Prior to this season, many pegged the Texans as being one of the most stable teams at quarterback. However, with Deshaun Watson a weekly inactive, the team is already onto its second quarterback of the 2021 season. Rookie Davis Mills will start on Thursday Night Football since Tyrod Taylor (hamstring) is out indefinitely. That could mean a run-heavy game plan for Houston, which has no shortage of running back options for NFL DFS lineups. Who can you trust with your NFL DFS stacks and NFL DFS strategy?
In terms of volume for NFL DFS lineups, Mark Ingram is the Texans’ top back since he has three times as many carries as any other player. But Phillip Lindsay and David Johnson could also factor into your NFL DFS strategy because they both see a fair share of snaps. Before locking in any NFL DFS picks for Thursday Night Football on sites like DraftKings and FanDuel, be sure to check out the NFL DFS advice, player rankings, stacks and top daily Fantasy football picks from SportsLine’s Mike McClure.
McClure is a legendary professional DFS player with almost $2 million in career winnings. His methodology has led to enormous cashes on FanDuel and DraftKings. He took down two high-stakes tournaments on FanDuel in 2020 and recorded a pair top-10 finishes in tournaments with over 130,000 entrants on DraftKings. His lineups also finished inside the top 1 percent in more than a dozen other tournaments last season.
He uses a powerful prediction model that simulates every snap of NFL action, taking factors such as matchups, statistical trends and injuries into account. This allows him to find the best DFS values that he shares only with members at SportsLine.
Now, McClure has turned his attention to Texans vs. Panthers and locked in his top daily Fantasy football picks. You can only see them by heading to SportsLine.
Top NFL DFS picks for Panthers vs. Texans
One of McClure’s top NFL DFS picks for Thursday is Texans receiver Brandin Cooks, who ranks fifth in the NFL with 210 receiving yards. Cooks is coming off a nine-catch, 78-yard game versus the Browns in which he was targeted 14 times, the second-most in his eight-year career.
Whether Deshaun Watson last year or the Tyrod Taylor/Davis Mills combination this year, Cooks has been a target magnet for Houston. No other Texans player was targeted more than twice in the team’s Week 2 game, while his 21 targets on the season rank fifth among wide receivers. Cooks had 173 yards in two games against Carolina in 2016 as a member of the Saints.
Part of McClure’s optimal NFL DFS strategy also includes rostering Carolina quarterback Sam Darnold, who had 305 passing yards and two touchdowns in Week 2. The former Jet is averaging 292 passing yards per game with his new team and has a three-to-one touchdown-to-interception ratio.
Darnold is finally living up to his top-three draft status since joining Carolina. He easily disposed of his former team in Week 1 and then picked apart a New Orleans defense in Week 2 that humiliated Aaron Rodgers the previous week. The Saints hadn’t allowed a 300-yard passer in 23 straight games dating back to the 2019 season, but Darnold tossed for 305 yards and two scores. He should have no trouble with a Texans defense that generates very little pressure, as its six QB hits are the fewest in the league.
How to set NFL DFS lineups for Texans vs. Panthers
McClure is also targeting an undervalued player who is set to explode for huge numbers on Thursday Night Football. 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 here.
So who is Mike McClure putting in his optimal NFL DFS lineups for Panthers vs. Texans? Visit SportsLine now to see optimal NFL DFS picks, rankings, advice, and stacks, all from a daily Fantasy expert with nearly $2M in winnings, and find out.
