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

An AFC East rivalry will be renewed in Week 3 on Thursday Night Football, as four-time MVP Aaron Rodgers and the Jets host Jacoby Brissett and the Patriots at MetLife Stadium (8:15 p.m. ET, Amazon Prime).

With both teams 1-1 and facing key defensive injuries, this is a tough game to bet. The home squad opened and has remained steady at -6.5, while the over/under sits remarkably low at 38.5 points. With such challenging lines, many will be opting to enter DFS showdown and single-game contests for this primetime clash.

MORE WEEK 3 BETTING: Odds, lines | Best bets & top props

You can't just pick the household names in a single-game DFS contest, though, especially if you're eyeing a jackpot prize in a large tournament. To succeed in the daily fantasy showdown market, you'll need to devise a strategy, target the top sleepers and value picks, and zig while the majority of casual DFS players zag.

Today, we go with the "stars and sleepers" lineup strategy, getting three studs at the top of our squad and three high-ceiling sleepers in the back-half of our flex spots. This wasn't an easy game to draft for, but this felt like a prime opportunity to attack contests using a dual-strategy of value and variance.

Keep reading to check out our optimal lineups for the Jets vs. Patriots in DFS showdown and single-game contests on DraftKings, FanDuel, and SuperDraft.

Jets vs. Patriots 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: Garrett Wilson, WR, Jets ($15,300)

Wilson is one of the most gifted receivers in the NFL, and he has logged at least four catches and 57 yards in each of the Jets' first two games. He has yet to exceed the 60-yard mark, however, and he's still looking for his first TD of 2024.

Considering the Patriots have surrendered the fourth-most DK points to wideouts this season, it seems like a good time to make Wilson the Captain. New England will also be without linebacker and defensive leader Ja'Whaun Bentley, who suffered a season-ending torn pec last weekend. WILSON! Let's do this!

MORE: How to play DFS | Best NFL betting sites 

FLEX: Breece Hall, RB, Jets ($11,800)

Breece is arguably the best healthy running back in the NFL right now, and he's a massive focal point of the Jets' offense. If not for rookie backup running back Braelon Allen vulturing a couple scores from him last week, he might have dropped 50 points on the Titans.

As it stood, Hall scored 24.4 — a great follow-up to his 19.3-point opening-weekend performance against the 49ers. Facing the Pats without Bentley, this is a juicy matchup for the third-year back, who has 16 TDs and a 5.6 yards-per-touch average over his 26-game career.

FLEX 2: Rhamondre Stevenson, RB, Patriots ($11,400)

We couldn't build a lineup for this game without 'Mondre, who has averaged 20.8 DK points per game on the season. He's basically the heart of the Pats' offense, considering New England runs the ball over 65 percent of the time.

Stevenson's pass-catching ability just serves as the cherry on top, as Jacoby Brissett often uses him as a safety valve when pressure bears down on the pocket. Easy choice here. 

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FLEX 3: Mike Williams, WR, Jets ($6,200)

Here's our first high-risk, high-reward play. Williams has yet to build a major rapport with Rodgers, but he went from playing 18 percent of the Jets' offensive snaps in Week 1 to 65 percent of their snaps in Week 2. He also hauled in his only target for a 19-yard chunk gain, which ARodg must have loved.

The Patriots have been exposed by the deep ball a few times already this season, and without their defensive captain, they could make some mistakes against the four-time MVP and the blisteringly-quick Williams. It's a volatile move, but a potentially lucrative one.

FLEX 4: Antonio Gibson, RB, Patriots ($3,600)

We love the idea of monopolizing a run-focused teams' top running options. Gibson not only looked good on the ground in Week 2 (11 carries for 96 yards), he also caught his lone target for a seven-yard gain.

Gibson's a very underrated backup RB with plenty of pass-catching and playmaking experience from his days in the nation's capital. This seems like a great bargain for a dude who just put up 11.3 DK points in an overtime game. 

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FLEX 5: Tyquan Thornton, WR, Patriots ($1,600)

The rest of our lineup feels so stacked that we don't really need a ton of production from our fifth flex spot, so anything Thornton provides us will be gravy. He logged 31 offensive snaps in Week 2, so there's at least a chance he breaks free for some chunk yardage.

If Ja'Lynn Polk, Demario Douglas, and Hunter Henry get blanketed by the likes of Sauce Gardner, D.J. Reed, and Quincy Williams, Brissett will need to find his ancillary receivers. And if Thornton happens to hit a home run, we're in good shape for jackpot-prize contention. 

Jets vs. Patriots 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 mirrored our strategy on DK, only we put Rhamondre as our MVP since on FD we get the 1.5-times boost without paying 1.5 times the set salary. 

We checked the boxes on two of our three core weekly guidelines:

• Put the player we project to score the most points in the MVP spot, since it doesn't cost us extra to get that 1.5-times boost. 
• Target a couple high-volume plays and a couple high-ceiling sleepers.

The other guideline we typically follow is to stack the highest-value QB with his best receiver, but this game has the potential to be a sloppy one for both signal-callers.

There's a 15-percent chance of rain in the forecast, one QB is 40 years old coming off an Achilles injury, and the other QB's a journeyman with a 19-31 record as a starter. Stick to the skill-position playmakers. 

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Jets vs. Patriots 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. 

MORE SUPERDRAFT DFS: How to play SuperDraft

We wanted to mix it up a little bit on SuperDraft so we didn't have all our DFS eggs in one basket. We still liked Wilson in the Champ spot with that 1.75-times boost, and Hall still made the cut for obvious reasons.

Henry and Polk — the two pass-catchers who have scored for the Pats this season — give us scoring upside, while Allen provides us with the Jets RB monopoly as well as a Hall insurance policy.