Last NFL season, 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. This week, we’ve also added the feature of being able to export lineups from SimLabs directly to our models for easy tweaking of lineups.
I broke down some general uses of the tool from an evergreen perspective earlier in the year. 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.
For more on what SimLabs is and how it works, check out our user guide.
Let’s check out some potential starting points in Week 6.
CeeDee Lamb + Lions Running Back
The Cowboys defense is one of the heaviest run funnels in the league, ranking 31st against the run but a reasonable 18th against the pass. Detroit also has the league’s best offensive line and come into the game as three-point favorites.
This is similar to the Derrick Henry + Lamb stack idea I mentioned in Week 3, where a run-heavy team will look to attack the Cowboys’ weakness while Dallas has to air it out to play catch up.
That stack half worked out, as Henry picked up 150 yards and two scores on the ground. Lamb and the Cowboys passing attack didn’t live up to their end of the equation — but they have a much easier matchup this time around. Detroit ranks 31st in PPG allowed to wide receivers, making this the perfect time for a Lamb breakout.
On the Detroit side, I’m leaning towards David Montgomery, as he sees more work in positive game scripts. However, I want exposure to both him and Jahmyr Gibbs, as they have a roughly even workload overall.
This stack also doesn’t necessarily include Dak Prescott. If the bulk of his production flows through Lamb (or Lamb and Jake Ferguson) it’s highly likely that another quarterback ends up with a better score. I’m not opposed to playing Prescott, but it’s not a must, either.
Check out how our SimLabs Lineup Generator works:
Ravens + Commanders
Lamar Jackson and Jayden Daniels are the two most expensive QBs on the slate. They’re also the leaders in median and ceiling projection. Unfortunately we can’t play multiple QBs, so we need to get creative on how to get exposure to them both.
It’s a tricky situation, as both provide so much scoring with their legs that we don’t need to stack them with their teammates. We do need the opposing team to put up points, though, lest either offense fall into run-out-the-clock mode. Particularly if we’re playing Jackson, as his Ravens are heavily favored and could rely on Derrick Henry.
Fortunately, both offenses have one wideout with a roughly 25% target share — plus a whole bunch of players who see a few looks here and there. For the Commanders, it’s Terry McLaurin, who once again leads all players in optimal-projected ownership in the Sims. For Baltimore, it’s Zay Flowers who ranks fifth in the NFL in target share.
Therefore, I want Flowers on all of my Daniels lineups and McLaurin on all of my Jackson lineups. Hopefully, that catches the bulk of the production from both offenses.
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Falcons Onslaughts
Atlanta’s passing offense finally broke out this in Week 5, with Kirk Cousin topping 500 yards and throwing for four touchdowns in a shootout against the Buccaneers.
Unfortunately, that game was on Thursday Night Football, so all of us Drake London and Kyle Pitts truthers didn’t have the chance to stack them on a main slate.
Now we do, against a bad Panthers defense. Atlanta has the third-highest team total on the slate at 26.5, with far cheaper key players than the teams (Detroit and Baltimore) ahead of them.
I’ll likely be building around the trio of Cousins/London/Pitts, but feel free to get creative here. Cousins and Bijan Robinson? Sure, Carolina is awful at defending the run. Darnell Mooney? Why not? He’s 15th in the NFL in targets but costs just $5,300.
Stacks built around the passing game should probably include some Panthers — but SimLabs will sort that out for you.
