Every Friday, this article provides several FanDuel stacks. Most of these positively correlated combinations are best suited for tournament play. But some of the safer duos with high floors can be used in cash games. We'll discuss highly-owned stacks, dig deeper to find less common stacks, identify potential shootouts, and create strong lineup anchors with defensive stacks.
Highly-Owned Stacks
Brian Hoyer ($7,100) + DeAndre Hopkins ($9,400) = $16,500
At 48 points, this game has the highest over-under. The Saints defense begs to be stacked against every week. The departure of Rob Ryan won't magically help New Orleans slow down Hopkins.
Shootout: With the most shootout potential of the week, don't hesitate to play multiple Saints on the other side of the ball. Ben Watson ($5,400) and Brandin Cooks ($7,300) are my favorite Saints plays.
Josh McCown ($6,300) + Gary Barnidge ($6,500) = $12,800
The Browns demoted Johnny "party animal" Manziel, and fantasy owners of Cleveland's pass-catchers rejoiced. The Ravens typically cover the tight end well, but Barnidge torched them with a 8/139/1 line in Baltimore back in Week 5. With most of the Ravens' top offensive playmakers on injured reserve, the Browns should own time of possession and have plenty of scoring opportunities on Monday Night Football.
Twist: My only hesitance about stacking this game is that the sportsbooks project it to have the lowest total of the week. But Travis Benjamin ($5,900) is worth using instead of Barnidge if you already have another tight end in mind. You could also triple stack if you think Vegas' total is way too low.
Eli Manning ($7,700) + Odell Beckham Jr($9,100) = $16,800
With all the hype surrounding DeAndre Hopkins and Julio Jones, I think Beckham will have lower ownership and be worth paying up for this week at Washington. With all the values at quarterback and running back, it's a great week to roster one or two upper-tier receivers.
Less Common Stacks
Philip Rivers ($8,000) + Antonio Gates ($5,700) = $13,700
Rivers and Gates combined for just eight points last week against Kansas City. This should drive their ownership down far enough to make their upside worth the investment. Rivers is a bit pricy, but the value of his pass-catchers make a Chargers stack worthwhile. They travel to Jacksonville to face a Jaguars team that's been fourth-worst against the tight end over the past five weeks.
Twist: Steve Johnson ($5,500) doesn't have Gates' upside, but as a highly-targeted pass-catcher in this offense, he's undervalued enough for triple-stacking.
Marcus Mariota ($7,000) + Delanie Walkler ($6100) = $13,100
The Raiders have improved against the tight end as the season has progressed. But that's like saying Wile E. Coyote has gotten slightly closer to catching The Road Runner. Tight ends have scored in four of Oakland's last five games.
Twist: Kendall Wright ($5,300) returns from injury just in time to exploit a nice matchup against Raiders slot corner D.J. Hayden.
Shootout: This game doesn't have an especially high Vegas total at 44 points, but there's enough shootout potential to pair nicely-valued Michael Crabtree ($6,500) with a Chargers stack.
Defensive Stacks
Kansas City Chiefs ($4,500) + Spencer Ware ($6,100) = $10,600
The Chiefs are the chalk play at defense this week, hosting the Bills at Arrowhead. The Bills offense has regressed, and Tyrod Taylor is banged up. The Chiefs are on a four-game winning streak and haven't allowed 19 points in a game since Week 4. Running backs have overperformed fantasy-wise by 35 percent against the Bills over the past five weeks. As of Thursday night, it seems unlikely that Charcandrick West will play, making this a no-brainer pairing of cheap, chalky goodness.
Arizona Cardinals ($5,300) + Chandler Catanzaro ($4,700) = $10,000
This is one of the rare weeks where I'm not thrilled about the other defensive stacking options. The Cardinals, Bengals, Jets, Patriots, and Seahawks had close contenders. I just don't see myself playing those stacks. But I'll definitely stack Arizona's defense and kicker at San Francisco. The Cardinals are the biggest favorites of the week and are projected to score the most points.
Austin Lee hang-glided in Rio, climbed The Great Wall, and spent much of his childhood mixing cherry slushies with vanilla milkshakes. 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. Also check out his Normalized Strength of Schedule tool or hit him up for advice on Twitter.
