Welcome back for another week of daily fantasy football with DFSR. Stacking continues to be the name of the game for tournaments and below I will go through my top four stacks for the week four. I will be using DFSR's Player Lab tool to help narrow down the options to help identify the not only the best stacks but some of the best values within the stacks. Let's dig in!
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Week 4 NFL Stacks
Stack #1 - San Diego Chargers vs. New Orleans Saints
QB - Philip Rivers
Elite Options - Travis Benjamin, Melvin Gordon
Value Options - Tyrell Williams, Hunter Henry
As with most weeks I start my Player Lab research by checking the High Vegas O/U filter and usually use 47 or 48 as the floor. There are only four games out of the 12 on the Sunday main slate that carry this threshold with thee Saints/Chargers game leading the way at 54. The Chargers are the early favorites(-4) at home and even without Keenan Allen and Danny Woodhead provide many viable options to stack in DFS. The loss of Allen pushed Travis Benjamin into a #1 role in the offense and has looked good catching 17 balls 21 targets this season for 229 yards and two touchdowns. On the other side providing excellent value is Tyrell Williams. He hasn't had that breakout game yet(which will keep his ownership down), but has seen an increase in targets in each of the first three weeks. He is a much better value on DraftKings at a $1,500 discount off Benjamin. You can most definitely consider Melvin Gordon at RB this week as the Saints have allowed a league worst 149 yards rushing per game. The loss of Woodhead has helped secure the workload that Gordon is going to see week in and week out and he is also coming off a nice week in the pass game catching four of seven targets for 43 yards. It appears Antonio Gates could once again sit out meaning there is punt value in Hunter Henry(DK-$2,700/FD-$4,500) who looked good last week catching all five of his targets for 72 yards.
Stack #2 - New Orleans Saints vs. San Diego Chargers
QB - Drew Brees
Elite Options - Michael Thomas, Coby Fleener
Value Options - Brandon Coleman, Brandon Cooks, Willie Snead(if he plays)
For Stack #2 I am sticking with the Saints/Chargers game with the highest O/U of the week. The Saints will go on the road and even as four point underdogs have one of the highest projected team totals. For the most part I will be avoiding Mark Ingram and the ground game as game flow might not dictate a lot of carries and the Chargers have allowed the 6th fewest rushing yards through three weeks. This will lead Brees to chuck it up 40+ times in this game opening up a ton of value once again to multiple targets in the offense. First, you are probably wondering why I don't have Cooks in the Elite Options this week. It comes down to the projected matchup with Jason Verrett who is one of the top shut down corners in the game and likely to shadow Cooks on Sunday. Rivers will still throw it up his way so I wouldn't avoid him all together. If Willie Snead is out once again(limited practice Weds) it will open up another big opportunity for rookie Michael Thomas who caught seven of 11 targets last week for 72 yards and a touchdown. If Snead does suit up he could be a low owned contrarian play. Coby Fleener will also be a high volume TE option this week. The Saints look to have finally acclimated Fleener into the offense as he has seen his target share grow each week(4,8,11) and now sits as the 6th most targeted TE in the league. Brandon Coleman will also become a nice value play if Willie Snead were to miss the game. Filling in last week, Coleman caught seven of eight targets for 78 yards.
Stack #3 - Detroit Lions vs. Chicago Bears
QB - Matthew Stafford
Elite Options - Marvin Jones Jr, Theo Riddick
Value Options - Golden Tate, Anquan Boldin, Eric Ebron
The Chicago Bears are quickly becoming a top defense to target in daily fantasy on a week to week basis. They rank 28th or worse in defense vs. all four positions(QB,WR,RB,TE) when looking at our ranking on the Player Lab tool which incorporates DVOA, which isn't a perfect science but it much more useful than just using yards per game. Leading the stack is QB Matthew Stafford who has attempted 39+ passes in each of the first three weeks and has tossed seven touchdowns with just two interceptions and sits third in passing yards(985) this season. Marvin Jones Jr. has quickly become Stafford's favorite weapon as he has received the 10th most targets(29) of all NFL wide receivers while leading all of them in yards with 408 through three weeks. Golden Tate has been a bit disappointing as he is being used a dink and dunk option for the most part but with a reduced price becomes a nice value play and we all know he has the upside to blow up in any game. Running back Theo Riddick is an elite option in the backfield and while he appears to be splitting carries with Dwayne Washington, still gets the Lions share(pun intended) of targets. He caught seven of nine targets last week for 39 yards. Eric Ebron is another value option at TE that can be considered. He has already been targeted 20 times(7th most by TE) this season including three times in the endzone where he has caught two touchdowns. He didn't practice on Wednesday(ankle) so be sure to check the gameday injury report before lineup lock.
Stack #4 - Carolina Panthers vs. Atlanta Falcons
QB - Cam Newton
Elite Options - Kelvin Benjamin, Greg Olsen
Value Option - Ted Ginn Jr.
The defending NFC Champions have had a rough start to the 2016 season with 1-2 record coming into week four. The schedule has not been favorable to the Panthers as they have played two Top 10 defenses in the Broncos and Vikings who limited them to just 30 points in those two games. Look for them to get back on track this week as they get the best matchup from DvPass ranking on the Player Lab tool. The Falcons have allowed 313 yards passing per game through three weeks to the Saints, Raiders and Bucs and now get a tough test against the reigning MVP. Cam Newton can hurt you through the air and on the ground and is the ultimate weapon. The most stable piece of the offense has been Greg Olsen who has seen 8+ targets in each of the first three games and leads all TE in the league in that category. After a week where Cam targeted star wideout Kelvin Benjamin just once, you can expect a big bounce back effort in week four. The Panthers combination of high prices and disappointing week three should leave them very low owned this week.
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