4 NFL DFS Stacks to Target in Week 3

Stacking in NFL DFS on FanDuel is a vital strategy as 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 double-stack and 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. One example is 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.

Using our NFL DFS projections as a guide, here are four of the best stacks to zero in on in NFL DFS for this week's main slate.

All NFL odds come from FanDuel Sportsbook and may change after this article is published.

NFL DFS Stacks for Week 3

San Francisco 49ers at Los Angeles Rams

Brock Purdy ($7,400), Brandon Aiyuk ($6,500) and Kyren Williams ($7,500)

A week ago, we picked on the defense of the Los Angeles Rams, and that worked out. I'm going right back to the well this week and stacking the San Francisco 49ers.

Per the NFL odds at FanDuel Sportsbook, the Niners-Rams game has a 44.5-point total and 7.5-point spread. Given some of the other outstanding DFS game environments on this slate, this game could go overlooked. With that said, given how bad the Rams' D has been, the Niners -- particularly Jordan Mason ($8,300) -- figure to garner some attention.

San Fran usually boasts one of the week's highest totals, but they've been a tough team to stack recently because of how much Brock Purdy spreads the ball around. That shouldn't be as much of an issue this week with both Christian McCaffrey and Deebo Samuel out. That will likely lead to elevated targets for Brandon Aiyuk and George Kittle ($7,100).

While you can make a case for using Kittle instead of Aiyuk -- or plugging in both of them in a double-stack -- I prefer to pair Purdy and Aiyuk. Kittle at $7,100 and likely a high draft percentage just doesn't do it for me. Plus, this is a sublime matchup for Aiyuk as the Rams have been getting shredded by perimeter wideouts so far this season. Marvin Harrison Jr. torched them for 130 yards and a pair of tuds last week while Jameson Williams went for 121 yards and a score on LA in Week 1.

It's tough to pinpoint what the Rams' passing attack is going to look like sans both Puka Nacua and Cooper Kupp. I have no idea who is going to be the apple of Matthew Stafford's eye, and all of Colby Parkinson ($5,300), Demarcus Robinson ($6,100), Jordan Whittington ($4,600) and Tyler Johnson ($5,800) need to at least be on our radar. Whittington, in particular, is enticing at his value salary.

When pondering who to roster from the Rams, I keep coming back to Kyren Williams. In a lopsided defeat in Week 2, Williams still played 79% of the snaps. In a closer game in the opener, he logged a 91% snap rate. There's a very real possibility that the Rams get housed again this week. But they're at home in a game they desperately need to win to avoid an 0-3 start, so I'm expecting Kyren to be out there plenty regardless of the situation.

Williams has amassed 30 carries and 8 targets through two weeks. He leads the NFL with five rushing attempts inside the five-yard line. He's the one piece of the Rams' offense I feel good about heading into this week.

Detroit Lions at Arizona Cardinals

Kyler Murray ($8,300), Trey McBride ($6,800) and Amon-Ra St. Brown ($9,100)

Indoors? Check.

High Total? Highest of the week.

Close spread? 3.0.

Offensive talent? Lots of it across all positions.

This game has it all for DFS.

The 52.5-point total and close spread are music to our ears. We want a back-and-forth shootout where the two offenses have to keep their foot on the gas pedal. This game could unfold exactly that way.

Despite scoring only 16 points last week, the Detroit Lions gained 463 yards (324 passing), getting done in by red-zone struggles. The Arizona Cardinals just rocked the aforementioned Rams to the tune of 41 points and 489 total yards.

The lone negative with stacking this game is that it will likely be the chalk game of the slate, but with some other quality stacking environments available, maybe the draft percentages for the main characters won't be too bad.

Kyler Murray might have had his best game as a pro last week, and it resulted in 28.54 FanDuel points. Through two weeks, Murray has 59 and 57 rushing yards, and he sure looks like he's 100% healthy.

I sided with Trey McBride over Marvin Harrison Jr. ($7,500), though both are great stacking partners alongside Kyler. McBride has played 85% and 83% of the snaps through two games and has seen 15 total targets. In 2023, the Lions surrendered the 8th-most yards and 10th-most targets to TEs.

St. Brown -- who appears to have avoided serious injury last week -- feasted in Week 2 after a quiet opener, posting 11 catches and 119 yards on a whopping 19 looks. All that was missing was the TD. He's a high-upside option every week, and our NFL DFS projections have ARSB tied atop the receiver position at a projection of 15.8 FanDuel points.

Houston Texans

C.J. Stroud ($8,200), Tank Dell ($6,200) and Justin Jefferson ($9,200)

My favorite sneaky stack this week is C.J. Stroud and Tank Dell.

The Houston Texans are in a tough spot at the Minnesota Vikings, but the game environment could be a little more DFS friendly than the masses think. The total (45.5) and spread (2.5 in favor of Houston) are both pretty nice, and although Houston's defense is balling out under coordinator Brian Flores, the Texans' 24.0-point implied total is a good number.

As mentioned, Minnesota's defense is doing work. They held the New York Giants to 6 points in Week 1 before limiting the Niners to 17 points a week ago. Flores loves to blitz, though, doing so at a 36.6% rate this year (third-highest). In 2023, Minnesota blitzed at an NFL-high 51.5% rate. While those blitzes have been working a lot this season, they also expose Minnesota's defense to potentially giving up big plays.

Enter Dell.

As a rookie, Dell showed big-play juice, averaging 15.1 yards per reception. He's been running a distant third behind Nico Collins ($7,600) and Stefon Diggs ($6,900), but Dell can catch lightning in a bottle if Houston can pick up a few of the Vikes' blitzes. He's still on the field a good amount, recording a 69% snap rate in Week 2, and he got 7 targets in Week 1. After a one-catch game in primetime in Week 2, Dell could be a total afterthought in DFS, and I like rolling the dice on him this week.

If Justin Jefferson -- who seems to be trending in the right direction after exiting early last week -- plays, he's the bring-back piece I want. If Jefferson can't go, chances are I just won't use anyone from the Vikings. If Jefferson is out and I had to roster someone from Minnesota, I'd throw a dart at Jalen Nailor ($5,900), whose snap rate jumped to 93% in Week 2.

Baltimore Ravens at Dallas Cowboys

Lamar Jackson ($8,800), Zay Flowers ($6,800) and CeeDee Lamb ($9,300)

Prior to the year, I'm not sure I would've had a ton of interest in stacking a Baltimore Ravens-Dallas Cowboys game. Two weeks in, my feelings have changed as neither defense has looked all that good.

Baltimore is allowing 26.5 points per game and just gave up 26 points at home to Gardner Minshew and the Las Vegas Raiders. Dallas' defense has been tagged for 30.5 points per game and just made Derek Carr and the New Orleans Saints look like Kurt Warner and the Greatest Show on Turf.

This game has a 48.5-point total and 2.5-point spread. Both offenses are in the top 10 in pace, as well, so the ingredients are in place for a shootout.

Lamar Jackson consistently offers as much DFS upside as any quarterback in football, and he is the slate's QB1 by our projections (21.8 FanDuel points). He ran the rock 16 times in Week 1, and with Baltimore sitting at 0-2, they may let Jackson run wild in an effort to dodge an 0-3 start.

Flowers is getting elite usage. He has logged 11 and 10 targets through two weeks. He's played 89.5% of the snaps and participated in 100% of the routes. If I'm stacking Lamar, Flowers is the piece I want.

CeeDee Lamb didn't practice on Wednesday, which is something to monitor, but it sounds like he'll be good to go. The Ravens have allowed 32.8 FanDuel points per game to wideouts so far in 2024. Xavier Worthy popped some big plays against them in Week 1, and Davante Adams went for 110 and a score last week.

Lamb has been quiet so far outside of one huge play. This could be his blowup week as our projections have Lamb tied as the slate's WR1 (15.8 FanDuel points).

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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.