This season marks the third year of our SimLabs tool being available to the public. It’s a powerful feature that allows casual players to build competitive lineups effortlessly — or serious players to leverage their convictions more effectively. 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 last season. 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.
Jared Goff + Puka Nacua + Davante Adams
With Rams-Lions as the clear top game on the slate, I want to have heavy exposure to it — while also trying to avoid being too chalky.
My favorite way to accomplish that is by stacking the Rams’ top pass catchers with Jared Goff. Rams QB Matthew Stafford provides almost nothing with his legs and throws more than 50% of his passes to his top two wide receivers. It’s entirely possible that Nacua and Adams could each top 100 yards and combine for three touchdowns, all while Stafford misses out on the optimal lineup with his $7,000 price tag.
On the other hand, Goff is nearly $1,000 cheaper, so the bar he needs to clear to make it into a winning lineup is somewhat lower. Plus, even with Sam LaPorta out, it’s harder to predict where the Lions’ production will come from. He could throw touchdown passes to three or four different players without any of them individually having a massive day.
Of course, the sims will still have the option to include Amon-Ra St. Brown, Jahmyr Gibbs, Jameson Williams, or any other Lions skill position players. I’d even consider boosting Gibbs in this build to ensure you get plenty of exposure to him, as he’s my favorite of the Lions’ non-QBs.
Lamar Jackson + Ja’Marr Chase + Mitchell Tinsley
Tee Higgins won’t play for the Bengals this week, so the expectation is an extremely concentrated target share for Cincinnati. The last time Higgins was out with Joe Burrow active, Chase and Tinsely combined for 23 targets on 46 Burrow pass attempts, or a 50% share.
That’s pretty good for a block of players that costs just $11,200 combined. Similarly to the Stafford logic above, with Burrow providing little with his legs, Tinsely and Chase could combine for 45+ points (a 200+ point pace at their combined salary) without Burrow necessarily posting a “have to have it” score.
On the flip side, the Ravens don’t have a single player with a target share over 25%, so it’s entirely possible for Jackson to throw for 300+ yards and three touchdowns — especially against the Bengals — and no Ravens pass catcher to truly stand out. Or, alternatively, Jackson could run in a score or two and post a week-winning score without gaudy passing numbers.
For smaller-field contests I’ll also be boosting Derrick Henry, effectively locking in almost all of the Ravens’ scoring potential against the league’s worst defense. Since Henry is unlikely to catch a receiving touchdown, that block is probably sub-optimal in MME-style contests, but it could easily have enough upside for smaller single-entry and 3-max tournaments.
Jaxson Smith-Njigba + Jonathan Taylor
The likeliest outcome for the Colts this week is very little production from the offense. That’s because they’re rolling with 44-year-old grandfather Phillip Rivers at QB, who last played in the NFL in 2020.
However, if they’re going to do anything, it’s likely via the legs of Taylor. He’s their best hope to move the ball and has already turned in six games of at least 32 DraftKings points this season. He’s also projecting for just 2% ownership and leads our models in Leverage Score among running backs thanks to his low ownership.
Smith-Njigba has some of the strongest projections among wideouts, but given the Seahawks’ extremely low pass rate over expectation, he’ll need a push from the Colts to have a shot at breaking the slate. I struggle to see that coming from anywhere other than Taylor, so it follows that JSN lineups almost need to have Taylor — and lineups combining them will be few and far between in tournaments.
Pictured: Puka Nacua
Photo Credit: Imagn
