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 Chargers vs. 49ers (Sunday Night Football, Week 10)
FanDuel Optimal Lineup (GPP)
| POS | PLAYER | PROJ. PTS | SALARY |
| 1.5x | J. Herbert LAC @ SF |
37.3 | $15,000 |
| FLEX | C. McCaffrey LAC @ SF |
26.6 | $17,000 |
| FLEX | J. Garoppolo LAC @ SF |
21.8 | $14,000 |
| FLEX | E. Mitchell LAC @ SF |
10.0 | $6,000 |
| FLEX | D. Carter LAC @ SF |
9.3 | $8,000 |
| Totals | 104.9 | $60,000 |
Notes
We’re missing Austin Ekeler here, but we include both quarterbacks and Christian McCaffrey. The somewhat contrarian dart throw here is Elijah Mitchell, who is returning from injured reserve. He, of course, lost his starting job to McCaffrey, but he’s an interesting gamble here, considering the San Francisco offense and a Los Angeles defense that is more concerned with stopping the pass than the run. DeAndre Carter is an affordable lineup builder who should see plenty of opportunities due to the injuries to Mike Williams and Keenan Allen.
DraftKings Optimal Lineup (GPP)
| POS | PLAYER | PROJ. PTS | SALARY |
| CPT | C. McCaffrey LAC @ SF |
32.9 | $17,400 |
| FLEX | A. Ekeler LAC @ SF |
21.6 | $11,200 |
| FLEX | J. Herbert LAC @ SF |
17.9 | $10,600 |
| FLEX | E. Mitchell LAC @ SF |
3.6 | $200 |
| FLEX | J. Palmer LAC @ SF |
13.7 | $7,800 |
| FLEX | M. Bandy LAC @ SF |
5.5 | $2,400 |
| Totals | 95.2 | $49,600 |
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.
This is a top-heavy lineup with McCaffrey, Ekeler, and Justin Herbert taking up a large chunk of our salary. Joshua Palmer is a lineup builder due to his salary and projected role with Allen and Williams out. Mitchell we walked about in the FanDuel section. At just $200, he’s essentially free on DraftKings. And Michael Bandy is another dart throw, but he saw eight targets last week and could see a similar workload on Sunday night.
Yahoo Optimal Lineup (GPP)
| POS | PLAYER | PROJ. PTS | SALARY |
| 1.5x | C. McCaffrey LAC @ SF |
39.8 | $43 |
| FLEX | J. Herbert LAC @ SF |
24.9 | $33 |
| FLEX | J. Garoppolo LAC @ SF |
21.8 | $26 |
| FLEX | D. Samuel LAC @ SF |
18.0 | $24 |
| FLEX | G. Everett LAC @ SF |
11.7 | $14 |
| Totals | 116.3 | $140 |
Notes
We have our first Deebo Samuel lineup. We’re McCaffrey in the MVP slot again and are utilizing both quarterbacks. Gerald Everett is affordable at $14 and has received 17 targets over his last two games and 24 over his last three games. Like others we’ve mentioned here, he could see an increased role with the Allen/Williams duo out.
OwnersBox Optimal Lineup (GPP)
| POS | PLAYER | PROJ. PTS | SALARY |
| QB | J. Garoppolo LAC @ SF |
21.8 | $6,200 |
| RB | C. McCaffrey LAC @ SF |
29.9 | $6,700 |
| RB | A. Ekeler LAC @ SF |
28.2 | $6,800 |
| WR | B. Aiyuk LAC @ SF |
17.8 | $5,700 |
| WR | M. Bandy LAC @ SF |
8.1 | $3,900 |
| TE | G. Everett LAC @ SF |
13.4 | $4,600 |
| FLEX | G. Kittle LAC @ SF |
17.7 | $5,000 |
| FLEX | E. Mitchell LAC @ SF |
10.7 | $4,000 |
| SF | J. Herbert LAC @ SF |
24.9 | $6,900 |
| Totals | 172.4 | $49,800 |
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.
We’ve covered most of the names here already. Brandon Aiyuk is one of the new faces here. He’s only $5,700 and has finished as a WR1 in two of the last three weeks. We’re also flexing George Kittle since OwnersBox only has him at $5,000.
Lineup Builders / Core
Dart Throws
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.