Week 5 DraftKings & FanDuel Winning GPP Lineup Review
In this space each week, I will review the winning lineups from the DraftKings Millionaire Maker and the FanDuel Sunday Million. Analyzing top lineups can help to tease out lineup-building strategies and offer clues on how you could have landed on a similar team.
DraftKings Week 5 Millionaire Winning Lineup
Ownership
| Week | QB | RB1 | RB2 | WR1 | WR2 | WR3 | TE | Flex | Flex Pos | DEF | Cumulative |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 9.1% | 14.2% | 9.3% | 27.1% | 12.5% | 11.2% | 17.2% | 7.9% | WR | 3.0% | 111.5% |
| 2 | 3.6% | 10.4% | 8.4% | 21.3% | 19.7% | 14.4% | 9.2% | 6.3% | WR | 1.8% | 95.1% |
| 3 | 2.3% | 16.0% | 13.9% | 16.9% | 8.8% | 5.6% | 2.6% | 1.4% | WR | 15.7% | 83.2% |
| 4 | 6.8% | 38.0% | 15.2% | 15.4% | 11.4% | 5.7% | 19.8% | 6.1% | RB | 3.3% | 121.7% |
| 5 | 12.1% | 14.1% | 13.9% | 27.0% | 13.4% | 7.5% | 7.8% | 9.6% | RB | 22.7% | 128.1% |
| AVG | 6.8% | 18.5% | 12.1% | 21.5% | 13.2% | 8.9% | 11.3% | 6.3% | 9.3% | 107.9% |
No player in this lineup had ownership below 7.5%. Since the beginning of 2019, only three Millionaire winners didn't have a sub-7% player and it was the first winner to do so since Week 17 of 2020
There were only three players in this lineup with rostered rates below 10%. Every Millionaire in 2021 except one rostered at least four players in fewer than 10% of lineups.
If it feels like the chalk is hitting more often than usual this year, you're probably being overly influenced by 2021 results. Consider Millionaire winners with cumulative ownership of at least 120%, which we've had the last two weeks. From 2019–2021, there were 15 such winners—only one of those came in 2021.
Stacks
| Week | Primary Stack | Secondary Stack | Third Stack | Correlated Players |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | QB/TE | RB/Opp WR | WR/Opp WR | 6 |
| 2 | QB/WR/WR/Opp TE | 4 | ||
| 3 | QB/TE | RB/Opp WR | 4 | |
| 4 | QB/WR/WR/Opp RB/Opp WR/Opp TE | 6 | ||
| 5 | QB/WR | RB/WR/TE | WR/Opp WR | 7 |
While the primary stack was just a skinny stack, the seven correlated players in this lineup were the most by any Millionaire winner so far this year.
Of the 35 winners from 2020–2021, seven of them used seven or more correlated players.
This was just the fifth time since the beginning of 202 that a Millionaire winner used more than two players in a secondary, non-quarterback stack.
Flex
For the second time in as many weeks, the Millionaire winners rostered a third running back. While 30% of the field flexed a running back, 44% of top-1% lineups used three running backs.
Leverage
Josh Allen had the second-highest ownership of any quarterback in the Millionaire but this lineup paired Allen with Gabe Davis, the third most popular wide receiver on his own team.
Tom Brady, Mike Evans, and Chris Godwin were three of six players with a rostered rate of at least 20%. Rather than leaning into all three, this week’s winner paired Godwin with two less-popular teammates and made a unique combo of a three-man non-quarterback stack.
Breece Hall was a price pivot off of Jeff Wilson, who had the highest ownership projection of any running back on the slate.
FanDuel Week 5 Sunday Million Winning Lineup
Ownership
| Week | QB | RB1 | RB2 | WR1 | WR2 | WR3 | TE | Flex | Flex Pos | DEF | Cumulative |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 9.9% | 17.7% | 9.1% | 17.4% | 12.6% | 6.2% | 14.5% | 1.2% | RB | 2.8% | 91.4% |
| 2 | 3.0% | 7.9% | 2.8% | 9.9% | 6.4% | 5.9% | 8.7% | 0.5% | WR | 4.6% | 49.7% |
| 3 | 4.4% | 15.0% | 5.0% | 15.6% | 5.6% | 4.2% | 4.1% | 1.9% | RB | 6.6% | 62.4% |
| 4 | 2.2% | 31.2% | 12.8% | 11.7% | 7.6% | 7.6% | 20.1% | 3.9% | RB | 4.8% | 101.9% |
| 5 | 17.8% | 17.4% | 13.0% | 22.7% | 14.7% | 0.9% | 3.8% | 6.3% | RB | 4.6% | 101.2% |
| AVG | 7.5% | 17.8% | 8.5% | 15.5% | 9.4% | 5.0% | 10.2% | 2.8% | 4.7% | 81.3% |
Three players in this lineup were in at least 17% of lineups but the big differentiator was Donovan Peoples-Jones at 0.9%. It isn’t always necessary to have this contrarian of a play—of the 57 Sunday Million winners since 2019, 13 others had a sub-1% player.
Stacks
| Week | Primary Stack | Secondary Stack | Third Stack | Correlated Players |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | QB/TE | 2 | ||
| 2 | QB/WR/WR/Opp TE | RB/Opp WR | 6 | |
| 3 | QB/TE | RB/WR/DEF | RB/WR | 7 |
| 4 | QB/RB/WR/TE/Opp WR | RB/WR | 7 | |
| 5 | QB/WR/WR | RB/TE | 5 |
Stacking three players with at least 14% ownership can make it tough to differentiate from the field but there was evidence that Josh Allen was in a rare situation, regardless of how popular he was expected to be
Flex
A three-running-back build continues to dominate on FanDuel, with the fourth winner in five weeks flexing a running back. This should balance out some by season’s end—since Week 1 of 2019, 38% of Sunday Million winners have flexed a wide receiver.
Leverage
Peoples-Jones helped go against the grain in terms of roster construction—only one wide receiver priced below $6,000 projected for double-digit ownership.
Breece Hall served as a price pivot off of Jeff Wilson, who projected for nearly 30% ownership.
The top three tight ends, in terms of salary, were priced between $5,500 and $6,100. Taysom Hill served as a salary swivel off all three.
