NFL

5 NFL FanDuel Stacks for Week 13

If you're new to daily fantasy football, then you'll have to make some changes to your fantasy football strategy. You don't have "your guys" on a weekly basis -- and you need to adjust to each and every matchup.

A big part of building your roster is weekly quarterback selection. In terms of salary, passers range from the top of the player pool to the bottom, with some replacement-level passers at the same price point as kickers and defenses on FanDuel.

Along with those quarterbacks, though, you have the option of pairing pass-catchers with your signal caller, and per 4for4's Chris Raybon, a quarterback's top receiver has the strongest positive correlation to quarterback success -- and his tight end and second receiver are next in line.

If you're going to stack, though, you need to have a purpose. If you're trying to win a big tournament, you'll want to find a combination that can put up points in bunches -- all while possibly being underowned. Which teammates might fit the bill in Week 13 on FanDuel's main slate, which excludes the Thursday and Monday games?

New England Patriots

Quarterback: Tom Brady ($9,300)
Wide Receiver: Brandin Cooks ($7,600)

Brady was less than 12% owned last week, and with 14 games on the main slate and at a whopping $9,300, he's unlikely to be prohibitively popular. Plus, the Buffalo Bills get torched on the ground (32nd by our metrics since Week 6), so even more focus might go to the New England Patriots' running backs. Brady has produced at least 21.68 FanDuel points in three straight games, and the Bills are just 17th against the pass by our metrics since Week 6.

Rob Gronkowski ($8,100) has the hometown narrative in his favor and just scored twice last week, so it's most possible he's the most common stacking partner with Brady. FanShareSports' tag data suggests the same. That gives more reason to look to Cooks, who has a 26% market share and 48% of their air yards while playing in games without Chris Hogan. Buffalo is a middling 16th in receiving FanDuel points per target to wideouts since Week 7.

This also can be balanced out a bit by rostering Zay Jones ($4,500) on the other side of things. Jones has 23% of the Bills' targets and 31% of their air yards since the bye, even including a game where he played just 53% of snaps because of a knee injury.

Minnesota Vikings

Quarterback: Case Keenum ($7,600)
Wide Receiver: Stefon Diggs ($7,000)

The Atlanta Falcons are three-point home favorites, so that doesn't necessarily suggest a big game for the Minnesota Vikings, but Desmond Trufant is dealing with a concussion and missed practice on Wednesday. Brian Poole got in a limited practice with his back injury. Atlanta has ranked 10th against the pass by our metrics since Week 7, but Trufant is 10th among starting corners in yards per route covered, per ProFootballFocus. That opens up a lot of opportunity for the passing game here.

Keenum just keeps producing regardless of matchup and has averaged 22.3 FanDuel points over his past four games. He remains affordable, and the line has given him time to throw this season, according to NFL's Next Gen Stats.

Diggs should benefit the most from the likely absence of Trufant, as Diggs runs just 25% of his routes from the slot. Diggs has averaged just 5.8 targets per game over his past six, maxing out at 7 targets in a single game. His average depth of target since their Week 9 bye is 11.6 yards, according to AirYards.com, best on the team. He's a threat to bust a big play or two in this matchup.

Of course, Adam Thielen ($7,800) is just $800 more and has accounted for 33 targets since the bye (Diggs has just 18), as well as a whopping 45% of their air yards, which would rank second on the full season. He's the better process play, so if people start looking to Diggs throughout the week given the Trufant news, fire up Thielen in your stacks.

Los Angeles Rams

Quarterback: Jared Goff ($7,900)
Wide Receiver: Cooper Kupp ($6,300)

Goff fed Kupp 11 of his 43 attempts last week while the Los Angeles Rams played without Robert Woods. That looks like it'll be the case again this week. The Rams are favored by seven points in Arizona against a Cardinals team that will use Patrick Peterson to shadow Sammy Watkins. Kupp got 10 targets against the Cardinals in Week 7. Of course, Kupp is tied for third with 17 red zone targets this season.

As for Goff himself, he produced 19.7 FanDuel points against the Cardinals in their first meeting but did boost that with a rushing touchdown. Still, the Cardinals have allowed 18 or more FanDuel points to eight different quarterbacks this season, and Goff has had 19.7 or more in four of his past five games.

Kupp does run the risk of being a bit chalky (he was nearly 30% owned at $5,400 last week), so you can also consider pairing Goff with Josh Reynolds ($5,200). Reynolds had 6 targets for 37 yards and a touchdown last week while playing 79% of snaps.

Los Angeles Chargers

Quarterback: Philip Rivers ($8,000)
Tight End: Hunter Henry ($5,400)

Rivers and the Los Angeles Chargers host the Cleveland Browns and are favored by 13.5 points. The implied team total for them is 28, so they should have scoring potential in this game. Cleveland has actually been a top-half pass defense by our metrics since Week 6, but they're 30th in passing FanDuel points per pass attempt on the full season. Rivers has averaged north of 18 FanDuel points per game over his past eight, and Cleveland has given up more than 20 per game over their past three (excluding passers named Blake Bortles).

Keenan Allen ($8,100) has been on fire of late, but he draws a tough matchup with Briean Boddy-Calhoun in the slot. I'm banking on Allen to win that matchup, but the easier path belongs to Henry.

Plus, Henry's snap rate jumped to 76% last week, though he had just 5 targets to show for it. The silver lining is that the Browns are 30th in receiving FanDuel points per target allowed to tight ends, so the matchup doesn't get much better. Albeit without Melvin Gordon, Antonio Gates drew 13 targets against the Browns in Week 16 last year (the Browns' lone win); Gates turned that into 8 catches for 94 yards and a touchdown.

Green Bay Packers

Quarterback: Brett Hundley ($6,400)
Wide Receiver: Davante Adams ($6,500)

Hundley has had a rough string of matchups (all of his opponents have ranked top 13 this season). The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are 30th by our metrics and have allowed more than 18 points per game to quarterbacks this season, ranking them 23rd. At just $6,400, Hundley doesn't need much more than 15 or 16 points to keep your lineups afloat while you load up on high-upside plays at other positions.

Better yet, he has a clear go-to option in Davante Adams. He's accounted for 28% of the Green Bay Packers' targets since Hundley took over in Week 6, as well as 40% of the team's air yards. Both put him near the top tier of wideouts, but the price certainly doesn't. No team has allowed more 10-point fantasy games than the Bucs this year (19 in total), and their 4 games allowing at least 20 FanDuel points to a receiver is tied for second most.

You can run this one back with Mike Evans ($7,500), too. The Packers are 29th in FanDuel points per target to wideouts this season, and Evans has drawn 32% of Jameis Winston's red zone targets, along with 25% of his overall targets.