Which is your favorite high-priced stack this week?
- Ben Roethlisberger + Antonio Brown, Big home favorites, coming off bye, Brown with a touchdown in 6-of-7 games
- Aaron Rodgers + Davante Adams, Road underdogs, Adams with back-to-back huge games.
- Patrick Mahomes II + Tyreek Hill or Travis Kelce, Draws Denver defense
- Andy Dalton + A.J. Green, Ideal Tampa Bay matchup but Dalton with three straight tepid games including Week 7 dud at Kansas City
Justin Howe:
Of the given options, I’m probably most interested in chasing Kansas City’s guys and letting the field get cute with matchups. Patrick Mahomes II is bulldozing even tough defenses right now, and while that’s not exactly a shrewd thing to project, it’s plenty of ammo for me in tournament play. He should probably be a 15% quarterback every week, but I expect his exposure will dip closer to 9-10%. If he erupts (again), that’ll be a small but helpful edge, provided I’ve stacked him well. Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce are the obvious suspects, but both will be highly-rostered. I’ll likely be sticking Kareem Hunt into my main Mahomes lineup, actually, in the hopes of gathering all the crumbs from a huge Kansas City day. Hunt is catching passes again – and turning them into dynamic downfield plays. A lineup that includes Mahomes-Hunt-Sammy Watkins, for example, brings both diversity and eruptive potential. Against Denver in Week 4, he played a big role in Mahomes keeping his cool against a hard-rushing Broncos defense. He enters the rematch with an exceptionally strong floor and ceiling and brings a great receiving arbitrage on the volatile Hill and Watkins.
Phil Alexander:
I plan on starting a handful of tournament lineups with Patrick Mahomes II and Travis Kelce for three reasons:
- Mahomes is tearing through the league and the game script is in his favor. The Chiefs are huge home favorites (-10) with an implied team total near 33 points -- a setup conducive to high quarterback fantasy scoring.
- Kelce was targeted a season-high 12 times and scored 20.8 fantasy points when Kansas City and Denver met in Week 4. The Broncos have been better against tight ends over their last three games, but have faced the Jets, Rams, and Cardinals, none of whom feature a tight end in the passing game. Everything about the game script working in Mahomes' favor enhances the great matchup for Kelce.
- Mahomes and Kelce will be popular plays, but they each have the highest salaries at their respective positions (DraftKings). Pairing the top-priced quarterback and tight end -- two positions where entrants typically look to save cap space -- forces you to build your roster in a different direction than the crowd.
Dan Hindery:
I like Kirk Cousins and Adam Thielen this week against the Saints. New Orleans has been fantastic against opposing backs, which should force Minnesota to be one-dimensional. The Vikings are great for daily fantasy purposes because we can bank on a huge chunk of the passing targets to go to Adam Thielen and Stefon Diggs each week. Thielen looks like a lock for 10+ targets and 15+ seems entirely possible.
James Brimacombe:
I am actually going with a Jameis Winston to Mike Evans stack this week against the Bengals. These two have yet to connect for a touchdown on the season but still have played well together with lots of targets but just not the big score. With Tampa Bay playing on the road against Cincinnati and as a +4.5 underdog in a one of the highest over/under (54.0) on the week I have to take a shot on this stack once again. Through six games Evans has been targeted 55 times for 40 receptions, 591 yards and three touchdowns.
Jason Wood:
How can it not be the Chiefs stack? The Chiefs are on pace to have the second-best offense in NFL history, and it's now clear they can win regardless of game script.
I'm off the Andy Dalton train until he rights the ship. I much prefer a stack from the opposing side of that game -- either Jameis Winston and Mike Evans or Winston and Chris Godwin.
BJ VanderWoude:
My favorite high priced stack goes to Aaron Rodgers and Davante Adams for one simple reason, volume. Despite Aaron Jones running the ball well, the Packers prefer to put the ball in Rodgers hands. Adams is seeing 29% of Rodgers targets and has caught 50% of his touchdown passes, including at least one in five of their six games. With the Packers being road underdogs, the stage is once again set for them to pass at a heavy clip, and for both Rodgers and Adams to have big games that make their total investment very valuable.
Will Grant:
I’m actually liking the Kirk Cousins – Adam Thielen stack this week. Thielen has posted 100 yards receiving every game this season and scored a touchdown in five of seven games. Against a soft New Orleans defense, I like the Minnesota stack this week. You can even super-stack them with Michael Thomas from the Saints.
