4 NFL FanDuel Stacks for Week 3
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 3?
Kansas City Chiefs
Quarterback: Patrick Mahomes ($8,900)
Tight End: Travis Kelce ($7,500)
Outside of Ryan Fitzpatrick, Mahomes has been the at the center of the NFL universe through two weeks of the season, leading the Kansas City Chiefs to two wins and throwing for 10 touchdowns against the Los Angeles Chargers and the Pittsburgh Steelers. While it's foolish to think that Mahomes will sustain this rate of success throughout the entire season, he will continually be forced into shootouts given his defense ranks 31st in DVOA according to Football Outsiders. It's no shock that Mahomes is expected to be in another high-scoring game this weekend, as this matchup with the San Francisco 49ers boasts a 55 O/U, with the Chiefs implied for 30.75 of that according to our heat map. Mahomes ran for 845 yards and 22 touchdowns during his time with the Texas Tech Red Raiders, but has yet to flash his rushing ability this season, something that would raise his ceiling even more in DFS.
Siding with Kelce over Tyreek Hill in your stack might be somewhat contrarian, but Kelce makes the most sense considering he costs less money and that will definitely come into play when factoring in Mahomes' huge price tag. Kelce owns 30.2% of the Chiefs targets this season, by far the most on the team, and the 49ers could be without their "tight end stopper" Jaquiski Tartt. Given the expected pace and high-scoring nature of this game, it is completely viable bringing this stack back in tournaments with George Kittle or Marquise Goodwin if he is active.
New Orleans Saints
Quarterback: Drew Brees ($8,500)
Running Back: Alvin Kamara ($8,700)
The New Orleans Saints have been featured in this article the first two weeks, and they are implied for 25 points once again this week against the Atlanta Falcons. The Falcons are dealing with some serious defensive injuries after losing both Deion Jones and Keanu Neal to inured reserve. They allowed Cam Newton to complete 32 of 45 passes for 335 yards and three touchdowns a week ago, which was the first time Newton has ever eclipsed 30 completions in a game. Drew Brees should be able to have equal success in the matchup, and this is another expected shootout owning a big 53.5 over/under.
Alvin Kamara lines up in the same smash matchup that Christian McCaffrey saw last week, which was directly affected by the loss of Jones. The Falcons surrendered the most catches in the NFL to running backs last season, and Kamara has already seen 18 targets through two weeks, good for a 22.8% share of the New Orleans Saints total. McCaffrey hauled in 14 of his 15 targets last week for 102 yards and we should see a similar workload for Kamara in Week 3.
Houston Texans
Quarterback: Deshaun Watson ($7,700)
Wide Receiver: DeAndre Hopkins ($8,600)
Deshaun Watson rebounded from a tough Week 1 to put up 310 passing yards on the back of 22 completions and two touchdowns in Week 2. He added 44 yards on the ground, which helped him to a total of 23.8 FanDuel points. Per Football Outsiders, the New York Giants have a 1.7% sack rate this season, ranking dead-last in the NFL. This is huge for someone like Watson who is constantly under pressure, and this will allow him more time to find his open receivers.
DeAndre Hopkins is third overall in air yards this season according to airyards.com with a 16.9-yard average depth of target. Olivier Vernon and Eli Apple were both ruled out for the Giants, making their defense even more worth attacking. Hopkins should see a lot of Janoris Jenkins in coverage this week. Jenkins was left in the dust by Tavon Austin last week on Sunday night football and shouldn't be able to contain Hopkins for the entire game.
Los Angeles Rams
Quarterback: Jared Goff ($7,600)
Wide Receiver: Robert Woods ($6,700)
This one may end up being a contrarian option, as the Rams are implied for 27.75 points (fourth-highest) but the public doesn't typically look to attack the Los Angeles Chargers defense. This defense appears to be severely missing Joey Bosa, and they have allowed 501 yards through the air to the combination of Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen through two weeks. The reason that Goff is so viable in fantasy is that even though Todd Gurley dominates touches and red zone work, the Rams will continue to keep their foot on the gas when winning. Despite cruising to two victories this season, Goff ranks third overall in red zone passing attempts, which shows that they will continue to throw even if leading. Without Bosa, Goff should have some more time to throw and Robert Woods makes for a very interesting stacking partner.
Much of the attention in the Rams offense will be funneled to Gurley and Brandin Cooks, but Woods quietly ranks 10th overall in air yards this season -- per airyards.com -- and he also has out-targeted Cooks by one (18 targets). This new-look Rams defense has been dominant through the first two weeks, but if the Chargers are able to put up any points at all it could turn into a shootout. Keenan Allen would be the preferred game-stacking route, as he towers over Rams slot-corner Nickell Robey by 4 inches according to playerprofiler.com.
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.
