4 NFL FanDuel Stacks for Week 5
On the Week 5 FanDuel main slate, there are eight games with an over/under of at least 47.5 points, which makes for some nice team and games stacks across the league. There are also 10 teams implied to score at least 26.0 points this week, which should lead to plenty of high-scoring players.
In this article, I will reflect my favorite DFS stacks for this week. These decisions are made by using player projections, Vegas implied team totals and player draft percentage projections.
Arizona Cardinals
Kyler Murray ($8,300) and DeAndre Hopkins ($8,700)
Kicking off this week’s stacks I like going back to the well with an Arizona Cardinals stack of Kyler Murray and DeAndre Hopkins. After losing their last two games, this is a get-right spot for the Cardinals, who face the New York Jets on the road. They’re 7.0-point favorites and have a 27.25-point implied total against a team that looks like one of the worst in the NFL.
Whether this Cardinals team is winning or losing, Kyler has been posting great fantasy numbers. Through the first four weeks, he’s averaging 27.1 FanDuel points per game, the third most among quarterbacks.
He has high upside each and every week through both the passing game and his ability to run. He currently sits at 265 rushing yards and four rushing touchdowns on the season, both of which lead all quarterbacks.
And it’s been very clear that Hopkins is Kyler’s favorite target this season. Hopkins currently leads the team with a 34.33% target share, which is also the largest target share across the entire league. Hopkins also leads the NFL in receptions. Needless to say, Kyler loves feeding him the ball.
If that’s not encouraging enough, Kyler wants to get the passing game even more “in sync” this week.
Hopkins should have no issues getting open in this contest, as he’s currently expected to face Jets’ cornerback Bless Austin, per Pro Football Focus (PFF). PFF is giving Hopkins a 36% advantage in this matchup, which is the sixth-best mark among all wide receivers this week.
Both Kyler and Hopkins rank in the top five of projected fantasy points at their respective positions, per our algorithm. This is looking like a sweet spot for these two to have a monster day against the Jets.
Carolina Panthers
Teddy Bridgewater ($7,100) and Robby Anderson ($6,200)
Another stack I’ll be targeting is a Carolina Panthers stack between Teddy Bridgewater and Robby Anderson. The Panthers are facing the Atlanta Falcons in a game with the fourth highest over/under on the main slate (53.5). There’s some real shootout potential in this contest.
No team has given up more FanDuel points to opposing quarterbacks this season than the Falcons have. Per Pro Football Reference, quarterbacks are averaging 33.0 FanDuel points per game against the Falcons through four weeks. The next closest is the Seattle Seahawks, who are allowing 28.3 points.
Bridgewater showed some flashes of being able to run the ball last week, when he had six rushing attempts, 32 yards and a touchdown. But he’s primarily done most of his damage this year throwing the ball. He is averaging 35 passing attempts and 287 passing yards per game, and this is his easiest matchup to date.
Stacking up Teddy with Anderson is a great way to start your lineups at a very reasonable price. Teddy's salary is only 15th at the position, while Robby's is 18th at wide receiver. That’s pretty nice considering both players are projected to have top-10 fantasy performances at their position, according to our model.
While I think you can also stack D.J. Moore in this situation, Robby has been the more efficient of the two to start this season. Anderson currently leads the team with a 24.82% target share, reeling in all but just 6 of the 34 targets thrown his way. He’s also averaging 94 receiving yards per game, which is the seventh most among wide receivers who have played all four games this season.
On top of all that, Anderson has also seen the sixth most red zone targets and the 12th most air yards among all wide receivers this season, per PlayerProfiler. These are all positive signs for a wide receiver who has played with Bridgewater for a total of only four games in his career.
Kansas City Chiefs
Patrick Mahomes ($9,000) and Travis Kelce ($7,800)
This one seems just too easy to write about, but maybe it won't be super chalky if the masses roster Kansas City Chiefs running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire in this matchup against the Las Vegas Raiders rather than spending up for the high-salaried Mahomes and Kelce.
Per Rotowire, CEH is projected to be rostered in slightly more than 20% of lineups this week, whereas Mahomes projects to be in the 13% range and Kelce falls below that in the 8% range. While that certainly doesn’t make these two a contrarian stack, you may be able to get them at a lower roster percentage than one might expect.
The Chiefs are currently implied to score a slate-best 33.75 points against the Raiders. They’re also 12.0-point favorites, which is why CEH is expected to be so popular.
Mahomes currently leads all quarterbacks in projected fantasy points and touchdown passes this week, per our model. In his last four games against the Raiders, he’s thrown for a combined 11 touchdown passes with one rushing touchdown. He shouldn’t have any problems this week against a Raiders defense that is allowing an average of 30.0 points per game this season.
Stacking Mahomes with Kelce makes a lot of sense this week, as the two have dominated this Raiders defense over their past four games against them. During that span, Kelce has averaged 7 receptions, 107 receiving yards and 0.75 touchdowns. We’re currently projecting him for very similar numbers this week, and he’s expected to lead all tight ends in FanDuel points.
Per PFF, no tight end has an easier matchup than Kelce this week, as he’s expected to line up against Raiders’ linebacker Cory Littleton. Kelce is being given a 76% advantage in this matchup, which is quite ridiculous. The next best advantage at the tight end position goes to San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle, who has a 47% advantage in his matchup. Kelce should have his way with Littleton.
Pittsburgh Steelers
Ben Roethlisberger ($7,400) and JuJu Smith-Schuster ($7,300)
Wrapping up this week’s stacks, I’m going to go with an under-the-radar Pittsburgh Steelers stack. I like pairing Ben Roethlisberger with JuJu Smith-Schuster.
This stack should definitely be a contrarian play with of all the high totals on this slate. This game is carrying just a 44.5-point over/under, the lowest of the slate. Pittsburgh is facing the Philadelphia Eagles as 7.0-point favorites, and they're coming off their “bye” week, when they were supposed to face the Tennessee Titans last week. The Steelers should be fresh and ready to take on an Eagles team that has underperformed to start this season.
In each of his first three games this season, Roethlisberger has thrown at least two passing touchdowns, and he has yet to score fewer than 19 FanDuel points. He shouldn’t have any issue replicating or going beyond those numbers against an Eagles defense that allowed Rams’ quarterback Jared Goff to throw for 267 passing yards and three touchdown passes in Week 2 and Bengals’ quarterback Joe Burrow to go for 312 passing yards and two touchdown passes in Week 3. Oh, and they gave up a combined 338 passing yards to the Niners' backup quarterbacks last week. You get the point.
Plus, we all know that Roethlisberger loves playing at home, and his home-away splits confirm that. During the span of his 17-year career, Roethlisberger's numbers are home are far better. He averages 0.5 more passing touchdowns when playing at home versus on the road. He also averages 0.5 more passing touchdowns when the Steelers win compared to when they lose. Both situations are in play for Roethlisberger this week.
Stacking him with Smith-Schuster makes the most sense to me this week. Per PFF, JuJu is going to avoid shadow treatment from the Eagles’ top cornerback, Darius Slay, who is expected to be on Diontae Johnson.
Fortunately for JuJu, he’s projected to be lined up against Eagles slot corner Nickell Robey, who PFF has ranked 89th of 110 qualified cornerbacks this season. JuJu is being given a 32% matchup advantage over Robey-Coleman, which is within the top 10 best wide receiver/cornerback matchups this week.
Smith-Schuster has caught three of Roethlisberger’s seven touchdown passes this season (42.9%) and has a chance to expand on that this week in what should be a relatively easy matchup against Robey-Coleman.
Griffin Swanson is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Griffin Swanson also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username GriffDogg_. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his/her personal views, he/she may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his/her personal account. The views expressed in his/her articles are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel. (edited)
