Daily Fantasy Contests require a different strategy than what you use to set your weekly lineups, and that’s even more true for these “island” or “standalone” games (Thursday Night Football, Sunday Night Football, Monday Night Football, etc.). In these contests, you typically have only a handful of lineup spots and players from just two teams to choose from. Just as importantly, everyone else playing in those contests is also choosing from those limited options. If you want to win money (or at least win “big” money in GPP contests), you have to be savvy and take some risks.
I’ll walk you through the current optimal lineups for FanDuel, DraftKings, Yahoo and OwnersBox via our DFS Lineup Optimizer and share some of my notes and strategies for this particular matchup. Note: these are the current optimal lineups, and I sometimes take some liberties based on recent news and my personal preferences and projections. For updated lineups based on adjusted projections throughout the day, be sure to access the DFS Lineup Optimizer tool and create your own lineups.
If you want to dive deeper into fantasy football, be sure to check out our award-winning slate of Fantasy Football Tools as you navigate your season. From our Start/Sit Assistant – which provides your optimal lineup, based on accurate consensus projections – to our Waiver Wire Assistant – that allows you to quickly see which available players will improve your team and by how much – we’ve got you covered this fantasy football season.
Feel free to reach out on Twitter @mikeMaher with questions or feedback anytime.
Optimal Lineups for Broncos vs. Jaguars in London
FanDuel Optimal Lineup (GPP)
| POS | PLAYER | PROJ. PTS | SALARY |
| 1.5x | T. Lawrence DEN @ JAC |
27.7 | $15,500 |
| FLEX | R. Wilson DEN @ JAC |
19.7 | $15,000 |
| FLEX | T. Etienne Jr. DEN @ JAC |
16.9 | $12,500 |
| FLEX | Denver (DEN) DEN @ JAC |
12.3 | $9,000 |
| FLEX | G. Dulcich DEN @ JAC |
9.7 | $8,000 |
| Totals | 86.3 | $60,000 |
Notes
We’re stacking both quarterbacks in this lineup but have Trevor Lawrence in the 1.5X spot because of his upside, not to mention the injury concerns for Russell Wilson. I’ll be utilizing Wilson in this matchup but will also have a bunch of lineups without him just because I’m nervous he comes out in the first quarter and leave the game quickly due to that hamstring injury. Travis Etienne Jr. is an obvious target here, and I’ll have him in the 1.5X/MVP slot in a few lineups. Denver is a high-floor play given what the salaries look like, while Greg Dulcich is a lineup builder/dart throw tweener, given his increasing role now that he’s healthy.
DraftKings Optimal Lineup (GPP)
| POS | PLAYER | PROJ. PTS | SALARY |
| CPT | T. Lawrence DEN @ JAC |
27.7 | $15,000 |
| FLEX | M. Gordon III DEN @ JAC |
12.6 | $6,600 |
| FLEX | Denver (DEN) DEN @ JAC |
12.3 | $4,200 |
| FLEX | R. Wilson DEN @ JAC |
19.7 | $10,200 |
| FLEX | E. Engram DEN @ JAC |
10.6 | $5,000 |
| FLEX | C. Kirk DEN @ JAC |
17.6 | $9,000 |
| Totals | 100.5 | $50,000 |
Notes
DraftKings makes you declare two players before it lets our lineup optimizer provide your best lineup. So, unlike FanDuel, this lineup won’t be universal because it depends on your initial choices.
We have Lawrence in the captain slot again, and we’re once again utilizing a defense. We have Melvin Gordon III here over Etienne for salary reasons, just so we didn’t have to dig too deep for a dart throw while still being able to afford Russell Wilson. And we close it out with Evan Engram and Christian Kirk. Engram should have plenty of targets on Sunday, with Patrick Surtain taking a WR out of the equation on most dropbacks, while Kirk should move around enough to avoid Surtain and still have some success.
Yahoo Optimal Lineup (GPP)
| POS | PLAYER | PROJ. PTS | SALARY |
| 1.5x | R. Wilson DEN @ JAC |
29.5 | $22 |
| FLEX | T. Lawrence DEN @ JAC |
18.5 | $23 |
| FLEX | T. Etienne Jr. DEN @ JAC |
16.9 | $21 |
| FLEX | C. Kirk DEN @ JAC |
15.0 | $14 |
| FLEX | M. Jones Jr. DEN @ JAC |
11.3 | $10 |
| Totals | 91.3 | $90 |
Notes
The optimizer is mixing things up for us here and utilizing Wilson in the 1.5X slot. We’re still using Lawrence, Kirk, and Etienne, and our last flex is Marvin Jones Jr. The hope here is that Jones avoids Surtain enough to garner some targets and potentially sneak into the end zone. Jones has 11 receptions on 19 targets for his last two games, so the 32-year-old still has some gas left in the tank as long as the game script calls for him to see enough work.
OwnersBox Optimal Lineup (GPP)
| POS | PLAYER | PROJ. PTS | SALARY |
| QB | R. Wilson DEN @ JAC |
19.2 | $6,600 |
| RB | L. Murray DEN @ JAC |
12.2 | $5,000 |
| RB | T. Etienne Jr. DEN @ JAC |
18.1 | $6,200 |
| WR | Z. Jones DEN @ JAC |
13.2 | $4,600 |
| WR | C. Sutton DEN @ JAC |
13.9 | $6,000 |
| TE | E. Engram DEN @ JAC |
10.6 | $4,800 |
| FLEX | C. Kirk DEN @ JAC |
17.5 | $5,800 |
| FLEX | G. Dulcich DEN @ JAC |
11.9 | $4,600 |
| SF | T. Lawrence DEN @ JAC |
17.4 | $6,300 |
| Totals | 134.1 | $49,900 |
Notes
Unlike the other platforms, OwnersBox still uses full lineups for island games. So, this lineup will be different from the others, and you are almost forced to use a couple of dart throws in order to affordably build your lineup. OwnersBox also defines the positions and includes a superflex slot, as opposed to the MVP/Flex setup.
Large lineup time. Latavius Murray makes his first appearance. Most of the other names are repeat offenders here, but we’re also utilizing Courtland Sutton for the first time. And we’re going with Engram at TE but also utilizing Dulcich in one of our flex spots. We can also afford Marvin Jones Jr., but rostering three separate Jaguars WRs felt like it was pushing it even with the large lineup
Lineup Builders
Both quarterbacks (though Russell Wilson has an injury concern, so limit exposure to him when submitting several lineups)
Travis Etienne Jr. (RB – JAC)
Christian Kirk (WR – JAC)
Dart Throws
Greg Dulcich (TE – DEN)
Marvin Jones Jr. (WR – JAC)
Evan Engram (TE – JAC)
Feel free to reach out on Twitter @mikeMaher with questions or feedback anytime.
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If you want to dive deeper into fantasy football, check out our award-winning slate of Fantasy Football Tools as you navigate your season. From our Start/Sit Assistant – which provides your optimal lineup based on accurate consensus projections – to our Waiver Wire Assistant, which allows you to quickly see which available players will improve your team and how much – we’ve got you covered this fantasy football season.