Week 4 of the NFL DFS season has arrived and it is time to win some big money using stacks.
While fantasy football stacks are becoming more prevalent in redraft leagues, the ability to stack players has always been one of the main strategic plays in daily fantasy.
This weekly article will focus on what are the best stack plays in a given week for DFS.
While these plays can be applicable to FanDuel and other daily fantasy sites, this article will focus primarily on DraftKings pricing.
What is stacking in DFS?
A fantasy football stack is when you take two or more players from the same team in order to double your points. This is a strategy that is especially useful in games with high over-unders.
While you are able to stack a quarterback with a running back and or a tight end, we’ll be focusing on the best stacks available between a quarterback and a wide receiver.
What is most important when stacking in DFS?
What is most important to pay attention to, with or without stacking, is a player's cost and their ultimate output of points.
For example: QB Jalen Hurts had an average cost of $6,700 last season and had five weeks in which he scored 4x his weekly cost.
Ultimately, factoring in the elements of stacking players along with a strong return of investment on players' costs will put you in the best position to cash in this season.
Week 4 NFL DFS Stacks & Picks for DraftKings, FanDuel
QB Lamar Jackson ($8,000) & WR Rashod Bateman ($5,600), Ravens vs Bills
- Combined Price: $13,600 – 27.2% of lineup salary
This offseason, Lamar Jackson gambled on himself by turning down a massive contract extension from the Ravens. Now it is time for you to gamble on Jackson this Sunday.
In three games played, Jackson has scored four times his DraftKings salary twice. On top of that, he has already scored 42.26% of his 2021 point total.
Hauling in 226 of Jackson’s 749 passing yards is a prime stack candidate in Rashod Bateman. Through three games, Bateman leads Ravens wide receivers in targets with 16.
The stack of Jackson and Bateman has produced the second-most points among quarterback and wide receiver stacks with 157.86 points scored. That would include 50.32 points against the Patriots last week.
This week’s opponent, the Bills, have had some defensive troubles to start the season. Headed into Week 4, the Bills have had two weeks of 30 points or more allowed. Within those points allowed is the fact that the Bills had two games this season with 30 or more fantasy points allowed to the wide receiver position.
While the Bills have allowed a league-low 549 passing yards, 78.3% of those yards have gone to the wide receiver position.
It would be negligent of me if I did not mention Mark Andrews who has been targeted 31 times this season. While most milli-maker lineups tend to select a lower-cost tight end, Andrews is a can’t-miss option.
It’s a hefty price tag though as pairing Andrews with Jackson would cost $15,100 and would absorb 30.2% of your DraftKings salary.
QB Aaron Rodgers ($6,300) & WR Romeo Doubs ($4,500), Packers vs Patriots
- Combined Price: $10,800 – 21.6% of lineup salary
The question all offseason long was who will be the new go-to target for Aaron Rodgers. This past weekend, we might have found that answer.
Not only was Romeo Doubs targeted eight times against the Buccaneers, he caught all of those targets for 73 yards and a touchdown.
Those eight targets were double what Doubs saw in the first two games and he will take that momentum into a matchup against the Patriots.
While the Patriots are widely known for being tough defensively, they have allowed 57 points in their first three games.
More specifically, in Week 3 the Patriots allowed 43.42 fantasy points to Lamar Jackson.
For Rodgers, the future Hall of Fame quarterback has yet to record a game with 20 or more fantasy points this season.
History would suggest that Rodgers will avoid a fourth straight game as he hasn’t had four straight weeks of less than 20 DraftKings points since the start of the 2018 season.
In three previous games against the Patriots, Rodgers has thrown four touchdowns and zero interceptions.
One other encouraging sign for Doubs is his four red zone targets. In the previous two seasons and even dating back to the days of Jordy Nelson, when Rodgers trusts a wide receiver, they tend to finish in the top five of red zone targets.
Playing on 98.6% of passing snaps and catching 14 of his 16 targets, Doubs could be the reliable answer that Rodgers has been looking for. Expect that to continue taking shape this week.
QB Josh Allen ($8,400) & WR Stefon Diggs ($8,400), Bills vs. Ravens
- Combined Price: $16,800 – 33.6% of lineup salary
Utilizing over 30% of your DraftKings salary on a stack could make roster construction challenging. That aside, stacking Josh Allen and Stefon Diggs could be well worth it.
Three weeks into the season, Allen has lived up to his reputation. The Bills’ signal-caller has had three games with 30+ points scored and prior to this week's Thursday night game was the only player in the NFL with 1,000 yards passing.
While Allen’s DFS price has continued to rise this season, he has continued to return value. In order for Allen to return three times his DraftKings salary, he will need to score 25.2 points.
Dating back to last season, Allen has surpassed that score in 10 games.
Then there is Stefon Diggs who has caught 81.8% of his 33 targets this season. On top of two 100-yard performances this season, since joining the Bills in 2020, Diggs has had 100 or more receiving yards in 30.5% of his games.
Then there is the Ravens, whose numbers contradict their reputation of being a tough defense. In 2021, the Ravens were third in points allowed to the quarterback position and this season have allowed 20+ points in two of their first three games.
Now helping matters is that the Ravens have missed 22 tackles on pass plays in three games.
The Ravens are also allowing a considerable amount of points to wide receiver and quarterback stacks. Three weeks into the season, their defense is allowing an average of 72.8 points per game to stacks.
Putting all of this into perspective, utilizing 33.6% of your DFS salary on Allen and Diggs seems well worth your trouble.
QB Matt Ryan ($5,600) & WR Michael Pittman ($7,200), Colts vsTitans
- Combined Price: $12,800 – 25.6% of lineup salary
With only one game of 20+ points scored this season, starting Matt Ryan in fantasy has delivered a range of emotions. That being said, hope is on the horizon in the form of the Titans defense.
The Titans are allowing the third-most points to the quarterback position with 74.72 points. That would include 23.82 points to Derek Carr last week.
On top of the Titans allowing a lot of fantasy points, with one interception on the season, they are not capitalizing off of quarterback mistakes either. Headed into Week 4, they are in the top-10 in passing yards allowed with 808 yards.
In the three games that Ryan has played against the Titans, the Colts quarterback has averaged 321.3 yards passing.
While the Titans defensive woes work into Ryan’s favor, Michael Pittman should directly benefit from that as well. Even though Pittman missed Week 2, he still leads Colts wide receivers with 22 targets. In his return last week, Pittman caught eight of nine targets for 72 yards.
What hurt Pittman’s fantasy score was the fact that he was unable to record a touchdown. The prospect of reaching the endzone this weekend seems promising as the Titans are tied in allowing the most touchdown passes in the NFL with eight.
In his previous game against the Titans, Pittman scored 30.6 points with 12 receptions for 86 yards and two touchdowns.
Circling back to the quarterback, the stack of Ryan and Pittman has produced two games of 30+ points, including Week 1 where they combined for 50.38 points.
As mentioned at the top, not all of Ryan’s starts will be great. With that being said, this start against the Titans is one that I’m banking on, literally.
