Buccaneers at Cowboys is the Week 5 Thursday night showdown, with a projected total of 47.8 and the Cowboys favored by about 10.5 with Baker Mayfield out. Below is the full FTA projection board for the DraftKings showdown, the captain leverage board ranked by ceiling over ownership, the optimal lineup against the ownership capped build, and the low owned screen.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Dallas Cowboys kicks off on Thursday October 8 at 8:15 PM Eastern at AT&T Stadium, and it is a one game slate. Below is the full FTA projection board for the DraftKings showdown, the optimal lineup, the captain leverage board and the low owned screen, with every number taken from the same simulation set that feeds our tools.
Game type: Lopsided favorite, standard total
The Cowboys are big favorites. The field will pile into Cowboys captains and Cowboys stacks, and play as little of the Buccaneers as possible.
How to build it: Lean Cowboys at captain, but the leverage is the Buccaneers side: a Buccaneers captain or a heavy Buccaneers bring-back separates you when the game is closer than the spread.
What the slate shape says before you look at a single player
Our simulations put this game at 47.8 total points, with the Cowboys at 29.2 and the Buccaneers at 18.6, a spread of about 10.5 points. That is a lopsided game on paper, and the field will build like it: Cowboys captains, Cowboys stacks, and as little of the Buccaneers as the salary allows.
Even so, do not build only one side. The same study found the perfect lineup took players from both sides in almost every slate, with a three to three or four to two split accounting for the clear majority. Building entirely on one team is the single most common way to lose a showdown you had right.
The top of the DraftKings board
The eight highest projections on the slate. The full board of 28 players, the value board, the captain leverage board and the optimal lineup are below for FTA+ members.
That is the free preview
You are seeing the top projections on this single game slate. The full player board, the value board, the captain and MVP leverage board, the optimal lineup with its projected ownership and the low owned screen are in FTA+.
Unlock the full breakdown with FTA+