DraftKings 2025 Week 3 UFL DFS Tournament Plays

A lack of NFL football, or football in general, is a terrible thing. But football is still hanging around, thanks to the UFL! And since DraftKings is offering DFS tournaments, it’s time to discuss the top plays and contrarian options so we can bink some UFL tournaments.

I’ll go position by position, highlighting my favorite plays for tournaments. I'll include a TL;DR for those who don’t want to read my reasoning and just want the top-value plays. I’ll also include teams’ implied totals directly below to help readers understand the offenses Vegas thinks will put the most points on the board.

Team Totals

Arlington Renegades (18.0) @ Birmingham Stallions (21.5)

Houston Roughnecks (16.0) @ Memphis Showboats (19.5)

San Antonio Brahmas (15.5) @ Michigan Panthers (21.0)

DC Defenders (16.0) @ St. Louis Battlehawks (22.5)

TL;DR

In the TL;DR, I’ll list the top plays in order of value (according to me). This isn’t super strict, it does not factor in ownership, and in some cases, it’s sort of arbitrary. It also doesn’t matter nearly as much as my readers think it does. What matters is maximizing the correlations within your lineups, and ensuring you include at least a few players on each tournament team who should be on the lower end of ownership (I highlight a few in my write-ups). Get creative!

Plays ranked in order, with tier 1 in bold, and assumes notable questionable players suit up…

QB: Manny Wilkins, Matt Corral, Kellen Mond, EJ Perry, Luis Perez, Jordan Ta’amu, Bryce Perkins

RB: Jacob Saylors, Nate McCrary, Dae Dae Hunter, Jashaun Corbin, Jaden Shirden, CJ Marable, Ricky Person, Jalen Jackson, Deneric Prince

WR/TE: Jacob Harris, Malik Turner, Jonathan Adams, Isaiah Winstead, Cornell Powell, Siaosi Mariner, Ty Scott, Davion Davis, Jontre Kirklin, Justin Hall, Jahcour Pearson, Jaylon Moore

QB

Manny Wilkins ($10,000) – Wilkins is undoubtedly the fantasy QB1 in the UFL until further notice. He’s carried the ball 19 times (+9 more times than the next-closest QB), including 4 carries inside the 10 (more than all other UFL QBs combined) in just 7 quarters of action. The St. Louis offense has been moving the ball at an astounding pace, averaging 401.5 YPG (+119.5 more than the next-closest team) and 28.5 PPG. They are on the path to becoming one of the greatest offenses in spring football history. Wilkins will be facing his toughest defensive opponent to date (DC has allowed the 2nd-fewest YPG and 3rd-fewest PPG), but that’s not of much concern after he’s played incredibly well through two games. He’s the obvious play for cash and our best QB value overall.

EJ Perry ($9,100) – Perry earned 100% of snaps in Week 2, which marked the first week of HC and OC Ken Whisenhunt calling plays for Memphis. The results were mildly encouraging (15.8 DraftKings points) — but Week 3 offers a much better matchup against a Houston defense that’s allowed a league-worst 388.5 YPG. I won’t play a QB as volatile as Perry if he projects to be popular, but a near-perfect matchup at single-digit ownership would tempt me for tournaments.

Bryce Perkins ($9,300) – Perkins has looked great, but he’s earned only 77% of Michigan’s dropbacks over the last two weeks. Unfortunately, HC Mike Nolan wants this to be closer to a 50/50 committee at QB, saying, “We will try to stay more true [to the 50/50 split]… neither [QB] has stepped up and said I’m the guy.” This is incredibly frustrating (and largely incorrect based on what I’ve seen statistically and on film), but I think we need to consider Perkins a bit closer to unplayable this week (and moving forward) until this split is cleared up. At the very least, Etling earning a full quarter every game massively hinders Perkins' upside relative to some of these other UFL QBs.

Matt Corral ($9,000) – Corral earned 99% of snaps last week after Alex McGough ($9,500) dislocated his shoulder on the game's first play. McGough is out in Week 3, which makes Corral a compelling option for tournaments, granted he is notably more limited as a runner than McGough. Still, I love the idea of game stacking the Friday night contest between Birmingham and Arlington; the total (39.5) is the highest on the slate, and both teams can push each other into a more pass-happy approach.

RB

Full Season Weighted Opportunity:

Jacob Saylors ($10,500) – I don’t need to tell anyone to play Saylors after he broke the Week 2 slate with 30.1 DraftKings points. Saylors’ 19.0 WO/G through two weeks would be the 2nd-best full season mark in modern spring football history. He’s been hyper-efficient on top of the elite workload, and I don’t expect either to change. Manny Wilkins is one of the best rushing QBs we’ve seen in spring football, and Wilkins has made it relatively easy for Saylors to sustain an elite YPC (5.1) on top of a great receiving workload (4.5 targets per game). He’s the easiest click on the Week 3 slate.

Kirk Merritt ($6,500) – Merritt had the rug pulled out from under him by HC CJ Johnson in Week 2. After earning an opportunity on 24% of Houston’s plays in Week 1, Merritt earned an opportunity on just 15% of Houston’s plays on Sunday. I can’t help but notice the obvious parallels to 2024 Mark Thompson; Merritt and Thompson are players that Johnson applauded as among the most talented in the UFL, yet neither player was provided with the touches to match that bullish coach speak. Zaquandre White’s appearance on passing downs (3 targets in Week 2) further tanks Merritt’s fantasy value for as long as White stays active. I still have hopes we can see Merritt return to the usage we saw in Week 1 (and maybe that happens if White is inactive in Week 3), but for now, I wouldn’t blame anyone for removing this backfield (or the entire roster) from DFS consideration.

Update: Merritt looks likely to miss Week 3 due to knee and ankle injuries he picked up in Week 2. If Merritt sits, Zaquandre White ($5,200) and Lorenzo Lingard ($5,200) could both be argued as decent punt options, but I’m hesitant to go that route with Houston’s offense looking league-worst by a large margin. If forced to choose, I’d pick White between the two.

Nate McCrary ($6,300) and Jaden Shirden ($4,000) – Matthew Colburn is almost certainly out this week after he left Week 2’s contest with an injury. HC Mike Nolan’s comments that the team “hopes he can avoid IR” don’t suggest a promising outlook for Week 3, leaving this backfield manned by McCrary and Shirden. I expect roughly a 60/40 split in favor of McCrary, with that split drifting closer to 75/25 at the goal line (McCrary has earned 89% of Michigan’s backfield red-zone touches this season). Either could be argued as a compelling play in large field tournaments, but McCrary is my preference thanks to the TD equity he carries.

Dae Dae Hunter ($5,800) – Hunter has blown away all my preseason expectations. He’s out-carried Kalen Ballage ($7,500) in back-to-back games, averaging 12.3 WO/G (RB3) over the whole season. Ballage (6.4 YPC) is clearly the better runner than Hunter (3.4 YPC), so I do expect Ballage’s talent to win out by season's end. Regardless, we can’t ignore Hunter’s usage – which is far better than his RB14 DraftKings price implies.

WR/TE (Quick Hits)

Fallout of the Marcus Simms Trade

Marcus Simms ($8,100) was traded to Houston in one of the biggest in-season moves we’ve ever seen in spring football. This demands analysis, granted the Houston side of things is fairly straightforward. I expect Simms to effectively replace Lawrence Keys ($3,100) on the outside, and for high-end fantasy performances to be incredibly tough to come by for any Houston WR given the current state of the offense (last in YPG and PPG). This is really quite a bummer for anyone who held Simms in season-long leagues, or for any of us who enjoyed clicking his name on DraftKings.

The Michigan Panthers are the much more interesting side of this trade. HC Mike Nolan noted that a big part of this move was “the fact we have a lot of confidence in the guys we’ve added — Jaylon Moore, Malik Turner, Siaosi Mariner — those three guys in particular.”

Interestingly, I also overheard the Michigan GM (Steve Kazor) mention Xavier Malone while Nolan gave that quote. But I do think Malone is the least likely to make a true fantasy impact here; Nolan referred to him exclusively as a returner when he gave offseason press conferences in March.

This is the 2nd piece of glowing coachspeak we’ve gotten on Moore – with the first coming during offseason press conferences. If we are to trust that Nolan feels as strongly about Moore as his quotes imply, we could loosely prescribe him a starting role in Michigan – something that would make Moore pop as one of the best DFS values on the slate at just $3,000.

Unfortunately, I think this will largely be a rotation on the outside between Moore and Samson Nacua ($5,300). We could also see Turner get some reps at outside WR while Moore and Nacua steal some snaps at slot WR.

For Week 3, I’m considering this a notable bump to Turner and Mariner — and I don’t mind taking a shot on Moore if you’re MMEing in DFS.

Jonathan Adams ($7,600) – I speculated ahead of Week 1 that this Ken Whisenhunt offense would have some version of a Keenan Allen role, and some version of a Mike Williams role — like what we saw from the Chargers during Whisenhunt’s tenure as OC. However, from a volume perspective, Adams looks like both of those hypothetical roles belong to him. He’s 2nd in the UFL in target share (31%), 1st in receiving yards (182), 1st in receiving FPG (19.1), and he’s posted an outrageously great 0.23 1D/RR.

We’ve seen blowup games from Adams in the past, but previous coaches have always treated him as a jump ball specialist. We still see hints of that in Whisenhunt’s offense, but Adams’ current route tree is more diverse than ever – and he’s dominating as a result. I’m very bullish on Adams’ moving forward, and Week 3 is no different. He’s a top-3 value at the WR position.

Isaiah Winstead ($5,400) is still dominating target volume in Arlington, ranking 6th in target share (25%) and 7th in receiving FPG (10.1) among all players through two weeks. The red zone offense seems oddly concentrated around Deontay Burnett ($6,600) — who has earned 66% of Arlington’s red zone targets — but given Winstead’s impressive raw volume, I’d expect red zone targets to follow. He’s a great value this week, and we need to seriously consider the idea that he’s the No. 2 pass catcher here, behind only Sal Cannella ($8,400).

Jacob Harris ($5,100) continues to be treated as the Mike Evans within San Antonio’s offense. He ranks 7th in target share (23%), 6th in receiving FPG (10.6), and 3rd in yards per team pass attempt (2.1) – presenting elite value at his WR24 price tag. I’m unsure how things will change with former WRs coach Payton Pardee calling plays instead of AJ Smith. Regardless, it’s difficult not to call Harris a great value at just $5,100 this week.

Cornell Powell ($5,000) must be the biggest ‘buy-low’ in UFL fantasy. He ranks 5th in targets (14), but just 30th in receiving FPG (2.2). For whatever reason, Jordan Ta’amu ($9,600) just keeps missing him on what should be considered routine throws. I fully expect Powell to finish the season priced closer to $7,000, and I plan on playing him every week until that happens.

I’m not exactly sure who will lead this Birmingham receiving attack now that Deon Cain has been ruled out, but I suspect it will be some combination of Davion Davis ($4,900), Marlon Williams ($6,500), and Jace Sternberger ($5,800). Davis finished behind only Corey Coleman in the 2023 USFL in receiving yards (575) and currently ranks 2nd on the team (behind only Cain) in targets. Sternberger tied for the team lead in targets (6) last week, and appears to be playing more after an offseason injury held him back in training camp. Williams is the most interesting of the trio, if only for the fact that we’ve seen him play in the slot (96% slot rate in 2024) and outside (79% outside rate in 2022) within this Birmingham offense.

I’ll be mixing and matching these three on my Matt Corral teams, but given how spread out this passing attack has been, you could justifiably play any Birmingham pass catcher in tournaments.