It’s become commonplace in DFS now and it’s a term that’s frequently thrown around. “Stack” or “Stacking” is heavily referenced whenever you hear “experts” talking about winning in DFS. Let me make one thing clear. First of all, I’m no expert and second of all stacking isn’t the only way to win. Stacking is a very boom or bust proposition more often than not but it isn’t the end all be all. There needs to be a purpose when stacking. We’re not just going into contests and blindly stacking teams for unrealistic, farfetched potential correlation plays, they have to make sense.
This is my breakdown as part of a regular series of articles I’ll produce every week of the NFL season and it will break down what stacks I’m looking to build around in GPP contests for that particular week. Some weeks I’ll dive into four or five stacks but others there could only be two or three I have my eye on. Remember, there’s no sense in stacking just because you heard it repeated 87 times on the radio.
Stacks That I Have My Eye On
Below I’ll break down the particular stacks I’m interested and delve into it based on matchup, ability, predicted game script, and collective salary while picking an opposing player or two to run that stack back with if appropriate.*Note: All pricing is DraftKings focused
Miami Dolphins (vs. Houston Texans)
QB Tua Tagovailoa, WR Jaylen Waddle, TE Mike GesickiRun it back: WR Brandin Cooks
This game featuring two bad defenses should see a lot of ownership across DFS sites and fantasy players shouldn’t ignore that. Although there’s a lot of potentially high-owned players here, those players provide a ton of value making it helpful to build lineups in their entirety. So whether or not you stack this game it will be beneficial to find players from this game.
The Dolphins side featuring Tua, Waddle, and Gesicki should be the more heavily owned side but I see more upside there. With Parker out for Miami, Waddle and Gesicki will see an uptick in targets. Over his last three games, Waddle has seen 12, eight, and 13 targets resulting in four, seven, and 10 receptions. Gesicki is in the same boat as Waddle as far as targets go with four, eight, nine, and seven targets in his last four contests. All three components here for Miami are below $6,000 (Gesicki is $4,900) providing as I said before, excellent value.
Cooks is the only game in town for Houston as far as the receivers go (in my eyes Nico Collins and Jordan Aikens are irrelevant and there’s no reason to entertain rostering them) however WR Danny Amendola ($3,200) is an interesting salary-saving dart throw out of the slot – the Dolphins have been brutal defending the slot. Despite Miami having solid corners, Cooks stands out as a big-play threat seeing a ton of targets (six, seven, 13) in his last three games. In the first two weeks with Tyrod under center Cooks saw seven and 14 targets. Much like the rest of the players in this game, Cooks is very affordable at $6,100.
Minnesota Vikings (at Baltimore Ravens)
QB Kirk Cousins, WR Justin Jefferson, RB Dalvin CookRun it Back: WR Marquise Brown
While most will look to Lamar Jackson at quarterback, I’m looking at Cousins for a discount in a game with shootout appeal. Cousins has 35, 48, 34, and 38 attempts in his last four games. Despite Cook missing one of those games in between, there are enough touches to go around despite the pass attempt number being high for Cousins. In the game that Kirk has 48 attempts, Cook had 29 carries and in last weeks game (35 attempts) Cook handled 19 carries. Jefferson is priced up at $7,500 despite having a down game last week. Prior to that, the former LSU standout saw 14, eight, seven, 11, and 10 targets in his five previous games. The Ravens secondary has had trouble all year and Jefferson is in a smash spot.
Hollywood Brown is simply to cheap at $6,000 despite seeing double-digit targets in two of his last three games. Even though Minnesota has been decent against receivers, I’m looking at the upside of Hollywood as he’s had 80 or more receiving yards in four of his last six games with five total touchdowns over that span.
Game Stack
Los Angeles Chargers at Philadelphia Eagles
QB Jalen Hurts, TE Dallas GoedertRB Austin Ekeler, WR Mike Williams
Jalen Hurts vs. Justin Herbert. That debate is one that I went back and forth within this game stack but I landed on Hurts because of his rushing upside. I could see Hurts running for 60-plus yards which he’s done in each of his last two games. Dallas Goedert has been Hurts’ primary target with seven and five targets each of the last two weeks, and that’s with Hurts attempting just 48 passes across the two games. Goedert has seen his snap share skyrocket since the Zach Ertz trade, has run routes on over 80 percent of dropbacks over the last two weeks, but his salary is still a modest $4,500.
Austin Ekeler, the running, and pass-catching machine sees an Eagles defense that has been susceptible to both components against running backs this season. Ekeler is second among runnings backs with 33 receptions and has eight total touchdowns. The nicest part about Ekeler is that his floor is rock solid because he’s game-script independent. Mike Williams has been struggling of late but this is a good bounce-back spot for him. With the Eagles playing a lot of zone defense, I don’t expect him to be shadowed much if at all by Darius Slay, and with Williams producing well earlier in the season against some zone-defense-heavy teams, this is a good bounce-back spot.
Also consider:Buffalo Bills (at Jacksonville Jaguars)
QB Josh Allen, WR Stefon Diggs, WR Cole Beasley
Cincinnati Bengals (vs. Cleveland Browns)
QB Joe Burrow, WR Ja’Marr Chase
Run it back: RB Nick Chubb
Good Luck!!
This game featuring two bad defenses should see a lot of ownership across DFS sites and fantasy players shouldn’t ignore that. Although there’s a lot of potentially high-owned players here, those players provide a ton of value making it helpful to build lineups in their entirety. So whether or not you stack this game it will be beneficial to find players from this game.
The Dolphins side featuring Tua, Waddle, and Gesicki should be the more heavily owned side but I see more upside there. With Parker out for Miami, Waddle and Gesicki will see an uptick in targets. Over his last three games, Waddle has seen 12, eight, and 13 targets resulting in four, seven, and 10 receptions. Gesicki is in the same boat as Waddle as far as targets go with four, eight, nine, and seven targets in his last four contests. All three components here for Miami are below $6,000 (Gesicki is $4,900) providing as I said before, excellent value.
Cooks is the only game in town for Houston as far as the receivers go (in my eyes Nico Collins and Jordan Aikens are irrelevant and there’s no reason to entertain rostering them) however WR Danny Amendola ($3,200) is an interesting salary-saving dart throw out of the slot – the Dolphins have been brutal defending the slot. Despite Miami having solid corners, Cooks stands out as a big-play threat seeing a ton of targets (six, seven, 13) in his last three games. In the first two weeks with Tyrod under center Cooks saw seven and 14 targets. Much like the rest of the players in this game, Cooks is very affordable at $6,100.