2024 NFL DFS picks, rankings: Thursday Preseason Week 1 fantasy football lineup advice on DraftKings, FanDuel

On Thursday during Week 1 of the 2024 NFL preseason. Jerod Mayo will make his coaching debut for the Patriots as they play the Panthers. Carolina is led by first-year head coach Dave Canales, the offensive coordinator who helped resurrect the careers of Baker Mayfield and Geno Smith. Football fans won’t be able to see if Canales can work the same magic on Bryce Young starting on Thursday since the No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft won’t play in the first preseason game. However, will Canales’ influence bring the best of the Carolina offense from its first preseason game for daily Fantasy football players looking over the NFL DFS player pool and making NFL DFS lineups?

The Giants and Lions play in the other Thursday preseason game, so who are targets from deep in those depth charts you should consider when forming an NFL DFS strategy? Before making any NFL DFS picks for Patriots vs. Panthers or Giants vs. Lions on sites like DraftKings and FanDuel, be sure to check out the NFL DFS lineup advice, strategy and player stacks from SportsLine NFL daily Fantasy expert Jimmie Kaylor. 

Kaylor is a NFL and DFS expert for SportsLine, who opened the 2022 NFL season by winning DraftKings’ NFL Showdown Thursday Kickoff Millionaire contest. He edged out over 355,000 other entrants in the contest and also has multiple five-figure tournament wins on his DFS resume. Kaylor, who has been cashing big all season, has covered the NFL and college football for close to a decade as a member of the Pro Football Writers of America, and his background as a former college and NFL player gives him a unique perspective when building his fantasy lineups and locking in his betting picks.

Kaylor hit on epic NFL DFS picks last season like Justin Jefferson (11-159), D’Andre Swift (175-1), DeVonta Smith (4-132-1), T.J. Hockenson (7-66-2), D.J. Moore (8-230-3), David Montgomery (121-3), Ja’Marr Chase (12-141, 11-149-1), Alvin Kamara (12-91, 76), Jordan Addison (7-123-2), Jahmyr Gibbs (152-1, 5-37), Javonte Williams (79, 3-31-1), Dak Prescott (331-4), CeeDee Lamb (12-116-1), DK Metcalf (6-143-3), Aidan O’Connell (248-4), and Puka Nacua (9-164-1). Anyone who has followed his picks is way up.

Now, Kaylor has turned his attention to Thursday’s 2024 NFL preseason games and just locked in his top daily Fantasy football picks. You can only see his picks and analysis at SportsLine.

Top NFL preseason DFS picks for Thursday

One of Kaylor’s favorite DFS picks Thursday, where every player on DraftKings is $5,500 and $6,000 on FanDuel, is Lions running back Sione Vaki. If a coach with Dan Campbell’s personality could create a football player in a lab, it may be Vaki. The 23-year-old was a two-way player at Utah, playing 26 games at safety while also touching the ball 53 times on offense last season. It takes a specific type of intensity and commitment to be an impactful two-way Division I college football player and Vaki proved to be that, which are characteristics a coach with the intensity of Campbell would certainly appreciate.

The Lions selected Vaki in the fourth round of the 2024 NFL Draft and he’s listed as a running back on the team’s depth chart. Vaki, at 5-foot-11 and 213 pounds, can play with the bruising style the Lions love but also catch the ball. He had 11 receptions for 203 yards and three touchdowns last season and had his fair share of highlight-reel catches in high school. Now that he can just focus on playing offense, the Lions believe Vaki has untapped potential on the offensive side and that will be explored on Thursday with Detroit’s proven running backs ahead of him in the depth chart unlikely to play. 

Kaylor’s NFL DFS strategy also includes rostering Panthers running back Raheem Blackshear. The third-year running back has 123 rushing yards and 138 receiving yards over limited action in his first two seasons. But with Jonathon Brooks, the first running back selected in the 2024 NFL Draft, still recovering from a torn ACL and an experienced running back room with Chuba Hubbard and Miles Sanders, Blackshear could be the top running back on the Carolina depth chart to take the field on Thursday.

Blackshear had 1,014 yards from scrimmage with seven touchdowns as a fifth-year senior at Virginia Tech in 2021. He’s showcased the ability to catch passes out of the backfield with more receiving yards than rushing yards over his NFL career. Blackshear rushed for 31 yards and a touchdown in a preseason game against the Giants last season. Blackshear has been an asset on special teams for Carolina and with the new kickoff rules, if he can showcase his ability to contribute out of the backfield as well, he’ll have his opportunities on Thursday to perform for NFL DFS lineups. You can see the rest of Kaylor’s NFL DFS picks here.

How to build Week 1 preseason NFL DFS lineups

Kaylor is also targeting another undervalued player who could explode for huge numbers on Thursday. This pick could be the difference between winning your tournaments and cash games or going home with nothing. You can only see who it is, and the rest of Kaylor’s NFL DFS picks, at SportsLine. 

So who is Jimmie Kaylor including in his optimal NFL DFS lineups for Thursday, and which under-the-radar NFL DFS picks offer huge value? Visit SportsLine now to see optimal NFL DFS picks, rankings, advice, and stacks, all from a DFS expert who already won a single-game millionaire maker tournament, and find out.