Papy is a full-time DFS player, with a focus on high-stakes tourneys, and with hundreds of thousands in lifetime profit
Welcome to Papy’s Process! This article will be a change of pace from Papy’s Pieces, which highlighted six players ranging from low to high in DFS price. This season, my goal is to focus on my lineup building process, while giving the OWS family an inside look at the way I make my lineups. My typical betting pattern revolves around my “tighter builds.” For me, that phrase refers to the five lineups where I’ll bet most of my money for the week. My “main lineup” will be in single entry contests, whereas the next four will be spread out in 3-entry max contests. All five of those lineups will also be entered in large field GPPs. My remaining fifteen lineups will be in large field GPPs and 20-entry max contests. I refer to those as “Milly Maker” lineups, which are entered exclusively in large field, small buy-in tournaments. My betting strategy means that my tighter builds will typically determine my weekly profitability, and most of my focus for the week is on those lineups. With that in mind, here is how I’m breaking down the fifth slate.
Week 6 has five games that pique my interest:
I like them for DFS in that order and will target players in those contests for my tighter builds.
The Cowboys have become “that team” whose games we want to target every week for DFS. They have a bad defense, a good offense, and they aren’t afraid to sling the rock. Those are the typical ingredients (think last year’s Bengals) for a team to be a shootout factory. This marks the third week in a row the Cowboys game has been my favorite game environment, and that probably won’t change much throughout the season. Bryce Young ($4,800) is way too cheap for being a QB in the most desirable game environment. He’s only paid off once this season (26 DK points in Week 2), but that’s why he is so affordable. With value tighter than it was through the first five weeks, there is a good chance I’m going to land on Young as my main lineup QB. I want to stack this game, and even though I like Dak Prescott ($6,500), their price gap is too large for QBs playing in the same game. Rico Dowdle ($5,800) was kind to me last week, as was Jake Ferguson ($5,300). They both saw price increases, but I’m not afraid to go back to the well. Tetairoa McMillan ($6,000) is underperforming his usage, but that could change in a pristine matchup. I’m currently looking at Young + Dowdle + Tet + Ferguson as the basis for my main lineup.
The Saints are another team whose game environments are a weekly target, but unlike the Cowboys, they aren’t a good offense. That doesn’t matter when you are always losing and running a million plays. The Saints are a bad offense that plays fast and has poor efficiency numbers. That is totally fine for fantasy purposes and will cause their opponents to consistently get a boost in this matchup. Drake Maye ($5,900) is starting to get more expensive, but he’s priced affordably and has been one of the best fantasy QBs. He’s significantly more expensive than Young, but in a vacuum, I’d rather play Maye. Stefon Diggs ($5,800) has come on the last two weeks, and if he keeps producing like this, his price isn’t going to stay below $6,000 for long. This might be your last chance to roster him at a discount. Hunter Henry ($4,300) is priced up because of his early-season performance, but he hasn’t been a big factor since Diggs emerged in Week 4. TreVeyon Henderson ($5,200) has a chance to see more work with Antonio Gibson hitting the IR and Rhamondre Stevenson ($5,300) struggling to hold onto the football. Henderson is a “play it before you see it” guy who is going to break out one of these weeks. My favorite way to stack this game is Maye + Henderson + Diggs + Olave. That stack will likely be the basis of one of my tighter builds.
