Daily fantasy football contests are often won by picking the correct stacks. Stacking in NFL DFS is starting two or more players from the same team whose production should correlate. If a QB has a good game, it's likely at least one of his pass-catchers also does. So, each week, we'll bring you this article of DraftKings and FanDuel stacks, broken down into the safer choices for cash games and the riskier picks for GPP tournaments. For our Week 1 picks, we didn't go out on too many limbs to select cash-game stacks from the Ravens and the Saints, but the Chargers and Bears bring some intrigue in our high-risk, high-reward tournament stacks.
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WEEK 1 DFS CASH LINEUPS:
Yahoo | DraftKings | FanDuel
Week 1 NFL DFS Picks: Top cash game stacks for DraftKings, FanDuel
QB Lamar Jackson and TE Mark Andrews, Ravens vs. Browns (DraftKings & FanDuel stack)
The Browns allowed the second-most fantasy points to tight ends in 2019, so Andrews would operate well as a standalone play. When you can pair him with the reigning MVP in a supremely high-floor stack, it makes sense for cash games.
Even as the highest-priced QB on Sunday's main slate, Jackson will likely see high ownership to open the season. That shouldn't deter you from using him in a cash-game setting, though. And maybe his $8,100 DK price, which is $1.1K higher than Russell Wilson, will actually scare some folks away.
The key to a high-priced stack like this in Week 1 is that cuts and depth-chart announcements in the final week before the season won't be accounted for on the slates that have already been on the DFS sites for a while. That means there should be plenty of bargains to fill in around both this and the next pricey stack.
WEEK 1 DFS TOURNAMENT LINEUPS:
Yahoo | DraftKings | FanDuel
QB Drew Brees and WR Michael Thomas, Saints vs. Buccaneers (DraftKings stack)
You could choose a Tom Brady stack with one of his receivers in this game, as there will surely be plenty of passing and points. It's just less obvious whether Brady's immediate success will come in correlation with Chris Godwin or Mike Evans (or both). We know that Brees and Thomas will remain one of the most prolific tandems in football in 2020.
DraftKings' full PPR scoring makes Thomas worth every ounce of his extreme price. Brees also has a new weapon this year in Emmanuel Sanders, so even on the plays he doesn't throw to Thomas, there's some new explosiveness to work with.
And if you were wondering: When Thomas played Tampa Bay last year, he caught 13 passes and 10 passes, respectively, both times going over 100 yards and scoring three total touchdowns. That's as safe a play as you're finding in Week 1.
WEEK 1 PPR RANKINGS:
Quarterback | Running back | Wide receiver | Tight end | D/ST | Kicker
QB Tom Brady, WR Chris Godwin and WR Mike Evans, Buccaneers @ Saints (FanDuel stack)
Brady has a price below the likes of Matt Ryan and Carson Wentz on FD this week, which isn't insulting or anything but is worth taking advantage of. The Saints allowed the fourth-most fantasy points to WRs last year, so why not pair Brady with his two new, superstar toys? Even if Leonard Fournette plays a big role in Bruce Arians' offense eventually, it won't be Week 1 -- this game will be a shootout that could also be game-stacked if you so choose.
While it's often tournament stacks that feature an onslaught of three or more players from the same team, this Tampa Bay group has merit in cash games. Evans and Godwin proved in 2019 that they can have good games at the same time, and it'd be almost impossible for them to both struggle in the same game. That means that you should have a highly successful stack between your QB and at least one of your WRs. You will be well on your way to the cash line.
UPDATE: With Evans (hamstring) banged up, swapping to Scotty Miller in full-point PPR DraftKings or Justin Watson in half-point PPR FanDuel makes for an interesting three-man stack.
WEEK 1 STANDARD RANKINGS:
Quarterback | Running back | Wide receiver | Tight end | D/ST | Kicker
Week 1 DraftKings, FanDuel Picks: Best stacks for daily fantasy football GPPs/tournaments
QB Tyrod Taylor, WR Keenan Allen and WR Jalen Guyton, Chargers @ Bengals (FanDuel stack)
Most weeks, if I'm trying to be contrarian and outright win a DFS tournament, I'll play a cheap quarterback. The DFS sites can sometimes be wrong on their pricing at the skill positions, but they're normally pretty spot on when it comes to QB. That means that even though they're cheaper, people won't show much interest in playing the lowest-priced passers.
Taylor should be an exception come Week 1. Priced $2.5K below Jackson and $1.4K below Wilson, Taylor possesses a better ceiling than his cost gives him credit for. The floor provided by his rushing ability also presents a strong ceiling if Taylor has a good passing day. The Bengals were bad against QBs in general last year, and they also got torched by rushing QBs, allowing the most rushing yards to quarterbacks in the league.
Allen is a great play most weeks when healthy on DK thanks to their full-PPR scoring, and he shapes up as Taylor's top target in Week 1, especially with Mike Williams (shoulder) likely out. Williams' likely absence makes Guyton more appealing, as he's a big-bodied, speedy threat who isn't proven at the NFL level. He's also priced as the minimum $3K on DraftKings despite a likely starting role in Week 1. All he'll need is one big play to pay off in a big way, and using him allows you to pay up all over the rest of your lineup.
MORE WEEK 1 DFS: Best stacks | Best values | Lineup Builder
QB Mitchell Trubisky and WR Allen Robinson, Bears @ Lions (DraftKings stack)
Trubisky is even cheaper than Taylor, and I'll admit to not loving him as a season-long QB this year. I was hoping to use Nick Foles as this GPP stack, but apparently Matt Nagy had other ideas. Trubisky still fits a tournament mold just fine, though, especially because he runs more than Foles. And Trubisky managed to help Robinson be productive at times in 2019. The best part of this high-risk, high-reward play is that Trubisky's ownership should be miniscule (And guess what? He threw three touchdowns in both meetings with Detroit last year!).
Robinson is one of the most talented wideouts in football and could deserve a play against Detroit even if you don't use Trubisky. With Trubisky in a tournament, it's a must-have stack. If you're feeling like doing the three-player stack like we did with the Chargers, Anthony Miller is the only logical choice to use, as it's not obvious how much of Chicago's depth chart will shake out yet.
RB Devin Singletary and D/ST Buffalo Bills vs. Jets (FanDuel stack)
The Bills made upgrades to their defense in the offseason by adding the likes of Mario Addison and A.J. Epenesa on the defensive line, and they just paid Tre'Davious White, which should make him very happy, especially when he realizes he gets to face Sam Darnold in Week 1. The Bills are one of the higher-priced defenses on the slate for good reason, and they should have no trouble shutting New York down.
What that means is a lot of possession for the Bills and probably a lot of running. The chatter out of camp has seen a lot of favoritism for rookie Zack Moss, but Singletary was very good last year, despite a few untimely fumbles. Maybe Singletary loses his job eventually, but it shouldn't happen in Week 1. Besides, all the negative press for Singletary should keep his ownership low and allow this game-flow stack to pay dividends.