NFL

4 NFL FanDuel Stacks for Week 7

The Ravens' passing game is one to target in a great matchup against the Saints.

If you're new to daily fantasy football, then you'll have to make some changes to your fantasy football strategy. You don't have "your guys" on a weekly basis -- and you need to adjust to each and every matchup.

A big part of building your roster is weekly quarterback selection. In terms of salary, passers range from the top of the player pool to the bottom, with some replacement-level passers sitting at the same price point as kickers and defenses on FanDuel.

Along with those quarterbacks, though, you have the option of pairing pass-catchers with your signal caller, and per 4for4, a quarterback's top receiver has the strongest positive correlation to quarterback success -- while his tight end and second receiver are next in line.

If you're going to stack, though, you need to have a purpose. If you're trying to win a big tournament, you'll want to find a combination that can put up points in bunches -- especially if that also comes with low ownership percentages. Who fits that mold in Week 7?

Baltimore Ravens

Joe Flacco ($7,500)
John Brown ($6,500)

Despite owning a 26.25 implied team total, the Baltimore Ravens might fly a bit under the radar in comparison to teams like the Los Angeles Rams and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Flacco has already topped 19 FanDuel points three times this season, throwing for over 350 yards in two of those games. The New Orleans Saints come in bottom-five in the NFL against the pass, and Flacco will have a full compliment of weapons with John Brown, Willie Snead and Michael Crabtree all expected to be active. This game owns a sneaky-high 50-point over/under despite the Saints being on the road, so the chances of catching a shootout are pretty high, especially with this week's main slate being only 10 games.

After last week's breakout game, most people would slot in Crabtree as the most logical stacking partner with Flacco, but John Brown would like a word. Brown remains top-three in the NFL in air yards according to airyards.com, and he possesses the kind of speed -- a 4.34 40 yard dash -- that can really make this Saints defense pay. Crabtree is expected to be followed by reigning defensive rookie of the year Marshon Lattimore, further boosting the matchup for Brown. Similar speedy receivers, such as DeSean Jackson and Antonio Callaway have burned this Saints secondary for long touchdowns this season, setting the table perfectly for Brown.

Los Angeles Rams

Jared Goff ($8,300)
Robert Woods ($7,700)

As mentioned above, the Los Angeles Rams will probably end up as the chalkiest stack on the main slate given their lofty 31.00 implied team total. Goff was finally bitten by Gurley this past Sunday against the Denver Broncos, Goff put up just 8.44 FanDuel points while Gurley rushed 28 times for 208 yards. Gurley does project to be the highest-owned player on the slate, so there actually may be some value in using the passing game in tournaments. The San Francisco 49ers defense has allowed two or more touchdowns through the air to five out of six Quarterbacks they've faced this season, setting the stage perfectly for Goff to get back on track in a big-time expected offensive spot.

You could definitely make the case that Woods has been the Rams best receiver this season, and that should be even more present this week as he is expected to move into Cooper Kupp's volume-driven slot role with Kupp side-lined. Woods leads the Rams in air yards (577), and has put up 100+ receiving yards in three of his last four games, the outlier being a 5-92 line in Seattle. You can look to run this stack back with someone like Marquise Goodwin, who exploded for 126 yards and two touchdowns on Monday Night Football while seeing five targets.

Minnesota Vikings

Kirk Cousins ($8,000)
Adam Thielen
($8,700)

This is an expensive, but extremely high-upside stack as Cousins and the Minnesota Vikings head to New York to take on the Jets. The match-up was already a strong one for Cousins, but news confirmed Friday that it's looking like the Jets will be without their top three corner backs for this game. The Vikings have had almost no run game to speak of outside of last week against the terrible Arizona Cardinals, and that should stay the same this week with Dalvin Cook already ruled out. Cousins ranks top-five in the NFL in pass attempts through six weeks, and with Sam Darnold starting to come into his own, Cousins should be able to keep his foot on the gas in a smash match-up.

It's tough to understate all that Thielen has been able to do this season. He has 12+ targets in every game except one, the outlier being a 10-target game against the Eagles, and he is on-pace to shatter the single-season target record. He's gone over 100 receiving yards in every game this season, yes you read that correctly, and will be able to step into the slot on Sunday in a matchup that surrendered 4-55-1 to Chester Rogers a week ago, also a game without Skrine active.

Chicago Bears

Mitchell Trubisky ($7,500)
Taylor Gabriel
($5,900)

The Chicago Bears come into this game with just a 23.50 implied team total, but the most note-worthy aspect of the Vegas line to me is that the New England Patriots are just 2.5 point favorites. The Patriots come in allowing the tenth-most fantasy points per game to opposing Quarterbacks this season, and Trubisky is coming off a 43.46 and 28.34 FanDuel point performances in back-to-back games. The Patriots won a huge game in prime time on Sunday night football last week against the Kansas City Chiefs, so it's not crazy that they could be in for a bit of a let-down spot, hence the Vegas line.

Taylor Gabriel has been more than just the deep-threat he was for the Atlanta Falcons. Sure, he leads the Bears in air yards over the last four weeks (164) with an average depth of target of 13.7, but he has also seen the highest target share on the team over that span. Gabriel is a game-script proof play as well, because if the Bears jump out to a big league it's not a stretch to think he was involved in some way, and if they fall down early he can play a huge part in leading the comeback/garbage time charge along with Trubisky. This is expected to be a very low-owned stack, and there is a ton of value in bringing it back with Josh Gordon and banking on the game going over the expected total.


Ben Hossler is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Ben Hossler also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username oatw. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in his articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.