DraftKings GPP Domination: Week 7

An in-depth, position-by-position guide for building winning tournament lineups for this week's DraftKings slate.

Phil Alexander's DraftKings GPP Domination: Week 7 Phil Alexander Published 10/18/2025

© Bill Streicher-Imagn Images DraftKings GPP

Slate Overview

Every Dollar Matters

After several weeks of soft pricing, DraftKings tightened the screws last week. Efficient salaries have continued into Week 7, where value plays are scarce, salary gaps between tiers are narrow, and you’ll need to think more critically about opportunity cost at every position.

When pricing is tight, there are fewer edges in identifying underpriced players. You have to build better lineups than your opponents with many of the same core players they're using. Here are three ways to go about it: 

  • Exploit the common build. With stars and scrubs lineups harder to pull off, most entrants will cluster around the same balanced roster constructions. Differentiate by either paying up at different positions than the majority of the field, or by choosing lower-owned options in the same price range that offer similar upside.
  • Treat every salary decision as a trade-off. If you spend an extra $300 on a running back, you must identify exactly where that salary comes from and how it affects your ceiling. Think in 2v2 or 3v3 swaps, not isolated picks.
  • Lean heavily into correlation. When value is tight, stacking and mini-stacking become even more valuable since you’re betting on one or two game scripts rather than needing multiple low-priced players to hit independently.

Bottom line: Tight pricing weeks reward lineup construction more than value-hunting on individual players. Focus on differentiating from the field through strategic spending, think in terms of trade-offs across multiple positions, and lean into correlation to maximize your ceiling.

Top Game Environments

DFS is less about picking players in isolation and more about targeting the games where fantasy scoring can snowball. High totals, fast pace, and exploitable defenses all create environments where multiple players can go off together. Identifying these spots is the foundation for building winning GPP lineups.

Games in bold are lower-total games with the potential for higher-than-expected scoring. Stacking these games at a higher ownership level than the field will add leverage to your lineups if they exceed their implied totals.

  • Commanders (-2.5) @ Cowboys - O/U 54.5
  • Colts @ Chargers (-1.5) - O/U 48.5
  • Saints @ Bears (-5.5) - O/U 47.5
  • Eagles (-1.5) @ Vikings - O/U 43.5
  • Giants @ Broncos (-7) - O/U 39.5

Identifying Common Roster Construction

Understanding what your opponents are most likely to do is just as important as spotting the best plays. Common roster builds form naturally when popular players are combined into a lineup. Recognizing the "chalky" construction helps us anticipate what the majority of rosters we're up against will look like, and allows us to decide the best ways to build differently for leverage without sacrificing ceiling.

QB: It's a rare slate where spending up at quarterback will be the norm. Jayden Daniels ($6,900) hasn't reached 25 DraftKings points in a game this season, but that won't stop roughly 20% of the field from rostering him in a matchup against the Cowboys' league-worst pass defense. For $100 more than Daniels, a similar number of entrants will opt for Patrick Mahomes II ($7,000), who leads all quarterbacks in DraftKings scoring, and draws the Raiders as a huge home favorite (Chiefs -11.5). While he'll only be about half as popular as Daniels, Caleb Williams ($5,800) profiles as the crowd's favorite discount option at home against a Saints defense that struggles to pressure enemy quarterbacks.

RB: The aforementioned tight pricing on this slate makes it difficult to pay up to the top salary tier at running back. Instead, look for the crowd to pile on backs in the $6K-$7K range and try to play the matchups. Quinshon Judkins ($6,000) is the cheapest of the bunch and faces the Dolphins, who allow the third-most fantasy points to running backs when adjusted for strength of schedule. Javonte Williams ($6,700) failed to deliver in Week 6, but our opponents will go back to him against the Commanders, who just made D'Andre Swift (28.5 DraftKings points) look like a world beater on Monday Night Football. And Breece Hall's $6,300 salary remains modest despite his stranglehold on the Jets' backfield touches since Braelon Allen hit injured reserve. He faces an improved Carolina run defense that still carries a poor reputation from last season. At least two of these backs will land in common builds.

WR: Fantasy gamers in every format have been counting the weeks until they could plug Rashee Rice ($5,600) into lineups. DraftKings took a lukewarm approach to Rice's salary in his season debut, which will probably make him the chalkiest player on the slate. CeeDee Lamb ($7,500) is also back in play. With Puka Nacua, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, and Amon-Ra St. Brown unavailable on this slate, Lamb is the top high-end option at the position and fits as a natural run-back in Daniels stacks. Chris Olave ($5,400) will round out the wide receiver position in run-of-the-mill lineups. He is the Saints' clear WR1, faces a favorable matchup, and remains underpriced relative to his target volume. 

TE: The crowd's first inclination will be to pay up to Trey McBride ($5,700), but he's hard to fit while spending big at quarterback and taking a balanced approach at the other positions. McBride will be popular, and we may even see a higher number of two-tight-end builds than usual. Those who forego McBride and pay up for a third running back in the flex are likely to punt the position with Michael Mayer ($3,500), Mason Taylor ($3,400), or Harold Fannin Jr. (depending on the weather).

Flipping the Common Build: Pay up at running back. Jonathan Taylor ($8,800) hasn't given us a reason to fade him all season, yet he's likely to top out around 15% ownership in an exploitable matchup against the Chargers. Josh Jacobs ($7,800) has crushed his last two favorable opponents and gets another softy this week in Arizona. Pairing these two gives you a legitimate 60-point ceiling at a combined $16,600 and leaves just enough room to stack around it with Daniels, Mahomes, or a quarterback in the $5,700 to $6,300 range, where plenty of quarterbacks have the upside needed to win this week.

Core Targets

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