We are now entering week 6 (!) of the NFL season and while the VeeFriends x Reignmakers competitions are over, you probably have player cards that you still want to use throughout the season. 

If you want to step up your game and improve your chances of putting the best possible roster together in DraftKings Reignmaker competitions throughout the rest of the season this article is for you. 

What is DraftKings Reignmakers? 

Before we dive into strategy using sports betting odds to maximize your chances of setting a winning line-up, let’s go through a quick refresher of what DraftKings Reignmakers is. 

DraftKings Reignmakers is a daily fantasy sports platform that allow you to buy, sell and open packs of NFT player cards that can be used in a line-up as part of various competition with cash and other prizes each week. 

Source: DraftKings 

Because each player card is an NFT, you can re-use those players each week in your line-ups versus starting from scratch each week with DFS, and you can always choose to sell those player cards on the marketplace: 

Source: DraftKings

There are different line-up variations, some only include a Captain and three flex spots, while others include QB, RB, WR, Kicker, and defensive slots. 

There is a catch, though: you can only use 1 designated SuperStar per line-up, and SuperStars are determined by DraftKings. 

This spices up the competition so you can’t just put an A-list roster automatically and requires some strategic thought about setting a line-up. 

How to Use Betting Odds to Improve Your DraftKings Reignmakers Fantasy Line-Up

You can use sports betting odds to help you make better line-up decisions when trying to navigate being able to use just 1 SuperStar in your Reignmakers line-up. 

There are 3 steps to the process: 

(1) Look at the NFL games with the highest project point totals using over/under 

(2) Evaluate the point spread to project the points by both teams 

(3) Create a line-up that “tells a story” based on the over/under and the point spreads 

Using Over/Under Odds to Find High-Scoring Games 

In order to win Daily Fantasy, or any fantasy football contest, your team needs to score points! 

Because you have more flexibility with Reignmakers, you want to look at over/under odds for each game to find the games with the highest projected total. 

It isn’t guaranteed that it will happen, but it’s a good data point to work with. 

We’ll use the Kansas City Chiefs vs. the Buffalo Bills Week 6 match-up as an example because they have a high over/under: 

Source: FoxSports.com

The over/under is 54 total points and is the highest of week 6. 

That means oddsmakers project a total of 54 points will be scored in the game and betters can take the over (more than 54 points are scored) or the under (less than 54 points are scored). 

There are other games (like the Rams / Panthers) that are at 41 over/under, meaning 13 less points are expected to be scored. 

To give yourself the best odds, finding games with high-scoring potential likely means players on that team have a higher potential to score points in the game. 

Counter-strategy: Part of the ability to win Daily Fantasy Sports is sending out a unique roster (if EVERY player only uses Chiefs / Bills players, you’ll find yourself tied with a lot of other users and 1 different player might make the difference) — you could look at the 3rd or 4th highest projected game totals and focus there to differentiate your strategy. 

Evaluate the Point Spreads to Project Team-Specific Points 

It’s not enough to look at the games with the highest project over/under and call it a day. 

You need to look at the point spread as well to get a sense of which team will score more points, this is called the implied team total. 

If there’s a game with a high over/under the total, but a big point spread (E.g. 9.5 points) it means 1 team is projected to score 9.5 points than another team and the underdog might not have players worth rostering. 

The point spread for the Bills / Chiefs game is 2.5 points in favor of the Bills, meaning the Bills are expected to win by 2.5 points. 

The over/under is 54, so we first divide that number by 2 to get: 27. 

But we need to add 1.25 (half the point spread) for the Bills and subtract 1.25 for the Chiefs leaving us with: 

• 28.25 projected points for the Bills 

• 25.75 projected points for the Chiefs 

This adds up to 54 and reflects the 2.5-point spread. 

This game is much closer with a lower point spread, but if you see a high over/under but a large point spread, it does not mean both teams are projected to score a lot of points and takes us to our third layer of analysis. 

Create a Line-Up That Aligns With a Story Based on the Points Total and Spread 

You might find this a little odd, but it can really help in setting your lineup. 

For example: 

The Bills / Chiefs are expected to score a lot of points and the game will be a close finisher. It’s unlikely that one of the teams gets an early lead and runs the ball to run down the clock in the 2nd half. 

I would expect both teams to rely heavily on the passing game throughout the whole game given that it will be so close. It will be a shoot-out. 

I’d expect defenses to key in and bottle-up top options (Travis Kelce, Stefon Diggs) leaving scoring opportunities for other players on the roster involved in the passing game. 

Let’s use another example, the Rams vs. Panthers, with a 41-point total and 10.5 point spread! 

Now you know that the Rams (the favorite) are projected to score 25.75 points based on the total and spread, the same as the Kansas City Chiefs despite a 13-point lower point total! 

If I’m thinking about this as a story, it would go something like this: 

The Rams get an early two-touchdown lead through the air and start to chew the clock with the running game while the Panthers throw the ball heavily to try and catch up. 

The Rams continue to control the game, adding in more of the run-game in the second half, methodically driving it down the field for two more scores. 

Now that you’re savvy, you know the Rams are a great team option this week because most people would be fooled by the lower over/under-point total. 

You also realize two things: 

• Because of such a large spread, top options like Cooper Kupp probably won’t be stopped early in the game and are a safer bet for a roster spot 

• The Rams likely will put the ball on the ground if they get a big lead early and could make their RB options intriguing 

• Matthew Stafford may not be the best fantasy option at QB because of such a large spread — Mahomes would be the better option despite the same number of implied team total points but he will likely have to pass later in the game to keep up with the Bills 

Closing Thoughts 

You will get to learn more about how to use odds data in leveling up your DraftKings Reignmakers line-up construction in the near future as I have plenty more analysis planned. 

Because Reignmakers is newer than DFS, I’ve seen a lot less competition, and using over/unders and point spreads is a great start for beginners. 

You can even use this information to sell the NFTs of particular players if you know there is potential for a high-scoring game! 

More to come.