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 Thursday Night Football: Commanders vs. Bears
FanDuel Optimal Lineup (GPP)
| POS | PLAYER | PROJ. PTS | SALARY |
| 1.5x | C. Wentz WAS @ CHI |
24.5 | $17,000 |
| FLEX | J. Fields WAS @ CHI |
16.0 | $16,000 |
| FLEX | C. Samuel WAS @ CHI |
11.0 | $12,000 |
| FLEX | D. Mooney WAS @ CHI |
9.0 | $9,500 |
| FLEX | J. Bates WAS @ CHI |
3.6 | $5,500 |
| Totals | 64.1 | $60,000 |
Notes
I don’t know that I have ever seen an optimal lineup projected to score this few points, but everyone is predicting this to be a pretty gross game. The winning lineup (perhaps even this one) will likely score significantly more than 64.1 points, but the projections for this game are all very mediocre. Wentz is projected to lead the scoring at just 16.4 points (multiplied by 1.5 above), while Fields is right behind him at 16. This lineup is a classic double stack with a backup TE (John Bates is replacing the injured Logan Thomas). It’s playable in CASH as well as GPP. Another option at his price in GPP is Cam Sims.
DraftKings Optimal Lineup (GPP)
| POS | PLAYER | PROJ. PTS | SALARY |
| CPT | C. Wentz WAS @ CHI |
29.9 | $10,600 |
| FLEX | T. McLaurin WAS @ CHI |
16.8 | $9,000 |
| FLEX | Chicago (CHI) WAS @ CHI |
11.7 | $4,000 |
| FLEX | C. Samuel WAS @ CHI |
17.3 | $8,200 |
| FLEX | C. Sims WAS @ CHI |
6.7 | $1,400 |
| FLEX | J. Fields WAS @ CHI |
18.4 | $10,000 |
| Totals | 100.9 | $48,500 |
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.
I opted to stack Wentz and Terry McLaurin and avoid paying up for Justin Fields to see what the optimizer would give me. Well, it gave me Justin Fields anyway because he’s cheaper on DK relative to his price on FanDuel. So here we have Wentz stacked with McLaurin AND Curtis Samuel, plus Cam Sims as a cheap dart throw (he’s also significantly cheaper here) to go with Fields and the Chicago defense. I don’t love it, but I don’t hate it. And this lineup has some game script factors that could mesh well (i.e. the Commanders airing the ball out, resulting in a lot of work for their receivers and the possibility of mistakes by Wentz for that defense to take advantage of).
Yahoo Optimal Lineup (GPP)
| POS | PLAYER | PROJ. PTS | SALARY |
| 1.5x | J. Fields WAS @ CHI |
27.7 | $21 |
| FLEX | D. Mooney WAS @ CHI |
12.3 | $16 |
| FLEX | T. McLaurin WAS @ CHI |
14.4 | $17 |
| FLEX | Chicago (CHI) WAS @ CHI |
12.2 | $15 |
| FLEX | Washington (WAS) WAS @ CHI |
10.2 | $11 |
| Totals | 76.8 | $80 |
Notes
Here we see Justin Fields in the MVP/Captain/1.5x slot for the first time, and we roll with BOTH defenses. The optimizer had Curtis Samuel in over Darnell Mooney, but I swapped in Mooney so that I was able to add a WR to stack with Fields. This is an even more ideal lineup if Carson Wentz gets hurt or benched, which are both possible tonight (he’s dealing with an arm injury coming into the game).
OwnersBox Optimal Lineup (GPP)
| POS | PLAYER | PROJ. PTS | SALARY |
| QB | C. Wentz WAS @ CHI |
20.0 | $6,700 |
| RB | B. Robinson Jr. WAS @ CHI |
10.0 | $4,700 |
| RB | D. Montgomery WAS @ CHI |
18.0 | $6,000 |
| WR | C. Samuel WAS @ CHI |
18.0 | $5,700 |
| WR | E. St. Brown WAS @ CHI |
7.8 | $4,700 |
| TE | J. Bates WAS @ CHI |
6.9 | $4,100 |
| FLEX | T. McLaurin WAS @ CHI |
17.0 | $6,000 |
| FLEX | D. Mooney WAS @ CHI |
14.5 | $5,800 |
| SF | J. Fields WAS @ CHI |
18.4 | $6,300 |
| Totals | 130.6 | $50,000 |
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.
OwnersBox is superflex, so we’re starting both QBs. We finally get to start Brian Robinson Jr. in a lineup, which is great considering the news that he is expected to start tonight for Washington. I still think we’ll split time with Gibson and McKissic, but he should get those high-value touches in the red zone, assuming Washington makes it there tonight. Our dart throw here is Equanimeous St. Brown. If we can get a big play or two out of St. Brown, this lineup should be sitting pretty. Bates is our lineup building as mentioned before, especially in a larger lineup with a TE slot. The rest is pretty chalk.
Lineup Builders
John Bates (TE – WAS) – With Logan Thomas out, the price is right for Bates.
Curtis Samuel (WR – WAS)
Dart Throws
Equanimeous St. Brown (WR – CHI)
Cam Sims (WR – WAS)
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.