DFS Optimizer: Customizing the Player Pool

Footballguys has a new DFS Lineup Optimizer!

This article will provide a brief overview of customizing the player pool for your DFS lineups. One thing to note is that DraftKings’ Community Guidelines require two changes to the player pool in order to run a player optimizer, so it is critical that you learn how to change the player pool.

At the end of the article, there is a definitions section which outlines any of the key meanings for some of the terminology utilized in this article.

Sorting the Player Pool

Each of the player pool column headings is sortable. If you click on any of the column headers you will have the ability to sort the player pool on that metric. For example, if you want to sort by ownership projections, scroll over to Own % and click on that header. This will then sort by the ownership projections as long as they have been entered into the system for that week.

Locking a player Into Your Lineups

The optimizer has the ability to lock a player into your lineups which guarantees that this player will be in every lineup build. To do this, click on the lock icon next to a players name. This will ensure that the player will be in 100% of your lineups that you create.

Excluding a player From your Lineups

Conversely, the optimizer has the ability to exclude a player from your lineup pool, which essentially means that this player will not show up in any of your lineup builds. To do this, click on the x icon.

Modifying Projections

There are three sets of projections included in the DFS Lineup Optimizer, they are from David Dodds, Maurile Tremblay, and Sigmund Bloom. The default setting is that they are weighted equally 33% for each. However, the optimizer does have the ability to modify the projections weighting if you want to change those percentages and allows you to fully customize each projector as long as it totals to 100%.

Manually Changing the Projections

If you want to quickly change one of the fastest ways to do that is to click on any of the gray columns (points, upside, exposure). Each of these is completely customizable. To reset any of the projections that you have changed back to the default setting, click on the box that you wish to edit and use the keyboard shortcut by hitting the e key.

Upload Your Own Projections

The lineup optimizer does feature the ability to upload your own projections. To do this, click on the edit/upload button and download the sample template to create the format that the projections need to be in order to upload to the site.

Definitions

Ownership Projections- This is a projection of what percentage of the field will roster each player. This is created by Footballguys staff member Steve Buzzard based off of mid-sized GPP lineups.

Points- This is an aggregate points projection from three Footballguys projectors. Maurile Tremblay, David Dodds, and Sigmund Bloom.

EXP %- This is the highest percentage that a player will show up in your lineup. If you only want a maximum of 10% of a player to be in your lineup, override the percentage to 10%.

H-Val- H-Value represents a true look at the value of a player. Created by Footballguys staff member Dan Hindery, it is calculated by projected points raised to the square root of three, divided by salary (and then multiplied by 2,000).