Week 8 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 on investment on players' costs will put you in the best position to cash in this season.
Week 8 NFL DFS Stacks & Picks for DraftKings, FanDuel
QB Jalen Hurts ($8,300) & WR Devonta Smith ($6,300), Eagles vs Steelers
- Combined Price: $14,600 – 29.2% of lineup salary
While the Eagles are coming off of their bye, the expectation is that the undefeated team will pick up right where they left off. At the offensive forefront of that Eagles team has been Jalen Hurts.
Hurts has been dominant this season. Even with the previously mentioned bye week, Hurts is still fifth in DraftKings quarterback scoring.
As it has been stated numerous times, rushing quarterbacks always bring tremendous upside in fantasy. Headed into this week, Hurts has six rushing touchdowns which is tied for second among all NFL players.
While the Steelers have yet to allow a rushing touchdown to a quarterback, they currently sit with the seventh most points allowed to the position.
That would include two games of allowing more than 25 points, which have come in the last four weeks.
While A.J. Brown is an obvious candidate to stack with Hurts, Devonta Smith is $1,700 cheaper and has scored just 10.6 fewer points than Brown this season.
In four of Smith’s last five games, the Eagles pass catcher has scored 15 points or more.
Within those games, Smith has had eight or more receptions twice and had a huge Week 3 where he hauled in 169 receiving yards.
Much like the quarterback position, the Steelers' defense has struggled against wide receivers as well.
Headed into this week, the defense formerly known as the steel curtain has allowed the second most points to the position, including a league-high 1,467 yards receiving.
QB Derek Carr ($5,900) & WR Davante Adams ($8,600), Raiders vs Saints
- Combined Price: $14,500 – 28.9% of lineup salary
So far this season, the Raiders and Saints have hit the over in their respective games at least 70% of the time. Taking advantage of those numbers, look to stack Derek Carr and Davante Adams this weekend.
Before getting into any numbers, while he is not expected to miss any time, it should be noted that Carr has been limited in practice this week with a back injury.
In Carr’s previous two matchups, the Raiders signal-caller has thrown for 603 yards and four touchdowns.
If he is able to replicate a similar performance this Sunday, that will likely allow Carr to score four times his DraftKings cost of $5,900.
What bodes well for Carr is that as well as he played in those previous two meetings, unlike this week, he didn’t have Davante Adams in his huddle.
While Adams is sixth in scoring at the position, he has two games with 30 or more points scored. Both of those games were on the road, much like he is this weekend. On top of those, Adams has had three 100-yard games and has failed to score a touchdown in only two of his six games.
It has been noted in these articles this season that Saints' secondary has been struggling with injuries. That has been evident as the defense has allowed fifty or more fantasy points to wide receivers in three of their last four games.
The one week they did not allow more than 50 points came last week. Even with that though, DeAndre Hopkins still had over 100 yards of offense and 23.3 fantasy points scored.
QB Tua Tagovailoa ($6,200) & WR Tyreek Hill ($8,500), Dolphins vs Lions
- Combined Price: $14,700 – 29.4% of lineup salary
The football world held its breath last week as Tua Tagovailoa returned following a scary concussion. Coming out of that game unscathed, Tagovailoa and the Dolphins' offense will look to get back to normal against the Lions.
What unfortunately has been the norm for the Lions is allowing points to opposing quarterbacks. Last season, their defense was tenth in points allowed and this year they are twelfth.
In the games the Lions have played, the defense has had all but one game where they allowed more than 25 points. In the one game when they allowed less, it was 24 points against the Cowboys. With the Dolphins throwing on 63.92% of their offensive snaps, the expectation is that those points will come via the passing game.
For the skeptics who wondered if Tyreek Hill could produce for fantasy without Patrick Mahomes, after seven as a Dolphin, Hill has delivered.
Hill currently sits third among wide receivers in DraftKings points scored and on top of that, he is on pace to surpass his fantasy points from his final season with the Chiefs. As if all of that is not enough, the Dolphins pass catcher also has more targets than any other pass catcher in football.
It would also help to know that Hill’s two touchdowns this year have come on the road and his catch percentage is also 16.5 points higher when he is away from home.
The Lions aren’t the easiest opponent for wide receivers but they have also allowed 40 fantasy points to opposing wide receivers in three out of their six games.
At the end of the day, we have an offense with the fifth-highest passing percentage, that targets their best pass catcher, against a defense that continuously gives up a lot of points. Seems like a recipe for success.
QB Jared Goff ($5,500) & WR Josh Reynolds ($5,000), Lions vs Dolphins
- Combined Price: $10,500 – 21% of lineup salary
So often we hear about games with multiple fantasy football options on both teams. This Lions and Dolphins matchup is no different as I will also recommend the stack of Jared Goff and Josh Reynolds.
The decision to go with Reynolds over Amon-Ra St. Brown is predicated on the latter’s availability this week. Despite not suffering a concussion last week, given his symptoms, St. Brown currently finds himself in the league’s concussion protocol.
If St. Brown does play and you would prefer to pivot to him, the Lions pass catcher is priced at $6,900 which means you would use 24.8% of your DraftKings to stack him with Goff.
Getting back to Reynolds though, my confidence in him is there no matter if St. Brown plays or not. Headed into this week, Reynolds currently leads Lions pass catchers in receiving yards with 343. This would include three games with 15 or more fantasy points and two touchdowns scored.
Much like the Lions, the Dolphins have had their fair share of struggling against wide receivers. They are sixth in points allowed to the position. That ranking is a consistent one as they have allowed at least 30 fantasy points to the position in all but one game.
Then there is Jared Goff who is just outside the top 12 in scoring and is tied for fifth with 11 touchdown passes. The best part about Goff is that along with those numbers, he has only been priced over $6,000 on DraftKings once.
With the connection of Goff and Reynolds, you are getting a stack connection that is familiar with one another and at a very low cost. Stacking like this provides you the opportunity to take big swings at other positions.
It helps to know that the Dolphins are third in fantasy points allowed to quarterbacks with an average of 22 points per game. If that per game average hits this weekend, that would mean that Goff would score four times his DraftKings cost. That should more often than not be your goal when targeting players.
If you need a little insurance, it would help to know that while Goff has played three games each at home and on the road, the Lions' quarterback has thrown 10 of his 11 touchdowns at home. The game this weekend will be held in Detroit.
