If you’re looking for Week 6 XFL DFS picks, then you’ve come to the right place. Focusing on Saturday’s Guardians vs. Sea Dragons contest, we’ve analyzed each team’s highest-probability game scripts to assess the most likely outcomes, including which players are in line to thrive more than anticipated or fall short of expectations.
The following two recommended DraftKings lineups (for tournaments, 50/50, or head-to-head competitions) aims to lock in a relatively high floor while maximizing upside. Whatever you decide, good luck.
XFL DFS Considerations
My first national fantasy tournament victory came in 2003 vs. more than 300,000 people. This is what initially got me interested in this business.
Nearly 20 years later, I scored a fifth win by publicly recommending Luis Perez, Abram Smith, Jeff Badet, Charleston Rambo, Cody Latimer, John Lovett, and the Vipers D/ST in last weekend’s DraftKings DFS tournament. If you played this lineup, then you earned a first-place finish out of thousands of competitors.
This result followed a good run to start this XFL season, with four of my previous five recommended lineups hitting between the top 15% and top 1% of tournaments.
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As many of you know, while researching 100+ XFL skill-position players ahead of this season, I drew a few conclusions, which have been applied to each of our DFS slates:
- Quarterback play would be more erratic than in the NFL, with lower ceilings across the board.
- The looseness of running back depth charts made betting on RBs risky.
- Wide receiver depth charts were largely irrelevant, as the opening weeks would determine which supposed No. 1s were actually No. 3s or No. 4s, and which supposed tertiary options were actually target friendly.
The mistake some people make in DFS — as well as fantasy — is chasing points. Look, great players will do great things, sometimes often. But when dealing with DFS salary caps, we can’t lean solely on great players. We also need strong rebound candidates based on matchups and likely usage.
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Perez scored a season-high 25.7 DFS points only a week after it appeared Brett Hundley had passed him on the depth chart. Smith roughly tripled his previous season high of 14.6 points. Rambo and Latimer also enjoyed season highs, while Badet had his best showing since Week 1. Likewise, Lovett had his second-best performance.
Everything had to work out perfectly for this lineup to come through. This is why winning DFS tournaments is so dang hard. We often need to zig when others zag, and hope our zigs pay surprisingly huge dividends.
The following two recommended DFS lineups for the Guardians vs. Sea Dragons follow two realistic game scripts. The first assumes Quinten Dormady’s incredible play last weekend in place of starter Paxton Lynch is a sign of things to come — that Dormady is ready to be an effective XFL quarterback. The second assumes Orlando’s defense once again crumbles, with Seattle’s high-end offense going wild.
Top DraftKings DFS Picks for XFL Week 6
Today, we’re playing DraftKings’ “XFL Showdown,” which includes one QB and five flex players. The following primary lineup includes a few tweaks for the secondary lineup. The hope is that one of these will break through.
QB Quinten Dormady, Guardians ($9,000)
Normally Dormady would cost only $6,000. But we’re putting him in our Captain slot, with some degree of confidence that his Week 5 breakout wasn’t a fluke.
It’s incredible to think that earlier this month, he was wrongly accused of giving away his team’s playbook to opponents, prompting the Guardians to cut him. From my perspective, anyone who can go from slandered “villain” to earned hero in only a few weeks has the mental and emotional fortitude to persevere.
Lineup No. 2 features Ben DiNucci in the Captain slot, costing us a whopping $16,200. The idea here is that if Dormady flops, DiNucci has the upside to make his steep cost worthwhile.
QB Ben DiNucci, Sea Dragons ($8,800)
The best XFL passer in terms of yards also leads the league in turnovers. It’s a rough combination. But as always, few QBs have DiNucci’s ceiling, in no small part because his receiving corps is elite across every key metric. Orlando’s defense has been an absolute mess. This is a get-right game for the continually hit-or-miss DiNucci.
MORE: Top 50 XFL Players 2023
Lineup No. 2 pairs DiNucci (as Captain) with Josh Gordon ($9,600). After a couple of moderately quiet weeks versus two tough defenses (Houston and San Antonio), Gordon has massive bust-out potential this weekend.
WR Jahcour Pearson, Sea Dragons ($10,600)
So expensive, and so worth it. Some competitors might be scared off by Jahcour Pearson’s steadily declining production, which hit 21.5 DFS points in Week 1, but only 13.2 last week.
But you know what I see? I see a guy who leads the league with 48 targets and 430 receiving yards. Who cares that Pearson has only one touchdown? He’s getting the opportunities. The points will come.
Lineup No. 2 also includes Pearson. Enough said. I’m all in.
WR Cody Latimer, Guardians ($7,600)
Last week, I wrote, “I think Cody Latimer has been in all six of my DFS lineups this season.” Latimer’s been one of the most underpriced DFS receivers for weeks. Not anymore. But he’s still a mainstay for me, at least until or unless he falls on the depth chart. Latimer belongs in both DFS lineups.
WR Charleston Rambo, Guardians ($8,000)
The Guardians’ prized offensive draft pick in the fall has become a prized offensive asset. Great to see for a team that needed receiving help outside of Latimer. Since this primary lineup assumes Dormady will find success, I’m choosing Rambo over comparably priced Seattle standouts like Morgan Ellison or Blake Jackson.
For lineup No. 2, investing big in DiNucci as our Captain means we have very little salary cap space remaining. Let’s roll with Eli Rogers ($2,600), hoping that his 2-3 catches per game translate to a score in this one.
WR Damion Willis, Sea Dragons ($3,000)
Finally, let’s go with Damion Willis in the final slot of both lineups. He’s coming off his best game of the season, which might seem like point chasing. Instead, I see a guy who could get extra run in a blowout, or 6+ points if things go a bit sour. All told, Willis gives us the financial flexibility to take high-ceiling players elsewhere.
