‘Stacking’ has become one of the tried-and-true strategies in seasonal redraft leagues, but it works just as well on the DFS landscape. The concept: roster two players from the same team and enjoy double the pleasure, double the fun when they both hit. Stacking two players from one team in a plus-matchup significantly raises your teams’ ceiling, and in turn boosts your odds of winning money.
When looking at stacking opportunities, it’s important to pinpoint good offenses in favorable game scripts. You can also target games that project to be among the highest-scoring of the week and use that to influence your decisions. Either way, stacks should help you compete for the top prizes in DraftKings and FanDuel tournaments and can even help you stay competitive in cash games.
MORE WEEK 1 DFS: Best values
DraftKings’ pricing continues to be more variable than that of FanDuel, in turn making it easier to create stacks. That said, stacking is still a viable strategy on FanDuel. It’s just important to find worthwhile sleepers in the lower price range to balance your lineup.
WEEK 1 DFS LINEUPS: DraftKings | FanDuel | Yahoo
Below are some of our favorite sets of teammates for DraftKings and FanDuel lineups.
Week 1 NFL DFS Picks: Top cash game stacks for DraftKings, FanDuel
QB Joe Burrow, WR Ja’Marr Chase, & RB Joe Mixon, Bengals vs. Steelers (DK/FD stack)
Burrow and Chase are arguably both in the top three or four at their positions, the most important positions in modern-day football. Mixon seems to be the most under-appreciated RB1 in the NFL. The Bengals improved their offensive line and got better defensively this offseason, while the Steelers barely addressed any weaknesses this offseason, of which there were many.
Mixon and Chase both come in at $7,100 on DK, which sounds like a lot but it’s really not when it comes to studs. Joey Brr, meanwhile, comes in at a cool $6,400, which is the real steal here. Prioritize Burrow and his favorite target Chase, who should demolish a Steelers defense that ranked 24th in total yards allowed in 2021. But the triple-stack makes sense, too — Mixon should feast once the Bengals cruise to a big lead, and Pittsburgh low-key served up the most rushing yards and net yards per rushing attempt last season.
This is a prime example of a time when you should stack studs and plug in some sleepers and values. Check out our DFS values column so you can capitalize on the best of both worlds: elite stacked production from studs and cheap production from under-the-radar guys. Winning in DFS continues to be about getting the most bang for your buck, but in cash games the safer plays with higher floors yield the best results. There isn’t much safer than the hungry Bengals in a divisional season-opener after a Super Bowl loss.
WEEK 1 STANDARD FANTASY RANKINGS:QBs | RBs | WRs | TEs | D/STs | Kicker
RB Derrick Henry & Titans D/ST, Titans vs. Giants (FD stack)
King Henry makes his triumphant regular-season return this weekend against a Giants squad that ranked 25th in fantasy points allowed to RBs in 2021. In half-PPR formats like FanDuel, Henry should be well over $10,000. FD has him listed at $9,700. I’m not saying this is a huge value, but Henry is a very worthwhile roster at this price.
Henry was running away with all the rushing stats last season before he hurt his football and was on pace to easily nab his third-consecutive rushing title. He has been passed over by the likes of Austin Ekeler, Najee Harris, and Christian McCaffrey in preseason PPR rankings, but in half-PPR and standard leagues he should be viewed as the 1B to Jonathan Taylor’s 1A.
Another strong Titans play this weekend is their D/ST. Many have the Giants pegged for positive regression this season under former Bills offensive coordinator Brian Daboll, but last time I checked, they will still be fielding Daniel Jones under center with an underwhelming receiving corps and middling Saquon Barkley.
The G-men ranked 31st in a bevy of stats last season: points, total yards, first downs, passing yards, rushing TDs, and the list goes on. They also ranked dead last in turnovers, throwing 20 interceptions and losing 10 fumbles. Tennessee finished with the sixth-best scoring defense and surrendered the second-fewest rushing yards last season. This is a dominant stack that will cost you $14,300 total on FD. Henry and a sleeper RB is better than two mid-tier backs. All hail the King.
WEEK 1 FANTASY PPR RANKINGS:QBs | RBs | WRs | TEs | D/STs | Kicker
QB Jalen Hurts & WR A.J. Brown, Eagles at Lions (DK stack)
Hurts is one of my breakout candidates this season, and Brown is the biggest reason. We saw Hurts finish sixth among QBs in fantasy points per game last season, and that was in the first year of coach Nick Sirianni and offensive coordinator Shane Steichen’s offense. It also came in a season that Philly featured Dallas Goedert and four skill players under 23 as its top pass-catchers (DeVonta Smith, Quez Watkins, Jalen Reagor, and Kenneth Gainwell).
Well, Brown gives Hurts everything he needed in Philadelphia. He’s 25, possesses game-changing skills at every level of the receiving game, and will open running lanes for Hurts like the QB has never seen at the NFL level. Brown has 25 career TDs and a lifetime yards-per-reception average of 16.2. He’s so head-and-shoulders above the rest of this receiving group, it’s silly. If he can stay healthy, this offense will achieve cheat-code levels of production this season.
That all starts this week against the Lions, who are far better at creating entertaining TV content than they are at defense. Detroit ranked 29th in total yards allowed last season and gave up the second-most points in the NFL (27.5). Motown ranked in the bottom-quarter of the league in both rushing and receiving TDs allowed, and my guess is they will lead the league in both of those stats allowed by Sunday night.
WEEK 1 FANTASY PICKS: Sleepers | Busts | Start ’em, sit ’em
Week 1 DraftKings, FanDuel Picks: Best stacks for daily fantasy football tournaments
QB Aaron Rodgers, RB Aaron Jones, & WR Romeo Doubs, Packers at Vikings (DK stack)
Everyone and their mother seems low on Rodgers this year. Maybe it’s because he looked like Nicolas Cage at the start of training camp. More likely, it’s based on the assumption that he will regress without the luxury of having two-time All-Pro Davante Adams. Well, GPPs and tournaments present perfect opportunities to capitalize on high-ceiling, risk-vs.-reward plays like these.
As evidenced by his second and third MVP awards the last two seasons, Rodgers always finds a way to excel (at least during the regular season). He made Adams a household name, and we’d be willing to bet he will raise another wideout from obscurity to notoriety. If we had to bet on whom, it would be preseason darling and early Rodgers favorite Doubs. The fourth-round pick appears wise beyond his 22 years, both on and off the field.
Doubs has turned heads for his route-running, hands, footwork, and playmaking ability. He’s a deep-ball maestro and a hawk with 50/50 balls. He should put up plenty of fantasy points against a Vikings secondary that ranked 28th in passing yards surrendered last season (252.9 per game).
Don’t forget about Jones, too. Whereas Rodgers’ $7,000 (fifth among QBs on DK) is low because of the loss of Adams, and Doubs’ $3,000 is low because he’s a rookie, Jones’ $6,700 price tag is fair (10th on DK) because he shares a backfield with beastly third-year back AJ Dillon ($5,300).
Look, I don’t hate selecting Dillon here, either. In fact, Dillon might be a better play on FanDuel, where catches aren’t as important but touchdowns reign supreme. In our eyes, Jones has a higher floor and ceiling as a PPR asset in this offense, and he’s the one veteran skill-position player Rodgers has that never needed Adams. Just look at Jones’ fantasy production in the last seven games he played without Adams on the field:
That’s an average of 25.8 PPR points per game, folks. That’s elite-level production, which will greatly improve your chances of winning GPPs and tournaments at $6,700. Grab Jones, stack him with Rodgers and Doubs, and don’t look back.
RB Antonio Gibson & WR Terry McLaurin, Commanders vs. Jaguars (DK/FD stack)
Before you jump all over me on Twitter, consider the facts. Carson Wentz joins the Commanders, which should significantly boost both these players’ upsides; preseason stud RB Brian Robinson Jr. was recently shot in a car-jacking/robbery attempt and will miss at least four games; and Washington kicks off the season at home against a Jaguars team that had the worst scoring defense and turnover percentage in 2021.
McLaurin has exhibited electric playmaking abilities since coming into the league with 16 career touchdowns in 46 career games and a lifetime yards-per-touch rate of 13.9. He logged his second-consecutive 1,000-yard receiving campaign in ‘21 despite continual turmoil at the QB position in D.C. One of the better deep-ball passers in the NFL, Wentz seems like a great fit for McLaurin and could easily provide results similar to the Wentz-Michael Pittman connection in Indy last year.
As for Gibson, talk about a bizarre roller-coaster of a story. His topsy-turvy sophomore season as a pro saw him rack up double-digit TDs and 1,000-plus scrimmage yards for the second-straight year (actually, he netted 1,331 all said), but he put the ball on the turf six times. He cleared 4.0 yards per carry (after averaging 4.7 his rookie year) and once again exceeded an 80-percent catch rate. But Washington still begged J.D. McKissic to re-sign, drafted Robinson, and seemed ready to start the rookie over Gibson in Week 1. Then came the shooting, which somehow lands us back on Gibson as the Commanders’ RB1.
Here’s betting he takes care of that damn rock on Sunday. At $5,800, Gibson makes a fine investment against a Jags squad that allowed 22 rushing TDs (29th) and 125.1 ground yards last season (23rd). Combine Gibson with Scary Terry — who should torch Jacksonville’s abysmal secondary (JAX ranked 27th in points allowed to wideouts last year) and possibly be the only Commanders’ receiver who does much of anything — and you’ve got a hell of a stack out of the nation’s Cap’.
QB Matt Ryan and WR Michael Pittman, Colts at Texans (DK stack)
The whole world will be on reigning rushing king Jonathan Taylor in Houston this weekend at $9,100, but we’ll be keying in on his two big-value teammates. Ryan gets a new lease on life in Indy, falling into a drastically better offense than he got stuck with in Atlanta the past couple years. For the first time in a while, Matty Ice will have a strong offensive line, a solid defense, an elite running back, and a go-to wide receiver.
Anyone who read my DFS values piece last week already knows I love Ryan against the porous Texans defense this weekend. Houston ranked 27th in points allowed and 31st in yards surrendered in ‘21, after all. Pittman made the cut, too. After a breakout second-year campaign, the stud wideout now gets an upgrade at QB, at least in terms of accuracy and efficiency. Despite playing with an inferior Falcons offense last season, Ryan finished with a completion rate five percentage points higher than Wentz and logged 23.8 more passing yards per game.
Christmas came early — Ryan and Pittman can each be rostered at $5,500 on DK right now. Go out and grab them in some lineups, and enjoy as the DFS stacks create money stacks.
