A Steelers stack could prove useful against San Francisco

Week 1 is in the books and it’s time to move onto my favorite stacking options for Week 2. When the dust settled, I did a decent job with my inaugural stacks of the season. But as usual, not everything goes as expected in the world of fantasy football.

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Before I delve into my Week 2 stacking options, let’s take a look at how my Week 1 stacks fared (all fantasy totals come from FanDuel).

Week 1 Premium Stack

Aaron Rodgers – 23.06 points
Randall Cobb – 12.3 points
Davante Adams – 7.9 points
Eddie Lacy – 16.9 points

Analysis
My premium stack played relatively well. But unless you dug up the fantasy corpse that was James Jones and played him in your lineup, you didn’t get the maximum value out of this stack. I was encouraged that Jones was returning to Green Bay, but who saw that performance coming? This could have ruined Adams’ coming out party, as he had a modest performance in Week 1.

Week 1 Value Stack 

Ryan Tannehill – 11.7 points
Lamar Miller – 8 points
Jarvis Landry – 16.7 points
Dolphins D/ST – 15 points

Analysis
The first two players in my value stack were very disappointing. The Dolphins’ offense couldn’t get going all day and if not for Landry’s punt return touchdown the Fins could have lost this game. Landry and the defense were worth starting, but stacking the Dolphins likely didn’t pay off.

Week 1 Risky Stack 

Adrian Peterson – 6.7 points
Charles Johnson – 3.7 points
Teddy Bridgewater – 9.8 points
Vikings D/ST – 6 points

Analysis
Ouch. My risky stack turned out to be a complete dud. Peterson carried the ball only 10 times and Bridgewater could not get anything going. The defense wasn’t horrible, but it let Carlos Hyde run all over the place. That may be the first and last time I take the Vikings as a stacking option.

Now, onto my Week 2 stacks.

Premium Stack

San Francisco 49ers @ Pittsburgh Steelers (1 p.m. kickoff E.T.)

Players of note
Antonio Brown ($9,200 on FanDuel, $8,800 on DraftKings), Ben Roethlisberger ($8,400 on FanDuel, $7,200 on DraftKings), DeAngelo Williams ($7,400 on FanDuel, $5,300 on DraftKings).

Rationale
I know I picked on San Fran last week and got burnt. But that was against the Vikings, who looked offensively challenged and had to battle a tough environment on Monday Night Football. The Steelers can score. The problem is you may have to pay a pretty penny for them.

Pittsburgh moved the ball last week against the New England Patriots, they just couldn’t score. Roethlisberger and Brown are facing a 49ers secondary that allowed Teddy Bridgewater to complete nine consecutive passes. It’s not that Bridgewater is bad, just Big Ben is better).

Former Steeler Mike Wallace hurt the 49ers underneath primarily. He caught six passes for 63 yards Monday night. Brown should have a field day running underneath and over the top of San Francisco’s secondary.

DeAngelo Williams has one more week as the bell cow before Le’Veon Bell returns from suspension. He will try to make the most of it. Williams showed he isn’t washed up last Thursday. The 49ers held Minnesota to just 71 rushing yards, but that was against a porous offensive line. Williams should have plenty of room to run on Sunday.

Value Stack 

Baltimore Ravens @ Oakland Raiders (4:05 p.m. kickoff E.T.)

Players of note
Justin Forsett ($7,800 on FanDuel, $6,200 on DraftKings), Joe Flacco ($8,100 on FanDuel, $6,400 on DraftKings), Crockett Gillmore ($4,500 on FanDuel, $2,500 on DraftKings), Ravens D/ST ($5,000 on FanDuel, $2,900 on DraftKings).

Rationale
The Ravens’ offense was punished in Denver last week and is due for a bounce-back statement against the Raiders, who lost 33-13 to fellow AFC North companion, Cincinnati. The Raiders surrendered 127 yards on the ground to the Bengals and 269 yards through the air.

Forsett will be a fixture in this Ravens offense. Although he didn’t run well against Denver, he hauled in four carries on seven targets. Forsett should be a pass-catching threat out of the backfield against a Raiders team that allowed running back Gio Bernard to catch six balls last week.

Flacco comes at good value and has a great matchup against Oakland. He’s also performed well against the Raiders. In three meetings, Flacco has thrown for 583 yards and four touchdowns with two rushing scores. This is a rare opportunity where Flacco has some upside and could be a bargain.

My deep sleeper is tight end Gillmore. Williams could be another play, but Gillmore received more looks in the season opener. Everyone saw what Eifert did to the Raiders last week, right? Flacco loves throwing to his tight ends and they should be a focal point of Baltimore’s game plan. The problem is picking which one explodes. Based on last week, I’m taking Gillmore.

The Bengals defense had Oakland shutout deep into the third quarter. Baltimore’s defense should do just as well, even without Terrell Suggs.

Risky Stack 

Tampa Bay Buccaneers @ New Orleans Saints (1 p.m. kickoff E.T.)

Players of note
Drew Brees ($8,900 on FanDuel, $7,800 on DraftKings), Mark Ingram ($8,000 on FanDuel, $5,900 on DraftKings), Brandin Cooks ($7,400 on FanDuel, $7,000 on DraftKings).

Rationale
You saw what Marcus Mariota did to Tampa, right? OK, just making sure. This stack doesn’t come with a ton of risk other than the Saints not being as reliable as they used to be for fantasy purposes. Other than Brees, Ingram and Cooks come at pretty good values as your top back and receiver.

Here’re Brees’ combined stats in his last three performances against Tampa Bay at the Superdome: 1,059 yards, 10 touchdowns and three interceptions. The three picks came in last year’s game versus the Bucs, but Brees has a very good history of tearing up Tampa’s defense.

Tampa also couldn’t stop the run against the Titans, giving up 124 yards rushing to a backfield consisting of Bishop Sankey, Terrance West and Dexter McCluster. Ingram had a really rough game on the ground last week against Arizona. He ran for only 24 yards on nine carries. However, Ingram possessed a lot of value in the passing game. He caught eight passes for 98 yards against the Cardinals. With C.J. Spiller hurt, Ingram showed he can catch passes out of the backfield. That will result in more playing time and thus an increase in value.

Cooks could be the top wideout of the week against Tampa. The Buccaneers let Kendall Wright beat them for 101 yards and a touchdown last week. Cooks should threaten Tampa underneath and could hit a couple of home runs on deep balls.

Well, guess this isn’t that much of a risk after all.

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Matt Barbato is a correspondent at FantasyPros. For more from Matt, you can view his archive or follow him @realmattbarbato.