4 NFL FanDuel Stacks for Week 11

Stacks fuel upside in FanDuel contests. To that point, colleague Brandon Gdula took a deep dive into hit rates and correlation for stacks. It's worth a read.

Every week, I'll lay out my four favorite stacks in this space. Here are the stacks I'm honing in on this week.

Kansas City Chiefs

Patrick Mahomes ($8,300), Travis Kelce ($7,300), and Byron Pringle ($5,300)

According to our heat map, the Kansas City Chiefs have the highest implied total on this week's main slate (29.25 points). Thankfully, the Dallas Cowboys are expected to keep pace, sporting an implied total of 26.75, resulting in a spread of only 2.5 points. The betting information supports a shootout, and the pace data is tantalizing, too.

According to Football Outsiders, the Chiefs are playing at the ninth-fastest situation-neutral pace. But, interestingly, they're in store for a pace pick-me-up, since the Cowboys are playing at the second-fastest neutral pace. Thus, this game is set to be a fantasy bonanza.

The Chiefs are favored at home in this projected shootout after their offense righted the ship against the Las Vegas Raiders last week. Mahomes was in vintage form in Week 10, passing for 406 yards and five touchdowns. Despite his well-chronicled struggles at times this year, Mahomes is fourth in passing yards per game (294.0) and second in touchdown passes (25), per Pro Football Reference. We project him to be the slate's QB2 with the second-highest point-per-dollar value at the position.

My favorite stacking partner with Mahomes is his stud tight end, Kelce. According to Stat Head, Kelce is leading tight ends in receiving yards per game (74.7), targets (89) and receptions (62). He is tied for second in touchdown receptions (five). According to Pro Football Focus, he is first in routes (405) and sixth among tight ends who have been targeted at least 25 times in yards per route run (1.84 Y/RR). Predictably, Kelce is projected to finish this week as the TE1, with the second-highest value score to boot.

Finally, let's round out what will presumably be a chalky Mahomes-Kelce stack with a contrarian pick in the form of Pringle. Per our snap counts, Pringle set a new single-game high for the season in Week 10, playing 60.53 percent of Kansas City's snaps. That capped off a four-week stretch of increased playing time. Meanwhile, Mecole Hardman's playing time slipped to a season-low 31.58 percent of the snaps in Week 10. So it appears there is a changing of the guard for Kansas City's number-two receiver.

In addition to setting his new high for playing time last week, Pringle also ran a season-high 34 routes. Thankfully, he wasn't merely running wind sprints. Pringle hauled in four of five targets for 46 yards and a touchdown. The third-year pro has flashed his potential at times while Hardman has continued to flub his chances. Therefore, I expect Pringle to maintain his new role this week. I'll take some GPP stabs on Pringle at his bargain salary as a possible under-the-radar option in this game.

Dallas Cowboys

Dak Prescott ($8,400), CeeDee Lamb ($8,000), and Michael Gallup ($5,400)

The Cowboys are on the opposing side of the Chiefs, meaning they're treated to the same tantalizing shootout and breakneck pace expectations. Additionally, they have a softer matchup against Kansas City's giving pass defense. The Chiefs are the ninth-worst pass defense by our power rankings.

Prescott is well-equipped to pick apart the Chiefs despite Amari Cooper landing on the reserve/COVID-19 list on Friday. Prescott is directly behind Mahomes in fifth in passing yards per game (289.1), and his 20 passing touchdowns in eight games is a 2.5-touchdown per game pace identical to Mahomes' pace. However, Prescott has been sharper in regards to taking care of the ball (five interceptions versus 10 for Mahomes) and more efficient picking up yards, ranking first in adjusted net yards per pass attempt (8.22 ANY/A) compared to only 14th for Mahomes, per Pro Football Reference.

Dak's obvious top stacking partner is Lamb. The absence of Cooper this week will narrow the target distribution, enhancing Lamb's floor and ceiling. Lamb is already one of the game's top receivers. According to Sports Info Solutions, the sophomore is 20th in target share (22.7 percent) and 16th in intended air yards (893). Lamb is also eighth in yards per route run (2.40) among receivers targeted at least 25 times this year. Predictably, Lamb's excellent advanced metrics have resulted in great traditional stats, as he's averaging 5.2 receptions and 80.7 receiving yards per game with six touchdowns.

I love Gallup to round this stack out or as a run-back piece for KC stacks. I highlighted Gallup in my value plays piece a few days ago. Now with Cooper out, Gallup will certainly be a chalky pick. Still, I love him in all game types, as his floor and ceiling are boosted without Cooper. Gallup is now the owner of the fifth-highest point-per-dollar value rating among receivers.

Cincinnati Bengals

Joe Burrow ($7,400) and Ja'Marr Chase ($7,700)

The Cincinnati Bengals, Burrow and Chase specifically, are my favorite stacking option outside of Arrowhead Stadium. In the values piece linked above, I aggressively touted Burrow. I won't repeat everything I said there, but the summary is that since Week 4 the Bengals are passing at the second-highest rate when the offensive scoring margin ranges from trailing by seven points to leading by seven points, per Sharp Football Stats. And they're opposing the Las Vegas Raiders, who are the sixth-worst pass defense in our power rankings.

Meanwhile, Chase has hit the ground running in the NFL. He is 14th in intended air yards (946), tied for 12th in target share (25.7 percent), sixth in yards per route run (2.69), tied for fifth in touchdown receptions (seven), tied for fourth in yards per target (11.4), fourth in receiving yards per game (92.8), and third in yards per reception (19.0). The dynamic rookie is a home-run waiting to happen.

This skinny two-person stack allows for stacking some of the skill-position players above from the Chiefs and Cowboys. Thus, you might end up with a high-upside contrarian stack with Burrow and Chase without sacrificing the upside of the chalky shootout in Kansas City.

Houston Texans at Tennessee Titans

Brandin Cooks ($6,600) and A.J. Brown ($7,200)

Cooks is a third carryover from my aforementioned value plays article. This year, Cooks has commanded a whopping 26.4 percent target share from Tyrod Taylor, netting 15 receptions, 227 receiving yards, and 262 air yards on Taylor's 87 pass attempts. Moreover, he has the best fantasy matchup for wide receivers, as the Tennessee Titans are coughing up the most FanDuel points per game to the position.

Opposing Cooks is Brown. The latter is attached to the fourth-highest implied team total (27.25), and he has a great matchup, too. The Houston Texans are the seventh-worst pass defense in our power rankings. They're allowing the 11th-most FanDuel points per game and 13.92 yards per reception to wide receivers this year. Houston struggles mightily to contain explosive passes, yielding the sixth-highest average explosive pass rate (10 percent), per Sharp Football Stats.

Of course, Brown isn't only a matchup-driven suggestion. Unfortunately, he's responsible for back-to-back bad games. Nevertheless, Brown has eight or more targets in six of nine games, including four of his last five. The third-year receiving also showcased his tantalizing upside in Week 6 through Week 8, reeling in 25 receptions on 29 targets for 379 receiving yards and two touchdowns in that span.

Brown is a projections darling this week. He is projected to finish as the slate's WR6, boasting the third-highest point-per-dollar value. It's possible Cooks and Brown put on a show trying to one-up each other as the clear-cut top receiving options on their respective clubs. I'll gladly chase that potential outcome in GPPs.

Joshua Shepardson is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Joshua Shepardson also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username bchad50. 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.