low ownership with his upside is hard to ignore.

Jalen Hurts, QB, Philadelphia Eagles

DraftKings ownership projection: 4.3%
FanDuel ownership projection: 3.2%

Through the first four games of the season, Jalen Hurts sits as the current QB3, averaging 25.3 fantasy points per game. He has seven or more rushing attempts in every game and has thrown for 300-plus yards in three of four games. The Eagles play with fantastic pace, ranking fourth through the (roughly) quarter mark of the season, and are passing the ball on 63%, the ninth-highest rate in football. Hurts has yet to finish as less than a top-10 quarterback on the week while having two top-five finishes on main slates. Hurts’ top weapon, DeVonta Smith, is going to be ignored again this week with sub-3% projected ownership on DraftKings, sub-6% on FanDuel. I love DJ Moore this week — he is going to be very chalky, so playing him in a gamestack with Hurts and Smith makes a ton of sense. 

Nick Chubb, RB, Cleveland Browns

DraftKings ownership projection: 4.3%
FanDuel ownership projection: 3.2%

Since Baker Mayfield tore his labrum in his left (non-throwing) shoulder, Nick Chubb has averaged 21.5 carries. Since 2019, when Chubb sees 20 or more opportunities, he is averaging 105.8 yards and 0.78 total touchdowns. He has an elite matchup against the Chargers this week.

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From Advanced Matchups:

“Chubb gets a Chargers defense whose scheme is designed to dare you to run. They are currently only stuffing 27% of runs per FTN Data, which is far and away the lowest in all of football. To give you a sense of how bad that is, no team finished with lower than a 38% stuff rate last season. Letting Chubb get to the second level is asking for trouble, as he is one of the most dangerous open field players in the NFL, leading the league in explosive run rate in 2020.”

Ezekiel Elliott, RB, Dallas Cowboys

DraftKings ownership projection: 4.3%
FanDuel ownership projection: 3.2%

FTN’s own Alex Blickle has been working on a tool that will soon be available to subscribers that compares offensive line yards create and defensive line yards allowed. The model spits out pLine, or projected line yards. This week, the team with the greatest advantage in the trenches per his model is the Dallas Cowboys, who are seven-point home favorites against the New York Giants. Since 2019, Ezekiel Elliott has played in 11 games where the Cowboys are 4.5-point favorites or higher. In those 11 games, he is averaging 120 total yards and nearly a full touchdown per game, while averaging 21.6 DraftKings points and 18.7 FanDuel points per game. His ownership projection just squeaks under the threshold, but as the sixth-highest projected owned back on DraftKings and 11th on FanDuel, he should be much higher. 

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Tyler Boyd, WR, Cincinnati Bengals

DraftKings ownership projection: 8.7%
FanDuel ownership projection: 5.4%

Tyler Boyd’s ownership has crept up as the week has gone on despite the news that Tee Higgins is going to play. Regardless, Boyd should have higher projected ownership and is a strong play this week. He will see none of Jaire Alexander and takes on a Packers team that is second worst in DVOA covering WR2s. The Packers are weak in the middle of the field, where 32% of the passes against them have gone — and also where 42% of Boyd’s targets have been. The Packers are giving up more yards underneath middle than right or left where Boyd is averaging 9.5 yards per target. Expect him to be fed and have a lot of success this week.

Laviska Shenault, WR, Jacksonville Jaguars 

DraftKings ownership projection: 10%
FanDuel ownership projection: 7.6%

We saw the squeaky wheel narrative pay off with Robert Woods Thursday. Now we will see if it pays off with Laviska Shenualt. Darrell Bevell talked about how well Shenault has played, and with D.J. Chark missing time his role will be expanded.

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Beyond the narrative, there is a ton to like about this matchup for Shenault, who takes on a Titans defense that has been crushed in the short middle of the field allowing, 8.24 yards per attempt this season. The Titans have allowed the most fantasy points and the most touchdowns to wide receivers and have struggled most to stop what Shenault does well. Fire him up with confidence this week.

Justin Jefferson, WR, Minnesota Vikings

DraftKings ownership projection: 7.7%
FanDuel ownership projection: 10%

Justin Jefferson has been elite at home in his career. If you look at the home games where he has been a full-time player (playing at least 37 snaps), you see he is averaging 115 yards and over a full touchdown per game. That is 25 DraftKings points, 22 on FanDuel. With a banged-up Dalvin Cook, the Vikings could exploit one of the worst secondaries all day long with the superstar.

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No quarterback averages more yards per attempt this season than Russell Wilson’s 9.6. The Lions defense so far has been so bad that it allows 10.6 YPA. In other words, the Lions turn every quarterback into the best quarterback by YPA by a full yard. Jefferson is currently seeing 30% of the team’s first-read targets, which gives him a nice floor, and his big-play ability gives him a massive ceiling. Meanwhile, the Lions defense is ripe for the picking on deep balls on the outside. They are giving up 31.5 air yards per attempt on the right side and 27.3 air yards per attempt on deep left pass, allowing more than 17 yards per pass attempt on deep balls this year.

Kadarius Toney, WR, New York Giants

DraftKings ownership projection: 3%
FanDuel ownership projection: 1.4%

Many hated the pick of Kadarius Toney, but when you watch him play, it’s obvious he has some juice. With Sterling Shepard and Darius Slayton out, look for Toney to be a full-time player again this week. Last week he ran 37 routes and played 88% of the snaps, catching six of nine targets for 78 yards. Now he is in a high total game against a Cowboys defense that has one elite corner in Trevon Diggs and a pair of awful corners in Anthony Brown and Jordan Lewis. Brown is allowing an absurd 0.39 fantasy points per route run against him this season. Toney will do most of his damage after the catch as every target this season has come within 15 yards of the line of scrimmage, but that is where 82% of the targets against the Cowboys have gone this season. Toney is a talented playmaker who will be heavily involved for a Giants team that will likely have to throw as 7-point road dogs. 

Odell Beckham, WR, Cleveland Browns

DraftKings ownership projection: 3%
FanDuel ownership projection: 1.4%

Since returning to action in Week 3, Odell Beckham has seen 16 targets and more air yards than any receiver not named Davante Adams. Last week, he led all of football in air yards and played 80% of the snaps. While he and Baker Mayfield did not connect, the usage was there, and his speed and quickness looked like prime Odell Beckham. At sub 3% ownership on both sites with a massive workload in this offense, at a reasonable price tag, how do you ignore Beckham this week. 

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Mike Gesicki, TE, Miami Dolphins

DraftKings ownership projection: 6.3%
FanDuel ownership projection: 6.8%

I always say I want to pay up for Travis Kelce or Darren Waller, and when I don’t I want cheap, low-owned tight ends in games I am looking to target. Stacking up this Bucs and Dolphins game with two teams top three in pace and a Dolphins team that throws 71% of the time when trailing against the worst pass defense in football is just what the doctor ordered. 

While I love DeVante Parker (and Jaylen Waddle as well), Mike Gesicki is not one to be ignored. Jacoby Brissett has leaned on Gesicki since taking over as the starter, hitting him with 24 targets in three games as the primary QB. Everything I mentioned with Parker applies to Gesicki as well — big underdogs, fast pace, 71% pass rate going up against the team allowing the most passing yards in football this season. Gesicki commanding a 23% target share and 23% air yard share with two top-seven finishes in the last two games now gets a Buccaneers team that is bottom seven in DVOA and allowing the second-most yards and touchdowns to the tight end position this season.