DraftKings GPP Domination Week 6

Slate Overview

Too Much of Anything Is Bad for You

The field is generally good at identifying the best individual players, yet bad at building tournament lineups. On any given slate, a player at 25% ownership can be correctly rostered at 25%. Where most people get off track is allowing that one popular play to naturally lead them to the same three or four complementary plays the rest of the field is using. Ownership compounds at the lineup level, making it harder to separate even when those players hit.

It's the reason why this article aims to identify common roster construction each week. GPP leverage often comes from breaking up popular combinations while keeping enough of the field's best plays to preserve the projected points needed to win. Fading too much chalk will put your lineup in a hole way more often than not. This week gives us a clear example of how a strong, highly projected core can become too common once the obvious salary savers are added around it. 

Everyone wants to stack the LA Rams. To fit Matthew Stafford, Puka Nacua, and Davante Adams or Kyren Williams in the same lineup, you need value plays to make it work, but if you're surrounding them with Rhamondre Stevenson (assuming TreVeyon Henderson scratches) and Germie Bernard, too much has to go right. Even if the Rams go off, and Stevenson and Bernard end up as solid points-per-dollar values, your lineup isn't much closer to first place. You're just keeping up with the field.

Salaries, projections, and stacking create common combinations on their own. Playing Stevenson or Braelon Allen unlocks Nacua for thousands of entrants. Stafford naturally pairs with Nacua. By that time, any viable RB2 or WR2 necessitates spending down to Bernard at WR3. None of those decisions are unreasonable on their own, but taken together, they produce roughly the same lineup thousands of times over. Once those combinations become obvious, your job is finding the small changes that can separate your lineup without giving up much projection.

Top Game Environments

Targeting games where multiple players can hit their ceilings together reduces the number of things you need to get right to build a winning GPP lineup.

Games in bold indicate low projected ownership despite favorable scoring conditions.

The Chalk: Identifying Common Roster Construction

Understanding how the field is most likely to construct lineups helps us build differently without fading top plays entirely and sacrificing too much projection.

QB: There is enough value in the player pool to fit Josh Allen ($7,500) into variations of the common build, but fewer entrants will be willing to make the necessary sacrifices at running back and wide receiver. As discussed in the intro, more of the field will look to Matthew Stafford ($6,400), whose Rams have the highest implied total of the season at 32 points. 

RB: Rhamondre Stevenson ($6,000) was set up as mega-chalk after TreVeyon Henderson suffered a high-ankle sprain in the Patriots' Week 5 win over the Raiders. Somehow, Henderson has practiced all week and says he feels "pretty good", so it's possible Stevenson won't have the backfield to himself against the Jets. If New England plays it cautiously with Henderson in a winnable game, expect Stevenson to jump to nearly 30% rostered. Braelon Allen ($5,700) and Chuba Hubbard ($6,300) will soak up some of Stevenson's expected ownership if Henderson is active. Kyren Williams ($6,800) will also attract the crowd, but as our opponents look to stack Stafford with his pass-catchers, they're more likely to spend all the way up to Bijan Robinson ($8,700), who projects as the RB1 on this slate in the absence of Jahmyr Gibbs (bye).

WR: Puka Nacua ($8,100) is mispriced by about $1K after his second straight game with 30+ DraftKings points since returning from injury. He'll be the highest-owned player on the slate. After Nacua, the interesting decision is between Drake London ($7,000) at WR2 and Brock Bowers ($7,500) at tight end. London lineups will usually need to punt WR3 and flex, while Bowers lineups will be forced toward cheap options at both WR2 and WR3. Germie Bernard ($4,000) will run opposite DK Metcalf in two-wide sets with the Steelers receiver room decimated by injuries, and Xavier Worthy ($4,600) is the last man standing in Kansas City with Rashee Rice and Tyquan Thornton out.

TE: Isaiah Likely is tied with Trey McBride for the lead among tight ends with a 29% team target share. He has only 24 fewer receiving yards than McBride and has scored one more touchdown. McBride costs $7,200, while Likely is only $4,800, creating a value the crowd won't pass up, whether it's to flex him in Bowers lineups or use him as the tight end in London lineups. 

Flip the Common Build: Spending heavily at both running back spots will be a path less traveled by our opponents. Jonathan Taylor ($8,000) busted as the cover boy in this article last week, but if you think the Colts will beat up on the Titans, he's got a real chance to lead the position in scoring. Derrick Henry ($8,200) is less enticing against the Browns with Tyler Huntley at quarterback, but he can run away from defenses and score multiple touchdowns regardless of who is under center for Baltimore. James Cook III ($7,400) has something to prove against the Raiders after losing two fumbles on Monday night. With the possible exception of Henry, none of these backs qualify as contrarian, but you won't see many lineups with one of them next to Bijan Robinson because the salary commitment makes Nacua much harder to fit.

Leverage Plays

Start with the chalk plays you trust most, then pivot at two or three spots to players below who offer a similar ceiling to the consensus top plays but lower ownership. Keep your lineups correlated and consistent with the overall story you’re telling about how each game will play out.

Quarterback

Drake Maye ($6,600) - Maye's popularity could rise with news that A.J. Brown should be back this week, since now the crowd knows who to stack him with, but he belongs in your player pool play with or without Brown healthy. He has proven over the last two weeks that he can make it work throwing to Efton Chism III, DeMario Douglas, and Kyle Williams, and he's back to running more aggressively with 15 rush attempts over his last two starts. There may be something to the narrative about Maye struggling in difficult matchups, but the Jets, who visit New England as 7.5-point underdogs, don't qualify. 

Caleb Williams ($6,200) - Williams made his case for mandatory every-week tournament exposure with a 37.3-point drubbing of the Panthers in Week 1. Then he struggled against Minnesota's top-rated defense in bad weather, strained his hamstring in the process, and we haven't seen him since. The 2026 version of Williams may be the one we saw flame-broil the Panthers through the air and on the ground. We don't know yet, but at least there's a greater than zero chance. We can be confident Chicago's defense is abysmal and will struggle to contain Bijan Robinson and Drake London, which should force Williams into the type of game script that requires him to extend plays and attack downfield. The most appealing part for tournaments is the low-to-mid ownership projected on Williams' stacking partners, Luther Burden III, Rome Odunze, Colston Loveland, and even Kalif Raymond. If Williams goes off, he's probably bringing two of them along with him, allowing you to add Robinson and London to a game stack without worrying much about the lineup's overall ownership.

Tyler Shough ($5,600) - We can't blame Shough for becoming the latest quarterback to fall victim to Minnesota's suffocating defense, but he didn't play well against Atlanta in Week 4 either. The problem has been New Orleans' offensive line. Both the Falcons and Vikings pressured Shough on about 50% of his dropbacks. Constant pressure has prevented the downfield throws that boosted the Saints' offense earlier in the season. Shough should get a reprieve this week against the Giants. New York ranks 28th in the league with a 31% pressure rate, and their best remaining pass rusher, linebacker Abdul Carter, missed two practices this week with a calf injury and is listed as questionable. Assuming Shough has more time to operate from clean pockets, his receivers should help him have a big day against New York's injury-depleted secondary.

Cam Ward ($4,800) - Devin Knotts looked like he wanted to eject me from this week's DFS Show for this call, but bear with me. The Colts defense leads the league in yards after the catch allowed and ranks bottom-10 in passing EPA per play allowed. It's a pass defense in such bad shape that 42-year-old Aaron Rodgers just hung three touchdowns on them, and the week before that, Athan Kaliakmanis (who?) connected on several deep bombs against them in London. Carnell Tate ($5,000) and Wan'Dale Robinson ($4,500) both project as strong point-per-dollar plays. Ward hasn't inspired confidence that he can lead us to tournament victory, but he has a live arm, runs occasionally, and is very cheap. If Tate and Robinson capitalize on the matchup and Ward has one of his more accurate passing days, the stack doesn't need a massive score to pay off at those salaries, and you can play chalk at every other roster slot. 

Running Back