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.
Patrick Mahomes + Travis Kelce
I recommended Jared Goff last week, with the Lions coming off a rough performance from their starting quarterback. Goff helped somebody win a million dollars last week with his best game of the season. It’s a similar situation this week for the Chiefs, who suffered their first loss in Week 11 in a game where Mahomes threw for less than 200 yards.
If there’s ever a spot to get Mahomes going, it’s this week against the Panthers. They’ve allowed an average of 31 points per game this season, the second-highest in the league.
If Mahomes gets there, it’s probably through Kelce. Kelce has a top-15 target share in the NFL and would be a top-five wide receiver in median projection this week. The four wide receivers ahead of him all cost at least $1,400 more. Kelce is a fantastic play at a thin position.
By building Chiefs stacks through SimLabs, we’re leaving the option for bring-backs from the Panthers without forcing it. I’m not sure they’re necessary this week, but I’ll trust the sims on that part of the equation.
Check out how our SimLabs Lineup Generator works:
Jared Goff
What if this week’s version of Jared Goff is Jared Goff? Detroit has a fun matchup with the Colts on deck this week and the highest team total on the board. With the Lions favored by more than a touchdown, the prevailing wisdom is they’ll score on the ground — but that’s no guarantee.
The Colts could do enough offensively to keep pace here, which would change the plans for Detroit. Or, they could choose to attack primarily through the air for a second straight week, even if they get off to a big lead.
I prefer building around the former scenario, especially since the Colts have some solid options as well. Either way, stacking Goff is difficult with Sam LaPorta back, as the Lions have (at least) three reasonable stacking partners.
Allowing the sims to mix and match around those ideas seems much better than attempting to hand-build, given all the possible variants.
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Marvin Harrison + Jaxon Smith-Njigba
The game with the most obvious shootout potential on the slate is Cardinals-Seahawks. It has the second-best game total on the slate, but the Cardinals are narrow one-point favorites.
Both quarterbacks have their pros and cons this week, as do both starting running backs. My favorite pieces from the game are the wide receivers, though. It’s a tough week at the position, and the top options from this game are both reasonably priced for their ceiling, with fairly low ownership on Harrison.
JSN has arguably taken over the top wide receiver spot for Seattle from DK Metcalf, while Harrison is a boom-or-bust deep threat. Their production should correlate fairly well, with big plays from Harrison pushing Seattle to throw more.
Starting with the receivers allows SimLabs some freedom to build stacks around either quarterback, with or without other pieces from the game. That’s my preferred way to attack this one, as both are among the top Optimal-Projected Ownership plays at the position.
