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 4.
Puka Nacua + Davante Adams + Daniel Jones
I referenced this build in my main slate breakdown for Week 4, and it’s one of my favorite ways to approach the best on-paper game of the week.
Adams and Nacua have combined for 64% of Matthew Stafford‘s passing targets this season and just under 74% of his passing yardage. With Stafford not offering much with his legs, it’s therefore possible to capture most of his production without using your quarterback spot, and he could easily produce GPP-winning scores from his wideouts without getting there himself.
As an example, if Stafford throws for 275 yards and three touchdowns, that would be a solid 23-point day, but probably not a GPP winner. In that scenario, Adamas and Nacua could combine for well over 50 points, though, assuming all 3 touchdowns and 200+ yards go their way.
On the Colts side, Jones has targeted four different receivers between 14.4% and 23.3% of the time, so it’s possible for him to score well without any individual wideout. Especially since he’s run for as many scores (3) as he’s thrown for. Of course, you could also leave him off this build, choose to exclude or dock Stafford, and let SimLabs give you stacks around other games as well.
Jared Goff + Jameson Williams + Isaac Teslaa Boost?
My favorite new feature in SimLabs is the ability to “boost” or “dock” individual players. That doesn’t force them into the chunk of lineups you’re generating, but it does raise or lower the odds of them appearing.
I’m taking advantage of that with my Lions build this weekend. The Lions take on the Browns, an extremely tough defense, but one that is much better against the run. While Detroit typically likes to win on the ground, it wouldn’t shock me if they took the easy road and aired it out, especially from the friendly confines of Ford Field.
The reason I’m interested in Williams and Teslaa over Amon-Ra St. Brown is Brown’s heavy usage of man coverage. St. Brown (and Sam LaPorta) do their best work against zone defense, while the speedsters Williams and Teslaa fit the archetype of man beaters.
Plus, boosting TeSlaa rather than locking him leaves SimLabs the freedom to add in St. Brown or LaPorta without triple-stacking Goff, so you’ll get some exposure to a variety of builds all in one shot.
Caleb Williams + Jakobi Meyers
It’s hard to tell if Caleb Williams’ 298-yard, four-touchdown breakout in Week 3 was a sign of his improvement or a function of a bad Cowboys defense. Fortunately we don’t need to decide that, since the Week 4 matchup with the Raiders is nearly as soft.
Las Vegas just allowed 41 points to a Commanders team missing their starting QB and now faces a rapidly improving Bears offense. Chicago spreads the ball around enough — especially if rookie Luther Burden continues to carve out a role — that I don’t want to force any specific stacking partner for Williams.
On the other hand, Raiders wideout Jakobi Meyers leads all players regardless of position in SimLabs’ “optimal – projected ownership” score. That makes him the perfect bring-back for Williams while SimLabs figures out the rest of the stack/lineup on its own.
Pictured: Davante Adams
Photo Credit: Imagn
