NFL DFS Milly Maker Recap Week 1: Anatomy of a $1 Million Winning Lineup
There can only be one. No, this isn’t Highlander: we’re talking about the one winner who takes down the DraftKings NFL Millionaire Maker in a given week. In Week 1, that was jwussow28, who turned a $5 entry into $1 million with a 273.98-point lineup built on a Jordan Love and Christian Watson stack and three running backs who all scored 35 or more fantasy points.
I researched what goes into a DraftKings Milly Maker winner not too long ago, and here I am, still not sitting on a pile of money. I assume the same for you, dear reader. So, what did we miss, and where did we go wrong?
The only way to perfect our NFL DFS strategy is to reflect on what’s already done. So before Week 2, this Milly Maker recap breaks down how last week’s winner got there, what we got right and where we went wrong.
The Short Version
DraftKings player jwussow28 won the $5 NFL $3.5M Fantasy Football Millionaire with 273.98 points, more than five points clear of an 832,342-entry field. The lineup used all $50,000, stacked Jordan Love with Christian Watson, added D’Andre Swift and Jalen Coker from the Bears and Panthers shootout, and got 35 or more points from five players. It followed five of the six construction trends from the last 36 Milly Maker winners, but its score blew past the sub-200 totals that won Week 1 in each of the previous two seasons.
Week 1 DraftKings Millionaire Maker Winning Lineup
The Week 1 Millionaire Maker winning lineup belonged to jwussow28: Jordan Love, Jahmyr Gibbs, Derrick Henry, Christian Watson, DJ Moore, Jalen Coker, Dallas Goedert, D’Andre Swift and the Pittsburgh Steelers defense. It scored 273.98 DraftKings points and used every dollar of the $50,000 salary cap.
| Slot | Player | Game (Final) | Salary | Owned | Stat Line | DK Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| QB | Jordan Love, GB | GB 22 at MIN 39 | $5,700 | 1.7% | 387 pass yds, 2 TD, 1 INT, 1 fumble lost | 24.48 |
| RB | Jahmyr Gibbs, DET | NO 30 at DET 31 (OT) | $8,000 | 42.8% | 156 rush yds, 2 TD; 5 rec, 30 yds; 1 fumble lost | 37.60 |
| RB | Derrick Henry, BAL | BAL 41 at IND 23 | $6,700 | 9.3% | 144 rush yds, 3 TD; 1 rec, 19 yds | 38.30 |
| WR | Christian Watson, GB | GB 22 at MIN 39 | $5,900 | 4.3% | 6 rec, 147 yds, 2 TD | 35.70 |
| WR | DJ Moore, BUF | BUF 36 at HOU 31 | $5,600 | 4.4% | 5 rec, 100 yds, 1 TD | 24.00 |
| WR | Jalen Coker, CAR | CHI 59 at CAR 37 | $4,600 | 7.5% | 8 rec, 138 yds, 2 TD | 36.80 |
| TE | Dallas Goedert, PHI | WAS 22 at PHI 24 | $4,100 | 10.1% | 4 rec, 77 yds, 2 TD | 23.70 |
| FLEX | D’Andre Swift, CHI | CHI 59 at CAR 37 | $6,100 | 9.8% | 124 rush yds, 3 TD; 1 rec, 10 yds | 35.40 |
| DST | Steelers, PIT | ATL 13 at PIT 20 | $3,300 | 10.9% | 4 sacks, 2 INT, 1 TD, 13 pts allowed | 18.00 |
| Total | $50,000 | 273.98 | ||||
Salaries, ownership and fantasy points from DraftKings’ Week 1 contest standings. Owned is the share of the contest’s 832,342 entries that rostered each player. Points include DraftKings’ 3-point bonuses for 300 passing yards and for 100 rushing or receiving yards.
The winning build was jwussow28’s second entry in the contest, and they basically had a perfect lineup.
Most people would have guessed Caleb Williams or Bryce Young would be in the winning lineup once Bears-Panthers turned into a 59-37 shootout, and both quarterbacks did outscore Love (37.26 and 35.44 DraftKings points). Instead, it was Jordan Love and a Packers passing game stack that won the day, with Love on just 1.7% of rosters.
This lineup also featured three of the four running backs who cleared 35 fantasy points on the slate. The only one it missed, Ashton Jeanty, scored 35.7, just three-tenths of a point more than Swift. In all, they had zero misses: every player they used scored at least 18 fantasy points, and every non-defense pick scored 23.7 or more.
What Actually Won the Milly Maker Last Week?
In a nutshell, perfection. This lineup had the top plays at running back specifically, and it did a great job of taking advantage of stacking.
This lineup did get away with stacking a less than ideal game environment, but it still had most of its roster correlated. It also hit on some very good cheap plays at tight end and one of the receiver spots, and those value picks still hit big.
273.98
DraftKings points
$50,000
Salary used, all of it
5
Players with 35+ points
6
Players under 10% owned
Ultimately, getting a whopping five players to 35-plus fantasy points did the trick, but it was still a close call. The second-place lineup finished just over five fantasy points behind the Milly Maker winner, according to DraftKings’ own Week 1 recap, which also named Jalen Coker the top-scoring wide receiver on the entire slate.
Did the Week 1 Milly Maker Lineup Follow Trends of Past Winners?
Mostly, yes. It followed five of the six construction trends that showed up across the last two seasons of Milly Maker winners, but one trend it bucked immediately was overall score.
Over the past two years, the Week 1 Millionaire Maker winner finished under 200 fantasy points (196.88 in 2024 and 193.92 in 2025), but this one totaled almost 275. Only two of the 36 winners from those two seasons scored more.
That said, it did follow several trends that previous winners share:
That is a lot of trend-following. The winning lineup still needed a lot of things to go its way, but it followed a clear stacking strategy, played the best popular play of the slate, saved cash at tight end and paid for defense.
The one trend it only half-followed was chalk. About half of past winners ate at least two plays at 20% ownership or higher, and this lineup ate just one, but the Gibbs chalk ended up being a wise call. It also skipped the $6K-plus quarterback our strategy breakdown suggests paying for, and at $5,700 and 1.7% owned, Love was the piece that made the whole build unique. That is the kind of ownership leverage you only get by fading the field on purpose.
None of this is necessarily destined to work every single week, but these were all Milly Maker trends we spotted in our research, and they delivered right away in Week 1.
Was the Millionaire Maker Winning Lineup Predictable or Lucky?
Mostly predictable. Predictable is a funny word, but as you can see in the trends breakdown, the approach was definitely one you should have been using going into last week.
The winning lineup ate one very chalky play, it stacked in two different ways, and it followed other Milly Maker trends. Even where it arguably got lucky, the plays mostly still made sense. Here are the ones that would be in question, with our verdict on lucky or predictable:
| Player | Fantasy Points | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| Jordan Love | 24.48 | Lucky |
| Jahmyr Gibbs | 37.60 | Predictable |
| Derrick Henry | 38.30 | Predictable |
| Christian Watson | 35.70 | Lucky |
| DJ Moore | 24.00 | Lucky |
| Jalen Coker | 36.80 | Predictable |
| Dallas Goedert | 23.70 | Predictable |
| D’Andre Swift | 35.40 | Predictable |
| Steelers Defense | 18.00 | Predictable |
I think some of this is subjective, but the reality is Green Bay was a road underdog in Week 1 (the Vikings closed as 2.5-point favorites at DraftKings), and Brian Flores heads a nasty Vikings defense. Love and Watson were cheap, so they were playable in GPPs, but getting scores good enough to take down the Milly Maker was a bit lucky.
DJ Moore lands in the lucky column, too. In his first regular-season game for Buffalo since the offseason trade from Chicago, he caught five passes for exactly 100 yards and a touchdown in a Bills-Texans game that closed at a 44.5-point total and finished 36-31.
Why the Rest of the Lineup Was Predictable
Gibbs is the only really obvious play in this entire lineup, and he was super chalky. But other picks like Henry, Swift, Coker and Goedert were still really good plays that I was personally on. Was it predictable that they all scored as much as they did? No, but we know Henry’s upside is insane, and he was definitely discounted at $6,700, so he was an excellent GPP play.
Coker was a great value in a smash spot against a Bears secondary that allowed 32 touchdown passes last season (it also led the NFL with 23 interceptions). The Panthers’ WR2 dropping almost 37 fantasy points is technically lucky, but he was always a good value play in a solid game environment. The same goes for Swift on the other side: Bears-Panthers closed at a 47.5-point total at DraftKings, lower than three other games on the slate, so it was a sneaky stacking spot before it turned into the highest-scoring season opener in NFL history.
Goedert was a terrific value tight end, and his matchup with the Commanders looked great on paper. Michael Mayer Chalk Week also kept his ownership tighter than it maybe normally would be, and he finished as the second-highest-scoring tight end on the main slate.
The Steelers Were the Easiest Call
The Steelers were at home against a Falcons offense that was down to backup Cooper Rush, with Tua Tagovailoa ruled out with an oblique injury and Michael Penix Jr. still sidelined. Pittsburgh closed as a 6.5-point favorite, and the defense delivered four sacks, two interceptions and a T.J. Watt pick-six. They were a very easy call in Week 1.
Overall, this winning lineup was actually somewhat predictable. It did require some luck, of course, and the person building it still had to choose the right plays and stacks.
What We Got Right Going into Week 1
I didn’t win the Milly Maker, but my Week 1 NFL DFS picks still had you in a strong position. Here are some winning plays I suggested last week that panned out nicely:
| Play | How I Carded It | DK Points |
|---|---|---|
| Jahmyr Gibbs | Top spend at RB ($8,000) | 37.6 |
| Trey McBride | Top spend at TE ($6,800) | 24.5 |
| Devaughn Vele | Best value at WR ($3,500) | 19.9 |
| Dallas Goedert | GPP target at TE ($4,100) | 23.7 |
| Tyler Shough + Chris Olave | Stack No. 4 | 29.2 + 31.2 |
| Lamar Jackson + Zay Flowers | Stack No. 5 | 28.96 + 29.0 |
| Jared Goff + Amon-Ra St. Brown | Stack No. 6 | 16.44 + 28.7 |
DraftKings points from official Week 1 box scores. Salaries and tiers as published in my Week 1 NFL DFS picks on September 10, 2026.
I was all over Gibbs as good chalk. He was a total smash and was worth his hefty $8,000 salary. I also noted that McBride was a pretty good pay-up at tight end, given the fact that most ownership would flock to Michael Mayer and other cheap plays, and he finished as the top-scoring tight end on the slate.
Vele was my favorite punt at wide receiver, and he smashed with 19.9 fantasy points, while I also called out Dallas Goedert as a strong leverage play against the Mayer ownership.
For stacks, I hit on several, as the Saints and Lions game was one of my favorite environments to target across the board. Shough and Olave combined for 60.4 points, and Goff and St. Brown were at least a partial hit, with both of Goff’s touchdown passes going to St. Brown. I was also high on Lamar/Zay stacks, and they paid off pretty quickly: Flowers caught a 49-yard pass on Baltimore’s first offensive snap, and all 150 of his yards came in the first half before a hamstring injury ended his day.
What We Got Wrong
Not all of my Week 1 NFL DFS picks were smashes. There was some pretty bad chalk, some weak GPP attempts and some stacks that missed the mark. Here’s what didn’t deliver last week:
| Play | How I Carded It | DK Points |
|---|---|---|
| Justin Herbert | Top spend at QB ($6,100) | 14.26 |
| Ja’Marr Chase | Top spend at WR ($7,800) | 3.2 |
| MarShawn Lloyd | Best value at RB ($4,800) | 3.7 |
| Michael Mayer | Best value at TE ($2,900) | 9.2 |
| Kyler Murray + Justin Jefferson | Stack No. 7 | 0.62 + 31.2 |
Herbert chalk didn’t go well. The Chargers scored early to give us hope, but he and the offense ultimately fell flat, and his only touchdown pass didn’t come until the third quarter. He projected incredibly well, but he was a trap in the end.
Ja’Marr Chase didn’t even clear four fantasy points. At his price and projection with the matchup in front of him, two catches for 12 yards was absurd, and since I expected Burrow and Chase to be popular, his poor outing sank a lot of lineups.
Mayer was OK chalk. He had enough volume to nearly get to 10 fantasy points, so he didn’t completely sink you, but fading proved to be the right call. Lloyd was also a disaster punt at running back with just 3.7 fantasy points, while Kyler Murray/Justin Jefferson stacks were ruined early when Murray left with a first-quarter concussion: Jefferson still scored 31.2 with Carson Wentz, but a 0.62-point quarterback sinks any stack.
How the Rest of My Week 1 Card Scored
For the full picture, here is the rest of that Week 1 card. The tournament tier was the weak spot: Goedert was the only one of my four GPP targets to deliver, and my top three stacks all came up short.
| Play | How I Carded It | DK Points |
|---|---|---|
| Malik Willis | Best value at QB ($5,300) | 17.7 |
| Jayden Daniels | GPP target at QB ($6,500) | 17.66 |
| De’Von Achane | GPP target at RB ($7,000) | 10.6 |
| Emeka Egbuka | GPP target at WR ($6,200) | 11.3 |
| Joe Burrow + Ja’Marr Chase | Stack No. 1 | 15.16 + 3.2 |
| Justin Herbert + Quentin Johnston | Stack No. 2 | 14.26 + 3.7 |
| Baker Mayfield + Chris Godwin Jr. | Stack No. 3 | 14.64 + 8.3 |
A performance recap of published picks, scored on official box scores. DFS contests are not single wagers, so this is not a profit or loss result.
What Week 1 Teaches Us About the Milly Maker Lineup
Week 1 says the trends are worth trusting as a starting point. If you used our DraftKings Milly Maker breakdown to tune up for Week 1, it would have sent you in the right direction: the first Millionaire Maker winning lineup of the year stayed true to a lot of those trends, and most of that lineup also hit on some fairly predictable plays.
We can stay the course heading into Week 2, but just make sure you realize that one week doesn’t dictate the next. You will want to adapt to a brand-new week of NFL DFS based on player salaries, matchups, projections and expected ownership.
Carry These Into Week 2
Start with a correlated stack, spend up on one stud instead of two, pay for a defense priced above $3,000, save at tight end and find four or more players under 10% ownership. Then decide which popular play you truly can’t win without, the way the Week 1 winner ate the Gibbs chalk and let the rest of the field have everything else.
I’ll get you headed in the right direction with my Week 2 NFL DFS picks, but reflecting on the past week’s big winner can sometimes be just as useful. Until then, our daily fantasy sports hub has the rest of the NFL DFS playbook.
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Week 1 Milly Maker FAQ
Here are quick answers to the questions DFS players ask most about the Week 1 Milly Maker winner and what the result means for Week 2.
Who won the DraftKings Milly Maker in Week 1 of the 2026 NFL season?
A DraftKings player named jwussow28 won the Week 1 NFL Millionaire Maker with 273.98 fantasy points. The $5 NFL $3.5M Fantasy Football Millionaire drew 832,342 entries and paid $1 million to first place, and the winning lineup finished more than five points clear of the field. It was built around Jordan Love, Christian Watson, Jahmyr Gibbs, Derrick Henry and D’Andre Swift.
How many points did it take to win the Milly Maker in Week 1, and is that a normal winning score?
It took 273.98 DraftKings points, which is well above a typical Week 1 winning score. The Week 1 winners in 2024 and 2025 both finished under 200 points (196.88 and 193.92), and only two of the 36 Milly Maker winners from those two seasons scored more than this lineup.
Which players were in the Week 1 Millionaire Maker winning lineup?
The winning lineup was QB Jordan Love, RBs Jahmyr Gibbs and Derrick Henry, WRs Christian Watson, DJ Moore and Jalen Coker, TE Dallas Goedert, D’Andre Swift at FLEX and the Pittsburgh Steelers defense. It used the full $50,000 salary cap, and Gibbs at $8,000 was the only player priced above $7,000.
Did the Week 1 Milly Maker winner play a lot of chalk, or mostly low-owned players?
Mostly low-owned players, with one big piece of chalk. Six of the nine players were under 10% ownership, including Jordan Love at 1.7%, while Jahmyr Gibbs was in 42.8% of lineups. That matches recent history: two thirds of the 36 winners from 2024 and 2025 carried at least four players below 10% ownership.
Was the Week 1 Milly Maker winning lineup more skill or more luck?
It was mostly predictable, with some luck on top. Our verdict is that six of the nine plays were sound calls before kickoff (Gibbs, Henry, Coker, Goedert, Swift and the Steelers defense), while Love, Watson and DJ Moore needed some luck: Green Bay was a road underdog against a strong Vikings defense, and Moore was playing his first game for Buffalo.
Should I copy the Week 1 Milly Maker winning lineup when I build my Week 2 NFL DFS lineups?
Copy the construction, not the players. The Week 1 winner used a correlated stack, one stud over $7,000, a defense priced above $3,000, a tight end under $5,000 and several low-owned plays, the same traits that show up across recent Milly Maker winners. Salaries, matchups and ownership change every week, so rebuild around the Week 2 slate instead of chasing last week’s names.
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