Week 7 College Football DFS Picks (DraftKings): Expert CFB Daily Fantasy Advice (Saturday Main Slate - 10/17/26)

October 16, 2026

Mike Marteny's college football DFS lineup picks for DraftKings. Week 7 Saturday Main Slate (10/17/26) CFB daily fantasy lineup picks and DFS sleepers for Saturday's main slate.

We have another 12 games on the main slate this week, and there are some big ones. LSU and Mississippi State have an implied total north of 60 points. Ole Miss and Missouri are close to that number. Seven more teams have an implied total of 30 or higher. Hitting the right stack is going to be critical to winning a GPP on this slate.

These gargantuan slates can be tougher to navigate. That's where I come in. I've been playing DFS for about 15 years now, exclusively on DraftKings for the last 10 years. I've been playing college football DFS for as long as it has been available. I will try to help out as much as I can.

In this article, I will provide you with my daily fantasy college football lineup picks for the Main DraftKings Slate on 10/17/26, starting at noon Eastern. I’ll give multiple player suggestions for quarterback, running back, and wide receiver, aiming to highlight one option at the salary scale's high, middle, and lower end. Good luck, RotoBallers.

DraftKings CFB DFS Picks - Quarterbacks

Trinidad Chambliss, Mississippi ($8.7K)

Trinidad Chambliss navigates pressure and RIPS it to Deuce Alexander for 6

This duo is getting drafted top 50 https://t.co/F3hUfGbI4S

— NFL Draft Files (@NFL_DF) October 10, 2026

Chambliss hasn't been nearly as good without Kewan Lacy on the field. The good news is that Lacy is no longer on the injury report. Lacy did play last week against Vanderbilt, but he wasn't really needed, so the team didn't push him.

We're going to a Mississippi offense that is closer to the 2025 version and the 2026 version so far. If only that had that 2025 defense...

Kevin Jennings, SMU ($8.2K)

I wouldn't touch Jennings in most fantasy leagues because the turnovers hurt. An interception on DK doesn't hurt nearly as much. Jennings has cut the turnovers lately, and the Virginia defense has been struggling lately.

Virginia allowed 464 yards and 38 points to Florida State and 430 yards and 28 points to Syracuse in the last two weeks. SMU beat Florida State, holding them to 24 points. Jennings threw for 430 in that game.

Avery Johnson, Kansas State ($7.5K)

Johnson has seven touchdowns and nearly 800 yards of total offense in two games against Kansas in his career. The Kansas defense had issues with Devon Dampier last week. They'll have issues with Johnson here again.

Austin Simmons, Missouri ($5.6K)

DK must be worried about Missouri running the ball and never throwing. Simmons is priced as if he is going up against an elite defense. The Ole Miss pass defense has been surprisingly solid. It's the run defense that's the problem.

Simmons has had a couple of pedestrian games when Missouri leans run-heavy, but I do think that the Tigers give Simmons more chances against his former team. His upside is too high for the price to be this low.

Will Hammond, Texas Tech ($5.4K)

The NCAA managed to save Tech from itself by getting rid of Thomas Castellanos. Running Castellanos in and out of games disrupted what little rhythm Hammond has been able to get this year.

Now that Hammond won't be looking over his shoulder every series, he can relax and play some football against an Arizona State pass defense that has been gouged a few times this year. DJ Lagway threw for 320 yards and four touchdowns against the Sun Devils.

Also consider: Sam Leavitt, LSU ($9K); Keelon Russell, Alabama ($8.5K); Josh Hoover, Indiana ($7.3K); Ethan Grunkemeyer, Virginia Tech ($7K); Isaiah Marshall, Kansas ($5.8K)

DraftKings CFB DFS Picks - Running Backs

Nate Sheppard, Duke ($10K)

The top workhorses in the FBS in terms of opportunities per game.

Nate Sheppard efficiency is through the roof. 33.4 PPG, nearly double Caleb Hawkins on the same number of opportunities. ?

DFF Control Room: https://t.co/rXfy32ETq7 https://t.co/0Wj4Ev4UUJ

— Jim Moorman DFF ⚙️ (@jim_DFF) October 2, 2026

Sheppard was in a great spot last week and turned in 38 DraftKings points, even in a loss. That was his third-highest total of the season.

The North Carolina defense has played much better lately, but they are still allowing 190 rushing yards per game against FBS teams. If Sheppard is in, he's an elite play once again.

Jamal Roberts, Missouri ($8.5K)

Roberts is a full $1.5K cheaper than Sheppard, and he's coming off of back-to-back 200-yard rushing games in which he cleared 40 DK points in each.

Based on Sheppard's appearance on the injury report and Roberts being so much cheaper, Roberts is going to be VERY popular on this slate. Florida ran for over 300 yards on Ole Miss. Jadan Baugh had a career game.

You need to get different if you run Roberts in GPPs. One easy way to get different is to run him with Sheppard or Dilin Jones. Almost no one will do that, and there is enough value to make it happen. You just have to hope that no other high-priced players at other positions go off.

Kewan Lacy, Mississippi ($7.3K)

Lacy's pedestrian game against Vanderbilt has depressed the price enough for us to use him. All of the talk is on an Austin Simmons revenge game, but what about Lacy?

Lacy began his career at Missouri and never saw the field. He left and became a star for Mississippi, and arguably the best back in the SEC last year (not to mention the trip to the college football playoff). You can bet that Lacy wants to show Missouri what they're missing.

Cardae Mack, Arizona State ($4.7K)

The true freshman racked up 154 rushing yards last week against Hawaii. He didn't get his first carry of the game until the first quarter was almost over, but he impressed enough that he out-touched Kyson Brown the rest of the way.

This could be a "hot hand" situation, which adds some risk to this. If both Chauncey Bowens and Nate Frazier are out again, spend the extra $200 for Dwight Phillips Jr.

Also consider: Dilin Jones, LSU ($8.2K); Cam Cook, West Virginia ($8.9K); J'Koby Williams, Texas Tech ($6.7K); Kendrick Raphael, SMU ($6.1K); Savion Hiter, Michigan ($5.3K)

DraftKings CFB DFS Picks - Wide Receivers

Jeremiah Smith, Ohio State ($9.7K)

Smith is everything you want in a high-priced player. He has an absurd 51% of Ohio State's air yards. He's averaging 11 targets, eight receptions, 152.7 yards, and 1.8 touchdowns per game.

We've discussed at length this year how good the numbers for Smith and Julian Sayin could be once they are playing four quarters. We finally get to find out if we were right.

Omarion Miller, Arizona State ($6.2K)

The advanced metrics LOVE Miller. They have all season. Just as with baseball, the predictive metrics are usually good at showing when a player is about to put up a big game.

Miller is averaging 10 targets and 6.2 receptions per game, but has only averaged 61.4 yards. Miller ADOT is over 10 yards in the last two games. What that means is that Arizona State is sending Miller on deeper routes, which they didn't do much in the first month of the season.

It's only a matter of time before Miller breaks one or two of those into long touchdowns.

Jackson Harris, LSU ($5.7K)

Harris had a big game last week against Kentucky with 23 DK points. In the last two games against FBS opponents since Trey'Dez Green went down, Harris has 60.3 DK points. Sam Leavitt is looking for Harris a lot with Green out.

Lotzeir Brooks, Alabama ($5.8K)

Ryan Coleman-Williams is going to miss the game against Tennessee. That's going to open up a lot more targets for Brooks. Brooks is only averaging five targets per game. RCW was getting around six.

Both Brooks and Rico Scott ($4.5K) are great options this week at a much lower price than Coleman-Williams would have been.

Kenny Johnson, Texas Tech ($4.6K)

If Tech is going after Arizona State through the air (which they should), Johnson is the guy to use. He is averaging 6.8 targets per game, even though he has only caught half of them.

That number should increase against the Sun Devils and without Hammond being randomly replaced on drives.

Also consider: Deuce Alexander, Mississippi ($7.8K); Cayden Lee, Missouri ($7.4K); Luke Reynolds, Virginia Tech ($6.1K); Winston Watkins Jr., LSU ($5.2K); Cam Pickett, Kansas ($4.9K); Andrew Rappleyea, Penn State ($4.4K); Craig Dandridge, Georgia ($3.1K)

DraftKings CFB Stacks

Missouri-Mississippi Game Stack

The price of Simmons makes a full game stack possible, but you'll still have to choose among leaving out one of the star RBs or all but one of the star receivers. Using Chambliss, Simmons, Lacy, and Roberts already takes $30.1K. There is no way to include both Alexander and Lee in the stack.

Donovan Olugbode at $5.5K is nice. Ole Miss has a couple of affordable secondary options (Caleb Odom, $4.7K, Horatio Fields, $4.6K, and Traylon Ray, $4.8K). If you want to use both backs, you can use a secondary receiver with either Alexander or Lee.

The better approach may be to pick a side and stack it with a runback. The Mississippi side should be Chambliss, Lacy, Alexander, and a secondary receiver or two with a Roberts runback.

For Missouri, the stack would be Simmons, Roberts, Lee, and Olugbode with a Chambliss or Lacy runback. It's nearly impossible to use both.

Texas Tech

Tech hasn't been worth stacking yet this year, but that could change here. Hammond is cheap. Williams and Quinten Joyner are both worth using in a stack thanks to their work in the passing game and the absence of Cameron Dickey. Add in Kenny Johnson and Terrance Carter, and you have a very affordable stack.

Also consider: LSU, Kansas State, Texas (GPP only), SMU (GPP only), Alabama (GPP only)

Favorite mini stacks:

• Alabama (Russell, Brooks, Scott)
• SMU (Jennings, Yamir Knight)
• Ohio State (Sayin, Smith)
• Kansas (Marshall, Pickett)
• Mississippi State (Kamario Taylor, Anthony Evans III) - if Taylor plays.

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