How to Fix Your DraftKings Lineups When a Player Scratches

Late scratches are the most brutal part of DFS. You've spent hours building your lineups, the slate is about to lock, and then a beat reporter tweets that your $9,800 stud isn't playing tonight. What do you do?

Most players panic. They make rushed, bad decisions. They leave massive salary on the table or pick the wrong replacement. Here's the right way to handle it.

Step 1: Confirm the news immediately

Don't act on a single tweet. Check multiple sources — beat reporters, official team accounts, DraftKings itself. DraftKings will mark players with an OUT tag and eventually remove them from eligible pools. If DK has him marked OUT, it's confirmed.

Step 2: Identify every lineup that's exposed

If you're playing 5-20 lineups, you need to know exactly which ones have the scratched player. Don't manually scroll through each lineup. Download your DraftKings entries CSV (My Contests → select contest → Download Entries) and check every row.

Step 3: Find the best replacement

This is where most players get it wrong. The obvious replacement is never the right answer. You need to consider:

• → Salary difference — can you upgrade another spot with leftover salary?
• → Position eligibility — who can actually fill that slot?
• → Projection vs ownership — find the player the field won't pivot to
• → Portfolio construction — if you're playing 10 lineups, diversify your pivots

Step 4: Use the DraftKings CSV to update all lineups at once

The DraftKings CSV upload feature lets you update all your lineups at once instead of editing each one individually. Download your entries, make the changes, and re-upload. This is the only way to update 10+ lineups before lock.

Step 5: Move fast

Late scratch windows are brutal. You might have 20 minutes. Every second counts. The players who act fastest — and make the right moves — have a massive edge over the field who are still scrambling.