August 7, 2024

Stacking is a common, profitable strategy for best ball drafts. Matching your QBs with their WRs, TEs, and occasionally their RBs will lead to higher weekly point totals. In DraftKings 20 round drafts, I am taking 2, sometimes 3 QBs, and almost always looking to pair them with their pass catchers. The reasoning is that when your QB has a great week, it is more than likely that 1 or maybe 2 of his pass catchers does as well. For example, if my first 3 WRs are Puka Nacua, Nico Collins, and Deebo Samuel, I will be looking to draft Matt Stafford, CJ Stroud, and/or Brock Purdy. You want to place a higher priority on stacking your WR1 & 2, because they will score your most points and are most important to your overall finish. For example, if I draft George Pickens as my WR3, although I love him as a best ball pick, I am probably not drafting Russell Wilson. Not even if there’s a fire. 

Top 5 Stacks I am Targeting:

Dallas Cowboys: In the 2023 season the Cowboys ranked 4^th in pass rate and Dak Prescott had his best season as a pro, finishing as fantasy’s QB3. Not much off-season changes were made, besides turning Tony Pollard into Ezekiel Elliott. This downgrade in rushing attack will only increase their tendency to passing. I will be looking to pair my Lamb teams with Dak 100% of the time. Their spike weeks are too juicy to pass up. Taking Brandin Cooks and Jake Ferguson in the middle rounds are other great pairing options. I believe their target tree will be condensed to these 3. Maybe you want to take a gamble on third year WR Jalen Tolbert at the end of your drafts. I would be fine with that. Reports from training camp have been very positive so far this summer. But don’t overthink this one. Dak’s current ADP of 77 is in Round 7, giving your plenty of time to load up on WRs/RBs/elite TE beforehand. 

Detroit Lions: Coming off an NFC championship heartbreaker, the Detroit Lions should be heading into the 2024 season hungrier than any other team. With Pro Bowl and All-Pro players scattered throughout their offense, I cannot think of any reason why the Lions won’t be as good, if not better than last season. Stacking Goff with Gibbs, Laporta, Amon-Ra, and/or Jameson Williams will pay dividends this season. I may be slightly biased, as my finalist team from last year rostered 4 Lions, but I try to keep my emotions out of it. Further proof, you won’t see the New York Jets in this article. What makes this even easier is that Goff has an ADP of 105, making him the QB13. His rushing ability is zilch, but with the 300-yard passing bonus on Draft Kings, I am willing to take my chances. You will have to pay the price on ARSB (ADP: 5.2) and Laporta (ADP: 31.5), but there’s a reason for that. Teams looking to double stack these two should take a zero RB approach, going ARSB-WR-Laporta in the first 3 rounds. They will play 11 of their 17 games in a dome, which is where Goff plays his best. Fun fact, of all the 2023 DraftKings finalist teams, 3 of the top 6 most rostered players were Lions: ARSB (40.8%), Goff (33%), and LaPorta (30.4%).

Jacksonville Jaguars: Gut check: Trevor Lawrence will have his best season as a pro in 2024. With a 6-month-old and recently curated Dadbod, my gut feelings have been way more accurately lately. I’m willing to bet on that gut check, by being overweight on Christian Kirk, Evan Engram, and rookie Brian Thomas. Gabe Davis is perfect for best ball, as many know from his Buffalo Bills days of alternating weeks of 0 and 20+ fantasy points. He failed to breakout with the Bills, but I will have some Gabe shares on my Jags’ teams. My favorite aspect of a Jags stack is their first WR, Christian Kirk, gets drafted in round 4. This allows you to potentially build two top stacks, with the Jags as your secondary stack. Lawrence’s ADP of 117 (round 10) is very reasonable, and I am willing to pay the price. 

Philadelphia Eagles: For the fourth time in the last 5 years the Eagles have changed offensive coordinators as they turn to Casey Affleck’s look-alike Kellen Moore to lead Jalen Hurts and company. The Eagles have a very condensed target tree to just three pass catchers: AJ, Devonta, and Goedert. Saquon will vulture rushing TDs away from Hurts, and the retirement of Jason Kelce will lead to less Tush-Push plays at the goal line. But instead of round 2-3, this year Hurts costs a 4^th round pick. I will have plenty of Eagles this year as I expect their offense to soar once again. I won’t be stacking Saquon & Hurts, because they are negatively correlated. I expect to have a lot more Hurts than Saquon. 

San Francisco 49ers: Equipped with a Pro Bowler at every skill position, the 49ers return almost everyone from last season, including using a first-round pick on WR Ricky Pearsall. The trade demand and potential holdout of Brandon Aiyuk has not changed his ADP. Yet. He did report to training camp and is not practicing, otherwise known as a “hold-in”. If this continues into the summer, I do expect his ADP to drop some, but the 49ers hold all the leverage as he is playing on his 5^th year team option. The 49ers are a Super Bowl contender, and their window might be closing with Purdy due a big payday. I do expect Aiyuk to be a 49er this year, and I am willing to stack Purdy with CMC, Deebo, Aiyuk, Kittle, and a late-round Pearsall. 

Next 8 Favorite Stacks:

KC Chiefs: The Chiefs brought in reinforcements into what arguably was their weakest WR room during the Mahomes era. First round pick and 40-yard dash record holder, Xavier Worthy, joins up with Marquise Brown and Rashee Rice into what is finally a respectable WR corps. Travis Kelce is one year older, but his ADP dropped from a 1^st round to a 3^rd round pick. And his metrics still reflect elite TE numbers. I have heard contradictive reports on when Rice’s suspension will start, but this risk is already baked into his 5-6^th round ADP. If we knew today that Rice would not miss any games, he probably moves into the 3^rd round. This story will have the biggest effect on ADP of any other player in this year’s early rounds. 

Houston Texans: Coming off an NFL record breaking rookie season, CJ Stroud might be even better in year 2. The Texans brought in veterans Stefon Diggs and Joe Mixon, to improve an already elite NFL offense. Stroud’s lack of rushing ability might hurt his upside, but he’s equipped with 3 elite WRs. Nico (round 2), Diggs (round 3-4), Tank (round 4), and Stroud (round 5) are all expensive. I have a hard time deciphering who will be second on this team in targets. Diggs’ contract was restructured so he can be a free agent after this year, so he has every incentive to ball out and earn one more lucrative contract. Over his last 10 games last season, Diggs mustered only 3 double-digit scoring weeks. They were: 19.4, 15,7, and 12.2. The numbers are not impressive. The question is: was this due to signs of aging OR a disgruntled Prima donna wide receiver? You be the judge. Either way I will have plenty of Texans stacks in this years’ drafts. 

Green Bay Packers: Remember when everyone laughed their ass off in 2020 when the Packers drafted Jordan Love 26^th overall? Seems so long ago. Flash forward 4 years and you are looking at the NFL’s highest paid player. Love threw for 4,625 yards and 37 TDs last year as a first-time starter. What looked like a crappy, young, inexperienced WR rooms, now looks like a young, fast, promising group of scholarly gentlemen. They are the ONLY team I am willing to take any of their 4 WRs: Watson, Reed, Doubs, or Wicks. Coach Lafleur recently drew comparisons of Davante Adams when talking to reporters about Dontayvion Wicks, who as of writing sits 4^th on their depth chart. My only concern with their WR room is that are only so many targets to go around. Fun fact from last season, in 2 WR sets, Jayden Reed ran a route on 2 plays. Yes you read that correctly, your eyes work just fine. But when Reed was on the field he was targeted often. He also added 128 rushing yards and 2 rushing TDs to boot. After the week 13 annual Watson hamstring injury, Green Bay found ways to get him the ball and Reed flourished. 

Chicago Bears: Caleb Williams steps into what is probably the best situation out of any #1 overall pick in NFL history. After trading for Keenan Allen and drafting Rome Odunze at #9, the Bears boast 3 elite pass catchers. I am way behind the ranks on Odunze (ADP: 82), as I feel his price is too expensive, given the number of targets that DJ Moore and Keenan Allen will demand. But his talent is undeniable. Generally, I am underweight on rookie QBs, but I won’t be on Caleb (ADP:107). I am willing to overlook his propensity for pink nail polish while drafting this summer.  

Cincinnati Bengals: Tee Higgins will be the death of me. My Bengals write-up could stop right there, but I will continue. The Bengals were a big disappointment last season after they got off to a slow start followed by the Joe Burrow injury. This year they come back healthy with a very strong OL. Andrei Iosivas is having a strong camp and is projected to be the slot WR. The Bengals have shown that they are able to support 3 fantasy relevant WRs, and Iosivas has been a favorite late round target of mine. It is important to stay on top of camp news, as the Bengals used a 3^rd round pick on Jermaine Burton, and he could supplant Iosivas when all is said and done. Mike Gesicki comes in as the starting TE, and I am drafting him only in my Burrow stacks. 

Arizona Cardinals: Marvin Harrison steps into the NFL as arguably the most NFL ready WR prospect. Trey McBride had a breakout season in 2023 and is sure to be #2 on his team in targets. I’m happy to add a late round Michael Wilson onto my Cardinals’ stacks as he projects as the WR2 ahead of Zay Jones. Their defense is atrocious and can’t stop a nosebleed. Their offense will need to throw often to stay in games. Heavy volume, top 2 target tree, give me all the Kyle, MHJR and McBride this year. 

Los Angeles Rams: Cooper Kupp and Puka Nacua are hungry. Matthew Stafford will feed them both. I also don’t mind a 16^th round Demarcus Robinson or an 18^th round Colby Parkinson. In Weeks 13-17 of last season, Demarcus scored a TD in every game but one and topped double digit fantasy points every week. I mean WRs usually hit their prime at age 29. Am I right? My favorite part of the Rams stack is they face off at home against Arizona in Week 17 when all the money is on the line. When drafting 10^th-12^th overall I am looking to pair Puka with Marvin Harrison Jr for Week 17 correlation. Very similar to last year’s chalk championship pairing of ARSB and CeeDee Lamb. 

Miami Dolphins: There was a time last season when every DFS player was petrified to fade Tyreek Hill. He was having 100-yard games and doing backflips by halftime. Being rated the #1 NFL player in the annual 100 best players’ list just shows how much defenses fear him. He is lightning in a bottle and has shown no signs of aging. If I have a top 3 pick this summer, regardless of the format, they are 100% CMC, CeeDee Lamb, and Tyreke Hill. Jaylen Waddle only scored 4 TDs last season. He is due for some positive TD regression. I will even have some shares of OBJ. Not to be confused with LBJ which is Spanish for blow job. Achane reported to camp in great shape and is a great receiving option out of the backfield. Tua lacks rushing upside but should once again pass for close to 5K yards. Jonnu Smith put himself back on the fantasy map last season by vulturing touchdowns from Kyle Pitts. I am willing to draft him in my Miami stacks.

5 Stacks I am Avoiding:

Washington Commanders: Washington had a complete overhaul this off-season with their ownership and coaching. Not only that but they are starting a rookie QB Week 1 behind what will arguably be the league’s worst offensive line. Although I do believe Jayden Daniels has potential to be a great NFL QB, and his rushing ability as a dual threat QB is enticing, I am not buying him at his price. I will have some shares of McLaurin and Dotson, especially in bring-backs with my Atlanta stacks, but this will be the NFC East’s last place team. 

Pittsburgh Steelers: Before firing Matt Canada in the 2023 season, the last time the Pittsburgh Steelers fired a coordinator in-season was in 1941, when the team dismissed their offensive coordinator, Jock Sutherland. No relation to Kiefer. That is how bad the Steelers offense was last season. In comes Arthur Smith. What does Arthur Smith love? Running the god damn ball. I will have some shares of George Pickens and Pat Freiermuth. And I do like me some Jaylen Warren and Najee Harris. But I will be staying away from Russ or Fields. *Disclaimer: If Steelers trade for Brandon Aiyuk, I will flirt with the idea of a late-round Fields. 

New England Patriots: Rookie head coach. Check. Worst wide receiver room in the league. Check. Jacoby Brissett and a not-NFL-ready rookie QB behind him. Check. Laughing my ass off during the Tom Brady roast. Check. Me being a diehard lifelong Jets fan. Check. New Englanders smelling like wet feet and spoiled clam chowder. Check.

Minnesota Vikings: One of my favorite teams to stack last season comes into this season with a remade QB room, a looming suspension for WR2 Jordan Addison, and an elite TE recovering from late-season ACL surgery. My love for Justin Jefferson has grown after watching “Receiver” on Netflix, but my resentment for Sam Darnold still burns strong. I will happily draft Justin Jefferson in the middle of the first round without second thought. And I guess you can make an argument for drafting Darnold or McCarthy as your QB3 in the last few rounds of drafts. But this a team that is not going to compete this year. Detroit, Green Bay, and Chicago have far better rosters. 

Carolina Panthers: Bryce Young was bad last year. Inaccurate, inconsistent, and inept are three -in adjectives that I can use to accurately describe his rookie season. Carolina beefed up the interior of their OL this offseason, signaling they are going to pound the rock. Drafting Jonathan Brooks in the second round and bringing back one of my favorite late-round RB targets from last year, Chuba Hubbard, Carolina will look to win games by running the ball, not turning the ball over, and playing good defense. Sure, I will have some shares of Adam “Ageless” Theilen and Diontae Johnson, but Bryce Young is an avoid for me.