Week 16 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 16 NFL DFS Stacks & Picks for DraftKings, FanDuel
Without further ado, here are some of the best DFS stack options for Week 16 of the 2022 NFL season:
QB Daniel Jones ($5,600) & WR Darius Slayton ($5,200), Giants vs Vikings
- Combined Price: $10,800 -21.6% of lineup salary
With the numerous weather conditions looming in Week 16, some of the indoor games could be the smarter play. If you are looking for one of the cheaper indoor plays, I present to you the stack of Daniel Jones and Darius Slayton.
Before getting into what the players have to offer, this pick has just as much to do with the opposing Vikings defense.
As things stand now, the Vikings are allowing the fifth most points to the quarterback position. Up until last week, the defense had five straight weeks in which they allowed more than 20 points to the position.
Pass defense has been a problem all season long as they have 41 missed tackles on passing plays and are one of just two teams to allow over 4,000 passing yards.
Opposing offenses have responded to those defensive inefficiencies as the Vikings are being subjected to an average of 37.2 pass attempts on a per-game basis, second most in the league.
All of this sounds promising for Daniel Jones, who is 12th in quarterback scoring.
On the season, Jones has three games with 20 or more points scored. Those three opposing defenses are with the Vikings as they all rank in the top 10 in most points allowed to quarterbacks.
What will always help Jones is his ability to rush. The Giants signal-caller is fifth among quarterbacks with a career-high 583 rushing yards.
Passing options are limited for Jones and while you could stack him with Saquan Barkley, I will go with the player tied with Barkley in team targets, Darius Slayton.
Even with the Giants wide receiver room being depleted, in terms of strength of schedule, it has been a tough road for Slayton. Among the 11 games in which Slayton has been targeted, only four of those games came against defenses in the top-12 in most points allowed to the position.
More recently, over the last two weeks, Slayton has been targeted 15 times. Those targets resulted in 11 receptions for 113 yards receiving.
While those numbers are not eye-popping, it is worth noting that those came in two tough matchups against the Eagles and the Commanders. Both teams are in the top 10 in fewest points allowed to wide receivers over the last three weeks.
Luckily for Slayton, the Vikings are fifth in most points allowed to the position during that span.
On top of those last three weeks, the Vikings have allowed 45 or more points to the wide receiver position in four out of the last six weeks.
Sustaining drives will only help Slayton’s opportunities to increase and that could come into play against a Vikings defense that is allowing a league 13.6 passing first downs on a per-game basis.
QB Davis Mills ($5,100) & WR Brandin Cooks ($4,900), Texans vs Titans
- Combined Price: $10,000 – 20.0% of lineup salary
The stack of Davis Mills and Brandin Cooks presents an unlikely stack that is as cheap as they come. That being said, it is one that I believe in the most headed into Week 16.
When we talk about getting a return on your investment in DFS, we emphasize scoring three times your cost. With a combined cost of $10,000, Mills and Cooks need to combine for 30 points to hit their 3X mark.
Last week, Mills scored 19.94 points with 194 passing yards and three total touchdowns, two through the air and one on the ground.
That came against a Chiefs team that as previously mentioned is allowing the fourth most points to the quarterback position. Headed into this week, Mills will go up against the team allowing the third-most points, the Titans.
Expect an uptick in Mills’s passing yards as the Titans are allowing a staggering average of 301.3 yards passing per game.
On top of the yards, Mills could be in line for multiple touchdown passes. On the season, the Titans are allowing an averaged 1.8 touchdown passes per game. Couple that with Mills throwing for multiple touchdowns in five games and things are looking more intriguing.
Then there is Cooks who is returning to action for the first time since Week 12. While Chris Moore filled in admirably during that time, my expectation is that Cooks will assume his role as the Texans number one receiver.
While it has been a tough season for Cooks, the Titans are a sight for sore eyes. In six career games against the Titans. Cooks has scored four touchdowns and averaged 70.3 yards receiving.
It is not just history on Cooks’s side, there is also the present. The Titans defense is allowing more points than any other team to the wide receiver position which would include 18 touchdowns.
QB Geno Smith ($5,800) & WR DK Metcalf ($7,100), Seahawks vs Chiefs
- Combined Price: $12,900 – 25.8% of lineup salary
Depending on your contest, ownership percentages for this particular stack is something to keep in mind. That aside, the stack of Geno Smith and DK Metcalf will be one of the top scoring stacks in Week 16.
In spite of eight games with 20 or more points scored, Smith’s DraftKings price has fallen below $6,000 for the first time since Week 9. In that game, Smith scored 21.5 points, and given this week’s opponent, the Seahawks signal-caller has a prime opportunity to surpass 20 points again.
While the Chiefs offense continues to be prolific, their pass defense is equally horrific.
Headed into this week, the Chiefs defense has allowed a league-high 30 touchdown passes. On top of allowing touchdowns, they have had trouble taking the ball away through the air as they are one of 10 teams with less than 10 interceptions.
It has been just as bad recently. In the last three weeks, the Chiefs are allowing the second-most points to quarterbacks and on top of that, they are the only defense to allow 20 or more points to the position in each of those games.
This a prime opportunity for Smith to continue his success. The Seahawks signal-caller is looking for his twelfth game with multiple touchdown passes.
Passing yards have also followed the touchdown production as Smith has thrown for 250 yards or more in five out of his last six starts.
It is hard to imagine a scenario in which the Seahawks quarterback does not exceed 20 points this week.
Receiving the ball from Smith will be DK Metcalf, by default. That is not to insult Metcalf as much as it is the injured players around him. Tyler Lockett is expected to miss at least one week with his injured finger and Marquise Goodwin was practicing on a limited basis on Wednesday.
While sitting at fourteenth in scoring at his position, Metcalf has scored two touchdowns and averaged 84.3 yards in his last three games.
While allowing just 12.8 points to the wide receiver position last week, the Chiefs allowed 40 or more points to the position in four out of their five previous games.
All of this sounds more ideal for a Seahawks offense that is seventh in the league with a pass play percentage of 61.45%.
QB Gardner Minshew ($4,800) & WR AJ Brown ($8,100), Eagles vs Cowboys
- Combined Price: $12,900 – 25.8% of lineup salary
Due to an unfortunate shoulder injury to Jalen Hurts, Minshew Mania will ride again. This time Gardner Minshew will look to whip up some of his magic against the Cowboys.
Normally one would see a backup quarterback going up against a 10-4 division rival on the road and they would run away.
In this particular case, the Eagles offense is second in the NFL with 29.4 points scored per game and then there is a Cowboys defense that allowed four touchdown passes to Trevor Lawrence this past week.
Make no mistake, this is a good Cowboys defense. That being said, this is a defense that continuously has to make up for their quarterback’s turnovers which is now seven in the last four games.
This is also a Cowboys defense that ranks tenth with allowing 10.7 yards per completion over their last three games.
In home games this season, the Cowboys are allowing an average of 199.6 passing per game.
In his previous 22 starts, Minshew has surpassed 200 passing yards 16 times.
With the Cowboys allowing an average of 2.3 touchdown passes over their last three games, that number coupled with the passing yards the Cowboys are allowing at home, Minshew would have already surpassed his 3X score of 14.4 points.
While the Eagles playbook could change some, it will not change a ton. It is important to remember that Minshew has been in this Nick Sirianni offense for two years now, the familiarity is there.
When Minshew drops back to pass, it will be A.J. Brown whom he will target.
Brown is coming off three monstrous weeks in which he averaged 123.3 yards receiving with three touchdowns scored.
It is those sorts of performances that has Brown ranked fifth at his position in DraftKings scoring and is just one of three wide receivers with double-digit touchdown receptions.
In terms of the Cowboys against wide receivers, the defense is allowing the ninth most points to the position.
More recently, the secondary has felt the loss of cornerback Anthony Brown. In the last three weeks, the Cowboys have allowed a league-high 155.5 points to the wide receiver position.
I’ll grant you, an Eagles stack would seem a lot more promising with Jalen Hurts under center. While that is true, that also does not mean that the stack of Minshew and Brown can’t succeed.
