The Deep Stack - How to Win Your League by Watching One Game on Sundays

Zero RB, WR Value, Best Player Available, Valued Based Drafting, Team Constitution and on and on. What strategy have you locked yourself into come this year’s draft?

There is validity to each and every one of these along with analysts and corresponding data to help you along the way. But I have a strategy that I think makes for a whole load of fun and could just be the ticket you need to win the ship. And guess what? If it fails, you can always pivot because the best players don’t just win on draft alone.

Ok, so let’s get to it, you crazy kids.

What's This Great Strategy?

The strategy is usually called stacking, but I’m taking stacking to an extreme and calling it “The Deep Stack.” Usually stacking refers to the selection of two players on a team, but have you ever thought about drafting 3-5? Well let me tell you, there are a number of teams that offer the Deep Stack ability based on this year’s ADP positioning and dang it’s got me excited. If you think a team has some positive regression in the works, jump on it Tonto.

Before I get into the teams, I want to preemptively address the haters. Does stacking and of course a Deep Stack of multiple players have risk to it? You bet your ass it does. If you stack a team and they suck, even for a week or two, you could compound your losses. But every strategy has risk and 'ships aren’t won solely in the draft. Anddddd you’ll still be able to draft several players outside of this Deep Stack to mitigate some of the risks. Annnnddddd isn’t fantasy about FUN? Ok so if you still want to hate you can write to El Camello @pfunk00 and he’ll play you a song from the world’s tiniest violin. Now let’s get to the fun stuff you suckas and figure out how to start stacking DEEP.

San Francisco 49ers

Are you a Jimmy Garoppolo truther?  Do you think Jerick McKinnon will deliver on the Kyle Shanahan RB promise? Why not draft both of these handsome gents.  Worried about McKinnon’s health with a big workload? Back him up with Matt Breida. Don’t stop at RB, Pierre Garcon is returning as the target hog and Marquis Goodwin as the dynamic field stretcher. Don’t forget about George Kittle, who will use that height in the Red Zone.  That’s right, the 49ers allow you to draft 6 players who are all fantasy viable. What if they hit it big and have one of the league’s best offenses?

Jerick McKinnon:  Round 2
Marquise Goodwin:  Round 7
Pierre Garcon:   Round 9/10
Jimmy Garoppolo:  Round 9
George Kittle:  Round 10/11
Matt Breida:  Round 12

Chicago Bears

Another positive regression candidate, the Bears offer a bunch of hot selections at discount prices.  I’ll save your eyes and jump right to the good stuff.

Jordan Howard: Round 2
Allen Robinson: Round 5
Tarik Cohen:  Round 8
Trey Burton: Round 8/9
Anthony Miller:  Round 13
Mitch Trubisky:  Round 14

Cleveland Browns

Josh Gordon:  Round 4
Jarvis Landry:  Round 5
Carlos Hyde:  Round 7
Nick Chubb:  Round 8
Duke Johnson:  Round 11
David Njoku:  Round 12
Tyrod Taylor:  Round 14
Baker Mayfield:  Round 14/15

Los Angeles Rams

Todd Gurley:  Round 1
Brandin Cooks:  Round 4
Robert Woods:  Round 8
Cooper Kupp:  Round 9
Jared Goff:  Round 11

Now, these are just a few of the examples, with San Franciso and Chicago being my favorite value teams with positive regression opportunity for this sort of exercise. But, you could obviously use this strategy for most teams and go 3-6 players deep. Besides for being fun (let’s not underestimate the joy of being able to focus on one team come Sunday), I actually think there is some credence to this strategy.  Picking a value team that you believe will have positive regression will allow you to still select other high draft picks to mitigate the risk. You can capitalize on the players that emerge as the key offensive pieces, ultimately dropping the others as the season goes on or holding them as handcuffs. You also compound your success if the team hits. And if the team is a disaster you can pivot quickly. I’d love for some teams to try this strategy and to keep in touch throughout the season. Please hit me up on Twitter @BrettMitchellFB

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