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 2.
What Can Brown Do For You: Hollywood and A.J.
The top two wide receivers in our “Optimal vs. Projected Ownership” metric are the top wide receivers in the rematch of last year’s Super Bowl between the Chiefs and Eagles.
For A.J. Brown, Week 1 was a massive disappointment. He saw just one target in the Eagles’ win over the Cowboys, despite coming into the season with WR1 expectations. On the other hand, Hollywood Brown saw 16 Week 1 targets, catching 10 of them for 99 yards. With the Chiefs missing both Xavier Worthy and Rashee Rice for a few weeks, Brown is now their leading wide receiver.
Which means if the game flow forces either team to attack aggressively, these two (along with Travis Kelce and Devonta Smith) are the likeliest beneficiaries. We often saw the “squeaky wheel” narrative with AJ last season, with the Eagles going out of their way to keep him happy at times.
The way to be unique here is to force these two in your lineups but exclude their QBs. While Patrick Mahomes and Jalen Hurts are solid plays, I wouldn’t be shocked if they failed to pay off their price tags despite big games from their top options, especially since the slate has a min-priced starting QB in Mac Jones.
Dak Prescott + CeeDee Lamb + Malik Nabers
After an extremely disappointing Week 1 in which Lamb dropped three passes, the Cowboys passing attack has a perfect bounce-back spot in Week 2 against the Giants.
Prescott targeted Lamb 13 times last week despite pivoting to a more run-heavy overall gameplan when Jalen Carter was ejected. This week they’re taking on a Giants team with an elite defensive line but a bad secondary, which should encourage them to pass more — especially if the game stays close.
Which it very well could, considering how much worse the Cowboys defense looked after trading away Micah Parsons before the season. If the Giants keep pace, it’s almost certainly because of Nabers, as he’s by far their most talented offensive weapon.
You could get more contrarian and switch the QB in this stack to Russell Wilson, but Prescott’s $5,900 price tag and moderate ownership projection mean you don’t have to. Prescott is the much better player at this point in their careers, so I’d rather have him unless I really need the extra $800.
Saints Defense
Two of the chalkiest pieces this week are going to be Mac Jones and Christian McCaffrey of the 49ers. They’re both somewhat underpriced for their role (or very underpriced in Jones’ case), with the 49ers offense concentrated enough that it’s hard for either to fail unless the 49ers offense falls well short of their 22-point implied total.
The likeliest outcome is that San Francisco scores somewhere in the low 20s, with CMC and Jones collectively having a hand in every touchdown and paying off their price tags. But what if it doesn’t go that way?
Is it really far-fetched to think an offense using a backup QB, missing their two best pass catchers in George Kittle and Brandon Aiyuk after trading away their prior top receiver in the offseason, and potentially missing their stud left tackle could fail? I don’t think so, even against a theoretically bad Saints defense.
That Saints defense picked up five sacks in Week 1 against a mobile Kyler Murray and now has a much easier target in Jones. Rostering them gives you immediate leverage over Jones/McCaffrey lineups, of which there should be many.
Plus, they can be paired with any offensive groupings you’re interested in, including either of those above. With how cheap the Saints defense is, they’re easy to fit around any other players.
Pictured: A.J. Brown
Photo Credit: Imagn
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