When you are thinking of stacking players in DFS you automatically think of going with a quarterback and a wide receiver and most times there are also plenty of other DFS players that are thinking the exact same way as you when stacking them together. Now with so much information available weekly you are having to find new ways to differentiate yourself from the masses in GPP tournaments. One way to differentiate your team in GPP's is to look for "The Other Stack", which is one that is uncommon and one that will be very low owned if played together but one that also will offer upside to score some big points if it hits.
STACKING WR OR RB (KR/PR) WITH TEAM DEFENSE
One way to get off the common QB/WR stacks is to look for offensive players that have a big role in the offense but also return punts and/or kickoffs and hope to hit a home run by stacking that player with his teams Team Defense. If that player breaks a touchdown on a return you would essentially double dip and get the 6 fantasy points for that individual player as well as the 6 points for the Team Defense.
1) WR Darren Sproles (PR/KR/RB) + Philadelphia Eagles Defense
Through three games so far RB Darren Sproles has returned 6 punts and 1 kickoff and had a long of 40-yards on one of his punt returns. Sproles is on the verge of breaking a home run type of return for a touchdown as he has shown throughout his career that it is possible on at any moment. Sproles has 9 total return touchdowns in his career and 4 of those have come the past two years as a member of the Philadelphia Eagles. Sproles is also playing more offensive snaps for the Eagles this year as he has averaged 34 a game so far. In those three games he has 51 rushing yards, 10 receptions for 160 receiving yards and a touchdown on 13 targets. With Sproles getting anywhere from 8-12 touches a game he comes at a slight risk as you are hoping for a big play in the mix to help his fantasy production boom but at his current price across the DFS industry he has to be in consideration against a very suspect Lions defense. Combining Sproles with the Eagles defense gives you the return upside but also gives you a 3-0 hungry Eagles defense that has been playing some of their best football we have seen in years. In three games this season the Eagles defense has 10 sacks, 3 interceptions, 3 fumble recoveries, a safety and they have only allowed an average of 9 points per game to their opponents. It is a week where finding a defense to plug in is harder than ever as their is no clear choice to who has the best matchup.
Secondary Option: WR Tavon Austin + Los Angeles Rams
STACKING RUNNING BACK WITH KICKER
When thinking of a stack in DFS the last one that comes to mind is stacking anyone with a kicker. We typically don't care about kickers in fantasy as we often look for the kicker with the high over/under, best matchup, kicking at home, kicking indoors, accuracy, long field goals, etc. This is where you can gain an edge/advantage in big field GPP's as you can look to pair a strong running back play with a low owned kicker to help differentiate your team and help reduce the ownership percentage of a chalky running back play on the week.
2) RB DeAndre Washington + K Sebastian Janikowski, Oakland Raiders
ESPN's Adam Schefter reported on Wednesday that the Raiders starting RB Latavius Murray is pretty banged up with a toe injury and is listed as doubtful to play on Sunday. This helps to open up the biggest value play on the board with rookie running back DeAndre Washington likely being the next man up for the Raiders. There is still a good chance Washington will have to split carries with Jalen Richard but even then Washington is still in good shape to see in the neighborhood of 12-18 touches. Now we get to mention who the Raiders are actually playing this week as they get a home game against an awful run defense in the San Diego Chargers. The Chargers are third worst in the league so far this season against the run giving up 70 yards rushing and 1.5 rushing touchdowns on average with 9 receptions 0.5 touchdowns and 70 more yards given to RBs in the receiving game. Washington has only seen 23 carries and 6 receptions for a total of 184 yards in his rookie season but his 6.39 yards per carry average looks very juicy when you plug it into a game script against the third worst run defense. As word starts to spread about the DeAndre Washington play throughout the DFS industry he will become a very popular play because of his price, matchup and opportunity and adding in his kicking teammate Sebastian Janikowski can help to offset the high ownership. Janikowski is only 3 for 4 on field goals so far this season but has made up for it with 11 extra points as the Raiders are finding ways to put points on the board. In a divisional game against the Chargers where both teams have been struggling on defense and have been letting opponents score at will you have to like the combo of RB and Kicker to give you a safe floor for fantasy production.
Secondary Option: RB C.J. Anderson + K Brandon McManus, Denver Broncos
STACKING QUARTERBACK WITH RUNNING BACK
Looking back on 2015 we saw a lot of the big scores in GPP's consist of unlikely combos at the QB/RB positions. A Ben Roethlisberger stack with his starting running back in DeAngelo Williams or Le'veon Bell seemed to be a negative correlation on paper but it actually turned out to be one that was a huge advantage for the DFS players that weren't afraid to zig zag off your typical QB/WR stack. Another great example of this type of combo from last season was with the Kansas City Chiefs and QB Alex Smith with RB Jamaal Charles. If you can find the right QB or RB that is popular on the week and pair him with his teams QB or RB you are going to have an against the grain stack regardless if one of the two players are highly owned.
3) QB Ben Roethlisberger + RB LeVeon Bell, Pittsburgh Steelers
The first combo that always comes to mind when you are thinking about stacking a teams quarterback with their running back has to be Ben Roethlisberger and running back LeVeon Bell. The two were in plenty of big GPP winning lineups last season and after one game together in 2016 they looked like the most dominate QB/RB combos in the league. Roethlisberger threw for 300 yards and 5 touchdowns while Bell ran for 144 rushing yards and had 5 catches for 34 more yards. The Jets defense have been typically known to be good against the pass in recent years but they have been anything but so far in 2016. They come in as the 6 worst team this season against the pass giving up 305 yards on average and a pair of touchdowns, which likely will help Roethlisberger put up his own big stat line this weekend. The Jets are a middle of the road type of defense against the run as they have held opponents running backs to 66 yards and 0.3 touchdowns rushing and 5 receptions for 28 yards and 0.8 touchdowns passing. The key stat there is the 0.8 touchdowns receiving to running backs which is last in the league and against a high powered offense such as the Steelers the Roethlisberger and Bell combo comes into play even more as the two have great potential to connect on a touchdown pass. The Steelers team total is sitting at 27.75 points which is third highest this week so if Vegas is predicting them to put up 4 touchdowns you are playing the Roethlisberger and Bell combo like they will be involved in all 4 scores.
Secondary Option: QB Brian Hoyer + RB Jordan Howard, Chicago Bears
STACKING OPPOSING TEAM WIDE RECEIVERS
One of the forgotten stacks is pairing wide receivers up from the same game on opposite teams. You want to look for a game with a tight point spread and with a high over/under that has potential to be a shoot out type. Teams that might play in a pass friendly dome or that lack a running game also help in this situation and are a positively-correlated non-QB/WR stack worth considering in GPPs. It also makes sense to stack one of the quarterbacks in this situation and even mix and match with each teams quarterback and a variety of different pass catchers on both teams.
4) WR Odell Beckham Jr New York Giants + WR Jordy Nelson, Green Bay Packers
We are now four games into the 2016 football season and Odell Beckham Jrhas yet to catch a touchdown pass. Beckham has been getting the targets (39) but has only been able to turn them into 22 receptions for 303 yards. This week the matchup is a good one as the Packers have been struggling against the pass as Sam Shields has been battling injury in their secondary. The Packers are the third worst team next to Tampa Bay and Oakland so far this season against the pass and a 7/100/1 type of game to get Beckham kickstarted in the touchdown department is not out of the question in this matchup. This particular game has one of the higher Vegas totals on the week at 48 points with team totals of 27.5 for the Packers and 20.5 for the Giants. It also is the last game on the Main slates on both DraftKings and FanDuel and if you are looking for a late sweat or late hammer you are going to want to target some players from this game. We are hoping for a high scoring game with a big passing attack in this one and on the flip side of going with Beckham Jr you have to consider Jordy Nelson on the Packers. Nelson has been on fire to start the season and is back to being a favorite target of Aaron Rodgers as he has 27 targets in 3 games for a 17/206/4 stat line. Nelson has been targeted 6 times in the redzone so far this season and all four of his touchdowns have come from the redzone. We are trying to predict a shootout in this game and if it hits you are getting two very safe floor players but also two players that have some of the biggest ceilings in the entire league which could lead to multi touchdown games from both.
Secondary Option: WR Travis Benjamin, San Diego Chargers + Amari Cooper, Oakland Raiders
If you have any additional questions or comments please feel free to hit my up on Twitter @JamesBrimacombe