The best lineups in GPPs are not won with the most popular players on the slate. It takes some high-level roster construction to separate yourself from the rest of the pack.
The goal of this article isn’t to name the best players on Sunday. It’s to find high-upside talent to add to your GPP rosters. Some top-tier players will be included, but lineups needs to be balanced out with some hidden gems, too.
Remember, in most cases, the person who finishes in 10,000th place and the person who finishes in 1,269th place receive the same amount of money in many of these larger field contests, so there is no reason to simply follow the crowd to feel comfortable.
Let’s dive into Week 15 of the 2025 NFL season.
Set your DraftKings fantasy football lineups here: NFL $2.5M Fantasy Football Millionaire [$1M to 1st].
Top DFS Contrarian Stack
New York Giants vs. Washington Commanders
Jaxson Dart ($5,600) – Wan’Dale Robinson ($5,900) – Tyrone Tracy Jr. ($5,500) – Terry McLaurin ($5,400)
At under $12,000 in total salary, the combo of Jaxson Dart and Wan’dale Robinson offers some pretty solid upside in Week 15. It’s supposed to be a little cool in New York this weekend but will feature much better weather than some of the other outdoor games on the slate. Also, Washington’s defense continues to trend in the wrong direction. Last week, it allowed the most popular meme in the nation, J.J. McCarthy, to throw for the first three-TD game of his career and have now allowed the fifth-most FPTS per game to opposing QBs.
Robinson is also in a great bounce-back spot from a matchup perspective. While he and Dart only combined for 34 yards against the Patriots, this secondary allows far more yards after the catch and is also last in yards per attempt. We should see far more efficient production from Robinson, who saw eight targets from Dart in his first game back from injury.
I’m also prone to returning to Tyrone Tracy Jr. in this spot, who was limited for seemingly no reason in the Giants’ last game, just a week after his breakout against the Lions. He accumulated 130 total yards, including 68 as a receiver, making him a solid correlation play with Dart. Finally, on the other side of the game, this looks like a great buy-low spot on Terry McLaurin, who looked as healthy as he’s been all season against the Vikings last week. While the downgrade to Marcus Mariota isn’t ideal, the Giants have terrible DBs and have allowed the fourth-most yards to opposing WRs this year. A breakout game in Week 15 seems likely.
Quarterback
Brock Purdy ($6,200)
Purdy could be in for a big day this week. He’ll be one of the few top QBs without much to worry about in terms of weather, as there are clear skies and little wind expected in San Francisco this weekend, and he will be up against a Titans defense that just allowed 364 yards and three TDs to a fifth round rookie last week in poor weather.
Purdy hasn’t had a great season, but after a bye, he’ll finally have all his top weapons back fully healthy. Ricky Pearsall should find plenty of room downfield against this secondary that ranks 29th in yards per attempt, and simple dump-offs to George Kittle and Christian McCaffrey should have more juice than usual. This is the perfect setup for a 3+ TD day, so at under $6,500, Purdy looks like a solid value to fit in with one or more of his top receiving options.
Running Back
Derrick Henry ($7,300)
In December, Henry becomes the sort of fantasy football RB we want to target, especially during a cold AFC North matchup. Cincinnati comes in ranked in the bottom third for Yards Before Contact allowed, so Henry should have plenty of chances to build momentum for his patented longer rushes. The volume should be solid in this spot as well. Baltimore is likely to focus on clock management and keeping the ball from Joe Burrow in this spot, giving a good opportunity to hit 20-25 touches. With Keaton Mitchell also banged up this week, the Ravens are likely to make Henry the focal point of their attack.
DFS strategy-wise, at $7,300, he’s easier to fit in than the top four backs. While McCaffrey is undoubtedly in the best spot on the slate, stacking Henry alongside him is at least semi-viable given some of the deeper value available at positions like TE and WR. Fading McCaffrey, who may see his workload lightened if the 49ers get up early, isn’t outlandish in this spot either.
Chuba Hubbard ($4,600)
Hubbard may not be a bellcow back with Rico Dowdle involved, but at $4,600 and with his play improving of late, he could be a key play that unlocks space in the rest of your lineup. His last game saw him take 17 carries in the Panthers’ upset of the Rams, and he’s averaged 5.0 YPC in his last three games. While Carolina is far from a perfect team, I do expect it’ll be in good shape this week to defeat the Saints.
Hubbard has also established himself as a reliable pass-catcher now, as he’s converted on each of his last six targets and has broken multiple big plays as a receiver, including one that went for a score in Week 13. Overall, 4+ targets plus 12+ carries seems very likely in this spot given the opponent, which makes Hubbard a very intriguing value proposition this week, at under 5k.
Wide Receiver
Puka Nacua ($8,700)
All things considered, I’m prone to just paying up and eating the chalk with Nacua this week above all other strategies. Detroit vs. Los Angeles has the largest total on the slate at 55.0 (3.5 more than Baltimore vs. Cincinnati), and Nacua has a winnable matchup against a Detroit secondary that has regressed hard vs. the pass in the second-half of the season. This unit has allowed the second-most FPTS per game to opposing WRs.
Usage-wise, if this game stays close, we may see Nacua hit a new high in targets for the season. Tutu Atwell and Tyler Higbee are on IR, and Davante Adams missed practice time this week. That leaves Nacua and a smorgasbord of backup TEs and WRs for Matthew Stafford to throw to. It’s football, so anything can happen, but the most likely scenario is that Nacua balls out in this spot and ends up being the name you need to pay up for from the most pivotal game on the slate.
Rashid Shaheed ($4,600)
We targeted Shaheed in this article at $4,400 last week, and he more than paid off, landing a special teams TD and his best day as a receiver, going for just under 70 yards. It’s been slow at times for Shaheed since he entered Seattle’s offense, but things are starting to loosen up with the play-calling. He’ll have another weaker secondary to attack in Indianapolis this weekend.
The Colts allow the sixth-most FPTS per game to opposing WRs, and they’re not great at limiting big plays either, as they’ve allowed the third most yards to WRs and ceded two TDs to Texans WR last week as well. Shaheed should have every shot at paying off with a big game again in Week 15.
Tight End
Luke Musgrave ($2,500)
It wouldn’t shock me if Musgrave had a sort of breakout game this week. He tied for the team lead in targets last game, and Denver has given up lots of big plays to TEs in the back half of the year. Last week, the Broncos allowed Brock Bowers to score a 16-yard touchdown, and the. week prior Zach Ertz had 106 yards on 10 catches.
Musgrave didn’t initially look great after Tucker Kraft went down, but he has made a couple of big plays over the last two games and is looking more comfortable as the primary tight end. His athleticism should make him a solid target for the Packers to game plan around this week to counteract the Broncos’ pass rush. At $2,600 for DFS, he projects as the sort of salary saver that will allow you to stack 49ers, Lions and Rams players at will.
Defense/Special Teams
Browns ($2,700)
The Browns took it on the chin last week vs. the Titans, but will have a shot at bouncing back quickly vs. another mistake-prone QB. Caleb Williams is finding a way to win games, but he’s now turned the ball over in four straight contests and is completing under 60% of his passes in six straight games. It’s not exactly a scary situation for Cleveland, which should be able to hold up the run in this spot and force Williams into more drop backs.
While the Browns have underperformed two weeks in a row, that’s also led to a huge reduction in salary, to where they’re now well under $3,000. If we get a bounce back from their pass rush, which recorded 10 sacks just three games ago, they could easily end up being one of the best overall values at DST this week. They certainly need to be mixed into GPP player pools given the overall upside against any QB/offense.
