In yesterday’s article, we took a look at some week 6 Fanduel and Draftkings value picks. Today, let’s have a look at some week 6 DFS stacks which have the potential to fill up the stat sheet. The concept of a “stack” is commonly used in tournament play. The idea is to stack a quarterback and receiver (or occasionally TE or even RB) from the same team who have a particularly good matchup or opportunity to produce a strong fantasy outing. A good example would be Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski in weeks 1-2, or Aaron Rodgers/Randall Cobb or Andy Dalton/AJ Green in week 3.
Last week, my interesting recommendation of a Josh McCown/Duke Johnson Jr. stack actually paid off quite well, as McCown threw for 457 total yards. Other good calls included Sam Bradford (but not Jordan Matthews, sigh) and Carson Palmer and John Brown, who both hit value. I flopped again trying to play against the Bears and the shot-in-the-dark with Marcus Mariota and Kendall Wright, which looked nice on paper, blew up miserable in practice.
Week 6 Stack #1: All Aboard!
Jay Cutler (QB) and Alshon Jeffery (WR) - Bears
If I can’t play stacks AGAINST the Bears, why not use them!? If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. Obviously, Jeffery’s health bears monitoring as the Bears have a week 7 bye and they might just get him the extra rest. However, if he goes, the Lions secondary is very beatable and Detroit is allowing opposing passers to average a 116+ passer rating. Yikes! If Jeffery doesn’t go, I don’t mind playing this same stack but with Martellus Bennett (TE) instead.
Stack 2: The Gravy Train
Andy Dalton (QB) and AJ Green (WR) - Bengals
As mentioned in my weekly value column, Dalton’s price is still shockingly low on Draftkings - only 5700 for the number-one scoring Quarterback and number-one scoring overall player (non-ppr) in fantasy. Buffalo is bottom-10 in giving up points to BOTH the quarterback AND wide receiver positions, so playing both the Red Rifle/Red Rocket/Whatever and his top weapon is a very sensical choice.
Stack 3: Yeah, Really
Colin Kaepernick (QB) and Anquan Boldin (WR) - 49ers
Yeah, really. I can’t believe I’m recommending Kaepernick, but the 49ers didn’t look completely incompetent against the Giants Sunday night and at this point, you’d have to be completely incompetent to not perform against the Ravens, who, as mentioned above, just allowed 457 yards to Josh McCown. Yes, I’m repeating that for emphasis. 457. Yards. McCown. Boldin is coming off his first quality performance of 2015 (8 for 107 and a score) and is the receiver I prefer. Torrey Smith’s usage is still too up-and-down for my taste, though as a nice GPP shot, Smith isn’t terrible either.
Stack 4: Only for the Brave
Brian Hoyer (QB) and DeAndre Hopkins (WR) - Texans
While Hopkins is a rather obvious play and arguably the number one WR play this week, you’d either have to be extremely brave or thoroughly crazy to roll out Hoyer in DFS, but hear me out for a second. Last week, on a short week with presumably little to no starter’s reps, Hoyer played less than a full game and lit up Indianapolis for 312 yards and 2 TDs. Not bad, right? Now he heads to Jacksonville, who are 11th-worst against the pass, giving up just under 17.5 a game. Hoyer’s price is also incredibly low, so his ability to hit value (3x cost in a 50/50, 4x+ cost in a GPP) with a 5100 Draftkings price tag is certainly a possibility, if not a probability.
Stack 5: If Not Now, When?
Peyton Manning (QB) and Demaryius Thomas (WR) or Emmanuel Sanders (WR) - Broncos
The Browns have been equally terrible against the pass and I just have to believe the Denver passing game will turn it on sooner or later. If not now, in a great matchup, albeit on the road, against Cleveland, when? I think this is a good bet for a breakout game (finally!) from Thomas, but I list both receivers here as their salaries are within the same range and you can swap them out accordingly to complete a lineup. Consider this your Broncos warning shot, however: if they don’t start performing soon (read: now), I’m jumping ship.
Best of luck in week 6! As always you can tweet me @pkaragianis
