Every Friday, this article provides 7-10 FanDuel stacks for tournament play. We'll discuss highly-owned stacks with some twists for making them more unique. We'll also unearth less common stacks for top-heavy contests and create strong lineup anchors with defensive stacks.
Highly-Owned Stacks (with a Twist)
Tom Brady ($8,800) + Rob Gronkowski ($8,400) = $17,200
This is a no-brainer, but it's pricey and will be highly owned. The sportsbooks project New England to score a week-high 29 points to defeat the Cowboys by 8.5 points.
Twist: You could switch Gronkowski for Julian Edelman ($7,700), but Edelman was the most highly-owned Patriot (28 percent) in Thursday contests. If you're going to dig deeper, you could consider Aaron Dobson ($5,000) or Danny Amendola ($4,600). But I wouldn't bet against Gronkowski if I'm stacking Patriots.
Philip Rivers ($7,500) + Keenan Allen ($7,700) = $15,200
The Chargers host the Michael-Vick-led Steelers on Monday night. Pittsburgh has been far better at slowing down runners than pass-catchers this season. San Diego is projected by Vegas to have a three-point advantage and be the eighth-highest scoring team (24.25 points) of the week.
Twist: You could use Antonio Gates ($5,500) in his first game back from suspension instead of Allen, but Gates was more heavily owned than Allen in Thursday contests. Steve Johnson ($5,700) and Malcom Floyd ($5,400) are banged up, making Dontrelle Inman ($5,100) a potential play, but it sounds like Floyd will play this week, hurting Innman's sleeper potential. Simply put, just stick with Allen.
Matt Ryan ($8,300) + Julio Jones ($9,200) = $17,500
This should be a big bounceback game for Julio Jones after having his worst fantasy outing in nearly three years.
Twist: You could get cute and switch to Leonard Hankerson ($6,000), but I'd stick with Jones against a weak Washington secondary.
Less Common Stacks
Tyrod Taylor ($7,500) + Charles Clay ($5,700) = $13,200
Clay has back-to-back weeks with at least 15 fantasy points and now faces a Titans defense that struggles to cover the tight end. The Bills are projected to be the lowest scoring winner (22.25 points). But with a backfield decimated by injuries and Sammy Watkins likely to miss another game, the Taylor-to-Clay connection is about all that's working for them on right now. Taylor will force-feed the ball to Clay.
Drew Brees ($8,100) + Willie Snead ($5,300) = $13,400
The sportsbooks have New Orleans as the highest scoring underdog (22 points) in the game with the second-highest total of the week (49 points). They travel to Philadelphia to face a team that forces running backs to score a league-worst 53 percent below their typical fantasy output. Brees will be forced to lean on his new favorite pass-catcher, Willie Snead, to try to keep up with the Eagles' high-powered offense.
Joe Flacco ($7,700) + Kamar Aiken ($5,800) = $13,500
Steve Smith has been ruled out of this game, and Aiken is the man who will replace him. Aiken racked up 77 yards and a touchdown last week. Heavily favored at home, the Ravens should have no problem scoring on the Browns through the air.
Defensive Stacks
Kansas City Chiefs ($4,600) + Jamaal Charles ($9,100) = $13,700
This will be one of the most popular stacks of the week. The Chiefs are the most heavily favored team (nine points) playing at home against the lowest scoring team of the week (17.5 points), the Bears.
Baltimore Ravens ($4,500) + Justin Forsett ($7,200) = $11,700
If you're not sold on the Flacco/Aiken stack I listed above, this is the safer, cheaper Ravens stack to use. Baltimore is a seven-point favorite at home and should have plenty of opportunities to feed their top back the rock.
Atlanta Falcons ($4,500) + Devonte Freeman ($7,600) = $12,100
After back-to-back three-touchdown outings, Freeman will have the highest ownership percentage of the week. You won't find differentiation here. But the solid value will open up more possibilites for your other roster spots. This could be a risky play with Washington having a decent run defense and the Falcons yielding 23 points a game. But the upside of potential Kirk Cousins mistakes and more Devonte Freeman touchdowns makes this an attractive GPP play.
Austin Lee played the trombone for three years, lost a wrestling match in eight seconds flat, and once made the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs. For more of his DFS insights, watch The Footballguys Daily Fantasy Hour presented by Rotogrinders on Wednesdays at 9:30pm ET or listen to The Audible's FanDuel podcast on Friday mornings. Feel free to hit him up for advice on Twitter.