๐ BUILD A LINEUP
Load your contest's players. DraftKings does not let other sites read its contests, so the players and salaries come from you: on DraftKings, open the contest you joined, go to its lineup (draft) page and use Export to CSV. That saves a file called DKSalaries.csv. Load it here. Classic, Showdown Captain Mode, Single Stat and Tiers contests are recognised from the file.
The file is read in this browser only. Nothing is sent anywhere, and it stays here until you clear it or load another.
How the projections and the lineup are made
Scoring. DraftKings' Classic rules: 0.04 a passing yard, 4 a passing TD, โ1 an interception; 0.1 a rushing or receiving yard, 1 a catch, 6 a rushing or receiving TD; 3 more for 300 passing yards, 100 rushing yards or 100 receiving yards. The projections leave out fumbles, two-point conversions and return TDs (small, and not priced); a tracked lineup's real score counts them.
From DraftKings' prices (badge DK). From the day before a game, the server has DraftKings' whole ladder for each player's yards, catches and passing TDs: every line it sells and the price of the Over. The ladder says how likely each number is, so the player's expected yards are added up from it, rung by rung, rather than taken from one line. The margin is taken out so the main line reads as an even chance. Touchdowns come from DraftKings' Anytime TD price, and interceptions from its two-sided price. The book sets these numbers with the latest injury and role news, which is why they are used first.
From season stats (badge Stats). A game not priced yet uses the player's recent per-game averages, with his touchdowns scaled by what the game's line expects his team to score. Less sharp: early in the week, most players are on this.
Defenses. Points allowed from the opponent's expected score (the game total and spread), interceptions from the opposing quarterback's price or average, a defensive TD from DraftKings' price when it has one. Sacks and fumble recoveries are league averages: the site has no source for them per team.
Floor. The 25th percentile of the player's DraftKings points in his games this season (three games or more): one game in four went lower. Shown for judgment; the lineup is chosen by projection.
The lineup. The nine players with the most projected points that fit under $50,000 (QB, 2 RB, 3 WR, TE, FLEX, DST), found exactly, not by trial. In a cash game the top 45% or so are paid, so what matters is a lineup likely to score well, not one that might score hugely. Left out unless you lock them: players ruled out (OUT, IR, Doubtful), Questionable players (a switch below), and players the site flags as having no real role (no TD this season and few carries or targets). The FLEX is the extra player with the latest kickoff, so DraftKings' late swap leaves the most room.
Showdown Captain Mode. One game, six players: a Captain who costs 1.5 times his salary and scores 1.5 times his points, and five FLEX, under $50,000, from both teams. Kickers are in play: their points come from DraftKings' kicking-points price (extra points and field goals), plus a little for long field goals, which score 4 or 5. Without a price, a third of what the line expects his team to score. The lineup is the exact best by projected points.
Single Stat. Any three players from two teams or more, scored on one stat: touchdowns, rushing plus receiving yards, or passing yards. The file doesn't say which, so the page reads it from the averages in the file and lets you change it. The picks are the three with the most expected. Touchdowns come from DraftKings' Anytime TD price; the contest also counts return and defensive TDs, which that price may not.
Tiers. No salary: DraftKings puts the players in tiers and a lineup takes one from each, from two games or more, scored as Classic. The pick is the most projected points in each tier; the next best is shown beside it, since a close call is close to a coin flip.
Not handled. Madden contests (simulated games: real stats and prices say nothing about them; the page warns when a file's games aren't on the NFL schedule), and Snake drafts (picked live, nothing to upload). Backup quarterbacks are not projected unless DraftKings prices them: their own numbers come from games they started in someone's place.
What a cash game costs. DraftKings keeps about 10-15% of the entry fees, more than the margin on a bet. A lineup has to be clearly better than the field's to come out ahead over time.
Tracking a lineup. "Track this lineup" keeps the lineup on screen to follow its games live; it also shows on Fantasy Bets and the dashboard, and goes to your other devices with "Sync devices". It is scored from ESPN's box score by DraftKings' rules for the contest's style. Not counted, as ESPN doesn't give them: a blocked kick (+2 to a defense), a defense's two-point return, and an offensive fumble recovered for a touchdown. They are rare, but in a game with one the total here will be a few points under DraftKings'. The entry fee and winnings you type in are kept for your own record only.