Wild Card weekend optimal DFS lineups

This is a look at my optimal tournament lineup for Wild Card weekend in DFS. As I will every week, I’ll remind you that it’s important to remember some of the subtle differences between daily fantasy and other types of fantasy football, as well as the differences between DFS game types. Daily fantasy operates under a budget, so the relative value a player offers at his respective price is just as important as his raw statistical production when constructing lineups. As far as cash games vs. tournaments, remember that 50/50s and Double Ups generally have a lower cash line while tournaments will require a unique and high-scoring lineup, so choose the ceilings and floors of your players accordingly.

While I’ll obviously have some exposure to Pittsburgh in my portfolio as the team with the highest implied team total this weekend, for my optimal tournament lineup I’m going to try and avoid the chalk, which undoubtedly will be Steeler-heavy on a small slate. I strongly considered Russell Wilson as my stacking option this week, but my inclination toward New York’s receiving core in a plus matchup with Green Bay steered me toward Eli Manning, who should be low owned and on DraftKings offers a bigger discount on the consensus top-three-priced quarterbacks relative to the other two sites, especially compared to FanDuel. I’ll discuss more pricing discrepancies after I go through my lineup.

QB: Eli Manning, New York Giants ($6,100)

The Packers have been bleeding points through the air all season, especially in the last month during a stretch that saw them allow 30 or more points in each of their last four regular-season games. This has been due in large part to a plethora of injuries in their secondary, which culminated last week in Detroit when three cornerbacks were forced to exit the contest and Green Bay had to play safeties on the outside. Manning hasn’t provided much reason for fantasy optimism of late, but against a banged-up defensive backfield that has been a top seven matchup for opposing quarterbacks on DraftKings all season, I’ll take the savings he provides to go with the significant upside of his top two receivers.