How Do You Create A NFL DFS Lineup On DraftKings?

Joseph Kata, Last Updated: June 7th, 2021 - Daily Fantasy Sports Best US DFS Sites

DraftKings is one of the most well-known and longstanding daily fantasy sports brands out there, along with FanDuel. The two have achieved huge success while being competitors since the launch of the NJ online sports betting market.

They’re both synonymous with Daily Fantasy Sports so it stands to reason that if you’re new to it, you’d want to go with a proven brand that makes it easy for you to get started. With the NFL season quickly approaching, we at BonusSeeker want to give you all the information you need to know if playing DFS on DraftKings Sportsbook. 

How Do I Play NFL DraftKings Daily Fantasy Sports?

DraftKings offers salary-based picks with a cap every day or week you pick your teams, depending on what sport you’re entering. There are a few basic steps you go through after signing up with DK that is universal no matter what you’re playing:

• Choose the contest within the sport you’d like to enter
• Try to build the best team for that day/week based on performance and value in order to stay at or under the salary cap
• Submit your roster and watch as you move up (or down) the leaderboard as the games are played
• Hopefully collect your winnings!

These are the most basic steps to take in order to play, but we’ll go into some NFL DFS tips in a little bit. Since the season is coming up, we’ll focus on standard NFL daily fantasy sports lineups. 

In fact, if you use our DraftKings promo code, you will be taken straight to the “Create A Lineup” page to help you get started quickly. But don’t worry, if you aren’t ready, you can still sign up by clicking on the “log in/sign up” tab at the top right-hand corner.

Click To Make Your Winning NFL Lineup

Building A DraftKings NFL Lineup

Constructing a lineup for the NFL is a bit easier than most other sports. For example, the variables in terms of opponent and gameplay only change once a week and you usually can keep track of injuries better and fit in spot starters for better value.

There are six positions that you need to fill in order to have a complete roster:

• Quarterback
• Running Back (2)
• Wide Receiver (3)
• Tight End
• FLEX (any running back, wide receiver, or tight end)
• Defense

This gives you a total of nine picks you need to make, to fit under the $50,000 salary cap; an average of $5,555 per player. This means you can’t just load your lineup with all the top-ranked players at each position. You have to craft a roster going after both strength and value. Here are some NFL DFS tips that may help you.

NFL DFS Strategies – The Winning Edge

• Pay Attention To Trends And Fantasy PPG Averages

It’s hard to keep track of hundreds of players coast-to-coast to know all the trends and stats. That’s why DraftKings does it for you with a quick Fantasy Points Per Game stat that gives you their average per game across the season. That’s an easy way to see who is doing well and who is not, but what happens if it’s Week 9 and that high average is because they had an amazing first four weeks, but have been trending downward ever since?

That’s why it’s important to see what they’ve done lately. Are they on a cold streak? Have they been terrible against this particular opponent? Have their targets or amount of rushes gone down in the past few weeks? Check the game log for each player and find out exactly what they’ve been doing.

• Quarterbacks Are The Best DFS Performers

No matter where they’re ranked, usually Quarterbacks are the most expensive players to add to your roster. Why? Because they earn teams the most points out of any position. It’s ideal to spend money on one of the top QBs unless there’s a solid value pick on an injury replacement or a quarterback facing an opponent with a weak defense or passing defense overall. Which brings us to…

• Look Out For Strong Teams Against Weak Opponents To Stack Lineups

As the 2019 NFL schedule progresses, you begin to see some patterns emerge on certain offenses and defenses. If a strong offense is facing a weak defense with a penchant for giving up a ton of yards and touchdowns, you might want to gear your team toward that offensive unit. For example, say a bad Raiders defense is facing the AFC West-rival Chiefs and its up-tempo offense. Picking up Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce and Tyreek Hill may and watching them run up the score in your contest might be the smart play. 

• Keep An Eye Out For Key Injuries

Injuries at any position are something worth noting, but you want to especially take note of Running Backs and Wide Receivers who might replace someone who gets a lot of touches or targets that wind up not being a big hit to your salary cap. It’s an easier way to get value if their touches remain similar to what the WR1 or RB1 gets, especially if they get even one touchdown.

How Does DraftKings NFL Scoring Work?

Here is a breakdown of how scoring is done on Offense and Defense, so you can make an informed decision while constructing your lineup.

So there are the basics to help get you started with constructing a DFS roster for football at DraftKings. There are many different strategies that players have, and there are even NFL lineup optimizers out there you can use, but it’s important to know the basics out there so you can make an informed decision no matter what route you choose to become a winner.

NFL Betting Online

If you are looking to place real money NFL bets online we got you covered. Our football expert has written an in-depth guide on betting on NFL online we highly recommend to folks who want to move fro DFS to real sports betting. We not only include NFL betting strategies and handicapping tips but break wagering down for playoffs as well as for the Super Bowl.

ABOUT Joseph Kata

Joseph is a contributor at BonusSeeker after working many years as a site manager for MLB and NHL.com. Over the last 15 years, he has written for sports, betting, real estate, and dating sites. While one of his passions is delivering quality, usable content, he is also passionate about his family and sports.