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 Packers vs. Eagles (Sunday Night Football, Week 12)
FanDuel Optimal Lineup (GPP)
| POS | PLAYER | PROJ. PTS | SALARY |
| 1.5x | J. Hurts GB @ PHI |
41.1 | $17,000 |
| FLEX | A. Jones GB @ PHI |
19.6 | $13,500 |
| FLEX | R. Cobb GB @ PHI |
10.2 | $8,000 |
| FLEX | R. Tonyan GB @ PHI |
8.7 | $7,000 |
| FLEX | A. Brown GB @ PHI |
20.2 | $14,500 |
| Totals | 99.7 | $60,000 |
Notes
Jalen Hurts is expensive, and he and Rodgers combine for more than 50% of your salary cap on FanDuel, so it’s worth exploring lineups that don’t include both QBs. For this one, we have Hurt stacked with A.J. Brown and Aaron Jones, Randall Cobb, and Robert Tonyan for the Packers. Cobb returned last week and immediately caught six passes. Not only do the Eagles employ soft coverages underneath, but starting nickel CB Avonte Maddox is on injured reserve. That could mean even more targets for Cobb in the middle of the field, especially if Philadelphia is able to get an early lead.
DraftKings Optimal Lineup (GPP)
| POS | PLAYER | PROJ. PTS | SALARY |
| CPT | J. Hurts GB @ PHI |
41.1 | $17,400 |
| FLEX | D. Smith GB @ PHI |
16.4 | $8,000 |
| FLEX | A. Rodgers GB @ PHI |
21.4 | $10,000 |
| FLEX | R. Cobb GB @ PHI |
12.1 | $5,200 |
| FLEX | Z. Pascal GB @ PHI |
7.6 | $2,000 |
| FLEX | C. Watson GB @ PHI |
20.1 | $7,200 |
| Totals | 118.7 | $49,800 |
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 like DeVonta Smith over A.J. Brown in most lineups tonight, if for nothing else than because he is significantly cheaper despite his similar role in the offense. We get both QBs into the lineup here, add Cobb again, go upside with Christian Watson, and include Zach Pascal as a dart throw. With TE Dallas Goedert on injured reserve and the rest of Philadelphia’s young TEs bringing little to the table, Pascal should see his role continue to grow as a “big WR” who can block. If we can get a TD from Pascal-who should play around 50% of the snaps on offense-we’re golden.
Yahoo Optimal Lineup (GPP)
| POS | PLAYER | PROJ. PTS | SALARY |
| 1.5x | J. Hurts GB @ PHI |
41.1 | $35 |
| FLEX | A. Rodgers GB @ PHI |
21.4 | $23 |
| FLEX | A. Jones GB @ PHI |
19.6 | $25 |
| FLEX | C. Watson GB @ PHI |
18.3 | $24 |
| FLEX | D. Smith GB @ PHI |
14.3 | $18 |
| Totals | 114.6 | $125 |
Notes
As we have mentioned throughout this series, Yahoo tends to have more favorable salaries that allow you to build strong lineups. And while we’ll toss some contrarian builds out there to diversify things, there’s no reason not to take what they’re giving us here. So we’ll stack both QBs, Aaron Jones, DeVonta Smith, and the upside of Christian Watson in this one.
OwnersBox Optimal Lineup (PTF)
| POS | PLAYER | PROJ. PTS | SALARY |
| FLEX | A. Jones GB @ PHI |
21.6 | $6,300 |
| FLEX | A. Brown GB @ PHI |
22.8 | $6,600 |
| FLEX | Q. Watkins GB @ PHI |
8.1 | $4,200 |
| FLEX | C. Watson GB @ PHI |
20.1 | $5,600 |
| SF | J. Hurts GB @ PHI |
27.4 | $7,300 |
| Totals | 99.9 | $30,000 |
Notes
I have seen full lineup contests for island games on OwnersBox, but they only have PTF contests this week. For this one, we get four flex spots and one superflex. We’ll go Hurts in our superflex spot, add some familiar names, and include Quez Watkins as our dart throw this time. The Eagles are going to need to continue to evolve their offense with Dallas Goedert out, and we already saw Watkins make the most of his opportunities and find the end zone last week.
Lineup Builders / Core Plays
Aaron Rodgers (QB – GB) – But as mentioned above, he is expensive enough to avoid when diversifying.
A.J. Brown (WR – PHI) – Though I am leaning more toward Smith for salary purposes.
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.
