This season marks year four 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.
Caleb Williams + Luther Burden + Boost Colston Loveland
In a possible overreaction to Week 1, I’m all in on the Bears’ offense this season. Ben Johnson is an elite offensive coach, and the Bears have a top-tier offensive line, an ascending QB in Caleb Williams, and multiple first-round picks to throw the ball to. This is basically the 2024 Lions team for which Johnson was the OC and that averaged over 33 points per game – except with a QB who can also run.
Their game with the Vikings this week has the second-highest total on the slate, but Williams is projecting as the fifth-most-popular QB. That works out to him being No. 3 in the “Optimal – Projected Ownership” metric at the position:
With Luther Burden leading all wideouts in that category, he’s an obvious stacking choice. I went back and forth on also including Colston Loveland after a quiet Week 1. There are enough weapons in Chicago that he won’t get fed on a weekly basis, but he will certainly have his spots. I’ve settled on “boosting” Loveland, which will push the Sims to include him at a slightly higher rate but not force him into every lineup.
I’m also letting SimLabs figure out the bring-back situation on the Vikings. The obvious answer is Justin Jefferson, but running back Aaron Jones is underpriced due to Jordan Mason being out, and tight end T.J. Hockenson is also a potential option. Plus, the Bears seem willing to run up the score even in games that aren’t particularly close, so we don’t have to include a Vikings player for this stack to work.
That’s the beauty of the sims, though, as they will make these decisions for you and build solid rosters around a particular angle without forcing you to stress over the minutiae of every individual player.
Bryce Young + Bijan Robinson
I mentioned in my full preview of the Week 2 slate that Panthers-Falcons is my favorite under-the-radar game to build around. The game features two bottom-five defenses in the league, as well as some talented skill-position players. Of course, that was an easy statement to make without really diving into the details.
I let SimLabs guide me on what those details look like, with Bryce Young ranking second among QBs in “Optimal – Projected Ownership” and Robinson posting a positive score despite being the most popular player on the slate. That makes sense, considering the Panthers had a historically bad run defense last season and allowed five rushing touchdowns in Week 1.
Obviously, most of these rosters would be best served by having other pieces from this game, including Panthers wide receivers Jalen Coker and Tetairoa McMillan, as well as potentially Drake London or Kyle Pitts from the Falcons. I’ll be boosting Pitts in these builds due to my foolish optimism around the tight end, but the sharper play is probably to let the Sims decide if he deserves a spot on your rosters.
Pictured: Bryce Young
Photo Credit: Imagn
