With the 2026 NFL season right around the corner, and considering myself a bit of a Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) guru, I wanted to share some tips for playing DraftKings (DK) DFS contests.

I'm someone who only plays DraftKings because I prefer their scoring system, which awards one point per reception. In my opinion, point per reception (PPR) scoring makes projections easier because it's much easier to project a player's volume and reception total than it is to predict whether a player will score a touchdown.

I'm also a big believer in playing only cash contests. I understand the allure of the massive payouts in large-field tournaments, but in my opinion, you're essentially playing the lottery in those types of contests.

Unless you're entering the maximum number of lineups, you're at a significant disadvantage in large prize-pool contests. DraftKings allows users to enter up to 150 lineups in many contests, which is exactly what professional DFS players do. They use formulas, projections, algorithms, and multiple lineups to maximize their chances of finding the right combination.

It's much easier to make a profit in contests where everyone is limited to one entry. Especially when you're comparing that to entering one or two lineups against players who have 150 different lineups competing against you.

For me, the goal isn't to hit the lottery. It's to put myself in the best possible position to consistently make money.

Let's dive into some tips that can help you win money in your DFS contests this season!

2026 DFS Tips & Strategies - DraftKings Tips that Never Go Out of Style

Sync your Fantasy Football leagues with our League Hub FREE for a week 👆

Spending Up at TE

We've seen players like Trey McBride and Brock Bowers become the number one targets in their teams' passing offenses in recent years. 

Yet DraftKings rarely prices the Bowers and McBrides of the world as expensive as the top wide receivers on a slate.

That creates an opportunity to roster a tight end who could see just as many expected targets as the top WRs at a lower price, leaving more salary for your remaining positions. 

Playing Bully TE Lineups

Tight ends continue to grow their roles across the league's passing games, which is why I've talked about the value of spending up for the top-targeted TEs most weeks. But don't be afraid to double-tap TE when building your DraftKings lineups.

You can play a Bowers or McBride in the TE position and then put another tight end in your FLEX. For example, on the Week 1 DraftKings slate, Dallas Goedert at $4.1K would be a great value to add to your FLEX alongside Bowers or McBride at TE.

Over the last two years, in games when A.J. Brown has not been in the Eagles' lineup, Goedert averaged six targets with a 25% target-per-route-run rate.

The wide receivers in that same price range in Week 1 are Jerry Jeudy, Dontayvion Wicks and rookie Omar Cooper Jr. The running backs at this price are backups. Goedert stood out as one of the best values in that range while also offering the highest ceiling.

The important thing is not to get caught up in positional labels. If a tight end is a better play than the WRs and RBs available at the same salary, there's no reason you shouldn't put him in your FLEX.

You Always Punt on Defense

I understand how appealing it can be to spend up on defense, especially when a top defense is facing a bad offense. But I believe it's almost always the wrong move.

Defense is a position where scoring is heavily influenced by randomness. Turnovers are extremely difficult to predict, and defensive touchdowns are even harder to project. Outside of sacks, those are the plays that create a significant portion of a defense's DraftKings scoring.

Last year, 22 teams averaged just 0.1 defensive touchdowns per game, while even the top defenses were only around 0.3 per game. That level of variance isn't something I'm willing to spend a significant salary on.

I always spend down on defenses in DFS. When you open the DraftKings app, go to the bottom four or five defenses in salary, usually somewhere around $2.5K or lower, and pick the one you like the most.

The extra $500-$1K you save by doing that is much better spent on offensive skill positions. I'd rather use that salary to increase the ceiling of my lineup than pay for a defense whose biggest scoring plays are difficult to predict.

Don't Hate on Double-Up Contests 

I talked at the start of this article about the allure of multi-entry contest prize pools, but I still can't understand why DFS Double-Ups are treated like the red-headed stepchild of DFS contests.

Sure, the most you can win in a Double-Up is twice your entry fee. But think about how rare it is to find an NFL wager at even money rather than laying juice on one side or the other.

In a Double-Up, all you have to do is score more points than half the field to cash. That's a pretty straightforward proposition—especially when you're using a site like Optimus Fantasy, with strong projection tools to help build your lineups.

You're not trying to beat the entire field. You're just trying to finish in the top half. And that makes Double-Ups one of the simplest, most underrated ways to play DFS.

Stacking and Double Stacking 

This is one of the oldest strategies in DFS, and for good reason. By pairing a quarterback with one or more of his pass catchers, a strong performance from the QB can potentially give you double the production when he connects with a teammate in your lineup.

There's a reason this strategy is still recommended today. For this tip, I want to focus specifically on the double stack.

For me, every double stack starts with a QB and his top target, preferably against a bad secondary. In my opinion, there's no reason to play a QB and two of his pass catchers without including the clear No. 1 target. That's just common sense.

From there, I like adding a second pass catcher who comes at a lower price. Leaving considerable salary for selecting the rest of your lineup. 

Maybe that's a third-down back facing a defense that gives up a lot of receptions to running backs. Or it could be a low-priced tight end. As I mentioned earlier, there are almost always bargain TEs available, like Dallas Goedert in Week 1. In that case, a Hurts double stack with DeVonta Smith and Goedert makes plenty of sense.

That trio accounts for just 35% of your DFS salary. If you also punt at defense, as I suggested above, you're left with 61% of your salary to fill your two remaining WR spots, two RB spots, and your flex.

The double-stack strategy has stuck around for a reason: it works. But as I'll discuss in my next tip, there's one important caveat—don't force it.

Don't Force Stacks With Your QB 

If you're wondering whether I'm speaking out of both sides of my mouth with this suggestion following the last one, I kinda am—but for good reason.

There are real benefits to stacking your QB with one or more of his pass catchers, but there's no reason to force it, especially when starting a running QB in your lineup. 

Jaxson Dart was a perfect example of this philosophy last season. He was someone I used in my DK cash lineups for the majority of the season.

Dart averaged 22.31 fantasy points per game, including a ridiculous 8.8 points per game on the ground. Nearly 40% of his fantasy production came from rushing.

In that kind of situation, why force yourself to pair Dart with a pass catcher? If nearly 40% of his production is coming from his legs, there's considerably less upside tied to his receivers compared to a QB whose fantasy value is primarily coming through the air.

Stack when the correlation makes sense. Don't stack just for the sake of stacking

Loading Your Lineup From One or Two Projected High-Scoring Games 

My final tip for DFS contests is to look at the NFL slate each week and target players from games with high scoring potential.

This is a riskier philosophy for cash games, which, as I mentioned, I recommend playing predominantly. However, the upside of this strategy can be as high as any approach I've suggested in this article.

Throughout the season, there will be weeks when the slate features matchups between two elite offenses or between teams with poor defenses. These are the games I want to target. The Arizona Cardinals were a perfect example last season. Over their final nine games, the total score surpassed 50 points seven times and 60 points four times.

Games with that much scoring often produce multiple players who outperform their projections. In those situations, I would often last season start Brissett with McBride and potentially another Cardinals pass catcher, while also including several skill-position players from their opponent.

The downside is that this strategy carries a high boom-or-bust potential. For that reason, I would recommend it more for multi-entry tournament contests than cash games. Still, identifying high-scoring environments and building lineups around them is a strategy worth considering every week.

Keith Flemming is a contributor for Optimus Fantasy Football and head of DFS content for Fantasy Six Pack. You can find Keith on Twitter, TikTok and Instagram sharing photos of his two rescue dogs and rescued cat.