Super Bowl DFS Ideal Lineups: Saquon Barkley, Jalen Hurts, Dallas Goedert, Xavier Worthy, DeAndre Hopkins and More

On the last day of the season, it's time to go all out. We often see each team run a trick play or two in the Super Bowl as they empty the playbook; no reason to save anything.

It's the same story for fans. Think of all the food and booze and food and fun and food that gets prepared for your average Super Bowl party. NFL football is the favorite sport of American fans by a wide margin, and we don't hold anything back during the biggest game of the year.

More money will be bet on this game and the periphery activities than any other day or event. Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) is the best chance for fans who want to get that last taste of fantasy football until September. This isn't a drill, people: jump in and get involved any way you can before it all fades away (even if that just means eating a lot).

If you are unfamiliar with DFS, the basis is choosing a fantasy team based on a salary cap. Rather than a snake draft, where you draft among who is available at that time, every owner gets a chance at every player in a salary cap league. In DFS, owners can generally pick the same player as well, rather than only one person being able to own each player.

A popular contest with just one game (and two team's worth of players) is “Pick Six,” where owners choose six players in action for their squad while staying under the defined salary cap. For the sake of this exercise, I am using numbers from DraftKings with a cap of $50,000.

Any six players can be chosen without regard for position, and one guy must be designated as the “Team Captain.” That captain will see his salary increase, but he gets credit for 1.5x his fantasy points for your team.

Let's run through what I see as the best DFS lineup and another version that looks for more depth and a little less star power. There are many ways to build your six-man roster, and these are only two options. Don't take it as if these are the only ways that make sense.

I will also give a few options for who could replace certain players so that you can piece together another similar group based on who you favor. Stats are from NFL.com, fantasy scores and rankings are from FantasyPros, and defensive fantasy rankings are our own here at FantasySP.

The Best Lineup

Team Captain: QB Jalen Hurts, $15,600 salary

In my look at the quarterbacks in the Super Bowl from a fantasy perspective, I deduced that Hurts was a far superior option to Patrick Mahomes. Mahomes has been a middling fantasy player the past few seasons, and Hurts averaged about 10 fantasy points per game just from running this year, giving him a great floor.

You aren't forced to choose a QB in this format, but that position often scores more fantasy points than others, making it a risk to ignore the quarterbacks. Hurts also ran for almost one touchdown per game this year, a great mark.

RB Saquon Barkley, $12,000

It's tempting to use Barkley as the team captain, multiplying his points by 50%, but that designation pushes his salary up to $18,000, so I prefer to use Hurts in that spot (his salary only jumps by about $5,000).

Barkley might be the most impressive player in the league this year, first topping 2,000 rushing yards in the regular season then adding 442 yards and five touchdowns in three playoff games. As long as he stays healthy, Barkley is the most likely player to lead the game in touches.

The alternate lineup listed below imagines leaving Barkley out because of his big salary, but I much prefer having him on my team; it's worth paying up.

WR A.J. Brown, $9,600

The most talented wide receiver in this game, Brown is a true WR1, among the best players in the league at his position. His stats don't always match up with guys like Ja'Marr Chase and Justin Jefferson, but a big part of that is the offensive strategy of their teams: while Chase's Bengals threw the second-most pass attempts this year, Brown's Eagles had nearly 30 fewer attempts than any other team.

That drops his fantasy value a little in this one, but Brown is an elite talent. Despite the lack of pass attempts, Brown was a top-20 fantasy player at his position in both standard and PPR scoring.

You could save $2,200 here by going with Brown's teammate, DeVonta Smith, and hoping he finds the end zone; I argued for that strategy in the Conference Championship Round. There's no arguing that Brown has a much higher ceiling, though.

TE Dallas Goedert, $5,800

I see Goedert as almost a must-have player. These are two good defensive teams, and the only truly good fantasy matchup is the Philadelphia tight ends against KC's defense. The Chiefs allowed the sixth-most fantasy points to TEs this season, and they were at the top of that board often, getting beaten by the position on a regular basis.

Grant Calcaterra is another option as the backup to Goedert and a player who got an extended run when the starter was out for close to eight full games, but Goedert often played about twice as many snaps as Calcaterra in games when both were active, getting many more chances at fantasy points.

I took a closer look at the starting tight ends earlier this week: Goedert is more of a middling player, but the matchup gives him extra appeal in this one.

WR DeAndre Hopkins, $4,400

Hopkins is a bit of a lottery ticket rather than the superstar he was in his prime. He's on the wrong side of 30 and will never find that top gear again, but he can make plays in short spurts, including scoring four touchdowns in just 10 games with the Chiefs after a mid-season trade.

With a chance to integrate into the team further, especially with two weeks to prepare for this game, Hopkins will have every chance to be a part of the game plan. I wouldn't be surprised to see one or more plays called specifically for the veteran receiver, maybe even down in the red zone.

WR JuJu Smith-Schuster, $2,000

The Chiefs do weird things in the biggest games. Guys like Kadarius Toney, Skyy Moore, Mecole Hardman, and Marquez Valdes-Scantling have scored over the past two Super Bowls. Smith-Schuster is unlikely to make too many big plays, but he fits the mold of the random receiver who scores a TD.

Calcaterra only costs $1,000, so he could go in this final spot while leaving you another $1,000 to use elsewhere. That could get you Isiah Pacheco or Marquise Brown instead of Hopkins, which could be a worthy investment, though I don't really see much advantage elsewhere.

Less Saquon, More Depth

This strategy takes out the guy whom many see as the best fantasy option and makes the last few slots on your team more valuable. The question is whether you can get enough extra production from those final spots to make it worth forgoing Barkley's immense appeal.

• Team Captain: QB Jalen Hurts, $15,600
• WR A.J. Brown, $9,600
• WR Xavier Worthy, $8,000
• TE Dallas Goedert, $5,800
• WR Marquise Brown, $5,400
• RB Isiah Pacheco, $5,200
• Leftover: $400

With the drop from Barkley to Pacheco at running back, we save nearly $7,000. That is used to upgrade from Hopkins to Worthy ($3,600 increase) and Smith-Schuster to Marquise Brown ($3,400 increase). Those are meaningful improvements; I would rather have both Kansas City receivers in this iteration of the roster rather than the previous example.

It's not enough to skip drafting Barkley, though. The Philly running back has the highest fantasy ceiling of anyone in this game, and it's too much of a risk to leave him out when he will likely see the ball early and often.

Barkley will be on most rosters, so there is a reasonable strategy that can be built around keeping him off your team. Injuries can happen any time, and that would obviously tank his value. There's also a chance that a really good Chiefs run defense could contain Barkley, holding him closer to 50 yards than 100-plus.

I can't get behind that idea as a likely outcome, though, and feel it's more of a dart throw than a sneaky strategy. The first lineup listed here is my favorite, and it's not really close.