RADIO
Mark Strausberg's NFL DFS stacks for FanDuel and DraftKings tournaments for Week 3. These GPP stacks are worth considering for daily fantasy football lineups.
Week 3 of the NFL season provides us with a number of juicy stacks to include in our DFS entries. The most popular DFS stacks are likely to be those from the Dallas and Seattle game. And I do love those stacks...for cash games. They are going to be way too popular for my tastes to play in GPPs. And remember, that's what this column is all bout - GPP stacks.
As mentioned previously, when considering my stacks, I like to look at a number of different types of stacks. However, this week I'm mixing it up a little bit. If you would prefer me to return to the chalky/contrarian/cheap stack format, let me know. If you like this deviation, let me know. I'm going to do what I want, but I will absolutely consider your input when deciding what I want to do!
So there will be no detailing of the stacks I consider worthwhile stacks for your cash entries. Instead, here are three of my favorite GPP stacks for you to consider for our NFL Week 3 DFS stacks.
Editor's Note: The FFPC Playoff Challenge is back with a massive $500,000 grand prize and $1.35 million total prize pool, paying down to 800th place. Here's the deal: no salary cap, no draft, no pickups, no subs. Choose 10 players, and as NFL teams get knocked out so will your players, so choose your team wisely. The 7,250 entries will sell out quickly, and registrations will close on Saturday January 10th at 4:30 pm ET . Don't wait - get your team now and end your fantasy football season with a shot at $500,000! Sign Up Now!
NFL Week 3: The "Power" Stack - Buffalo Bills
I'm calling this the "power" stack because the power got knocked out for the Miami game, but Buffalo's social media team improvised with one of my favorite tweets of the week:
Exclusive look at @stefondiggs’ first touchdown as a Buffalo Bill.#BillsMafia | #BUFvsMIA pic.twitter.com/9awZynnMLZ
— Buffalo Bills (@BuffaloBills) September 20, 2020
They might have lost power, but there is definitely some power in this Bills offense. Despite being priced at least $300 behind Dak Prescott on both sites, Josh Allen has three times the number of touchdowns so far this season. Russel Wilson in fact is the only quarterback in the league with more touchdowns than Allen. With 727 passing yards under his belt already, we might be seeing Josh Allen become a legitimate top ten NFL (and fantasy) quarterback. Another promising sign is that his accuracy is improving and he's completing his passes at better than 70%, a nice leap from his sub-60% mark each of the two previous years.
Of course part of that reason is the addition of the aforementioned Stefon Diggs. Allen should continue to look Diggs way and he could easily catch eight passes for the third week in a row. But Diggs is not just a PPR-machine, he has 239 receiving yards on the year already. He has a touchdown as well, making him a great pairing with Allen.
For the third piece of the stack be sure to follow the injury reports leading up to the game. Cole Beasley has 13 targets through two weeks, but I'm hoping John Brown is healthy enough to play. The Sheriff has brought in ten of 16 targets for 152 yards and two touchdowns. He's easily a top 40 WR right now, regularly putting up WR2 numbers. Should neither of these two WRs be able to go, I'd give a long look at rookie Gabriel Davis who you can include for pennies.
NFL Week 3: The Cheapskate Stack - Washington Football Team
The above stack will save you a few bucks versus the more popular and expensive options, but I know that many of you like to scrape the bottom of the barrel in order to spend elsewhere. So I will give you an ever far cheaper option for those that like to dive deep and that team is the one that plays by the Potomac River.
Washington is not going to suddenly become a powerhouse overnight. But Haskins has been serviceable and showed improvement from week 1 to week 2. With a salary cost priced down near the average WRs, Haskins does not need to do much to return a profit on either site. Two touchdowns and 250 yards would provide a huge profit margin.
And he has two weapons to help him do it. The first is Terry McLaurin. It truly is scary to what "Scary Terry" could do if he had a top-level quarterback throwing him the ball. He constantly flew by defenders and beat double teams on his way to 125 yards and a touchdown last week. A few more accurate throws and McLaurin could have seen two bills easily. McLaurin is nearly a one-man show in the Redskins passing game, but I'm expecting another breakout game from Logan Thomas this week. Thomas has 17 targets over the first two weeks and should continue to see passes his way this weekend; especially against the Browns this weekend.
Because the Browns have been really bad against TEs this year. They have given up a league-worst 50.8 fantasy points to the TE position so far this year. And it's not just the TEs either. Cleveland has given up the sixth-most passing yards in the league. It's a dream match-up for all three players in this super cheap stack.
NFL Week 3: The "Hmm. Hadn't Thought About That" Stack - Houston Texans
The Dallas/Seattle stacks, for better or worse, are going to be the chalk stacks. And I've seen and heard maybe a dozen other possible stacks discussed. Arizona and Buffalo will be popular too but I know there's some been interest in the cheaper stacks so you can load up on RBs this week. But you know what stack I haven't heard mentioned by anyone so far this week? Deshaun Watson and his pass-catchers.
Obviously, the season hasn't started the way anyone in the Houston organization had hoped. Pittsburgh is no pushover and they are staring at the possibility of an 0-3 hole. And we are going to hear all about the playoff probabilities of teams that start 0-3 blah blah blah. Well, teams rarely face three teams favored to make the playoffs the first three weeks, including the two teams most favored to win the Superbowl in the first two weeks!
But let's not get ahead of ourselves. Houston goes into Pittsburgh hungry for a win. And please recall that I have told you in earlier columns that the Steelers gave up the seventh-most fantasy points last year. That obviously hasn't changed. And they're off to a better start this year, giving up the tenth fewest points to quarterbacks. But recall unlike the Texans vicious early schedule, the Steelers have played the Giants and the Broncos. Let's simply say that Daniel Jones and Drew Lock are not quite at the same level as Watson. Despite facing one of the better secondaries of Baltimore, Watson still managed to complete just under 70% of his passes for a respectable 275 yards. The Steelers are giving up two passing TDs a game and I expect Watson to easily have two touchdowns this weekend.
And while the Steelers have been pretty good versus Lock and Daniel Jones, they've been league average at giving up TE fantasy points and an even worse 12 most generous to WRs for fantasy points. Watson's receivers have yet to have a big game. However, with both Will Fuller and Bradin Cooks priced at the $6K level and lower on both sites, they are both great value picks that should be minimally owned. In other words, they make for a perfect GPP stack.
Even if Houston does fall to 0-3, their fans can always take a page from Howard Jones:
Thanks for reading, and good luck with your Week 3 DFS GPP Stacks!
