Week 6 brings our first truly shortened NFL DFS week of the season, with a 10-game Sunday afternoon main slate on both DraftKings and FanDuel. With just three games totaled above 50 in Vegas and a wide array of injuries creating value across the league, GPP play could go in any number of directions. Utilizing Awesemo’s custom tools like NFL DFS rankings and content helps to cut through to the best available team stacks, which should be the focus in sorting through lineups created by utilizing these groups in a large-scale crunch. Typically this can be accomplished by monitoring the quarterback-based groups while looking at leverage against the other available stacks. Spreading out ownership of various skill players within the lineups constructed for each team will help with diversification, but it is important to avoid going overboard and rostering three unpopular unlikely players when one will do. Taking multiple angles into the slate across a full set of 150 or more lineups is a strong approach to getting into our NFL DFS optimizer lineup picks.
This article focuses on building lineups with a quality foundation by utilizing the powerful Groups and Rules/Limits tools within Fantasy Cruncher. All of the concepts and pairings included below can be applied to hand-building as well, the goal is to create lineups that have high scoring correlation and take advantage of combined outcomes within stacks while limiting the likelihood of building inefficient or negatively correlated entries for a full slate of NFL DFS lineups.
Fantasy Cruncher – New How-To Video
The uptick in questions related to the how-to aspects of Fantasy Cruncher along with several noteworthy new tools demanded a new how-to tutorial video. I put together the following review of all of Fantasy Cruncher’s advanced options with some basic how-to on the constructions, rules, limits, and groups that we use in this article. The tutorial also reviews all of Fantasy Cruncher’s new features and the important distinctions between the various sets of projections that are available.
Week 6 NFL DFS Optimizer Groups & Picks – Sunday Update
Overview
The Week 1 article featured a deep dive into the general settings menu and various utilities within Fantasy Cruncher, it is still available for anyone who would like to refer back. We will maintain the list of rules and limits below throughout the season, with occasional tweaks, if needed. The Week 5 slate sees yet another fresh crop of value plays as situations change and injuries create opportunities around the league. These changing roles and emergent value plays are accounted for in the process of creating these groups from week to week. After a large pool of lineups is created utilizing these groups, it is still of critical importance to filter them for factors including ceiling projections and leverage potential, as well as our optimal lineup rates and Boom/Bust potential. Getting to a strong mix of the most optimal positively leveraged plays will be a strong foundation for a large pool of tournament lineups.
DraftKings + FanDuel Stack Rules
This set of rules will force Fantasy Cruncher to build lineups with certain combinations. We are looking to always stack at least one skill player, ideally a pass-catcher, with his quarterback while also playing a skill player from the opposing team in the lineup. The theory behind this build is that a high-scoring stack will require some response from the opposing team to truly deliver a ceiling score in most situations, otherwise the team that is ahead will simply slow down and run out the clock. These rules are applied by completing the sentences with selections from the drop-down menu, they follow a very straightforward logic. Exceptions can be made for teams at the bottom of the rule creation window. After a rule is set, click the blue bar to add it, it will appear at the bottom of the screen as a completed rule.
QB with at least one WR/TE from Same Team (note: It is fine to make this two or to utilize two of these, one with WR/TE and one with RB/WR/TE, but we can refine that and get it exactly how we want it for each team via Groups)
QB with at least one RB/WR/TE from Opposing Team
QB with at most zero DST from Same Team (this is more of a personal preference; high-scoring teams and quarterbacks tend to leave their defenses on the field exposing them to simple point-scoring negatives)
Limit Rules
Limit rules can be applied to restrict certain combinations from coming together. This is powerful for limiting multiple running backs from the same team or getting overweight to a certain stack within a lineup.
Limit QB/RB/WR/TE from Same Team to three
Limit RB/WR/TE from Same Team to one unless paired with QB from Same Team OR Opposing Team
Limit RB from Same Team to one (one can also do this with WR in a separate rule that adds an “unless paired with QB or opposing QB,” but it is a personal preference for NFL DFS)
Construction
These groups are built by utilizing the quarterback as the KEY player (by clicking the key icon next to his name), with the thinking that the quarterback play is the driving factor in which stack is utilized in that lineup. Built to specification, each team will have two groups, a team group, and an opponent group, both of which utilize the same quarterback, so four groups per game. This is the best approach to truly capture the requirement of playing individual “run-back” plays from the opposing team. A more basic approach would be to include all of the skill players from a game in each quarterback’s group and rely on rules and limits to restrict any potential overflow. It is highly recommended to save the Week 1 groups as a foundation that will be updated for the rest of the season. The recommended groups will include skill players who have an active role in their offense and provide significant correlation with their quarterback’s scoring, quite often bell-cow running backs who do not specialize in the passing game will not be included in groups as they are projected highly and appear on their own in basically correct distributions, while also not always providing the strongest positive correlation plays. Stacking quarterbacks with pass-catchers and allowing running backs to fall into the lanes then crated by settings, available salary and randomness should create a well-distributed set of quality lineups. These groups are updated weekly to account for changes in utilization, schemes, injuries, target shares, and more.
Sunday Updates
Today’s update includes all of the currently available active/inactive information as of about 6 am ET. The boost recommendations provided are intended to create a broad distribution of combinations within team stacks, rather than having stacks simply result in the top overall projected players in a full crunch. As usual, this is meant for the creation of a very large pool of lineups, which will then be whittled down to the set that will be entered for 150 lineups in a GPP. Al of the groups and settings can be applied on a smaller scale as well, one simply needs to keep an eye on individual player exposures when selecting lineups.
NFL DFS Optimizer Picks: Week 6 Team Groups
The goal here is to create a large pool of well-built lineups that can be utilized in any large-field GPP contest. Crunch far more lineups than needed and utilize a sorting table in Excel to filter to the best set of lineups for entries. The lineups created in these crunches should provide a broad distribution that includes some of the lower-owned skill players from each stack. Applying boosts is critical in pushing and pulling ownership on individual players within their team’s stacked lineups.
The groups below are designed so that each quarterback will have two groups to create, one with his skill players and another with the opposing team. A more basic approach would be to add them all to one large group with an “at least three” and let rules and limits set things, but there is a more granular level of control in creating them separately.
Utilizing two groups also allows us to place running backs into the “run-back” position in certain teams while not including them in the primary stack for their team. This is useful when there is a situation with an extremely highly projected running back who does not necessarily fit into his team’s passing game. These players are threaded throughout the following construction recommendations.
Arizona Cardinals
Key Player: Kyler Murray
Setting: Between one and two
Group: DeAndre Hopkins, Chase Edmonds, A.J. Green, Rondale Moore, Christian Kirk (Tight end Maxx Williams is on season-ending IR. James Connor has been relevant in the ground game and is a candidate to poach a touchdown, but he lacks volume in the passing game)
Opposing Setting: At least one
Group: Odell Beckham Jr., Kareem Hunt (-35%), David Njoku, Rashard Higgins (+15%), Austin Hooper, Donovan Peoples-Jones (+15%) (Jarvis Landry will not be active for this game after all)
Baltimore Ravens
Key Player: Lamar Jackson
Setting: At least one
Group: Mark Andrews, Marquise Brown, Devin Duvernay, James Proche (Sammy Watkins will miss Week 6)
Opposing Setting: At least one
Group: Austin Ekeler, Mike Williams, Keenan Allen, Jared Cook, Jalen Guyton (+50%)
Carolina Panthers
Key Player: Sam Darnold
Setting: At least one
Group: D.J. Moore, Robby Anderson (+25%), Terrace Marshall Jr. (+25%), Chuba Hubbard, Ian Thomas (+50%) (Christian McCaffrey is out for the third straight week)
Opposing Setting: At least one
Group: Dalvin Cook, Justin Jefferson, Adam Theilen (+15%), K.J. Osborn (+25%), Alexander Mattison, Tyler Conklin (+15%)
Chicago Bears
Key Player: Justin Fields
Setting: At least one
Group: Allen Robinson, Darnell Mooney, Cole Kmet, Marquise Goodwin, Damiere Byrd
Opposing Setting: At least one
Group: Davante Adams, Aaron Jones, A.J. Dillon, Randall Cobb, Robert Tonyan, Allen Lazard
Cincinnati Bengals
Key Player: Joe Burrow
Setting: At least one
Group: Ja’Marr Chase, Tyler Boyd, Tee Higgins, C.J. Uzomah (Joe Mixon is likely to play but does not need to be in the group to appear enough for his volume in the passing game)
Opposing Setting: At least one
Group: D’Andre Swift (-15%), T.J. Hockenson, Kalif Raymond (+15%), Amon-Ra St. Brown (+15%), KhDarel Hodge (+15%), Trinity Benson
Cleveland Browns
Key Player: Baker Mayfield
Setting: Between one and two
Group: Odell Beckham Jr., Kareem Hunt, Rashard Higgins, David Njoku, Austin Hooper, Donovan Peoples-Jones (+15%) (Nick Chubb is out for Week 6, Jarvis Landry is not returning this week)
Opposing Setting: At least one
Group: DeAndre Hopkins (+10%), Chase Edmonds, A.J. Green (+10%), Rondale Moore (+10%), Christian Kirk (+15%)
Dallas Cowboys
Key Player: Dak Prescott
Setting: Between one and two
Group: CeeDee Lamb, Ezekiel Elliott (Q), Amari Cooper, Tony Pollard, Dalton Schultz (Cedrick Wilson and Noah Brown are in play for depth in large-field tournaments)
Opposing Setting: At least one
Group: Jakobi Meyers, Nelson Agholor, Hunter Henry, Kendrick Bourne
Denver Broncos
Key Player: Teddy Bridgewater
Setting: At least one
Group: Courtland Sutton, Tim Patrick, Noah Fant, John Brown (+50%)
Opposing Setting: At least one
Group: Josh Jacobs (Q), Darren Waller, Hunter Renfrow, Henry Ruggs III (+15%), Bryan Edwards (+15%)
Detroit Lions
Key Player: Jared Goff
Setting: At least one
Group: D’Andre Swift (+10%), T.J. Hockenson, Kalif Raymond, Amon-Ra St. Brown, KhDarel Hodge, Trinity Benson (+25%)
Opposing Setting: At least one
Group: Ja’Marr Chase, Tyler Boyd, Tee Higgins, C.J. Uzomah
Green Bay Packers
Key Player: Aaron Rodgers
Setting: At least one
Group: Davante Adams, Aaron Jones, Allen Lazard, Randall Cobb, Robert Tonyan, A.J. Dillon
Opposing Setting: At least one
Group: Darnell Mooney, Cole Kmet, Marquise Goodwin, Allen Robinson
Houston Texans
Key Player: Davis Mills
Setting: At least one
Group: Brandin Cooks, Chris Conley (+15%), Chris Moore, Danny Amendola (+15%), David Johnson (+15%), Jordan Akins
Opposing Setting: At least one
Group: Jonathan Taylor, Michael Pittman Jr., (+15%) T.Y. Hilton (+25%), Zach Pascal (+25%), Nyheim Hines, Parris Campbell (+25%), Mo Alie-Cox
Indianapolis Colts
Key Player: Carson Wentz
Setting: At least one
Group: Jonathan Taylor, Michael Pittman Jr., T.Y. Hilton, Zach Pascal (+15%), Nyheim Hines, Parris Campbell (+15%), Mo Alie-Cox (Hilton will return for Week 6)
Opposing Setting: At least one
Group: Brandin Cooks, Chris Conley, Chris Moore, Danny Amendola (+15%), David Johnson, Jordan Akins
Kansas City Chiefs
Key Player: Patrick Mahomes
Setting: Between one and two
Group: Tyreek Hill, Travis Kelce, Mecole Hardman (+35), Demarcus Robinson (+35), Byron Pringle (+65), Josh Gordon (+65)
Opposing Setting: At least one
Group: Terry McLaurin (Q), Antonio Gibson, Ricky Seals-Jones, DeAndre Carter (+15), Adam Humphries
Las Vegas Raiders
Key Player: Derek Carr
Setting: At least one
Group: Josh Jacobs (Q), Darren Waller, Hunter Renfrow, Henry Ruggs III, Bryan Edwards
Opposing Setting: At least one
Group: Courtland Sutton, Tim Patrick, Noah Fant, John Brown
Los Angeles Chargers
Key Player: Justin Herbert
Setting: At least one
Group: Mike Williams, Keenan Allen, Austin Ekeler, Jared Cook, Jalen Guyton (+10%)
Opposing Setting: At least one
Group: Mark Andrews, Marquise Brown, Devin Duvernay, James Proche
Los Angeles Rams
Key Player: Matthew Stafford
Setting: At least one
Group: Cooper Kupp, Darrell Henderson Jr., Robert Woods, Tyler Higbee, Van Jefferson Jr. (+10%), DeSean Jackson (+15%)
Opposing Setting: At least one
Group: Kadarius Toney, Sterling Shepard, Evan Engram, Darius Slayton
Minnesota Vikings
Key Player: Kirk Cousins
Setting: Between one and two
Group: Dalvin Cook, Justin Jefferson, Adam Thielen, K.J. Osborn, Tyler Conklin
Opposing Setting: At least one
Group: D.J. Moore, Robby Anderson (+25%), Terrace Marshall Jr.(+25%), Chuba Hubbard (-25%), Ian Thomas (+25%)
New England Patriots
Key Player: Mac Jones
Setting: At least one
Group: Jakobi Meyers, Nelson Agholor, Hunter Henry, Kendrick Bourne (+10%)
Opposing Setting: At least one
Group: CeeDee Lamb, Ezekiel Elliott (Q), Amari Cooper (+10%), Tony Pollard, Dalton Schultz, Cedrick Wilson (+15%)
New York Giants
Key Player: Daniel Jones (Jones was off the Friday injury report and seems likely to play)
Setting: At least one
Group: Kadarius Toney, Sterling Shepard, Evan Engram, Darius Slayton (Kenny Golladay and Saquon Barkley are out for Week 6)
Opposing Setting: At least one
Group: Cooper Kupp, Darrell Henderson Jr., Robert Woods, Tyler Higbee, Van Jefferson Jr. (+15%), DeSean Jackson (+15%)
Washington Football Team
Key Player: Taylor Heinicke
Setting: At least one
Group: Terry McLaurin (Q), Antonio Gibson, Ricky Seals-Jones, DeAndre Carter, Adam Humphries
Opposing Setting: At least one
Group: Tyreek Hill, Travis Kelce, Mecole Hardman, Demarcus Robinson (+15%), Byron Pringle (+15%), Josh Gordon (+25%)
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