NFL

4 NFL FanDuel Stacks for Week 5

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 sitting 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, a quarterback's top receiver has the strongest positive correlation to quarterback success -- while 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 -- especially if that also comes with low ownership percentages. Who fits that mold in Week 5?

Pittsburgh Steelers

Ben Roethlisberger ($8,400)
JuJu Smith-Schuster
($8,000)

Roethlisberger appears to have gotten off to a "slow" start to the season, but it's worth noting that the same thing happened last year, and our minds may be tainted by his most recent primetime performance against the Baltimore Ravens -- the number one in pass defense according to numberFire's Net Expected Points metric. The Atlanta Falcons rank 28th in that same exact metric, and they continue to be beaten up while missing three key defensive starters. The Pittsburgh Steelers own the highest implied team total on the slate, according to our heat map (30.50), and this game features the highest over/under (58.0). Circling back to the "slow" start, Roethlisberger paces the NFL with 353.5 passing yards per game, and there's a reason he's going to be one of the highest-owned players on this weeks main slate.

Antonio Brown is often the clear stacking partner when using Roethlisberger, but by going with Smith-Schuster you can save $1,000 in salary, which could become useful across the rest of your roster. Smith-Schuster has lined up in the slot 90.0% of the time this season, according to Pro Football Focus, and this Falcons defense has been decimated by the likes of Michael Thomas and Tyler Boyd the last couple weeks. Smith-Schuster has closed the target gap on Brown this season, with a share just 2.2% below that of Brown. With that high over/under, this is clearly a game-stack scenario, and you can run it back with Julio Jones to increase your upside even further.

Minnesota Vikings

Kirk Cousins ($7,700)
Stefon Diggs
($8,200)

Cousins and the Minnesota Vikings come in with just a 21.75 implied team total, but that ultimately feels a bit too low against an Philadelphia Eagles secondary that has allowed the ninth-most completions to opposing quarterbacks this season. The Vikings have struggled mightily to run the ball this season, resulting in Cousins ranking second overall in passing attempts this season, behind only Andrew Luck.

Diggs has a fantastic matchup on the outside with Jalen Mills, who shouldn't be able to keep with the star Vikings receiver. According to Player Profiler, Mills ran a 4.61 40-yard dash compared to Diggs, who came in at 4.46. Diggs has seen double-digit targets each of the last three weeks, and two of those games have turned into 100-plus yard receiving performances. It is worth noting that Adam Thielen currently leads the NFL in targets, with 12 or more in all four games, and with an offense as concentrated as this one a double-stack could be in play for tournaments.

Cincinnati Bengals

Andy Dalton ($7,500)
Tyler Boyd
($6,300)

This stack is quite a bit cheaper than the two above, but don't think that the salary limits the upside. Bill Lazor has this Cincinnati Bengals' offense firing on all cylinders, as they rank fifth overall in points scored this season, and Dalton has tossed two or more touchdowns in every game. The Miami Dolphins were slammed by the New England Patriots last week, bringing their undefeated season to an end. And now they have to go on the road to Cincinnati to take on this explosive offense. The Bengals feature the sixth-highest implied team total on the main slate, at 27.25 points, and Dalton remains affordably priced despite averaging 22.0 FanDuel points per game this season.

Boyd has been a revelation for the Bengals this season and is going to be counted on even more moving forward with Tyler Eifert now out. Boyd has seen 31 targets over the last 3 games, and he -- not A.J. Green -- leads the Bengals this season with 26 catches. This game sneakily owns a 48.5 over/under, and the price points on this Bengals offense couldn't get any better.

Detroit Lions

Matthew Stafford ($7,600)
Marvin Jones
($6,500)

This is one of the sneaky attractive games on the Week 5 slate. It features a 51.0 over/under but should fall behind teams like the Pittsburgh Steelers, Atlanta Falcons and Los Angeles Rams in terms of popularity. Stafford, like Kirk Cousins, has been throwing the ball a ton this season. Coming into Week 5, Stafford is throwing the football at a top-five rate in the NFL. They're also top-10 in passing yards per game, and this Green Bay Packers defense was shredded by Kirk Cousins to the tune of 425 yards and 4 touchdowns in Week 2. Cousins was a much more comparable test to Stafford than the likes of rookie Josh Allen, who they took advantage of last week.

All of the Lions' main pass catchers are extremely close in price, which should result in spread out ownership. Jones quietly leads the team in air yards -- per airyards.com -- and he has a huge history against this Packers defense. Over their last four meetings, Jones has turned in 469 yards and 5 touchdowns on the back of 22 catches. Much has been made of Kenny Golladay's promising start to the season, but Jones has still seen six or more targets in each game, and with Aaron Rodgers on the other side this could turn into a shootout rather quickly.



Ben Hossler is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Ben Hossler also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username oatw. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in his articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.