This is our Monday Night Football DFS strategy breakdown for the Seattle Seahawks vs. the Houston Texans in Seattle.
The Seahawks offense has been one of the league's most emphatic success stories through six weeks, while for the second year in a row the Texans offense continues to disappoint after such an encouraging 2023 debut for C.J. Stroud. The Texans generated some momentum before their Week 6 bye with a beatdown of the helpless Ravens, but now Houston will need to prove against Seattle that they can also beat teams that can fight back.
The home-team Seahawks are favored by 3.0 points with the over/under set at 41.0.
QUARTERBACK
Sam Darnold ($10400 DK, $12400 FD) has played great in 2025 and appears to be a great fit with Klint Kubiak's offense. The Texans defense still presents some challenges. Namely, their pass rush could prove challenging on any extended dropbacks, especially if Denico Autry makes his season debut. If the game trends toward lower scoring then Darnold's price might be a little challenging, but it's reasonable enough to take the leap of faith with Darnold given how he has played so far in the season.
C.J. Stroud ($10200 DK, $11600 FD) might require a greater leap of faith yet, if only because the Houston interior offensive line remains a serious issue and the Seahawks have a lively front seven. Stroud might be the same real deal he appeared to be in 2023, but the conditions around him have still deteriorated in obvious, substantial ways. The Seahawks also might get back previously injured corners Devon Witherspoon and Riq Woolen for this game. Outside of Nico Collins, it's not easy to budget pass-catching production for the Texans.
RUNNING BACK
Nick Chubb ($6400 DK, $8400 FD) is a central consideration on this slate given that the game could be low-scoring and run-heavy. Chubb isn't his younger, pre-injury self, but he has played clearly well in 2025 and might still be good enough to make a defense pay for mistakes. Whether the Seahawks make such mistakes is less clear – the Houston offensive line deserves no benefit of the doubt and the Seahawks are allowing just 3.1 yards per carry to opposing running backs. Indeed, the Seattle defense has nearly given up more receiving yardage to running backs than rushing – opposing running backs have 371 yards and two touchdowns on the ground compared to 344 yards and a touchdown receiving (84.3 percent catch rate, 6.75 YPT).
No matter whether Chubb gets going in his own right, Woody Marks ($7000 DK, $8200 FD) should have some opportunities to catch passes here. It seems to be the weakness of the Seattle front seven, and the Texans have a lot of slack from scrimmage. Other than Nico Collins there's not a single player on this offense for whom you can reliably project so much as 50 yards from scrimmage in a given game. Marks' price is challenging, but if the Texans win they'll probably need both him and Chubb to get them there. Dameon Pierce and Dare Ogunbowale are punt plays who are unlikely to play much, if at all.
The Seahawks backfield is even more challenging for a single-game slate than the Houston example. Neither Kenneth Walker ($7600 DK, $10600 FD) nor Zach Charbonnet ($6600 DK, $9200 FD) are cheap, yet they both have low floors and low ceilings. More tormenting yet is the fact that both players are capable – a case where the two fish are too big for the pond. There's a good chance one of them is a viable or even necessary pick for cashing, but there's no way to guess ahead of time which. Meanwhile, whereas Chubb and Marks might be able to coexist on a single ticket, it seems less likely that paying up for both Walker and Charbonnet on one ticket would work unless the Seattle running game just goes nuts.
WIDE RECEIVER + TIGHT END
Jaxon Smith-Njigba ($11800 DK, $13200 FD) is an exceedingly difficult fade, even at a very high price and even against a defense that could be the toughest matchup he's seen to this point in 2025. There's a slight chance Darnold could produce in this game without JSN seizing enough of that production to pay off at this price, but only slight. Cooper Kupp ($6800 DK, $5800 FD) doesn't have a great matchup in the slot, though his price is arguably low enough to justify the pick, especially if you're fading JSN.
Tory Horton ($3200 DK, $3400 FD) is an awfully tempting bargain pick, because at his price Horton's limited playing time might not matter much. More importantly, Horton's downfield speed is exactly the weakness of cover guys like Kamari Lassiter and Jalen Pitre. If Derek Stingley is following JSN, then one of Lassiter or Pitre should be on Horton. AJ Barner ($4400 DK, $6600 FD) is another quality bargain consideration, though the tight end is likely touchdown-dependent for fantasy viability. Elijah Arroyo ($2400 DK, $2000 FD) is a worthwhile punt pick consideration, but only that.
Nico Collins ($11200 DK, $12000 FD) is as tough of a fade as JSN, and arguably even more so. Collins' price is cheaper, but his projection is probably as good or better in a matchup where the Seattle corners are probably a little beneath Collins' level. The Texans leave more slack yet to fall on Collins because they keep giving starter snaps to Xavier Hutchinson ($3600 DK, $4600 FD), who is cheap enough to consider at price but in real-life terms has been consistently useless for Houston. Jayden Higgins ($3000 DK, $4000 FD) is much more talented, and every rep they deny Higgins for Hutchinson is one that sets the team back. Higgins and especially the rookie Jaylin Noel ($2800 DK, $2600 FD) can't be counted on for much, but they are better than Hutchinson and Houston would be wise to snap out of it.
Dalton Schultz ($4600 DK, $5200 FD) really stands out as a bargain pick for his price. As previously mentioned, there's a great deal of slack from scrimmage in the Houston offense and every rep given to Hutchinson makes more of it fall on Collins and Schultz. Schultz might be worth fitting into most roster configurations as a cheap but fairly likely source of double-digit fantasy points.
KICKER
Ka'imi Fairbairn ($5000 DK, $6400 FD) remains a very good kicker and one with unusual reliability from long range, so if the game is close but the from-scrimmage production suffers this could be a game where kickers like Fairbairn and Jason Myers ($5200 DK, $6800 FD) bridge the gap in the cashing equation. The less secondary candidates like Kupp, Barner, Horton, Schultz, etc. produce in this slate, the more attractive the kickers get. Both have double-digit point upside, but perhaps Fairbairn especially for range reasons.
DEFENSE/SPECIAL TEAMS
In a game with a relatively low over/under, there's a chance one or both of the defenses prove cashing-viable. Guessing whether or which is not easy, though.
The Texans ($3800 DK, $6200 FD) are road underdogs and their offense constantly leaves the defense with difficult conditions and short fields, but Darnold is probably due for some turnovers and general regression at some point, and the Texans defense has personnel that might mirror Seattle's fairly well. Indeed, if the Texans win this game it could very well be the defense that carries them there. It's a low-floor, medium-ceiling kind of consideration in a slate that could prove sparse if the scoring is low enough.
The Seahawks ($4000 DK, $7000 FD) defense is probably solid overall, and their offense doesn't hang them out to dry constantly like the Houston offense does the Texans defense. It's not easy to imagine scenarios where the Houston offense simply waltzes down the field for easy points – the Houston offense probably needs luck in some form to come out ahead. Unless the Seahawks defense gets left with short fields due to turnovers by the Seattle offense, the Texans offense is probably vulnerable to the quietly ferocious interior defense of Leonard Williams and Byron Murphy.
