Last week, our new SimLabs tool went live to the public. It’s a powerful new feature that allows casual players to build competitive lineups effortlessly — or serious players to leverage their convictions more effectively.
I broke down some general uses of the tool from an evergreen perspective last week. Moving forward, we’ll be checking out some suggested starting points for building lineups.
The process is simple: from the SimLabs home screen, first, select the field size and desired range of outcomes for your lineups. The field size depends on the contest type, while the “results range” allows you to customize how unique you want your lineups to be.
Then, find the box titled “include players” and type your preferred options — then sit back and let the sims do their thing. You can generate as many or as few lineups as you want, then upload directly to DraftKings to be entered into contests.
Let’s check out some potential starting points in Week 10.
Texans Passing Attack
A full Texans stack won the Milly Maker in Week 9, but Houston is in another good spot in Week 10. Their Week 9 explosion was thanks to a confluence of factors, including injuries to starting running back Dameon Pierce ($5,200) and wide receiver Robert Woods ($4,000).
The field loaded up on backup running back Devin Singletary ($4,700), but Houston chose (wisely) to lean more on the passing attack without their top back. A passing attack that was much more concentrated without Woods. Additionally, they were pushed by the Bucs into a shootout, leading to aggressive playcalling throughout the entire game.
While it feels like chasing to go back to the well, all of those factors could be true in Week 10. Pierce was a DNP on Friday, as was wide receiver Nico Collins ($6,600), with Woods limited after not practicing earlier in the week. Either receiver being absent (or both) would further concentrate targets on Tank Dell ($5,500) and tight end Dalton Schultz ($4,900).
Editor’s note: Collins and Pierce were both ruled out Friday.
They’re taking on the Bengals in Cincinnati, an explosive team that can obviously push the pace. With Houston as six-point underdogs, they may be forced to throw whether they want to or not.
One option for using this one in SimLabs is to simply include CJ Stroud ($6,900) and then let the sims fill in lineups around him. The simulation will correlate around him, including his pass-catchers, at a high rate. Of course, you could also add your favorite weapon or two if you have a strong feeling about an individual player.
Additionally, adding a Bengals bringback is an option. I like Joe Mixon ($6,200) this week, as the Bengals could have a positive game script and be missing either or both of their top wideouts.
Brock Purdy + Travis Etienne
After topping 30 points in their first five games, the 49ers offense has fallen off a cliff. They’ve scored exactly 17 in three straight games prior to their Week 9 bye.
That could be a team showing its true colors — or it could be because Deebo Samuel ($6,200) missed all (or most of) all three contests. With Samuel expected to play in Week 10, San Francisco has a full complement of weapons to throw to, with Samuel, Brandon Aiyuk ($7,100), Christian McCaffrey ($9,200) and George Kittle ($6,100) all having week-winning upside.
Of course, they can’t all get there together. It’s extremely tough to pick out which one or two of them will have the good game in any given week, with their salaries expensive enough that you can’t play more than two comfortably. This is why I’ll be leaving the job of differentiating up to SimLabs by telling it to include Brock Purdy ($5,700).
The Etienne bring-back certainly isn’t mandatory. I prefer it to Jaguars receiving options, though. The correlation between opposing backs and receivers is a strong one that’s won many tournaments this year (with McCaffrey and Kittle kind of sort of functioning as receivers in this offense.)
Additionally, San Fran is far more vulnerable on the ground, ranking 25th in DVOA compared to 11th against the pass. Combined with Etienne’s elite workload, that makes him a solid option in lineups built around the 49ers.
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Lions + Cheap Chargers
Similar to the 49ers, the Lions have an explosive offense getting back key contributors following a bye, leading to salaries that are a bit too high for their likeliest performances.
The obvious way to attack that is through the quarterback. Like Purdy, Jared Goff ($6,400) will have a ton of weapons at his disposal while having a hand in all of the production that happens through the air. David Montgomery ($6,900) returning with his domination of the goal line hurts that theory some, but we could still see most of the scoring come via the pass, which is the easier way to attack the Chargers.
For large field play, I’m happy to lock in Goff and let SimLbas figure out the rest. Could Goff be in some winning lineups without any of his individual targets? Sure. Could he get there with just Amon-Ra St. Brown ($8,300)? Of course. There are tons of possibilities.
However, I really like the idea of pairing Goff with Montgomery for small-field contests. That gives you exposure to most of the scoring from the favored team in the game with the week’s highest Vegas total — barring Jahmyr Gibbs ($7,000) rushing scores.
On the Chargers side, they’re extremely thin behind Keenan Allen ($8,800), with secondary and tertiary options Mike Williams and Joshua Palmer both on IR. With Detroit’s pieces somewhat expensive, it’s hard to fit Allen in stacks built around their top performers.
However, somebody else from Los Angeles is likely to draw a heavy workload in Week 10. That could be rookie Quentin Johnson ($4,100) or Derius Davis ($3,100) or one of the tight ends. By excluding Allen from the pool when building around Goff, you can nudge SimLabs towards some of the cheap Chargers options for a portion of your lineups.
