NFL Lineup Optimizer — DraftKings & FanDuel, Free and Instant

Who this is for: For DFS players who want the math done exactly — you bring projections (yours or pasted from anywhere), the solver guarantees the highest-scoring legal lineup under the cap.

Build the highest-projected legal lineup under DraftKings ($50,000) or FanDuel ($60,000) rules — exact solver, lock/exclude players, CSV import, no signup.

Quick answer: A lineup optimizer picks the 9 players that maximize total projected points under the platform's roster rules and salary cap. This one is a free, exact solver for both DraftKings ($50,000, 1 FLEX + DST) and FanDuel ($60,000, 2 FLEX, no DST): edit or paste your player table, lock your stack, hit Optimize — result and 4 alternatives appear in under a second.

Platform rules

Max from one team

146 players · 0 locked · 0 excluded

Player	Pos	Team	Pts/$1k
O. Blakemore	DST	MIA	1.49
K. Gallo	DST	BAL	1.43
G. Gallo	DST	BUF	1.22
A. Amos	DST	MIN	1.32
N. Pender	DST	LAR	1.18
M. Ashford	DST	SF	1.52
O. Tremaine	DST	DET	1.13
L. Ulmer	DST	NYJ	1.22
E. Amos	DST	GB	1.26
S. Ruvalcaba	DST	PHI	1.21
G. Kimbrough	DST	ATL	1.41
C. Overton	DST	DAL	1.25
J. Bellamy	DST	KC	1.31
P. Duma	DST	TB	1.38
B. Prewitt	DST	CIN	1.17
A. Hensley	DST	HOU	1.25
I. Taviano	QB	ATL	2.77
N. Englehart	QB	SF	2.68
A. Voss	QB	KC	2.60
I. Ndiaye	QB	CIN	2.56
S. Okafor	QB	GB	2.81
H. Amos	QB	NYJ	2.49
O. Taviano	QB	HOU	2.82
B. Ashford	QB	BAL	2.67
O. Okafor	QB	LAR	2.36
G. Tremaine	QB	BUF	2.69
F. Ferris	QB	DET	2.69
F. Englehart	QB	DAL	2.85
I. Overton	QB	TB	2.56
O. Marchetti	QB	MIA	2.48
N. Hollowell	QB	MIN	2.31
C. Crosley	QB	PHI	2.45
F. Iverson	RB	KC	2.27
J. Renner	RB	GB	2.19
H. Calloway	RB	DET	2.12
P. Amos	RB	TB	1.95
E. Kessler	RB	SF	2.00
A. Riddick	RB	DAL	2.05
S. Mercer	RB	ATL	2.01
B. Lattner	RB	HOU	2.12
D. Gallo	RB	DAL	2.10
J. Eastman	RB	CIN	2.11
N. Marchetti	RB	NYJ	1.78
J. Alcott	RB	BUF	2.15
J. Kimbrough	RB	GB	1.86
F. Quarles	RB	CIN	1.88
F. Quill	RB	KC	1.80
R. Amos	RB	BUF	1.77
N. Ruvalcaba	RB	DAL	2.18
K. Quarles	RB	TB	2.23
J. Cortez	RB	MIA	1.84
G. Yarbrough	RB	ATL	2.27
L. Wexler	RB	HOU	1.88
I. Osei	RB	LAR	1.84
K. Calloway-Price	RB	BUF	2.15
B. Moxley	RB	SF	2.20
C. Tremaine	RB	MIN	2.11
J. Ironide	RB	SF	2.28
B. Tarkanian	RB	NYJ	1.78
A. Yarbrough	RB	LAR	2.09
S. Ndiaye	RB	PHI	1.80
M. Isley	RB	MIA	2.20
P. Hollowell	RB	BAL	1.95
N. Alcott	RB	BAL	1.86
F. Vitale	RB	DET	1.84
B. Vance	RB	KC	2.00
F. Tarkanian	RB	MIN	2.09
E. Moxley	RB	PHI	2.09
J. Quill	RB	BAL	1.85
M. Loxley	RB	PHI	1.94
O. Eastman	TE	MIN	2.02
O. Barre	TE	DAL	2.04
K. Alcott	TE	PHI	1.92
F. Calloway-Price	TE	DET	1.84
L. Gustafson	TE	ATL	1.71
O. Iverson	TE	KC	1.73
O. Sorrell	TE	CIN	1.73
A. Hollowell	TE	GB	1.65
O. Tarkanian	TE	SF	1.55
H. Ironide	TE	BUF	1.74
P. Englehart	TE	BUF	1.70
E. Hightower	TE	HOU	1.67
R. Kirtley	TE	PHI	1.62
H. Mireles	TE	DAL	1.56
N. Voss	TE	NYJ	1.68
K. Amos	TE	MIA	1.74
L. Barre	TE	LAR	1.60
A. Hightower	TE	TB	2.04
C. Mireles	TE	BAL	1.78
A. Ferris	TE	KC	1.80
A. Vitale	WR	GB	2.29
A. Ruvalcaba	WR	MIN	2.25
M. Gustafson	WR	TB	2.11
O. Riddick	WR	PHI	2.04
H. Voss	WR	DAL	1.95
A. Gallo	WR	NYJ	2.08
N. Riddick	WR	SF	2.09
C. Calloway-Price	WR	BUF	2.01
B. Sorrell	WR	NYJ	2.18
K. Mireles	WR	BUF	2.24
O. Ndiaye	WR	SF	2.26
A. Dupree	WR	BAL	2.17
A. Quarles	WR	CIN	2.19
J. Duma	WR	DET	1.81
E. Dupree	WR	HOU	1.88
S. Loxley	WR	DAL	1.87
M. Fairbanks	WR	BAL	1.96
C. Stallworth	WR	KC	2.19
D. Prewitt	WR	GB	1.88
S. Bellamy	WR	NYJ	2.19
M. Ferris	WR	DET	1.87
G. Barre	WR	BAL	2.25
M. Okafor	WR	BAL	2.15
P. Quarles	WR	DAL	2.25
H. Ndiaye	WR	DET	1.81
C. Alcott	WR	ATL	2.02
S. Wexler	WR	PHI	2.00
E. Gallo	WR	KC	2.29
E. Okafor	WR	CIN	2.04
F. Whitfield	WR	MIA	2.25
G. Cortez	WR	ATL	2.22
P. Iverson	WR	TB	2.13
R. Lindqvist	WR	MIA	2.11
P. Riddick	WR	SF	2.12
N. Ashford	WR	ATL	1.93
O. Renner	WR	MIA	1.98
J. Vitale	WR	KC	2.06
B. Ferris	WR	DAL	2.04
A. Sorrell	WR	SF	1.81
J. Yarbrough	WR	LAR	1.92
G. Bellamy	WR	HOU	1.96
F. Zellner	WR	MIA	1.86
G. Ulmer	WR	PHI	2.09
C. Pender	WR	CIN	2.15
S. Barre	WR	MIN	2.26
R. Moxley	WR	BUF	1.81
F. Overton	WR	HOU	1.81
I. Kimbrough	WR	LAR	1.87
P. Hensley	WR	PHI	1.93
F. Mireles	WR	DET	1.81
M. Lattner	WR	TB	2.08
I. Cortez	WR	BUF	2.16
K. Wexler	WR	KC	1.88
E. Bellamy	WR	MIN	1.88
F. Ironide	WR	LAR	1.90
L. Dockery	WR	GB	1.83

Sample slate (fictional placeholder players, realistic DK/FD price ranges) — edit any number inline or paste your own CSV. Salaries snap to $100.

Exact solver · runs in your browser · nothing uploaded

Core facts

Platforms	DraftKings $50,000 (1 QB/2 RB/3 WR/1 TE/1 FLEX/1 DST) · FanDuel $60,000 (1 QB/2 RB/3 WR/1 TE/2 FLEX)
Solver	Exact multiple-choice knapsack (dynamic programming) — provably optimal, not greedy
Controls	Lock players · exclude players · edit any salary/projection · per-team limit · CSV paste import
Outputs	Optimal lineup + salary used/left + value per $1k + 4 diverse alternatives (leave-one-out re-solves)
Sample result	146-player sample slate → DK optimal 114.8 pts at $50,000; FD optimal 116.7 pts at $60,000
Cost & data	Free, no login, nothing uploaded — all math runs in your browser on your numbers

How this NFL lineup optimizer works

You give it a player table — name, position, team, salary, projected points — and it returns the single highest-total-projection lineup that satisfies every roster rule: DraftKings (1 QB, 2 RB, 3 WR, 1 TE, 1 FLEX, 1 DST, $50,000 cap) or FanDuel (1 QB, 2 RB, 3 WR, 1 TE, 2 FLEX, $60,000 cap). The engine is an exact multiple-choice knapsack solver, not a greedy heuristic: it proves the lineup it prints is the best possible under your numbers, then builds alternatives by removing one player at a time and re-solving. On the built-in 146-player sample slate the optimal DraftKings lineup projects for 114.8 points using exactly $50,000 of the $50,000 cap, with the top alternatives landing 114.3–114.6.

Three controls change everything: Lock (force a player into every lineup — your correlated QB-WR stack), Exclude (remove a player you hate), and the player table itself — every salary and projection is editable inline, and the CSV box accepts a pasted export in seconds. Sample slate note: the default player table is a realistic sample (fictional placeholder players on real team slots, salaries in true DraftKings/FanDuel ranges). Replace it with your own export — paste a CSV of Name, Position, Team, Salary, Projection and the solver runs on your numbers.

Common uses

Turning your own projections into the provably best lineup before lock
Testing 'what if I lock my stack?' in two clicks — lock both players, re-optimize
Generating 4-5 diverse core lineups for GPP entries without a subscription
Learning optimizer logic: watch which salary bargains the solver finds and why

The optimizer math, in one paragraph

Lineup construction is a constrained optimization problem: maximize the sum of projections subject to exact roster slots and a hard salary cap. Exact solvers use dynamic programming — the same family of algorithms behind knapsack problems — which is why the answer is provable rather than 'probably good'. Greedy methods (draft the best value, repeat) get stuck: they take the cheapest good QB early and later discover no legal WR combination fits. The how-lineup-optimizers-work guide unpacks this with a worked example from this exact slate.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is this NFL lineup optimizer really free?

Yes — no account, no email, no paywalled lineup count. The solver runs entirely in your browser on this page, so there is nothing to bill. What it does not do: it doesn't ship daily-updated projections or injury news — you bring projections (the default table is a clearly-labeled sample), which is exactly the trade most paid optimizers make you pay to avoid.

How is this different from Rotowire's optimizer?

Rotowire is a paid subscription product whose main value is daily-updated projections and news wired straight into the optimizer. This tool is the other half: a free, no-login solver where you control every projection. If you already have projections (your own model, or exported from anywhere), running them through this optimizer gives you the same mathematical guarantee Rotowire's engine gives. Our honest comparison page walks through the full trade-off.

Does the optimizer guarantee the best lineup?

It guarantees the best lineup under your inputs — the highest sum of projections that fits the roster rules and salary cap. It cannot guarantee the best lineup in reality, because projections are estimates. That gap between projection and outcome is exactly what the Range of Outcomes tool quantifies with a simulation.

Can I use my DraftKings or FanDuel export?

Yes. Copy the player rows from a DK/FN CSV export and paste them into the CSV box — the parser reads Name, Position (Roster Position), Team and Salary columns, and you add your own projection column (or edit projections inline after import). Rows that don't fit the format are counted and skipped, never silently mangled.

Why does the optimal lineup always spend (almost) the whole cap?

Because projections here rise with salary, the best lineup usually lands within a few hundred dollars of the cap — on the sample slate it spends exactly $50,000 of $50,000. Leftover salary is wasted value; the solver only leaves money on the table when every legal upgrade scores worse.

What are the 'alternatives' under the result?

Each alternative is the exact optimal lineup when one player from the previous best is banned, filtered so every alternative differs from the others in at least 2-3 players. On the sample slate they score 114.3–114.6 — a tight cluster, which is typical: near the optimum, many lineups are almost equal, and choosing among them (ownership, correlation, gut) is the human part.

More guides

How to Use a DFS Optimizer

The complete workflow: bring projections, lock your stack, read the alternatives, and avoid the four mistakes that make optimizer output worthless.

How Lineup Optimizers Work (The Math)

The actual algorithm inside every DFS optimizer: knapsack constraints, why greedy fails, how FLEX enumeration works, and what 'optimal' legally promises.

DFS Glossary

Every term this site uses, defined once: cash/GPP, ceiling/floor, chalk, punt, stack, bring-back, ownership, value multiplier, and the rest.

More Lineup optimizers

DraftKings Lineup Optimizer

The lineup optimizer preset to DraftKings NFL rules — 1 QB/2 RB/3 WR/1 TE/1 FLEX/1 DST under a $50,000 cap. Lock, edit, optimize, done.

FanDuel Lineup Optimizer

The lineup optimizer preset to FanDuel NFL rules — 1 QB/2 RB/3 WR/1 TE/2 FLEX, no DST, $60,000 cap. Exact solver, free.