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.
Baker Mayfield or Jameis Winston
At first glance, these two quarterbacks have nothing to do with each other (other than Winston, formerly playing for the Bucs, I suppose). However, as I thought through this slate, some similarities emerged.
I didn’t mention either of them as top plays in my main slate breakdown. However, I mentioned multiple cheap pass catchers for both teams. Both Tampa and Cleveland lost their top wide receivers, and the production is expected to be made up of a group of sub-$5,000 players.
Logically, if multiple pass catchers are putting up strong scores, their quarterbacks probably are too. Most of the field will be taking the cheap receivers so they can spend up at quarterback, so playing stacks provides a ton of leverage.
Winston makes a lot more sense on paper here. He’s $1,500 cheaper and facing a team that’s faced the fourth-most passing attempts per game. He’s also the more aggressive downfield passer of the pair, at least historically.
Don’t forget about Mayfield, though. He leads the NFL in passing touchdowns and is a solid pay-up-to-be-contrarian play since he’s theoretically overpriced. He could fall totally flat without his top weaponry, but he could still provide ceiling games.
Check out how our SimLabs Lineup Generator works:
Jalen Hurts + Ja’Marr Chase + Tee Higgins
I did touch on this stack in my main slate breakdown, but I wanted to dive in further here. This is essentially a bet on Eagles-Bengals turning into a shootout, with Hurts getting there with a decent amount of rushing production.
The obvious approach would be to pick one quarterback from this game and pair him with the top pass catchers, Chase and AJ Brown. However, that’s an expensive grouping, with both receivers checking in at over $8,000.
Hurts has a path to fantasy goodness without a big day from his receivers, though. If he gets a “tush push” touchdown or two, he gets all the points.
On the other side, Chase and Higgins account for roughly half of Burrow’s targets when healthy. Given Burrow’s limited rushing production, that locks in the bulk of the Bengals’ scoring. Traditional stacks are fine here too, but this method should cut down on combined ownership for GPPs.
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Cade Otton + Expensive Tight End
This is obviously a bit more general than our typical starting pieces but stick with me.
From a salary-considered standpoint, Otton is the best play on the slate. He leads all FLEX players in Pts/Sal by a massive margin and would likely be a solid play even if he was $1,500 more expensive.
Do you know what most Otton lineups won’t have? Exposure to another tight end. That could be a mistake this week.
At least three other players at the position are likely to be their team’s top pass catcher this week: Brock Bowers, David Njoku, and Travis Kelce. They all come with price tags between $4,400 and $6,100.
DraftKings has aggressively priced up wide receivers this year, with most team’s WR1s coming in well over $7,000. Would you rather have the Chiefs top pass catcher for $6,000 or the Eagles second option for $500 more? That’s what I thought.
By being comfortable playing a second tight end, you can get the value from Otton and the upside from the top performers at the position — all while saving a ton of effective ownership.
