4 FanDuel Stacks to Target in Week 14

Stacking in daily fantasy football on FanDuel is a key strategy and a way to shoot for upside. There are a few different ways to correlate lineups that can help us maximize our ceiling.

The classic stack is a quarterback with one of his pass-catchers. Sometimes, it makes sense to use two pass catchers with their signal-caller, especially when the target share is concentrated around two players.

In other situations, we can pair a running back and a defense on the same team. This makes sense when a team is a huge favorite and expected to dominate, which can lead to carries for the back and chances for sacks and turnovers for the D/ST. We also can look to deploy a game stack -- rostering a QB, one of his pass-catchers, and a pass-catcher from the other team. Game stacks can work best in matchups that have high totals and close spreads.

Our Brandon Gdula did a study on stacking that is worth checking out before you make your lineups.

Here are four of the best stacks to zero in on in NFL DFS for this week's main slate.

Detroit Lions

Jared Goff ($7,500), Amon-Ra St. Brown ($8,200), and Sam LaPorta ($7,200)

The Detroit Lions have become one of the most fun offenses in the NFL, in both fantasy and real life. People love to be tough on Jared Goff, but he has used the weapons around him effectively.

Goff is averaging 18 fantasy points per game ahead of players like Trevor Lawrence and Joe Burrow. He's playing in an offense that has a great offensive line and allows him to not have to do too much.

His favorite target is Amon-Ra St. Brown, who has a 29% target share in games he's played this season (via PFF). He's turned these targets into the sixth-most half-PPR points per game at the wide receiver position.

The emergence of Sam LaPorta as a rookie tight end has helped a lot. LaPorta has earned 22% of the targets, which is great usage for a tight end with any experience level. LaPorta has vaulted up to the fantasy TE3 overall.

Detroit will face the Chicago Bears on the road. Chicago's defense is one we like to target with opposing air attacks. They are a classic pass-funnel defense -- ranking 2nd against the run but 29th against the pass, according to numberFire's metrics.

The Bears also rank 29th in adjusted fantasy points per drop back and 26th in adjusted fantasy points per target to tight ends. They do better against wide receivers, but Amon-Ra already cooked them for 8 catches, 73 yards and a touchdown last month.

Detroit has an implied team total of 23.25 points, and the passing game should help them get there.

Chicago Bears

Justin Fields ($7,900) and D.J. Moore ($7,700)

We can also look to the other side of this NFC North matchup. It makes sense to use pieces of both sides of this game in lineups, such as adding LaPorta or St. Brown to these two Bears.

This is a two quarterback game for me -- as is often discussed on our Heat Check podcast. Justin Fields will likely be more popular than Goff, and it's for good reason. The last time these teams matched up, Fields ran for 104 yards and finished with over 21 FanDuel points despite not having a big passing day.

The potential for a major performance through the air this time is there. Detroit allows the fifth-most adjusted fantasy points per drop back to QBs.

D.J. Moore is also set up for success in this game. He's seen a whopping 44% of the targets in the last two games since Fields' returned from injury. In Week 11 against the Lions, Moore caught 7 balls for 96 yards and a score.

Detroit has allowed several big games to wide receivers in recent weeks, allowing Christian Watson, Keenan Allen, and Moore to finish as weekly top-10 receivers in the last four weeks. They are 28th in adjusted fantasy points per target allowed to receivers overall.

The matchup being this good for the Bears might go a bit overlooked by fantasy players, which could keep the total popularity of this stack down.

San Francisco 49ers

Brock Purdy ($8,100), Christian McCaffrey ($10,500), and Deebo Samuel ($7,500)

This stack will be hard to fit into lineups but arguably has the highest upside on the main slate this week. The San Francisco 49ers have the highest implied team total on the slate by a margin of 3.5 points.

The debate about Brock Purdy and his viability as an NFL quarterback appears to be over. In fantasy he's definitely viable; Purdy is currently averaging the sixth-most FanDuel points per game at his position.

San Francisco is always a tricky team to pinpoint. Luckily, we just saw them play this opponent two weeks ago, so we might have some idea of where the ball might go.

The Seattle Seahawks are a hard team to pass to outside receivers against. Riq Wollen and Devon Witherspoon make for one of the best cornerback duos in the NFL. This led to Brandon Aiyuk having just 4 targets for just an 11% share on Thanksgiving.

The players who saw the most targets were Christian McCaffrey and Deebo Samuel, which is why we're going to look at them this week. McCaffrey had 21% of the targets, and Deebo saw 32%.

We could see a similar game plan to that for the Niners this week. Last week, Samuel and McCaffrey each went off. They are capable of taking short passes for long gains more frequently than most players in the NFL.

If that is the way San Francisco wants to go again, this stack is one that could be a tournament winner.

Los Angeles Chargers

Justin Herbert ($7,800) and Keenan Allen ($8,800)

With the way they performed last week, the Los Angeles Chargers probably won't be popular in tournaments this week.

Justin Herbert couldn't lead his team to score a single touchdown last week. He's still fifth in fantasy points per game at QB despite many injuries to his pass-catchers.

The beneficiary of those injuries to the pass catchers has been Keenan Allen. He's seen a 32% target share peaked at 45% of the targets in Week 11. He's been excellent, averaging the fourth-most half-PPR points per game for a WR.

It's clear Herbert trusts Keenan in the red zone; Allen has seen 26% of the team's end zone targets. With this usage he has the potential to finish as the weekly WR1 every week and definitely could be the best receiver on this slate that is lacking Tyreek Hill.

The Chargers are facing the Denver Broncos at home this week. Denver's defense has improved from the disaster it was earlier in the season, but they've run hot on turnovers. They had at least three takeaways during their four-game winning streak, which came to an end last week.

In their most recent game against the Houston Texans, the Broncos had no takeaways and allowed over 10 yards per attempt to C.J. Stroud. Herbert could cook the Broncos defense in a similar manner as they still rank 27th in numberFire's pass defenses metrics.

The Chargers have a 23.0-point implied team total, and Herbert and Allen should be L.A.'s main offensive source in this game.

Interested in playing NFL DFS? Head over to FanDuel’s daily fantasy football lobby to see all the offerings for this week's slates.

Sign up for FanDuel Sportsbook and FanDuel Daily Fantasy today!

The above author is a FanDuel employee and is not eligible to compete in public daily fantasy contests or place sports betting wagers on FanDuel. The advice provided by the author does not necessarily represent the views of FanDuel. Taking the author's advice will not guarantee a successful outcome. You should use your own judgment when participating in daily fantasy contests or placing sports wagers.