Saquon Barkley And 4 Other Sleeper Fantasy Plays For Thursday Night Football
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The 2025 NFL season is here. The regular season will kick off tonight, as the Dallas Cowboys travel to Lincoln Financial Field to take on the reigning Super Bowl-champion Philadelphia Eagles. Both teams are looking for a fast start to the new campaign, with elevated stakes in this divisional matchup. Here are some of the top bets for Sleeper Fantasy for this TNF matchup.
Saquon Barkley Over 82.5 Rushing Yards
This one feels like an easy pick. Saquon Barkley is coming off a historic 2,005-yard campaign, just the ninth back to eclipse 2,000 rushing yards in a single season in league history. Barkley will be a huge factor in Philadelphia’s offense and will see a significant workload in the season opener behind one of the top offensive lines in football.
Zack Baun Over 4.5 Solo Tackles
Zack Baun burst onto the scene for a loaded Eagles defense in 2024. The breakout linebacker earned his first All-Pro nod and was one of the top tacklers in football. The league’s sixth-leading tackler finished his 2024 campaign with just four games with less than four tackles, making us confident in this prop.
Javonte Williams Over 36.5 Rushing Yards
There’s a new feature back in Dallas. Javonte Williams will have his work cut out for him against Philadelphia’s defense, but has plenty of help behind the Cowboys’ offensive line. There’s minimal competition for touches behind Williams, giving him a safe floor for volume versus the Eagles. Running behind one of the top offensive line units in the NFC, we love the over here.
Jake Ferguson Under 34.5 Receiving Yards
You can’t always take the over. Jake Ferguson broke out with a Pro Bowl campaign in 2023, but followed it up with a disappointing year in 2024. Entering the new season, there’s a new mouth to feed in George Pickens, who’s slated to take volume from Ferguson. Given his average yards per game was at 35.3 a season ago without Pickens on roster, we’re slotting the under here.
Will Shipley Over 12.5 Rushing Yards
Barkley has a new backup following Kenneth Gainwell’s exit: Will Shipley. Shipley is slated to takeover as Philadelphia’s RB2 role and should see solid volume in the position. A season ago, Gainwell averaged 17.1 rushing yards per game behind Barkley and we think Shipley is going to go way over that mark tonight.
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Ethen Hutton is a MLB, WNBA, College, and Fantasy contributor at On SI. Previously, he's covered the NBA, WNBA and NFL for Sportskeeda. Hutton is also a passionate fantasy football player and an immense music lover.