Fantasy football advice Week 15: FanDuel Stack, Stack City

My most competitive and brutally addictive fantasy football league has been testing grounds for a variety of strategies. You have the guy who identifies his sleepers and drafts them six rounds too early, a player who locks down an entire lineup-kicker and defense included-before looking for any depth, and a guy, who definitely isn’t the author of this post, who went Montee Ball over Leveon Bell and Arian Foster.

One intrepid player decided to own as much of one offense as possible; he drafted Aaron Rodgers, Eddie Lacy, and Randall Cobb with his first three picks, locking down almost all production from that prolific attack. Each Sunday, he’d wait until the Green Bay game before dramatically yelling DOUBLE THE POINTS every time Rodgers tossed a touchdown to Lacy or Cobb. On the weeks when Green Bay exploded on offense, my buddy would enjoy 70 plus points from only three of his players.

We can take my buddy’s principles (but hopefully not his excited yells) to our weekly games. Given that we’ve got far more lineup flexibility, we can attack our FanDuel tournaments with some matchup-adjusted stacks. We’ll rank them in terms of cost and riskiness.

Eli Manning $7,500 and Odell Beckham $8,500 vs Washington

TOTAL COST- $16,000, 27% of total cap

Eli and ODB are a tempting duo to fire up against a Washington secondary that saves its biggest hits for practice brawls. Per FFToolbox, Washington has allowed the third-most QB points and 14^th-most WR points across this season. Let’s look at a more recent sample size to help understand the production enjoyed by QBs against Washington, along with the top scoring receiving threat for each week..

As you can see, the worst performance over these past four weeks still provided 16 points-a total made even better by Shaun Hill’s cheap salary that week. Eli himself shredded this defense in Week 4 for 300 yards, 5 total touchdowns, and a pick, good for 33 points. The QB production usually aligns with solid results for their top-targeted receivers, as Evans and Boldin enjoyed fantastic games against this secondary. ODB has produced regardless of matchup, and he should be a no-brainer WR this week.

With their cheap cost, this stack still lets you stock up on upper-echelon talent.

Potential Lineup with this stack:

Joique Bell $7,500 and Calvin Johnson $9,400 vs Minnesota

TOTAL COST: $16,900, 28.2% of total cap

Call this the Owning the RedZone duo. Calvin and Joique have enjoyed two straight weeks of elite production, and they face a decent but beatable Minnesota defense that just gave up 410 yards to the anemic Jets offense. In that game, the Jets RB duo combined for 126 yards on 32 carries, with Percy Harvin adding 6 catches for 124 yards and a score.

While Joique’s efficiency hasn’t been world-beating, his usage rates continue to result in great production. In this current homestand, Bell has averaged 24.5 touches and 25.75 points, unfazed by the return of Reggie Bush. Owning all the goal-line work, he offers tantalizing upside at a decent price point.

There’s not much to be said for Calvin Johnson other than a continued appreciation of his dominance. Over this homestand, he’s reasserted his position as the league’s best WR, averaging an absurd 28.95 points. Combine Calvin and Joique to corral almost all of the Lions’ resurgent offense.

Potential lineup with this stack:

LeVeon Bell $9,600, Antonio Brown $9,100, and Ben Roethlisberger $8,700 vs Atlanta

TOTAL COST: $27,400, 45.6% of total cap

We’re getting aggressive with this stack, but, if there were ever any team to stack against, it would be the Atlanta Falcons. According to FFToolbox, the Falcons have allowed the 14^th most points to quarterbacks, the 4^th most points to wide receivers, and the most points to running backs. I’ll repeat — this team gives up the most points to running backs, and they’re facing Le’Veon Bell, a beast of a man who has scored 29.2, 35.4, and 44.5 points over his last three games. They allow the 4^th highest points to wideouts, and they’re facing arguably the best fantasy WR this year in Antonio Brown, who himself has gone 19.6, 27.7, and 16.2 points over the last three weeks.

Brown, Big Ben, and Bell do take up a good chunk of your cap, but you can buttress the rest of the team with solid if unspectacular options. Invest in players like Kenny Stills or the emerging Marquess Wilson as high risk, high reward options.

Potential lineup with this stack:

Martellus Bennett $6,200, Alshon Jeffrey $8,400, Jay Cutler $8,600, and Matt Forte $9,000 vs New Orleans

TOTAL COST: $32,200, 53.7% of total cap

We’ve gone too far down the DOUBLE THE POINTS rabbit hole here, but this is a feasible lineup for any FanDuel gunslinger who hates the Saints. Take a look at what these four would have produced for you last week against a decent Dallas defense:

Jay Cutler: 27.54 points

Matt Forte: 20 points

Alshon Jeffrey: 18.5 points

Martellus Bennett: 20.4 points

86.44 points is nothing to laugh at! These four essentially got you halfway toward a great day, and they’re about to face a Saints defense that hasn’t held an opponent under 27 points since week 9. With Brandon Marshall out for the year, you’ll essentially own every offensive option on the Bears. Committing this much cap and roster space to one team is incredibly risky, but it is the type of idiotic bravery that may result in greatness.

I will put my money where my mouth is and join a league with the following lineup. I will also break my television when Josh Morgan goes for 200 yards and three touchdowns.

Potential lineup with this stack: