This 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 15.
Brock Purdy + No Christian McCaffrey
What I’m trying to do with this starting point is force SimLabs to build around the 49ers — without paying up for McCaffrey. CMC is a tremendous cash game play this week, with his worst games roughly equivalent to the median projection on the next best running backs.
However, I don’t see him as a solid GPP play. He’s only had one game all season where he scored 4x his Week 15 salary. This means he’s put you below a 200-point pace in 12 out of 13 games this season. That’s not enough to take down any tournaments.
On the other hand, Purdy has gone over 4x his Week 15 salary twice in the last five games. He’s been in the Milly Maker winning lineup paired with some of his pass catchers, and all by himself. This is why I’m happy to let SimLabs figure out the best way to build around Purdy.
Well, the best ways that don’t include his running back.
Don’t forget to check out our SimLabs Lineup Generator to create advanced DFS lineup using the power of simulation:
Josh Allen + CeeDee Lamb
The Cowboys-Bills game stands out as a DFS goldmine this week. It has a total of over 50, a rare feat as of late, with two explosive passing offenses.
Allen leads all quarterbacks in median projection this week, but that’s largely due to his rushing ability. His 10 rushing touchdowns are tied for fourth in the NFL, regardless of position. We’ve seen Allen in some tournament-winning lineups this year without any of his teammates due to his rushing ability.
On the other side of the game, Lamb has a 40% target share over the past four weeks. That means we can capture the bulk of the passing production from Dallas without burning a roster spot on Prescott simply by rostering Lamb.
This is another case where SimLabs can figure out if optimal builds still include any Bills pass-catchers or whether this pairing works out better with Allen “naked.” I suspect you’ll get a decent chunk of both types of lineup, depending on your settings.
My intuition is that full stacks are better for smaller field contests, while unstacked lineups make more sense in massive GPPs.
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Matthew Stafford + Antonio Gibson
News broke on Friday that Brian Robinson of the Commanders is inactive, leaving Antonio Gibson as the starting running back. Gibson was already a major player in the Commanders’ passing attack, averaging five targets per game over his last five.
This is another game with a 50-point total, so we want to get some exposure to it where we can. That’s tricky with both teams, though, as they both spread the ball around to plenty of skill position players. The safest bets on both teams for a solid price-considered score are the running backs and quarterbacks.
I’m also interested in the inverse build of Sam Howell and Kyren Williams. However, that combination will be much more heavily owned, which lowers my interest in massive tournaments.
By building multiple lineups around these combinations, we should end up with a decent amount of exposure to all of the relevant pass catchers. As we know, wideouts correlate well with opposing running backs, which is another solid point towards building this way.
