Buccaneers vs. Falcons DFS Picks: Best DraftKings, FanDuel lineups and props for TNF primetime showdown

Kicking off Week 5 of the 2024 NFL season, Baker Mayfield and the Buccaneers will clash with Kirk Cousins and their NFC South-rival Falcons in Atlanta on Thursday Night Football (8:15 p.m. ET, Amazon Prime).

Interested in constructing a Showdown or single-game tournament lineup for this primetime divisional duel? The Sporting News has you covered, with optimal lineups, sleepers and studs, and timely advice to help you start the weekend with some daily fantasy cash. 

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Baker's Bucs have started the season almost as hot as they finished the 2023 campaign. They have officially won eight of their past 10 regular-season games, and the 1-2 receiving punch of Mike Evans and Chris Godwin is playing as well as it has since Tampa's Super Bowl win.

Atlanta, meanwhile, has new hope with Cousins under center. The Falcons haven't logged an eight-win season since 2018, but they're now -105 on DraftKings to go OVER 9.5 victories and -135 to make the playoffs. With Bijan Robinson, Drake London, and Darnell Mooney as playmakers and with an underrated defense, the Dirty Birds could be a legit contender again. 

This should be a great primetime tilt, so let's get to our optimal lineups for the Bucs vs. Falcons in DFS showdowns and single-game contests on DraftKings, FanDuel, and SuperDraft. Good luck and enjoy the game!

Buccaneers vs. Falcons NFL DFS picks: Optimal DraftKings lineup

Before we get into our lineup and strategy, here are the key scoring settings for DraftKings Showdown contests: They're full-point PPR, and they feature three-point bonuses for 300 passing yards, 100 rushing yards, and 100 receiving yards. The Captain pick costs 1.5 times a player's original price, but he also gets his point total multiplied by 1.5.

Captain: Chris Godwin, WR, Bucs ($15,000)

Godwin, by our model's projections, will be the top fantasy scorer in this game. He has outscored his QB, Mayfield, in two of the Bucs' four games this season, and he has easily outscored Cousins' total all four weeks. The Falcons allow 15.8 DK points per game to QBs and 32.7 PPG to wideouts, so the choice of Godwin and his 20.1 average PPG feels like the best bet for the 1.5 multiplier. 

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FLEX: Baker Mayfield, QB, Bucs ($9,600)

It may seem predictable, but we have to stack our top wideout in the Captain spot with his QB. Tampa's 2023 offensive coordinator Dave Canales helped turn Mayfield into a top-10 QB in the league, and Baker has been cooking ever since. The Falcons have a good, but not great, defense; they've allowed 21-24 points each of the past three weeks, and these NFC South games always end up being shootouts. Let's Bake!

FLEX 2: Kirk Cousins, QB, Falcons ($8,600)

Like we said, it's a divisional duel. And Broncos rookie Bo Nix proved a couple weeks ago that Tampa can be beaten downfield. Cousins in primetime is no longer a scary thought — he has actually been damn good in night games as of late, beating the Eagles in Week 2 and almost overcoming the back-to-back champion Chiefs in Week 3. You like that!? Fire him up!

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FLEX 3: Darnell Mooney, WR, Falcons ($7,200)

A second QB-WR stack!? Why not — let's get crazy. Mooney has been flying under the radar a bit (excuse the pun), quietly serving as one of Cousins' biggest downfield playmakers. Trust the sure-handed veteran receiver who's healthy and emerging as one of the better NFL quarterbacks' most dependable target. Darnell to the MOON!

FLEX 4: Tyler Allgeier, RB, Falcons ($4,800)

Allgeier hasn't exceeded 10 total touches in any of the past three weeks, yet he has racked up 177 all-purpose yards in that span. Lead back Bijan Robinson has only averaged 2.6 yards per play over the past two games, so it's very possible Allgeier will need to spell the second-year back more than 10 times this Sunday. He had a 112-yard game against Tampa last season, so the floor and ceiling feel high at this affordable price point. 

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FLEX 5: Cade Otton, TE, Bucs ($4,000)

Tight end has been a barren wasteland this season, so TEs averaging under six points are cheap like dollar-store snacks. But Otton has TD upside, and if you dive deeper, you will see that he has logged DK point totals of 10.7 and 11.2 the past two weeks, respectively (vs. DEN, vs. PHI). We're going streaking through the quad if we get 11 points from a $4,000 end-of-the-roster investment. 

Buccaneers vs. Falcons NFL DFS picks: Optimal FanDuel lineup

Here are the key scoring settings for FanDuel single-game tournaments: They're half-point PPR with three-point bonuses for 300 passing yards, 100 rushing yards, or 100 receiving yards. The MVP pick multiplies that player's total by 1.5 but does not cost 1.5 times their listed salary.

Our FD single-game lineup construction basically mirrors our DK lineup, only with Mayfield in the MVP multiplier since FD's scoring settings make QBs more valuable. 

We checked all three boxes in terms of our core weekly guidelines:

• Put the player we project to score the most points in the MVP spot (Mayfield), since it doesn't cost us extra to get that 1.5-times boost.
• Stack the top QB(s) with their top playmaking receiver(s) (Mayfield-Godwin and Cousins-Mooney). 
• Target multiple high-volume plays and a couple high-ceiling sleepers.

The top three in our roster have dependable floors thanks to consistent volume and opportunities. Rookie running back Irving has been much more impressive than lead Bucs back Rachaad White through four weeks of play, and Mooney is a big playmaker with a high ceiling. Studs and sleepers, baby!

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Buccaneers vs. Falcons NFL DFS picks: Optimal SuperDraft lineup

For those unfamiliar, SuperDraft's DFS scoring involves point multipliers as opposed to traditional salary-capped or tiered contests. A winning lineup will likely feature a strong mix of stud fantasy contributors with 1x-1.6x boosts, as well as matchup-based sleepers with larger multipliers. Each player is assigned a scoring multiplier based on their value as determined by SuperDraft. Users can roster any player in their lineup with no restrictions.

Here are the most notable scoring rules for SuperDraft NFL contests: Half-point PPR, four-point passing TDs, and two-point bonuses for 100 rushing yards, 100 receiving yards, and 300 passing yards. SuperDraft lineups feature no D/ST position. The "Champ" position adds a 50-percent boost to the selected player, while the SuperFlex positions are limited to the boost listed for each player. 

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Our SuperDraft lineup closely resembles our DK and FD builds, with all players from either or both of the aforementioned squads. We love Mayfield in the 1.65-times boost, and we're also very fond of the higher boosts on Mooney, Irving, and Allgeier.

Not drafting Cousins here might seem like a risk, but remember that a ton of lineups will include both QBs so we need to try for lineup variance. Two total rushing TDs from the Irving/Allgeier duo and we feel pretty confident that we won't be missing Cousins and his meager 1.2-times boost.