Stacking is a critical component of building NFL DFS teams. Yet, some gamers new to DFS might be unfamiliar with what stacking is. Other DFS veterans who are familiar with stacking may not fully understand the reasoning behind its importance, and they may be familiar only with the most straightforward stacking construction. This piece will delve into NFL DFS stacking in a way that offers insight to those completely unfamiliar with it, as well as to others who have a basic understanding.
Stacking is a critical component of building NFL DFS teams. Yet, some gamers new to DFS might be unfamiliar with what stacking is. Other DFS veterans who are familiar with stacking may not fully understand the reasoning behind its importance, and they may be familiar only with the most straightforward stacking construction. This piece will delve into NFL DFS stacking in a way that offers insight to those completely unfamiliar with it, as well as to others who have a basic understanding.
Stacking in NFL DFS
What is Stacking?
Stacking, boiled down to its essence, is using teammates or opponents with a positive correlation. The purpose of stacking is to increase a DFS team’s scoring upside through positive correlation. If a game shoots out, having positively correlated pieces of the contest will enhance the scoring output from a DFS roster. Let’s dig into more specific stacks.
Quarterbacks and Pass-Catchers
Stacking quarterbacks and one or more of their pass-catching weapons — typically wide receivers or tight ends, but passing-down running backs are also viable options — is the most generally understood structure. Even gamers in managed leagues are likely familiar with the benefit of having a quarterback and a pass-catcher from the same team when both erupt. Every touchdown pass completed by a quarterback, unless that quarterback is Marcus Mariota completing a batted touchdown pass back to himself, or Josh Allen scoring on a touchdown pass and lateral, is to a teammate. Having the teammate on the receiving end of a touchdown pass and the quarterback allows the gamer to double dip on fantasy scoring, both in terms of yardage and the touchdown.
For instance, if Joe Burrow passes for 300 yards and four touchdowns, and Ja’Marr Chase reels in eight receptions for 150 yards and two touchdowns, pairing them in DFS can be the backbone of a tournament-winning or cash-game cashing lineup. However, a pocket-passer in a pass-happy offense, such as Burrow’s with the Bengals, can conceivably support multiple pass-catching weapons. If Tee Higgins had six receptions for 80 yards and two touchdowns in the aforementioned hypothetical situation, Higgins could also be a critical piece of a profitable stack. Eventually, there is a point for diminishing returns. It’s frequently unwise to stack more than two pass-catchers with a quarterback on a standard-sized DFS slate. Exceptions can be made to the rule on smaller-sized slates.
Another general rule of thumb applies to mobile quarterbacks who score many of their points with their legs. Gamers shouldn’t feel compelled to double-stack (i.e., stack more than one pass-catcher) with a running quarterback. Much of the appeal of using Justin Fields in DFS rosters is his elite rushing ability. When he scores points with his legs, a teammate isn’t benefiting from his rushing. Still, for Fields to hit his ceiling, he’ll likely need to accumulate points through the air, and if they’re consolidated by one pass-catcher, stacking Fields with his target-hog teammate would be optimal.
Running Back and Defense
While the scoring correlation between a quarterback and their pass-catcher or pass-catchers is obvious, it might not be as apparent for a running back and their defense. However, a positive game script for a running back (i.e., leading the game) mirrors an ideal game script for the defense. A leading team will frequently feed their running back handoffs to protect the lead, enhancing the running back’s opportunities to score fantasy points.
Conversely, a leading team’s defense can pin its ears back and get after the opposing quarterback when it’s stuck in catch-up mode and forced to drop back to pass without the threat of running the ball. Defenses post meaningful DFS scoring when they pile up sacks, turnovers and score touchdowns. So, defenses operating with a lead are the best positioned to generate sacks and turnovers. In turn, those defenses are also the most likely to score a touchdown via a strip-sack or pick-six. Thus, DFS gamers should consider stacking the team defense with one of their running backs.
Game Stacks (Full and Skinny)
Stacking teammates isn’t the only way to access positive correlation. Gamers can also stack opponents. For instance, a running back on a leading club will have a favorable game script for their rushing outlook, and a wideout, tight end or pass-catching running back on the other team could get a boost from playing catch-up. Additionally, a shootout can create dreamy DFS-scoring conditions for multiple players from both teams.
Game stacks can also be broken down as full stacks and skinny stacks. A full stack typically features a quarterback, one or more of their pass-catchers and a player or multiple players from the other team. Yet, a running back and their defense could conceivably be part of a full game stack with a bring-back (a common term for a player from the other team). It’s not ideal for a defense’s DFS scoring if it gives up points, but since most of their scoring comes from sacks and turnovers, it’s fine to use a running back and defense from the same team, along with an opposing skill-position player. Furthermore, the bring-back could be useful, depending on their salary, even if they don’t score a touchdown, as long as they produce enough receptions or scrimmage yards.
The higher the scoring environment, the more parties from the contest who can have DFS and stacking utility. Finally, a skinny game stack simply uses opponents of any position. However, a rule of thumb is to avoid using opposing running backs without pass-catching chops, as they’ll either both have a neutral game script or one will have an unfavorable game script.
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Josh Shepardson is a featured writer at FantasyPros. For more from Josh, check out his archive and follow him @BChad50.
