Welcome to the Daily Fantasy Football Lineup Stacks Report. Every week I look at the top of the leaderboards in a bunch of guaranteed prize pool (GPP) contests to see what the top 10 winners lineup builds looked like. Then, I examine whether they had stacks built into their lineups and what kind of stacks were most effective that week. Next, we review my recommended stacks from the previous week. Last, I look through this week’s games and give you some game-stacking recommendations for daily fantasy football this week.
Daily Fantasy Football Lineup Stacks for Week Six
This week things went back to normal a bit. Well, sort of normal. The pay line in the Milly Maker was down to a rather low 150 points this week as opposed to the 182 pay line we saw last week. Most of the other GPPs that I looked at had pay lines right around 148 on average. That means all you needed this week was 2.9x return across your lineup to cash in GPP tournaments. However, the cash line being so low also meant that points were hard to come by this week. I’m happy to report that three out of the five stacks that I provided you with last week hit the mark. I’m also pretty sure the Rams stack that I was on would have hit the mark if Brandin Cooks didn’t get knocked out in the first quarter of that game.
Hopefully, you’ve been paying attention and heeding my advice this season. Each week I’ve given a stack, or two, that were in some of the winning GPP lineups for that week on Draft Kings. This week my Green Bay Packers–Detroit Lions stack and my Minnesota Vikings–Philadelphia Eagles stack were both in some top 10 finishing GPP lineups. We’ll review all of my recommendations a little later in this article.
First, let’s take a look at how all of the top 10 GPP winners lineups were built this week. We can find out if they used stacks to build their winning lineups, and if they did use stacks, what kind of lineup stacking was most effective at winning in GPPs this week. Here’s the breakdown.
The Stacking Statistics
Contest info found at (Draft Kings)
No stack – 11.25 percent
Two-player stack – 11.25 percent
Game-stack – 27.5 percent
Super-stack – 21.25 percent
Super game-stack – 28.75 percent
Once again, here’s absolute proof that stacking, and furthermore game-stacking, is the optimum lineup building strategy for GPP tournaments. This is why every week, I search for the teams with good offenses in advantageous matchups, versus a team that also has a good offense and a not so good defense, to exploit with my game-stacks. Let’s take a look at how that exploitation worked out for us last week. Player scoring found at (DK Live)
Week Five Game Stack Review
Matt Ryan / Julio Jones / Calvin Ridley / James Conner / JuJu Smith-Schuster = 85.3
Aaron Rodgers / Davante Adams / Golden Tate / Kenny Golladay = 94.68
Kirk Cousins / Adam Thielen / Stefon Diggs / Zach Ertz = 97.34
Jared Goff / Robert Woods / Cooper Kupp / Brandin Cooks = 59.84
Deshaun Watson / DeAndre Hopkins / Will Fuller / Keke Coutee = 71.9
As you can see the Steelers-Falcons game-stack (2.34x) and the Rams super-stack (2.3x) didn’t cut it this week. However, my Texans super-stack was just good enough earning a 2.9x return. In a week where points were hard to come by, 2.9x was surprisingly a pretty good return on investment.
Next, my Packers-Lions stack (3.55x) crushed in daily fantasy football this week. If you were one of those who played this game-stack, then you probably did well. And if you were listening on Twitter Sunday morning when I told everyone to play Marquez Valdes-Scantling, then you did really well. MVS was only 3,300 on Draft Kings and he wound up starting for the Packers and scored 19.8 DK points(6x).
Last, but certainly not least, my Vikings-Eagles stack worked out beautifully! It provided us with a 3.58x return, which was an excellent return in week five DFS. The only thing that would have been better was if I had Carson Wentz in the quarterback slot instead of Kirk Cousins. However, this stack was good enough just the way it was to put you in position to win. You just needed to have some of the right secondary players in your lineup in order to finish at the top of the GPP leaderboard. I know this because I had a 10th place and an 11th place finish in the two GPPs that I played that stack in. I also had an 11th place finish with my Packers-Detroit stacked lineup. All three of those contests had over 1,500 contestants. It was a good week, but I’m always pushing to have a great week. So it’s back to the grind for Week Six.
Week Six Games to Stack in Daily Fantasy Football
Kansas City Chiefs at New England Patriots
O/U (59.5) Patriots -3.5
Implied points: Patriots (31.5), Chiefs (28)
This is a cherry matchup! Almost as if made for building GPP game-stacks. We have the red-hot Patrick Mahomes leading the Chiefs into Foxborough. They’re going to try to outscore Tom Brady and a now formidable Patriots offense. This is with little doubt going to be a good game to stack for daily fantasy football.
The problem comes with identifying who to stack from this game. Both of these offenses are loaded with playmakers. This makes it a little more difficult to narrow down which players will have the big day. What I plan to do is build a few different stacks from this game and hope to hit big with at least one of those lineups. Here’s my favorite stack from this game.
Tom Brady / James White / Julian Edelman / Rob Gronkowski / Sammy Watkins
Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Atlanta Falcons
O/U (57.5) Falcons -3.5
Implied points: Falcons (30.5) Bucs (27)
Normally, we would be licking our chops at the thought of playing a running back against the Falcons this season. However, I just cannot recommend any Bucs running back for DFS. Unless, the Bucs coaches decide to start Jacquizz Rodgers against the Falcons. If that becomes the case then yes add him to your stack. He’s 3,200 and he’s currently the best running back that the Bucs have. We will have to wait and see if the Bucs want to win or they want to continue developing their young running backs.
As for the players that I do want to target from this game. The Falcons are back at home after a down game and there’s a chance Julio Jones might go under-owned after burning those who rostered him last week. I say we go back to the well with Jones and Matt Ryan this week. They’re both in a prime time bounce back spot at home against the leaky Bucs secondary. Not to be outdone in that category the Falcons are pretty darn leaky on the back end of the defense also. So the Bucs pass catchers are in play here too. This is another game to mix and match a few lineup stacking combinations with. Here’s my favorite stack from this game.
Matt Ryan / Julio Jones / Calvin Ridley / Mike Evans / Cameron Brate
Pittsburgh Steelers at Cincinnati Bengals
O/U (53) Bengals -2
Implied points: Bengals (27.5) Steelers (25.5)
The final game on my list of games to target for our daily fantasy football lineup stacks is Steelers-Bengals. While in times past the AFC North games were ones to avoid in DFS, they now have become games to target. All of the AFC North teams have good to great offenses and below average to average defenses.
The Steelers defense had an impressive game at home against the Falcons last week but they’re on the road this week against a now highly productive Bengals offense. I could easily see this game turning into a shootout between these two teams.
This is the type of lower key high potential game that’s great to target for GPP lineups. The high-end points potential is there for the players in this matchup. Plus, the ownership of some of these players may be lower due to the expected higher scoring games in Atlanta and New England. Here’s my favorite stack from this game.
Andy Dalton / A.J. Green / Tyler Boyd / Antonio Brown / JuJu Smith-Schuster
Best of luck again this week. May our stacks be profitable in Week Six. Remember to check the injury reports before playing these stacks this week. I write this article early in the week before injury reports are released.
Also, be on the lookout for any lower priced injury replacement players to plug-into your lineups. Sometimes, when a starter is scratched later on in the week, his replacement ends up being a great bargain. Some of these stacks are pretty expensive when it comes to the salary cap space that they take up on Draft Kings this week. Some salary relief at another spot in our lineup would be a welcome commodity, should the opportunity arise.
