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.
Josh Allen + Amari Cooper + Keon Coleman
The Bills-Lions game is by far the best DFS game of the week, if not the season. It has a 54.5 total, the highest on the slate by eight points.
Allen is coming off an all-time great fantasy performance in which he produced six total touchdowns. Three of those were through the air, with one each to Khalil Shakir, Mack Hollins, and running back Ty Johnson.
So why Cooper and Coleman? Cooper led the team with 14 targets last week but is flying under the radar since he had “just” 95 scoreless yards. More importantly, Cooper and Coleman see big increases in their target share against man coverage — which Detroit plays at the highest rate in the league.
I’m not exclusively pairing Allen with these two — and single stacks are solid options as well. However, this will be my starting point for a good chunk of Allen lineups.
Check out how our SimLabs Lineup Generator works:
Jared Goff + Amon-Ra St. Brown + Sam LaPorta
On the other side of the game, Goff should exclusively be paired with two of his pass catchers. Goff provides next to nothing with his legs, so for him to get there from a GPP standpoint, he’ll almost always bring at least two receivers with him.
I prefer St. Brown and LaPorta this week. Buffalo, unlike Detroit, plays zone coverage at a top-ten rate in the league. St. Brown and LaPorta are the Lions’ zone beaters, with their target shares going up considerably against zone coverage.
I’m also interested in LaPorta, specifically as a leverage play. With two viable punt tight ends, most of the field will be ignoring midrange options like LaPorta at $4,400. SimLabs might give you some lineups that pair LaPorta with one of the cheaper options as well, which will provide further leverage and get access to the value provided by the cheap players.
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Joe Burrow + Ja’Marr Chase + Tee Higgins
With his limited rushing production, Burrow profiles as another quarterback we typically want to double-stack.
His two top options are expensive, combining for over $15,000 in salary on top of Burrow’s $7,300 price tag. To stay on a 200-point pace, you’d need 90 points from the trio.
Higgins has two games of around 30 points this season. In those games, Chase had scores of 26.5 and 44.3, with Burrow scoring at least 32 on both occasions.
This week, they draw a pass-funnel Titans defense as moderate favorites, so it sets up well for them to continue their pass-first approach. Burrow’s low ownership has him projecting as the top option in Optimal vs. Projected Ownership, so it’s setting up nicely for this combination.
