Vanek's Views: DraftKings NFL DFS Tips for Divisional Round WRs

by Jordan Vanek (vanekjordan) Last Updated 2025-01-16 19:53:18 Premium Content Part of the product NFL DFS

Using his experience as a former scout and staff member at Central Florida under Josh Heupel, Jordan Vanek takes an in-depth look at the upcoming NFL DFS main slate on DraftKings. Formerly of The 33rd Team and 4for4 Fantasy Football, Jordan will do a deep dive into the best ways to attack the wide receiver position to help you climb the leaderboards.

We had a slate of blowouts during Wild Card Weekend, which skews the data in many ways for what we are looking for and creates an intriguing Divisional Round slate. A lot of the data from this past weekend’s games becomes useless for specific situations, such as with the Buffalo Bills. They had no reason to open up their offense against the Broncos. They had one drive go for under 30 yards, and it was the one where they were taking knees to end the game. They also had four drives over five minutes long that went at least 59 yards. They utterly dominated the Broncos and had no reason to use their passing offense normally.

A player like Amari Cooper becomes so intriguing to me this weekend because he hasn’t been a full-time player. He missed practice for personal reasons last week, and now he’s a player who wasn’t part of their first matchup. In this piece, I will attempt to blend my personal analysis with what I believe these teams will do to adjust, along with some statistical analysis to back it up. My hope is to blend it all into the perfect way to look at this slate.

A reminder to an eye on our NFL weather page to see how our Chief Meteorologist, Kevin Roth, thinks the weather will impact this weekend’s games. But for now, let’s get into my views on this loaded Divisional Round slate!

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Vanek’s Views: DraftKings NFL DFS Tips for Divisional Round WRs

Stacks

Jayden Daniels ($7,000, QB, Washington Commanders)

Austin Ekeler ($5,100, RB, Washington Commanders)

Terry McLaurin ($6,300, WR, Washington Commanders)

Jahmyr Gibbs ($7,700, RB, Detroit Lions)

Amon-Ra St. Brown ($7,200, WR, Detroit Lions) or Jameson Williams ($6,100, WR, Detroit Lions)

The Lions handled the Vikings in Week 18, and the defense played incredibly well, but this is a different beast. Daniels looked calm, collected, and in control against the Buccaneers. I think he’s ready to perform against a Lions team that’s also very aggressive on 4th downs, making this game my favorite on the slate. We have two teams that are not settling for field goals and attempting to always chase points.

The two players I’m choosing to stack with Daniels are Ekeler and McLaurin, and I have a few reasons for this. For starters, Ekeler looked healthy last week, and pass-catching RBs have given the Lions issues this season. I love Ekeler as a unique option on the slate because I think he’s going to provide enough passing game work, which is great for Daniels.

The Lions have also struggled to defend slot WRs this season, and McLaurin has been moved around a lot more than he was earlier in the season. I know Brian Branch and Kerby Joseph will try to bracket McLaurin, but with how aggressive Aaron Glenn has been, I don’t expect that to always be the case. With Daniels’ incredible escapability, I anticipate broken-play deep shots to McLaurin being a key factor in this game.

On the other side, it looks like Gibbs is going to be chalk, and for a good reason with how well he has performed with David Montgomery out of the lineup. Montgomery is “returning,” but I am not sure he’s going to be as involved as he used to be, and I won’t be playing him at all on DraftKings because I think he would have to score twice for him to be viable. It does lessen the need for Gibbs, but in a game stack where I am expecting a lot of points, I will be playing Gibbs and trusting Ekeler and some other options at low pOWN% as my path to being unique.

Now, I want to double-stack with the Lions, and it comes down to choosing between St. Brown and Williams. St. Brown is a bit pricey to fit in, but his ceiling is tremendous. On the other hand, Williams should see plenty of man coverage, and the deep-shot plays will be there if the Lions can protect and establish the rushing game. Additionally, Williams made a significant impact in the playoffs last season with explosive plays, and I expect that to be viable again here. Both are great options, and the decision ultimately comes down to the price point and what you can afford.

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