Week 9 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 9 NFL DFS Stacks & Picks for DraftKings, FanDuel
Without further ado, here are some of the best DFS stack options for Week 9 of the 2022 NFL season:
QB Justin Herbert ($7,200) & WR Joshua Palmer ($5,100), Chargers vs Falcons
- Combined Price: $12,300 – 24.6% of lineup salary
In spite of Justin Herbert dealing with a rib injury, the Chargers signal caller has scored 20 points or more in four out of his seven games.
With the injury bug attaching itself to the wide receiver depth chart, look for Herbert to lean on Joshua Palmer in their upcoming matchup against the Falcons.
It’s important to note that due to a concussion back in Week 6, Palmer missed one game and then had added time to heal during the Chargers' bye week.
Brandon Staley announced on Wednesday that Palmer had cleared concussion protocol and it could not have come at a better time.
Currently, Mike Williams is dealing with a high ankle sprain and even with the bye week, Keenan Allen’s hamstring is still not healing how the Chargers would have hoped.
This puts Palmer in a prime spot to have his first 20-point game of the season and it comes against an opponent that has had trouble against wide receivers.
Headed into this slate of games, the Falcons have allowed more points to wide receivers than any other team.
This includes allowing a league-high 1,720 yards receiving and one of two teams to allow more than ten touchdowns to the position.
At the end of all this is Herbert who has proven to be one of the better quarterbacks in daily fantasy.
In order for Herbert to score three times his DraftKings price, he would need to deliver a 21.6-point performance.
On top of doing that in 13 games since last season, the Falcons are allowing an average 23.3 points on a per game basis to the position.
QB Kyler Murray ($7,400) & WR DeAndre Hopkins ($7,900), Cardinals vs Seahawks
- Combined Price: $15,300 – 30.5% of lineup salary
DeAndre Hopkins has played in just two games this season and he is already second in points amongst Cardinals wide receivers. Look for that upward trend to continue as you stack Hopkins with Kyler Murray against the Seahawks.
Last week, Murray and Hopkins combined for 66.54 and that came against a Vikings team that is twelfth in points allowed to quarterbacks. They now turn their attention to the previously mentioned Seahawks team that is ninth in points allowed.
In the Cardinals previous matchup against the Seahawks this season, Murray threw for over 200 yards and finished just 0.12 points shy of a 20-point game. Mind you, that was while Hopkins was still serving his PED suspension.
While the Seahawks are allowing the sixth-fewest points to the wide receiver position, Hopkins has been producing at a rate that might be too much for the Seahawks secondary to handle.
Over the last two weeks, Hopkins has been targeted 27 times. He has caught 22 of those targets for 262 yards and a touchdown. With those numbers, Hopkins has outscored three times what his Week 9 price tag of $7,900.
While Hopkins did not play against the Seahawks last season, in four previous matchups against their NFC West rival, Hopkins has averaged just over 100 yards receiving and has scored two touchdowns.
This will serve as a home game for the Cardinals and eight of Hopkins’s 15 touchdowns since joining the Cardinals have come in home starts.
In the Cardinals’ eight games this season, three of those games have ended with the team scoring more than 25 points. Two of those three games have been with Hopkins back in the huddle.
I do not envision a scenario where the stack of Murray and Hopkins combines for less than 50 points this week. This stack might absorb a large portion of your DraftKings bank but it will be worth it.
QB Tom Brady ($6,000) & WR Mike Evans ($7,200), Dolphins vs Lions
- Combined Price: $13,200 – 26.4% of lineup salary
It has been a rough start of the season for the Buccaneers, the bye week hopefully served as an opportunity for them to catch their collective breath.
Specifically for Tom Brady, the ending of his marriage has taken an overwhelming command of the conversation. With his divorce finally announced and a bye week to collect himself, he and the Buccaneers will look to turn the page against the Rams.
Look to take advantage of the regrouped Buccaneers by stacking Tom Brady with Mike Evans.
In the Buccaneers matchup against the Rams last season, Brady threw for 432 yards with one passing and one rushing touchdown. That resulted in 31.68 fantasy points and was his fifth most points in the 2021 season.
If Brady produces a similar point total this time around, he will score more than five times his Week 9 price tag of $6,000. That is ultimately the goal in daily fantasy, get a strong return on your investment.
In regards to the Rams, the defense is allowing the sixth-fewest fantasy points to opposing quarterbacks. What should be noted is that a majority of those games have come against quarterbacks that are in the lower tier of the position.
Against quarterbacks like Kyler Murray and Josh Allen, the Rams allowed an average of 24.92 points. Mind you, that game against the Cardinals was without DeAndre Hopkins.
So in reality, the Rams have not given up a lot of points to quarterbacks but the case can clearly be made that they have not been tested that often.
On the receiving end of Brady’s passing game will be Mike Evans. While Evans has been dealing with an ankle injury for the last two weeks, it did not stop the Buccaneers pass catcher from scoring 21.3 points against the Ravens last Thursday.
It is worth noting that while Evans continues to deal with his ankle injury, he has still been able to practice this week, albeit limited.
In his three previous matchups against the Rams, Evans has scored two touchdowns and has averaged 81 yards receiving.
I fully believe in the narrative that Brady getting his personal issues in the rearview will reflect in stronger play on the field. This week, he and Evans will combine for close to fifty points.
QB Tua Tagovailoa ($6,700) & WR Tyreek Hill ($8,500), Dolphins vs Bears
- Combined Price: $15,200 – 30.4% of lineup salary
Last week I had suggested stacking Tua Tagovailoa and Tyreek Hill. Those who followed my lead were rewarded as the Dolphins tandem combined for 66.68 points. Much like last week, this matchup against the Bears is another prime opportunity to buy back in.
While we will get to what the Dolphins have been doing, this suggestion has just as much to do with what the Bears are doing.
In the last two weeks, the Bears have dealt two of their strongest players within their defensive front seven. Coupling that with injuries within the secondary and the Bears allowing 49 points to the Cowboys last week could become a recurring theme.
Entering this week, the Bears are allowing the fifth-fewest points to the wide receiver position. The biggest thing to that ranking is that the Bears have only allowed four receiving touchdowns to the position. Looking closer at that number though, two of those four touchdowns have come in the last two games.
This is proof that things are beginning to soften within this Bears defense and the previously mentioned trades and injuries will have everything to do with it.
Last week was Tagovailoa’s second week of the season with more than 25 points scored. As his previous concussions fall further and further into the rearview, the Dolphins quarterback will continue to thrive in this Mike McDaniel offense and Hill will be a primary beneficiary of this.
So far this season not only is Hill leading the league in targets, he also leads the league in receiving yards with 197 yards more than the next best player.
Even if you want to ignore the trades and lean on the fact that the Bears are one of seven teams to allow less than five receiving touchdowns to wide receivers this season, Hill has proven this season that he does not need touchdowns to produce.
The Dolphins pass catcher leads all wide receivers with 191.6 fantasy points scored this season. In that time, he has only scored two touchdowns.
Look for this game to be a big performance for the Tagovailoa and Hill performance.