This Sunday afternoon, the NFL presents Draftkings football fans with a regular season matchup featuring the Dallas Cowboys and the Carolina Panthers. Let’s take a look at this game from a DFS perspective.
Before we dive into the Dallas Cowboys vs. Carolina Panthers game let’s review the rules for the Draftkings single game showdown contest.
Draftkings Single Game Showdown Contest Rules
You have $50,000 to utilize on five players from either team. However, one of those players will be designated as your team captain. The captain accumulates 1.5 times the standard fantasy points. Additionally, the captain is 1.5 times the standard cost of the flex position.
The remaining four players in your lineup will receive the standard fantasy points. Having stated that, it is highly important for you to identify the correct player for your captain position if you hope to win a large field DFS GPP (guaranteed prize pool) showdown contest.
If you have additional questions regarding the rules for the single game showdown contest, I recommend that you check out the Draftkings website for more details.
*I recommend that all readers review the starting lineups for both teams prior to setting your DFS lineup for this one game slate.
Here are my Draftkings picks for this week’s Cowboys vs. Panthers matchup.
Draftkings NFL Showdown Picks
Captain-Dak Prescott, Quarterback, Dallas Cowboys $10,000
Talented quarterback Dak Prescott has been the driving force behind the Dallas Cowboys success on the offensive side of the football this season. With that said, how has Prescott performed from a data standpoint this season? Let’s review the veteran signal caller’s relevant key player data from the 2025 NFL regular season to better shed light on Prescott’s overall contributions to his team.
In the five games that quarterback Dak Prescott has played for the Dallas Cowboys in the 2025 NFL regular season, Prescott has amassed 1,356 passing yards (second in NFL), ten passing touchdowns, 50 rushing yards and one rushing touchdown.
Last month, in the Dallas Cowboys 40-37 thrilling overtime victory over the New York Giants, Dallas quarterback Dak Prescott certainly played at a high level. Let me be more specific. In the Cowboys defeat of the New York Giants, Prescott tallied a whopping 361 passing yards and two passing touchdowns.
Looking at the data just presented more closely, in the Dallas Cowboys win over the Giants just mentioned, Dak Prescott compiled a rather impressive 26.1 Draftkings points.
I also like Dak Prescott’s matchup in this game. Why? The Carolina Panthers defense has had issues containing the quarterback position in 2025. Upon the completion of five games played in the 2025 NFL regular season, in relation to the other 31 teams in the league, the Carolina Panthers rank a dreadful 23rd in total Draftkings points allowed (15.8) to the quarterback position a game.
In my view, Dak Prescott is the most likely player to post the most Draftkings points in this NFL regular season game. For that specific reason, I am backing Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott at the captain position for this one game NFL DFS slate.
Flex Plays
Jake Ferguson, Tight End, Dallas Cowboys $8,600
In addition to Dak Prescott, tight end Jake Ferguson has been a key contributor for the Dallas Cowboys this season.
In the five games that tight end Jake Ferguson has played for the Dallas Cowboys in 2025, Dallas quarterback Dak Prescott has targeted Ferguson 48 times. In those 48 targets just noted, Ferguson compiled 41 receptions, 272 receiving yards and three receiving touchdowns.
Flex plays I like to play well in this NFL regular season contest: Bryce Young, Quarterback (Carolina Panthers) $9,000: Rico Dowdle, Running Back (Carolina Panthers) $8,400: Ryan Flournoy, Wide Receiver (Dallas Cowboys) $4,200: Brandon Aubrey, Kicker (Dallas Cowboys) $5,800.