Fantasy Football Divisional Round Sunday DFS Strategy: Build Around Lamar Jackson, Saquon Barkley and Derrick Henry

Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) is the most popular form of fantasy football once the playoffs start. There are a lot of ways to build a roster, especially in the regular season when you have the whole league at your disposal.

Things start to get tighter when the playoffs begin, especially when we are dealing with just one day. Four teams means you’re choosing from just four quarterbacks, five or six running backs, eight-ish wide receivers, four tight ends, and four defenses. That’s only one-eighth of the league, or 12.5%.

Let’s look at a DFS lineup built around the strongest fantasy players available: Lamar Jackson, Saquon Barkley, and Derrick Henry. This won’t necessarily be a winning lineup, but it’s a good base that can be built around multiple ways based on who you like best as receiving options.

The numbers below are via Draft Kings. We are working with a $50,000 budget.

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Quarterback - Lamar Jackson, Baltimore Ravens - $7,500

Go with a top QB; either Jackson or Josh Allen will do. Jalen Hurts is a little bit cheaper option, but he doesn’t have the same high ceiling as Jackson and Allen. Go with one of the top two guys.

Jackson is a little more dynamic, so I lean toward him. I could be talked into Allen, especially since Baltimore’s defense was worse for a large part of the season. Both players should have big fantasy days, so there’s not a loser no matter which way you choose.

Running Back – Saquon Barkley ($8,200) and Derrick Henry ($8,000)

This is the strength of the roster. With snow expected in both games, it’s unclear how much the teams will be able to throw the ball. The thing we can count on most is the two superstar backs who did it all season.

The big money is spent on the quarterback and running backs, and from here it’s mostly a toss up as to who might find the end zone.

Going cheaper at running back is an option, but I don’t see a lot of value in that route. When looking at some running back head-to-head decisions that were popping up on our FantasySP “Who Should I Start?” tool, I made a pretty clear conclusion that Barkley was the top guy closely followed by Henry, just like the prices indicate.

That doesn’t take any high-level detective skills, but the most important thing was that no one else really stood out as a great value. James Cook tied for the league lead in rushing touchdowns, but he has a brutal matchup against the Ravens. Same for Kyren Williams against the Eagles. Justice Hill is a little interesting as a cheap option, but he only touches the ball about six times per game.

I like the idea of trusting the best backs from this season and hoping for the best at the pass-catching positions.

Wide Receiver – A.J. Brown ($7,000), Amari Cooper ($4,400), and Mack Hollins ($3,500)

You could swap Curtis Samuel or Nelson Agholor for Hollins, but I prefer the latter. Keon Coleman could also be exchanged for Cooper if you prefer youth to the veteran.

We get a star here with Brown; Puka Nacua costs $400 more, and while he has a higher floor, I like Brown against the Rams defense rather than Nacua against Philadelphia’s D.

Again, the weather makes it a little uncertain as to what we can expect from the passing games, so this is kind of a guess as to who might get lucky.

Tight End – Dallas Goedert - $3,900

Goedert is a bit of a discount on Mark Andrews ($4,500), though Isaiah Likely ($3,500) is also there if you want to save even more. The Rams allowed the sixth-most yards per pass attempt and third-most fantasy points to tight ends this season, giving Goedert a great matchup.

Flex – Dalton Kincaid - $3,700

You could also go with Likely, Samuel, or Agholor. The Ravens were 12th in both most yards per pass attempt allowed and most fantasy points allowed to tight ends. They’re an OK matchup, though any of the other three listed are right about the same in value.

This would be counting on a lot of Buffalo pass catchers, so swapping in one of the Baltimore guys would probably be a smart idea. In that case, I’d probably go with Likely in this spot.

Defense – Philadelphia Eagles - $3,400

Philly might have the best defense in the league, and I feel better about them stopping the Rams than anyone else slowing down their respective opponents. The Eagles are the most expensive defense, so you could save a little here if you wanted to get Nacua, for instance.

Remaining Budget - $100

That’s a team that relies on Jackson (or Allen) and the two star running backs. Those are the surest things for production on Sunday. The rest of the roster is a bit of playing matchups and a bit of hoping to pick the right guy who eventually ends up scoring a touchdown. You can piece together the receiving/tight end/flex group a lot of ways; the most important thing is the strong core at the top.