The playoffs are here, and that means fantasy football needs are different. I’m approaching things this weekend from a roster construction standpoint for DFS.
In an effort to touch on the highest number of players, I’m looking at the Divisional Round 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.
Stacking drives DFS. There are variations of how you do it, and I’ll show you some of that, but at a base level, it (the art of rostering players from the same team/game in an effort to build in correlation) is at the core of DFS lineups that find themselves at the top of leaderboards.
We all have opinions on how these games will play out; that’s the beauty of this game. I’ve covered a handful of team/game stacks to support you where you’re comfortable. There is obvious overlap between the rosters, as I routinely land on cheaper options. Consider me something of your information buffet: pick what you like and build a plate of profit that is all your own!
Buffalo Bills Divisional Round DFS Lineup Stack
QB | Josh Allen (at DEN)
RB | James Cook (at DEN)
RB | RJ Harvey (vs BUF)
WR | Puka Nacua (at CHI)
WR | Khalil Shakir (at DEN)
WR | Jayden Higgins (at NE)
TE | Jake Tonges (at SEA)
Flex | Kayshon Boutte (vs. HOU)
D/ST | Los Angeles Rams (at CHI)
To do the Josh Allen thing, I think you either have to lean all the way into his teammates or all the way out. On a short slate, I think you’re threading a thin needle to the latter, so let’s focus on the former.
Some are worried about the altitude in DEN & whether Buffalo should travel early or not.
In the 48-19 win back in 2020, they traveled their normal time & had no issues.
Allen 28/40 359 yds 2 TD 0 INT – 3 car 33 yds 2 TD
Moss 13 car 81 yds
Diggs 11 rec 147 yds
Beas 8 rec 112 yds pic.twitter.com/mke4Ve1FmL— Renaissance Man (@Billsfandiehard) January 15, 2026
In the win over the Jags last weekend, Khalil Shakir (12 catches) was the only Bill with more than three receptions, and James Cook was the only running back with a carry (Ray Davis losing a fumble only helps this usage pattern gain credibility in my eyes).
The Denver defense is great, that much we know, and that’s likely to make a triple Bill stack unique in a major way. How often do you get to roster a talent like this with a condensed touch share at this rate and little concern about duplicating your lineup?
The story we are telling here is one of RJ Harvey hitting for a big play early, and I’m fine with that. Buffalo’s run defense has been a serious weakness all season long, and things didn’t look fixed against the Jags over the weekend with Travis Etienne and Bhayshul Tuten picking up 118 yards on their 14 carries.
It’s hard to feel great about volume at the running position as a whole on this slate, so betting on a lead back that Sean Payton has put in position to thrive in valuable spots this season (12 TDs on 193 touches) is a perfectly reasonable approach.
Our script in Denver is expensive (especially with Puka Nacua in the lineup), and that requires some creativity down the board.
Tonges has run 25+ routes on six occasions this season, and he’s cleared 11.5 DK points in four of them. I think he’s good chalk this week, and because I think we are already off the beaten path with our approach to the Bills, I’m receptive to the idea of adding a popular piece.
The Jayden Higgins play qualifies as such should Nico Collins (head) sit, but even if that’s not the case, the rookie has scored 12.4% over fantasy expectations this season and would likely avoid Christian Gonzalez.
I like him if we know the role is going to be there, and assuming ownership pivots, I might like him even more as a game-theory option if Collins suits up.
New England Patriots Divisional Round DFS Lineup Stack
QB | Drake Maye (vs. HOU)
RB | RJ Harvey (vs BUF)
RB | Woody Marks (at NE)
WR | Jaxon Smith-Njigba (vs. SF)
WR | Khalil Shakir (at DEN)
WR | Luther Burden III (vs. LAR)
TE | Hunter Henry (vs. HOU)
Flex | Kenneth Walker III (vs. SF)
D/ST | Seattle Seahawks (vs. SF)
Building out AFC East-centric lineups is difficult. In part because they both have a superhero masquerading as a QB who can get any teammate involved while also doing it all on his own.
For this build, give me the tight end and move on. We just saw the Texans delete DK Metcalf from the equation after a pair of early receptions. Their game with the Steelers was tight for the first 30 minutes, and in that time, the majority of Aaron Rodgers’ passes traveled less than five yards downfield.
READ MORE: Caleb Williams’ Fantasy Outlook: DFS Play Now, 2026 Fade?
Drake Maye is not Rodgers, obviously, but their WRs are inconsistent, and Derek Stingley Jr. is going to be circling whoever Houston identifies as the most dangerous receiver on a given play. Henry’s red-zone target rate is pacing for his highest full-season mark since 2017, and we’ve seen him score in three of his past four games.
Even if he doesn’t find paydirt, Henry ranked sixth among qualified TEs in aDOT and third in yards per catch (12.8). As long as Maye runs in the scores and Henry competes with his teammates for the lead in catches/receiving yards, this stack could profit while opening us up in some different areas.
The Seattle duo is a unique pairing, so let’s address that.
I feel strongly that Kenneth Walker III is the right Seahawks running back for this build. Yes, I like him to lead this backfield (47.5% of Seattle’s first-quarter touches over his past six games, up from 31.7% in his previous six), but I’ve watched this team enough to know that I could be wrong in that regard.
What I feel good about is the source of the usage. If we put Zach Charbonnet in this roster, we’d be banking on him soaking up red-zone usage and thus making it a little more difficult for Jaxon Smith-Njigba to get home. With Walker, we are backing the running back tracking in a positive direction, and the one who is the far better bet to score from distance.
We aren’t going to get elite volume from either of Seattle’s RB duo, and that has me more likely to try to get ahead of the big play.
49ers Rush Defense Splits vs. RBs
Weeks 1-11: 2.60 yards allowed per carry after contact (No. 5)
Weeks 12-18: 3.45 yards allowed per carry after contact (No. 28)
I’m going to listen to what the team is telling us about their early usage plans lately, and if Walker gets to put pressure on this defense 17 times (his average touch count over the past three games), I like where we sit.
Seattle Seahawks Divisional Round DFS Lineup Stack
QB | Sam Darnold (vs. SF)
RB | James Cook (at DEN)
RB | Kyren Williams (at CHI)
WR | Jaxon Smith-Njigba (vs. SF)
WR | Jauan Jennings (at SEA)
WR | Luther Burden III (vs. LAR)
TE | AJ Barner (vs. SF)
Flex | Blake Corum (at CHI)
D/ST | Los Angeles Rams (at CHI)
This might be the most boring lineup you can reasonably create, but “boring” doesn’t mean “wrong.” Heck, it often is more tied to low ownership than you’d assume because there’s the thought that little upside is available.
The Seattle stack isn’t going to be popular, I feel good about that. Most people are going to feel fine about getting exposure to this offense through Smith-Njigba and be on their way.
But if we say the lack of health in San Francisco is finally going to lead to their demise, why not lean in fully?
Since Week 9, the JSN/AJ Barner tandem has seen 60% of Seattle end zone targets, and at his price point, a score basically gets the tight end home (3-4 catches in five of his past six games). If he can get us 12+ PPR points, I think we can feel good about this stack paying for itself and getting us a leg up on the competition.
Twice this season (Michael Wilson in Week 11 and Luther Burden in Week 17) has a receiver cleared 30 DK points against the Niners, and another three times has a wideout scored at least 22 DK points. Smith-Njigba has nine double-digit target games under his belt this season and offers a great floor against a secondary that he’s already torched for 208 yards across eight quarters this season.
Your eye likely goes directly to the Rams RB duo, and I don’t blame you.
That’s aggressive, and that’s why this is more of a GPP lineup than one I’d take into a head-to-head event against my brother.
In Weeks 13-18, the Rams ran the ball on 52.7% of their offensive snaps when up by at least three points, a nice little boost from their 49.4% rate in their five games prior. Yes, that’s a slight edge, but we are talking about a four-game slate where differentiating is a struggle.
MORE: PFSN’s FREE DFS Lineup Optimizer
During the regular season, the Bears ranked No. 21 in EPA against the run, No. 27 in success rate against RBs, and No. 30 in RB yards per carry gained before contact. Opponents have left the door open for them by turning the ball over (4.3% INT rate by the Bears this regular season, the highest since the 2019 Patriots), and Caleb Williams has stepped through.
Here me out: what if the sharp Rams refuse to put the ball in harm’s way?
This is as much a game-theory play as anything. The story we are telling is a Rams blowout win, and that’s why I’ve included their D/ST in this build: a reckless Williams can help us pay the bills (we just saw Rodgers self-destruct at the end of a blowout and allow the opposing D/ST to pile up the points).
This also gives us leverage on what I expect will be an ultra-popular Matthew Stafford/Nacua build. Every point our running backs get is one that that stack can’t, and even if Stafford were to benefit from a screen pass to either RB resulting in a big play, we are making out better point-wise on that play.
Chicago Bears Divisional Round DFS Stack
QB | Caleb Williams (vs. LAR)
RB | Christian McCaffrey (at SEA)
RB | Zach Charbonnet (vs. SF)
WR | Puka Nacua (at CHI)
WR | Luther Burden III (vs. LAR)
WR | Rashid Shaheed (vs. SF)
TE | Hunter Henry (vs. HOU)
Flex | Dalton Schultz (at NE)
D/ST | Seattle Seahawks (vs. SF)
Now it’s time to get creative. I’m not a fan of Williams, and I don’t expect his price to settle for redraft purposes next season, but that doesn’t mean we run scared in the short term while he and Ben Johnson are clearly locked in a groove.
The targets among the receivers were evenly distributed in the comeback win over the Packers. Still, after seeing Burden beat them for 36% of receiving yards, Green Bay made a concentrated effort to slow him (zero catches on the scoring half of the field).
Combine that with the historic Colston Loveland game, and while I don’t think Williams will be a unique QB to roster, stacking him in a lineup that doesn’t involve Loveland will be a bit on the contrarian side of things.
I think we have to tie Nacua with any Bears stack, so that’s where I elected to spend up. If we are going to tell the story of Chicago putting points on the board, how do you not roster maybe the best receiver in the sport?
Nacua’s target share floor since the middle of November is 27.8%, giving him a remarkable floor to complement the 42.9% share that we saw him earn last week in Carolina.
Puka Nacua energy ONLY. 😤 pic.twitter.com/eLrweN5Iem
— Sunday Night Football on NBC (@SNFonNBC) January 15, 2026
The seemingly clunk part of this lineup would be the Christian McCaffrey/Seahawks options pulling in different directions, but I don’t think that’s as off the radar as it may look at a glance.
McCaffrey is game script agnostic in a way we haven’t seen from a running back since LaDanian Tomlinson, and that creates some interesting build options. For the Seattle D/ST to pay off, we need turnovers and splash plays. If that happens, doesn’t McCaffrey’s role in a PPR setting (129 targets this season, 6+ in each of his past four games and three double-digit games this season) grow?
Casual players will avoid playing an offensive player facing their defense, and that’s obviously not a bad idea, but it’s more of a full slate rule I’d follow. In something like this, CMC coil catches seven passes and scores in a game where the Seahawks D/ST pays off their price tag with a handful of sacks and forcing multiple turnovers.
Neither of these pieces will be unique in their own right, but combining forces allows us to take a different look at things.
