4 NFL FanDuel Stacks for Week 11
On the Week 11 FanDuel main slate, there are seven games with an over/under of at least 47.0 points, which makes for some nice team and games stacks across the league. There are also six teams implied to score at least 26.25 points this week.
In this article, I will reflect my favorite DFS stacks for this week. These decisions are made by using player projections, Vegas implied team totals and player draft percentage projections.
Baltimore Ravens
Lamar Jackson ($8,400) and Mark Andrews ($6,500)
The first stack that I like this week is a Baltimore Ravens stack with Lamar Jackson and Mark Andrews. The Ravens are back home after playing their last two games on the road, facing off against the Tennessee Titans this week. This game currently has the third-highest total on the main slate at 49.5 points, with the Ravens being a 5.0-point home favorite.
Jackson has not quite been the same player this season as he was last year -- we all know that. But this is still a guy who brings tremendous upside every week with his ability to run the ball. His passing efficiency has certainly taken a hit in 2020, but there’s no questioning his rushing ability.
Through the Ravens’ first nine games this season, Lamar has seven games in which he's rushed for more than 50 yards. What’s been encouraging lately is his double-digit rushing attempts, a bar he's cleared in three straight games. Prior to that, he only had one game in which he saw double-digit rushing attempts, and that was back in Week 2.
This week Lamar faces a Titans defense that has allowed 4.5 rushing yards per attempt, which ranks toward the bottom half of the league. They also allow opposing quarterbacks to throw for 277.4 yards per game, the fifth most. So even though Jackson hasn’t been the most efficient passer this season, he has a great matchup this week.
Per our numbers, no other main-slate quarterback is projected to have a better game than Lamar. He’s currently pegged to throw the second most touchdowns and has the third best rushing touchdown probability at the quarterback position. Even though Jackson presents the upside of scoring multiple rushing touchdowns, I think this ends up being a game where he gets the passing game going, as well. That’s why I like stacking Lamar with Andrews.
Using Andrews means either not using Taysom Hill ($4,500) -- who will reportedly start at quarterback for the New Orleans Saints but is tight-end eligible on FanDuel -- or using Hill alongside Andrews, putting one of them in the flex spot. With Hill likely to be very, very popular, Andrews isn't going to be in many lineups, but he can have a big game.
Andrews is coming off a game in which he turned nine targets into seven receptions and 61 receiving yards -- all of which were season highs for the tight end.
Per our projections, Andrews is the slate's number-two tight end after Hill. We have him pacing the position in targets (7.4), catches (4.7), receiving yards (56.9) and receiving scores (0.57). He'll likely run most of his routes against Titans’ safety Kenny Vaccaro, who has been mediocre covering tight ends this season. Per Pro Football Focus (PFF), Andrews has a 22% advantage over Vaccaro, which ranks as the third best advantage among all tight ends this week.
If you want to just plug in Hill at tight end and move on, I get it. Instead of rostering Andrews, you could pair Jackson with Marquise Brown ($5,900) or use Lamar as a standalone play. But all signs point to Andrews having a nice game against the Titans.
Houston Texans
Deshaun Watson ($7,700) and Will Fuller ($9,500)
The Texans host the New England Patriots this week in a game many people may be overlooking from the Texans side.
Why? Because this New England D/ST is still often referred to as one of the elite defenses in the NFL. And while they certainly are one of the better defenses across the league, they haven’t necessarily been all that great when playing on the road this season. In fact, they’re currently allowing 28.0 points per game in road contests, which ranks as ninth most across the league. That’s 8.2 points more than they allow when playing at home.
That’s why I like rostering Deshaun Watson this week, and I want to pair him with Will Fuller.
Watson has arguably played some of the best football of his career this season. Outside of his performance last week against the Cleveland Browns -- in a game where we saw 30 MPH winds -- Watson has been one of the best fantasy scoring quarterbacks since the Texans’ fired Bill O’Brien heading into Week 5.
If we eliminate the game against the Browns last week, Watson had averaged 26.82 FanDuel points per game between Week 5 and Week 8. Although that's a small sample, it's very clear that Watson is playing good football. He threw for more than 300 yards in three of those four games and tossed multiple touchdown passes in all four.
I think he can have a good day against the Patriots' defense, and our numbers agree. Per our algorithm, Watson is currently slated to score the second most points at the quarterback position this week. He also offers the best point-per-dollar value among signal callers.
Stacking Watson with Fuller is how I plan to attack this game. One of the biggest questions with Fuller over the course of his career has been whether or not he can stay healthy. Fortunately, we have seen him stay healthy in 2020, which has ultimately led to him posting some superb numbers.
Fuller has scored a touchdown in six of nine games, and he has topped 100 receiving yards in four games. This has led to him scoring double-digit FanDuel points in all but two games this season.
Per PFF, Fuller is expected to line up against Patriots cornerback Jason McCourty this week. While McCourty has been a solid corner throughout his career, he hasn’t played up to his normal standards so far this season. Of 119 qualified cornerbacks, McCourty currently ranks 74th overall, per PFF, which gives Fuller a 19% advantage in this matchup.
New England Patriots
Cam Newton ($7,700) and Jakobi Meyers ($6,000)
And then I’m going to hop right over to the other side of the Texans-Patriots game and build a stack around Cam Newton, as well. This is a bit rare for me, as I would usually just write up a game stack in a situation like this -- and you can definitely do that for this game. However, I like Cam and his matchup a little too much to not dive into it a little deeper.
For starters, the Texans’ defense is allowing 28.0 points per game to their opponents this season, the seventh most in the NFL. They’ve been a defense to attack all season, and that doesn’t change this week.
Although Cam hasn’t been great this season as a passer, he has shown flashes of his old self. Like Lamar, the one thing we can count on basically every week with Cam is the rushing upside he brings. He has scored nine rushing touchdowns in eight games this season, which ties him for the third most rushing scores among all players (not just quarterbacks).
Per our algorithm, Cam is expected to be the fourth highest scoring quarterback on the main slate this week, and there's upside for more given the friendly matchup.
And while Cam has primarily scored most of his fantasy points by running the ball this year, he’s really started to develop a serious connection with Jakobi Meyers. Over their last three games, Meyers has seen a whopping 41.89% of the Pats' targets. That is the highest target percentage among all wide receivers by a touch more than six percentage points.
According to PFF, Meyers is expected to be shadowed by Bradley Roby. PFF gives Meyers a 17% advantage over Roby, and Meyers could have a huge game in this spot.
Minnesota Vikings and Dallas Cowboys
Kirk Cousins ($6,900), Adam Thielen ($7,000) and Amari Cooper ($6,900)
The last stack I like this week is a game stack between the Minnesota Vikings and Dallas Cowboys. These are two teams that haven’t necessarily played great football this season, but they do have some upside versus one another this week.
The Vikings have played much better as of late, winning three straight games. The Cowboys, on the other hand, well, their team seems to be in complete shambles. The one positive note for the Cowboys heading into this game? Andy Dalton has been cleared to play, which is a much bigger boost to this offense -- and this game environment from a fantasy perspective -- than you might suspect.
I like a game stack of Kirk Cousins and Adam Thielen and then running it back with Amari Cooper.
Kicking it off with Cousins and Thielen, these two likely won’t see a better matchup the rest of the season than they will this week against a very susceptible Cowboys defense. The Cowboys have allowed 32.2 points per game this year, the most in the league.
With the Vikings being 7.0-point home favorites, running back Dalvin Cook could have himself another big game. However, he’ll also be a very popular play. A nice way to pivot from the Cook chalk is stacking up Cousins with Thielen. Or you could even use all three if you wanted to.
Cousins doesn’t always stand out as a highly productive quarterback, especially when it comes to fantasy. But let’s not overlook the fact that he has been one of the most efficient quarterbacks this season, currently ranking first in yards per attempt (8.8). Of course, Minnesota is the fourth most run-heavy team, so that's what caps Cousins' ceiling.
Considering the Cowboys rank 19th overall in team sack percentage, Cousins shouldn’t have any issue getting the ball out of his hand in an efficient manner this week.
Stacking Cousins with Thielen should be a recipe for success this week. Thielen is clearly Cousins’ number-one target, even with Justin Jefferson having a great rookie season. Thielen leads the team with a 27.8% target share, the sixth best target share in the NFL.
Per PFF, Thielen is expected to line up against Cowboys’ cornerback Anthony Brown. PFF hands Thielen a 40% advantage in this matchup, which ranks as the fourth best wideout-cornerback matchup on the main slate. Dallas has allowed opposing wide receivers to score 37.0 FanDuel points per game this season, which ranks as the third most across the league.
Running back this stack with one of the Cowboys' wide receivers makes sense in this matchup. While I think both CeeDee Lamb and Michael Gallup should be looked at, Cooper is my preferred choice. Per PFF, Cooper has the best matchup of the three, as he’s set to face Chris Jones. PFF is giving Cooper a 28% advantage in this clash.
And just like the Cowboys' secondary, the Vikings' D has struggled to stop wide receivers this season, surrendering 36.4 FanDuel points per game to wideouts, the fifth most.
The biggest question this week for the Cowboys' offense centers around Dalton being able to get the ball to his receivers, as Cooper shouldn’t have any issue getting open against this Vikings secondary.
Griffin Swanson is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Griffin Swanson also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username GriffDogg_. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his/her personal views, he/she may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his/her personal account. The views expressed in his/her articles are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel. (edited)
