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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 Cordarrelle Patterson (PR/KR/WR) + Minnesota Vikings Defense
Cordarrelle Patterson has the fifth most kickoff return attempts with 19 on the year and also has a single punt return attempt. In those 19 opportunities he averages 30.5 yards per return and has a long of 104 yards for a touchdown. On top of the big play ability in the return game, Patterson has also turned his career around this season on the offensive side of things. Since Week 4 he has seen at least 34 snaps a game in the past 9 weeks he has had at least 3 targets a game along with 2 receptions a game. On the year he has 52 targets and holds a 41/334/2 stat line and also has rushed the ball 7 times for 43 yards. The Vikings use all their pass catches in the offense as Sam Bradford likes to spread the ball around to the likes of Stefon Diggs, Adam Thielen and Kyle Rudolph on top of going to Patterson. This week's game is against the Jacksonville Jaguars so what is nice about taking a GPP flier on Patterson is that you can pair him with the Vikings defense and hope for a double dip in scoring on a kick return touchdown. The Vikings defense has been one of the best plays each week in DFS as they have 6 touchdowns on the year along with 12 interceptions, 10 fumble recoveries, 31 sacks and a safety while allowing 17.4 points per game on average. Minnesota's pass defense is the 3rd best in the league only allowing quarterbacks to pass for 220 yards and 1.2 touchdowns per game. It is a plus matchup this week as they get to play Blake Bortles who is coming off a game where the threw a pick six to the Broncos and has 15 interceptions on the season compared to 20 touchdown passes. The Vikings are the top defense on the week and if you pair them with Patterson it gives you the chance at double dipping but also gives you a very safe floor with the Vikings defense.
Secondary Option: WR Ted Ginn Jr + Carolina Panthers Defense
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 Ezekiel Elliott + K Dan Bailey, Dallas Cowboys
The Cowboys continue to roll this season as their star rookie running back Ezekiel Elliott is having an outstanding season with 1285 rushing yards, 12 rushing touchdowns, 28 receptions, 322 receiving yards and another receiving touchdown. Elliott hasn't had a game on the season where he has seen less than 18 total touches and the past 4 weeks those numbers are increased to at least 22 touches. Elliott is helping the Cowboys control games from start to finish and with a big divisional matchup against the Giants this week I expect him to continue to roll and see a heavy amount of carries. When others are paying up for David Johnson and LeVeon Bell, you can zag over to Elliott at a slight discount and have all the upside of the other two backs. Going with a combo of Elliott and Dan Bailey you are predicting the Cowboys to have a positive game script and control the game through out while picking up big chunks of yards along the way. Bailey has been perfect on field goal attempts since Week 5 going 13-for-13 and has been a perfect 36-for-36 in extra point attempts on the season. In Week 1 when the Cowboys faced the Giants, it was Bailey who was perfect on all 4 of his field goal attempts and in these type of divisional games they are always close scoring games where kickers become even more important as the game moves along.
Secondary Option: RB David Johnson + K Chandler Catanzaro, Arizona Cardinals
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 Matthew Stafford + RB Theo Riddick, Detroit Lions
Matthew Stafford has been one of the most effecient quarterbacks on the season as he has thrown for 3,224 yards and 21 touchdowns and only 5 interceptions and has only thrown one the past 8 games. Stafford has 6 multi touchdown games with a pair of 2 touchdown games, 3 games with 3 touchdowns and another one where he threw for 4 touchdowns. This week it is a home matchup against the lowly Chicago Bears so look for Stafford to spread the ball around and put up some big numbers once again and likely get that multi touchdown game that you are always looking for in DFS. I am expecting the Lions to control this game right from the start and in doing so they will use Theo Riddick with running the ball and collecting short dump off passes from Stafford. Riddick does most of his work through the air as he has 53 receptions for 371 yards and 5 receiving touchdowns. You are looking for about 12-18 touches out of Riddick and hoping that he can break a long play and find the endzone. In a week where everyone will be paying up for the high end running backs if you change things up and go with a Matthew Stafford and Theo Riddick stack you are going to get some very low ownership in a strong home matchups against the Bears.
Secondary Option: QB Russell Wilson + RB Thomas Rawls, Seattle Seahawks
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 DeAndre Hopkins, Houston Texans + WR T.Y. Hilton, Indianapolis Colts
The Houston Texans and Indianapolis Colts have one of the higher Vegas totals on the week with the Colts being favored by -6.5 points and a 46.5 over/under total. Back in Week 6 these two teams played and the Texans won 26-23 in overtime. That week was DeAndre Hopkins best week as far as targets and receptions go as he had 15 targets and 9 receptions for 71 yards. Hopkins has somewhat struggled this season as he has battled nagging injuries and has just not caught the targets coming his way. He has 113 targets on the year for a 58/668/4 stat line and is coming off his first touchdown game since Week 5 so a breakout game might be in the works here. The Colts have given up 14 receptions, 173 yards and 1.1 touchdowns to opposing teams wide receivers and Hopkins looks to be a heavy target as star running back Lamar Miller continues to battle staying healthy. On the flip side of this game you have the Colts playing well with Andrew Luck starting to connect with his wide receivers as T.Y. Hilton is coming off a 9 catch and 146 yard performance and is now over 1000 yard on the season as he has 69 receptions for 1,088 yards and 5 scores. You are hoping for a shoot out in this game and that both Hopkins and Hilton can see 8+ targets and turn them into some big plays.
Secondary Option: WR Dez Bryant, Dallas Cowboys + WR Odell Beckham Jr New York Giants
If you have any additional questions or comments please feel free to hit my up on Twitter @JamesBrimacombe