A six-game Wild Card slate means fewer options and higher ownership concentrations. That makes roster construction more important than ever, especially when you’re building around the most popular quarterback on the board.
With the biggest names at quarterback sitting at home, Josh Allen is the clear DFS favorite, but building around him requires precision.
That said, in an effort to touch on the highest number of players, I’m looking at the Wild Card DFS slate as a whole. Some of the ideas and research shared below can be repurposed into Showdown or Single Day slates, but content for those niche spots wouldn’t cover the larger schedule that is most popular among casual players.
Josh Allen Wild Card DFS Stack
QB | Josh Allen (at JAX)
RB | Travis Etienne Jr. (vs. BUF)
RB | Kyren Williams (at CAR)
WR | Nico Collins (at PIT)
WR | Tetairoa McMillan (vs. LAR)
WR | Jayden Reed (at CHI)
TE | Dalton Kincaid (at JAX)
Flex | Kenneth Gainwell (vs. HOU)
D/ST | Philadelphia Eagles (vs. SF)
With Lamar Jackson, Patrick Mahomes, and Joe Burrow sitting at home, it’s easy to fall in love with the fantasy profile of Josh Allen.
He’s cleared 23 fantasy points in the majority of his games this season, gets to play in a warm-weather game that is projected to be tight, and owns the highest total on the board. I get it.
MORE: PFSN’s FREE DFS Lineup Optimizer
If we are being honest, this isn’t a direction I see myself landing very often. It’s not that Allen can’t produce; he obviously can, but that he’s a favorite to lead the position in ownership, and that gives you little room for error elsewhere.
To get the big Allen lineup right, I think you have to throw the dart correctly on which teammate he brings along for the ride.
PPR Details In Josh Allen’s Top 4 Fantasy Games
- Dalton Kincaid: 17.0 PPG
- One DNP, over 14 PPR points in the three games
- James Cook: 16.6 PPG
- Two over 20 and two under 14
- Khalil Shakir: 8.5 PPG
- One dud, 9.6-12.4 points for the other three
- Keon Coleman: 10.8 PPG
- One DNP, 25.2 points in Week 1, under four points in the others
In my mind’s eye, those Kincaid numbers are far better than I remember. Allen has pulled him along in his explosion spots, and I think that’s a pretty viable way to free up salary in a different way to leverage your Allen pick in a reasonably unique way.
The tight end position is difficult to fill league-wide, and the playoffs are going to be no different. I think we see the TE ownership gravitate toward the more traditional passers. That is, those in on Trevor Lawrence might scoop up Brenton Strange shares.
The Holy Trinity of the Bills offense is Josh Allen, James Cook & Dalton Kincaid. Let them work on Sunday #BUFvsJAX pic.twitter.com/EaDIHX6fyq
— Renaissance Man (@Billsfandiehard) January 8, 2026
I could see Justin Herbert stans rostering Oronde Gadsden, C.J. Stroud people going with Dalton Schultz, or those dreaming of a potential pairing of Colston Loveland and Caleb Williams.
By stacking Kincaid with Allen, you’re different from naked Allen builds, something that I expect to be more popular than what we have, and you position yourself opposite of a star in James Cook (every completion from Allen to Kincaid is a point that Buffalo’s starting RB doesn’t have access to).
Take it a step further, and you’ll see that Dawson Knox has nine catches across those three spike-Allen games in which Kincaid was active. What if that usage comes our way?
Travis Etienne as a Josh Allen Stack Bring-Back
For the bring back, I want a single piece that is game script agnostic. Travis Etienne has cleared 1,000 rushing yards with at least 35 catches in three of his four professional seasons, a level of versatility that the Jags have weaponized since the bye to the tune of 18.5 touches per game.
For our purposes, more important than the high touch count is the fact that 4.2 of those looks are coming inside of the opponents’ 20-yard line (37.5% of Jacksonville’s red zone touches over that stretch).
Since Week 12, 80.1% of Etienne’s rush yards have come after contact (Weeks 1-11: 67%), a level of hard-nosed running that I like to exploit a Bills defense that ranks No. 24 in EPA against running backs, No. 25 in RB rush TD rate, and No. 27 in RB yards per carry.
MORE:Â Wild Card Fantasy Rankings for Every Position
If this game works away from the home team, their bellcow back has seven games with at least three receptions, and Liam Coen has shown the ability over the past two months to get Etienne out in space as a pass catcher.
Nico Collins and Kenneth Gainwell as the Skinny Stack Within
The Houston Texans made it clear what they think of Nico Collins, with him being the only starter they rested in Week 18. He has six games this season with four deep targets, and while he hasn’t scored on such a pass since September, his odds of finding the painted area increase if Pittsburgh is anywhere near as vulnerable downfield as they were last week.
Yes, it’ll be a different game plan (Woody Marks isn’t Derrick Henry), but the talent difference between Collins and Zay Flowers is great, and the slightest miscommunication could result in a splash play that dictates the game environment.
On the other side, I’m banking on being right, something that you have to do at some level in order to build a winner this time of year, where the number of different lineups lessens.
If Houston can take an early lead (ideally via a Collins score or two), this is a Kenneth Gainwell spot. The team voted him as their MVP, and we saw some of that on Sunday night with a critical touchdown and a near 2-to-1 snap edge over Jaylen Warren when Pittsburgh was trailing.
- Jahmyr Gibbs: 59
- Kenneth Gainwell: 51
- Bijan Robinson: 49
What are those, you ask? They are the three running backs with 45+ targets since Week 11. That stretch includes good and bad Aaron Rodgers, wins and losses, games with and without DK Metcalf.
Given the price tag on Collins, if we airball on him, this lineup is drawing thin anyway, so why not double down with the Gainwell piece as a bring-back?