Chris Durell & James Leer

Week 5 is alive and only 3 unbeaten teams remain. Will the surprisingly undefeated Vikings and Eagles prove that they are, indeed, for real? Will the Falcons decimate the Broncos like they stuck it to the Panthers last week? Will Tom Brady come back after his suspension, like Le’veon Bell, and show the fantasy world who’s boss? Lots of interesting situations to look forward to, I can’t wait for Sunday kickoff!

If you have been using the Player Lab Tool note that all the data took a season switch over over the past couple of days with 2016 data now displayed. There is a tremendous amount of data available, and I have been incorporating more and more of it into my models each week to build the optimal lineup stacks. The tool is fully customizable allowing you to filter only the data in that you want and enabling you to set the thresholds for each filter. Once you get players that look good to you per your specifications, you can easily flip it over into the lineup optimizer where you then can create and export up to 50 lineups.

Here is a look at a few of the filters/stats I look at when constructing my tournament stacks:

High Vegas O/U – I always start with this filter most weeks have the threshold set at 47 or higher. It’s pretty obvious as you always want to target players in the highest scoring games. Vegas isn’t always right, meaning you can find low-ownership by going outside the threshold but concentrating on more individual matchups.

Defense vs. Position Ranking – This one is also pretty obvious but is much deeper than just passing/rushing/receiving yards against. It incorporates DVOA (Defense-Adjusted Value Over Average) which is more of a situation and opponent based ranking. It helps us to really break down which are the best teams to target at each position and when I find one team who ranks poorly against almost all positions they are close to a lock stack for me.

Pace – This breaks down the number of plays the opponent allows per game. Finding teams who are projected to score a lot of points vs. teams who are weak against the position. This allows a lot of plays and is an excellent way to maximize the upside of stacking.

Let’s take a look at some of the top stacking options using these filters.
Good Luck everyone!

Oakland Raiders vs. San Diego Chargers

QB – Derek Carr
Elite Options – Michael Crabtree
Value Options – Amari Cooper, DeAndre Washington

The Raiders come into this game as 3.5 point home favorites in the week’s highest projected scoring game with an Over/Under currently sitting at 50. San Diego’s defense has been decent this year ranking 18th in the Def vs. Pass rankings on the Player Lab tool and could trend downwards for the rest of the season. It was announced earlier in the week that star corner Jason Verrett has a partially torn ACL that will end his season. Quarterback Derek Carr has averaged over 38 pass attempts per game and is projected for over 40 in this game. He has impressed this season completing 68% of his passes with nine touchdowns and just one interception. Carr has equally targeted his big WR’s as Michael Crabtree has seen 37 targets while Amari Cooper has seen 35. Crabtree has been more productive from a fantasy perspective with four touchdowns compared to Coopers zero, but both have recorded over 300 yards receiving on the season. If you are looking for a punt option at RB this week take a long hard look at DeAndre Washington who should get the start on Sunday with Latavius Murray doubtful to play with a toe injury. Washington was the most impressive of the three-headed attack last week with five carries for 30 yards, and he also caught all three of his targets in the passing game.

New York Giants vs. Green Bay Packers
QB – Eli Manning
Elite Option – Odell Beckham Jr.
Value Options – Victor Cruz, Sterling Shepard

If you are looking for volume this week one of the top games to stack is going to be the Packer/Giants matchup. I lean the road team for a few reasons. First of all, with the Packers coming off a bye week I fully expect a dominant effort, especially considering the Giants are on a short week coming off a loss to the Vikings on Monday Night Football. Game script could have the Packers lean to Eddie Lacy to carry the load while the Giants could be forced to throw a ton. Looking at the Player Lab Tool Eli is projected for the third-most pass attempts (41.6) of any quarterback and has the wide receivers to put up some big time yards and fantasy points. He has an elite option in Odell Beckham Jr. who has been a target monster so far this year with 39 targets (average 10 per week) and is due to break out of his touchdown slump. The pressure is on as he showed a little bit too much emotion on MNF where he recorded a career low 23 yards. Recency bias will have some people avoiding him but with a salary that has dropped $800 since the start of the season I will be all over OBJ this week. If you want to go the value route and still expose yourself (not in people please) to the Giants game script upside consider Sterling Shepard and Victor Cruz. Shepard has seen 7+ targets in each of the last three weeks. Cruz’s targets have been a little more scattered as the 3rd option in the passing game but has seen 8+ in two of the four weeks.

Contrarian Stack of the Week

Philadelphia Eagles vs. Detroit Lions
QB – Carson Wentz
Elite Option – Jordan Matthews
Value Options – Zach Ertz

The Eagles/Lions game falls outside the “High Vegas O/U” filter threshold and that is why it falls in the contrarian section this week. Looking at the “High-Opp Allowed Pace” filter it also comes in as one of the worst matchups. But here we are. The Eagles have been one of the surprises of the first quarter of the season going 3-0 and scoring 29+ points in each game. Some say the early bye week might disrupt the momentum they have had, but I am not buying it. I feel it gives them even more time to prepare for an opponent who is struggling on both offense and defense.

Despite being limited to an average of 34 pass attempts per game in the first three weeks, Carson Wentz has been impressive with a 7.54 yards per attempt with five touchdowns and has yet to throw an interception. [Which at 99 passing attempts without an interception currently stands as an NFL record for a rookie quarterback – editor] The Eagles are a team that have multiple target stacking options. Start with the Jordan Matthews who leads the team with 26 targets (8.7 per week). He had a touchdown last game but was otherwise quiet as the Eagles completely shut down the Steelers which made it a very balanced attack (31 pass attempts and 30 rush attempts). Expect the Eagles to have to throw it few more times this week (Wentz projected for 38 att). Wentz will also get his second favorite target back as Zach Ertz returns from injury. He was impressive in week one before going down catching six of his seven targets for 58 yards.

Defense/Running Back Stack of the Week

Pittsburgh Steelers & Le’Veon Bell vs. New York Jets

After an embarrassing loss to the Eagles in week three the Steelers rebounded in a big way last week with a 43-14 win over the Chiefs. [Which Chris, yet again, did an excellent job predicting the rebound in this Week 4 article here: http://bit.ly/2dSTI0j – editor]. They allowed them 357 total yards but limited them to 14 points and created two turnovers with four sacks. This week they get another great matchup as they sit as early seven-point home favorites vs. the Jets. Fitzmagic has been a turnover machine lately throwing nine interceptions in the last two weeks as the offense has looked awful scoring just 20 points. Matt Forte was a full participant in practice on Thursday but has been banged up with rib and knee injuries the last few weeks and Eric Decker is a long shot to play. Look for the Steelers defense to record multiple sacks with a few turnovers on Sunday.

The game script from a dominant defensive performance correlates closely with RB performance as they tend to get a ton of carries, especially in the second half while their team is just wearing the clock down. The Steelers got a huge boost last week when they got back elite RB Le’Veon Bell. Things didn’t look good early as Big Ben spread the ball around through the air, but Bell ended up with 18 carries for 144 yards and also caught five of his six targets. The Jets rank well in Def vs. Pass (6th), but the volume trumps the matchup rating this week.

Chris Durell

In this early week article, I am going to cover a few recaps from some of the prior week’s top daily fantasy matchups in the “What We Learned” section along with some defense vs. position rankings. I will then preview the Thursday night game from a DFS perspective if you can’t wait until Sunday. Finally, I will have a look at each position and a few players to think about early in the week for your optimized lineups before giving you my top QB/WR stacks on Thursday/Friday.

What We Learned

The Minnesota Vikings moved to 4-0 after a Monday Night Football victory over the New York Giants. Running Backs for both teams were the fantasy story Monday night as the Vikings Jerick McKinnon received 18 carries and ran for 85 yards (4.7 Avg) with a touchdown while the Giants Orleans Darkwa ran it 12 times for 48 yards (4.0 Avg) and a touchdown. Rookie RB Paul Perkins also broke out for a big play in the passing game with a 67-yard screen pass. Look for him to get more involved as the season goes on. Kyle Rudolph continues to show he is an elite option at TE with five catches on seven targets for 55 yards and another touchdown. One of the biggest things we learned in this game was that Xavier Rhodes can shut down the best WR’s in the game. After blanking out Kelvin Benjamin in week three, he shut down Odell Beckham Jr. in week four. Avoid WR’s all together at the moment against the Vikings.

The Panthers/Falcons game saw a late week Vegas line movement as the Over/Under rose close to five points on many sites. It’s like they knew what was coming as Matt Ryan and Julio Jones torched the Panthers on Sunday. Ryan completed 28 of 37 passes for 503 yards and four touchdowns while Julio caught 12 of 15 targets for 300 yards and a touchdown. At RB Devonta Freeman out carried Tevin Coleman 13-8 while picking up the rushing touchdown. Look for Freeman to get the larger share of the touches this week as Coleman deals with a sickle cell trait which can be affected by high altitudes like in Denver. As for the Panthers it was another disappointing loss as they fell to 1-3 on the season. Cam Newton suffered a concussion on a rush attempt in the 4th Quarter and is considered day to day until they release an injury report on Thursday. If Cam is out it may be best to avoid the Panthers offense in their upcoming MNF matchup with the Bucs.

Sunday Night Football saw two elite RB return to action as Jamaal Charles and the Chiefs took on Le’Veon Bell and the Steelers in Pittsburgh. Charles was limited as he was returning from an injury and only saw two carries and just one target. He now gets a bye week to get back to full health. Bell, on the other hand, returned from suspension and appeared to be in peak physical form. He got a full workload with 18 carries, rushing for 144 yards (8.0 Avg) and also caught five of his six targets for 34 yards. Antonio Brown saw just five targets on Sunday night due to the fact the Steelers got up early and ran the ball. Markus Wheaton and Darius Heyward-Bey also vultured some fantasy points from the big boys as both of them caught their only targets of the game for touchdowns while DeAngelo Williams received just four carries but ran one in for a touchdown.

Other Notable Things to Take Away from Last Week

AJ Green had a monster night on Thursday Night Football catching 12 of his 14 targets for 173 yards and a touchdown.

Jeremy Hill received 21 carries as the Bengals had the lead but ran for just 71 yards (3.4 Avg).

Andrew Luck struggled once again going 27 for 42 for just 234 yards while getting sacked six times. You can safely avoid the Colts until they show they can protect him and give him time to throw.

Allen Robinson saved his fantasy day by recording a touchdown after catching just five of his ten targets for 55 yards on Sunday.

Jordan Howard was the highlight in the Lions/Bears game as he rushed 23 times for 111 yards (4.8 Avg) and also caught three of his four targets in the passing game. His price has gone up, but as long as he is going to be heavily involved, regardless of game flow, he will be a top option from a PTS/$ perspective.

Isaiah Crowell continued to prove he’ss one of the best RB in the NFL with his second 100+ yard game in four weeks for the Browns. He sits second in league rushing and first in average yards per carry (6.5).

Terrelle Pryor was good in the first half catching a touchdown but was shut down in the second half when Josh Norman shadowed him.

DeMarco Murray had another big day as he picked up 25 carries for 95 yards with two touchdowns while also catching both of his targets in the passing game. He appears to be the bell cow back with Henry in a full backup role for now. Murray looks safe in all formats on a week to week basis.

Jimmy Graham is back in our fantasy good books with back to back 100+ yard games. Even with Russell Wilson at less than 100%, Graham was still able to catch six of his eight targets for 113 yards.

The Bills defense smothered the Patriots on Sunday but take little away as Tom Brady will now be returning which will boost the value of every single offensive player on the team.

Derek Carr didn’t accumulate the yards (199) on Sunday vs. the Ravens but did throw four touchdowns, with three of them going to Michael Crabtree who caught seven of his team-high 12 targets. Crabtree has now seen double-digit targets in back to back weeks while Amari Cooper hasn’t seen double-digit targets since week one.

On the Ravens side of things, the big story was Terrence West who held the bulk of the load at RB on Sunday with 21 carries for 113 yards and a touchdown. He will be the early-down pounder from here on out as the Ravens have released Justin Forsett.

The Rams/Cardinals game was an uneventful one from a fantasy standpoint as there were only three touchdowns in the game with two of them going to the Rams Brian Quick. The other going to Michael Floyd of the Cards.

David Johnson received 17 carries, rushing for 83 yards (4.9 Avg) while catching all four of his targets. He is another RB that can be trusted weekly as he is getting the bell cow work at RB.

The Cowboys rolled over the 49ers with Dak Prescott throwing two more touchdowns while still not throwing an interception. Not turning the ball over is the name of the game in big D.

The other key for the Cowboys was RB Ezekiel Elliott who is getting better every game. He rushed 23 times for 138 yards (6.0 Avg) and added a touchdown.

Defense vs. Position Rankings

I have added this section now that we have more than a one-game sample size. I will take a look at some top defenses to target at each position based on their early play and compared to last years ranks. For the Def vs. Pos rankings I will be using the Player Lab Tool on the website. Let’s take a look.

Target the Oakland Raiders
This week’s Matchup – San Diego Chargers
Def vs. Pass – 29th
Def vs. Rush – 26th

If you have been targeting the Raiders this season you have probably fared quite well. They rank dead last in passing yards allowed per game (325.5) and second last in rushing yards allowed per game (134.5). They have allowed opponents to score 27+ points in three of their four games and get another matchup with high scoring potential this week vs. the Chargers. These two teams are two of only five teams in the NFL to score and allow 100+ points on the season. Melvin Gordon should get a little more space this week while Philip Rivers should once again exceed 300+ yards with three viable WR options in Tyrell Williams, Travis Benjamin, and Dontrelle Inman. Don’t forget about TE Hunter Henry who has caught nine balls on 12 targets over the last two weeks.

Target the Washington Redskins in the Run Game
This week’s Matchup – Baltimore Ravens
Def vs. Rush – 32nd

Through four weeks the Redskins rank dead last in defense vs. the rush. They have allowed an average of 133 yards per game and have faced a Steelers team without Lev Bell, a Cowboys team working in rookie Zeke Elliott, a Giants team with multiple “average at best” runnings backs and a Browns team who is splitting the carries. They will face the Ravens this week who just finished releasing Justin Forsett after Terrance West who tore it up Sunday with 113 yards and a touchdown on 21 carries. Look for another heavy workload in a great matchup this week.

Thursday Night Football

This week’s Thursday Night Football game could be a low-scoring affair. I say this expecting Carson Palmer to sit out with a concussion he suffered on Sunday. If he is indeed out it will be backup Drew Stanton at QB for the Cardinals. He was awful after relieving Palmer on Sunday completing just four of his 11 passes for 37 yards and two interceptions. The 49ers defense could have a hay day on Thursday. While I wouldn’t consider rostering any of the receiving options for the Cards, I do think David Johnson will once again see his share of carries and gets a matchup vs. the 49ers who have allowed a league-worst 140 rushing yards per game through four weeks.

The fantasy outlook for the 49ers isn’t much better as they are lead by Blaine Gabbert who has completed less than 60% of his passes through four weeks. His top target has been Jeremy Kerley with 32 targets. Kerley missed Monday’s practice and was seen limping around which would increase the targets for Torrey Smith and possibly Quinton Patton but I would avoid the passing game altogether. Like the Cardinals, I think the 49ers top fantasy option on Thursday is going to be RB Carlos Hyde. Through four weeks Hyde has rushed for 299 yards and five touchdowns. He hasn’t been targeted a great deal in the passing game(8), but that could change Thursday if Kerley is out.

So unless you are trying to be super sneaky, I would only consider rostering the defenses and running backs on Thursday night.

Week 5 Top Games to Target

San Diego Chargers vs. Oakland Raiders

As I always I gravitate to the highest projected Vegas total. Early in the week this game sits around 50 in most spots and should have a ton of fantasy options on both sides of the ball. As I mentioned above in the Defense vs. Position breakdown, the Raiders rank right near the bottom against the pass and the rush. Philip Rivers will be one of my top QB’s this week at $6,900 on DraftKings and $8,300 on FanDuel. He has attempted 6+ pass attempts in three of his first four starts and thrown seven touchdowns with just one interception. He spreads the ball around extremely well this season without the services of Keenan Allen so stacking him with one WR is a tough thing to do. His top options have been Travis Benjamin and Tyrell Williams who have both seen 6+ targets in each of the last three weeks. A sneaky punt play on DraftKings ($4,100) is Dontrelle Inman who caught seven balls on 11 targets last week for 120 yards and a touchdown. Melvin Gordon was disappointing last week in the sense that he only averaged 1.9 yards per carry but made up for it with two touchdowns and also caught six of seven targets he received. That is two weeks in a row with seven targets. The price has gone up, but he is clearly being leaned on week in and week out. If Antonio Gates continues to struggle with injuries, Hunter Henry makes a fantastic value play at TE. Over the last two weeks, he has caught nine of his 12 targets for 133 yards and a touchdown.

On the other side of the ball, the Raiders have been an extremely effective team to start the season as they sit 3-1 on the back of their offense who have scored the 3rd most points (108) in the AFC. They will continue to provide value in fantasy until their defense improves as they need to keep up to stay in these games which ranks them right up there in pace. Derek Carr continues to sit in the second tier of pricing on both sites and has attempted 35+ passes in each of the first four games with nine touchdowns and just one interception. Over the last two weeks, it has been Michael Crabtree leading the way with 15 receptions on 23 targets for 190 yards and three touchdowns. He is also still $300 cheaper than Amari Cooper on both sites. With a RBBC in the backfield and no real TE threat the Raiders make a nice three headed stacking option. The matchup isn’t the greatest as the Chargers rank 18th in Defense vs. the Pass, but the volume will be there this week.

New York Giants vs. Green Bay Packers

Early in the week, the Packers are -7 home favorites and if you are a sports bettor I would lock that in as I see it climbing as the weekend approaches. The Giants are coming off a Monday night loss to the Vikings where they were dominated and now have to travel to Green Bay to face the Packers who are coming off a bye week. Going into their bye week we saw their offense explode on the Lions as Eddie Lacy led the way with his first 100+ yard game of the season. Aaron Rodgers didn’t accumulate the yards due to game flow and field position but racked up four touchdown passes with two going to his BFF Jordy Nelson who caught six of his seven targets for 101 yards. The Giants also present a nice matchup as they rank 28th in Defense vs. the Pass. If the Packers get ahead early look for Eddie Lacy to get another 15+ carries and it’s possible he could record back-to-back 100-yard games.

The Packers should be ahead for most of this game which is going to force the Giants to throw the ball a ton. I am not really on Eli even with the pass attempt projection above 40 this week as he has tossed it up 35+ times in three of four games this season and has yet to record 20 fantasy points. If you are looking for some high upside/ownership WR this week consider Odell Beckham Jr. who is coming off a dud vs. the Vikings where he faced a tough corner in Xavier Rhodes. He will get a much better matchup vs. the Packers this week. If the Packers do decide to blanket OBJ it will be Sterling Shepard at a much lower price who could go off. He has seen 26 targets this season and recorded double-digit fantasy points in three of four games this season.

Thanks for reading this week’s article and stay tuned later in the week for my Favorite Stacking options for the weekend.

Chris Durell

Week four is gearing up to be quite fascinating from a DFS perspective. The Eagles and Packers are beneficiaries of the first early season by while Colts and Jaguars travel to London for an early Sunday morning game starting at 9:30 a.m. ET. It won’t be included in the main so I will focus my stack recommendations on the 12-game main slate.

If you have been using the Player Lab Tool – Note that all the data took a season switch over the past couple of days with 2016 data now displayed. There is a tremendous amount of data available and I have been incorporating more and more of it into my models each week to build the optimal lineup stacks. The tool is fully customizable allowing you to filter in the data you want while allowing you to set the thresholds for each filter. Once you get the players you want you can then flip it over into the lineup optimizer where you can create and export up to 50 lineups.

Here is a look at a few of the filters/stats I consider when constructing my tournament stacks:

High Vegas O/U – I always start with this filter most weeks have the threshold set at 47 or higher. It’s pretty obvious as you always want to target players in the highest scoring games. Vegas isn’t always right, meaning you can find low-ownership by going outside the threshold but concentrating on more individual matchups.

Defense vs. Position Ranking – This one is also pretty obvious but is much deeper than just passing/rushing/receiving yards against. It incorporates DVOA (Defense Adjusted Value Over Average) which is more of a situation and opponent based ranking. It helps us to really break down which are the best teams to target at each position and when I find one team who ranks poorly against almost all positions they are close to a lock stack for me.

Pace – This breaks down the number of plays the opponent allows per game. Finding teams who are projected to score a lot of points vs. teams who are weak against the position. This allows a lot of plays and is an excellent way to maximize the upside of stack.

Let’s take a look at some of the top stacking options using these filters.
Good Luck everyone!

Carolina Panthers vs. Atlanta Falcons
QB – Cam Newton
Elite Options – Kelvin Benjamin, Greg Olsen
Value Options – Ted Ginn Jr.

Look for a big bounce-back effort from the Panthers after losing two of their first three games of the season. The slow start can most certainly be accredited to the quality of defenses they have seen in the Vikings and Broncos who both rank inside the Top 10. We can expect more of the Panthers offense we saw in week two when they blew the 49ers out of the water 46-27. They get one of the best matchups of all 24 teams on Sunday when looking at the Player Lab tool highlighting Pace, Vegas O/U and Poor Defense vs. Position. Cam Newton is projected for just 35.7 pass attempts but he can also hurt a defense with his legs. The Falcons defense is ranked dead last against the pass on the tool and allow the third highest plays per game (70). Kelvin Benjamin should see a ton of targets early as he was shut out last week on just one target. The safest option in the offense is TE Greg Olsen who sits first in targets (27) and yards (259) at the position. If you want more of a value home run play take a look at Ted Ginn Jr. who acts as the deep threat most of the time and has seen a target uptick in each of the last three weeks.

San Diego Chargers vs. New Orleans Saints
QB – Philip Rivers
Elite Option – Travis Benjamin, Melvin Gordon
Value Options – Tyrell Williams, Hunter Henry

The Chargers and Saints game holds the highest projected Vegas O/U of the slate and has a thin spread of four points leaning towards the home team. It will be an exceptional game to stack all around but I lean the home team as they may come a bit lower owned and are also one of the teams that fits under my three filters. The Saints are rated as the second worst team when looking at the Player Lab’s Defense vs. Pass rating and have allowed a pace of 67.3 through three games. Rivers is projected for 40+ pass attempts this week and will have two elite targets in Travis Benjamin and Tyrell WIlliams who have nice matchups vs. the Saints corners Ken Crawley and Sterling Moore. Both WR’s have received 20+ targets this season and have filled in admirably without Keenan Allen. Another loss that has hurt and helped the team from is Danny Woodhead. It hurts from a real life perspective as he was an excellent player with tremendous hands. It helps us from a fantasy perspective as it has opened the door for Melvin Gordon who already holds a 64% Load Rating on the Player Lab tool which is just the % of carries that player receives in the offense. Without Woodhead that number is sure to go up. One trend we noticed last week is that he received seven targets in the game, catching four and picking up 43 yards. The extra yardage he will get in the passing game makes him a near must play on both sites. If you want a value option you can once again punt with Hunter Henry if Antonio Gates is out of the lineup. In his first start, Henry caught all five of his targets for 72 yards and could have had a bigger day if not for a fumble lost.

Contrarian Stack of the Week

Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs. Denver Broncos
QB – Jamies Winston
Elite WR Options – Mike Evans
Value Options – Cameron Brate

I know what you’re thinking. It’s the Broncos, they are really good. I do agree, but love a Winston/Evans stack from a game flow perspective this week. The Broncos are favorites and will most likely win the game which will force Winston to continue to throw it up at a Drew Brees like pace. With 142 pass attempts through three weeks, he leads the league in that category and has already had two games with 50+ attempts after just one all last season. It’s clear the coaching staff has unleashed the beast. It helps he has an elite WR to go to in Mike Evans. Yes, he is labeled as a guy who drops passes, but when you get the volume he does (37 targets, 2nd behind Antonio Brown) you can afford a few here and there. He is a physical monster at 6’5” 231 lbs and if the Bucs can move him around and match him against Bradley Roby he could have a huge day. Be patient in this one as the bulk of the Bucs fantasy work could come in garbage time in the second half. It doesn’t matter where the points come from as long as they come. If I am playing a single entry or low entry max I will probably just go with the chalk in the first two stacks but in the larger guaranteed prize pool tournaments I will target the Bucs who will be extremely low-owned.

Defense/Running Back Stack of the Week

Arizona Defense
RB David Johnson vs. Los Angeles Rams

The Cardinals were somewhat embarrassed in Buffalo last week allowing the Bills to rush for 208 yards and three touchdowns. Carson Palmer looked awful completing just 26 of 50 passes for 287 yards while throwing four interceptions. The one thing that continued to work for the Cards was RB David Johnson who rushed 19 times for 83 yards (4.4 average) and two touchdowns. He continues to get the bulk of the work for the Cards with a 66% Load Rating and also sits 5th in targets by a RB (17) this season. The Rams present a tough matchup for Johnson ranking 10th in Defense vs. the rush, but the game flow should dictate this one and Johnson should see the volume as shown by his 18.2 project carries. The defense gets a great matchup vs. the Rams who are only averaging 15.3 points per game and face a QB in Case Keenum who has a season high of 239 passing yards. Look for multiple sacks and turnovers for the Cardinals in a huge bounce back win.

Chris Durell

Welcome to another TGIF edition of our daily fantasy baseball picks. It is the final Friday of the regular season with just three days remaining until the wildcard playoff games. The divisions all now all wrapped up but still a ton to play for as the weekend winds down. The Mets sit one game up on the Giants as the two hold the two final spots in NL over the Cardinals who sit just one game out. On the AL side of things, it’s the Blue Jays and Orioles tied and holding on to the final two spots with the Tigers just 1.5 games back and the Mariners just two games back. Make sure to double-check lineups before locking teams not in contention as they will be playing some youngsters to prepare for next season. Some tremendous value can be found in these situations. Let’s take a look at a few pitching and stacking options for tonight.

PITCHERS

Madison Bumgarner FD 10700 DK 11700
Opponent – LAD (Hill) Park – @SF
FD – 40.76 DK – 27.18

The Giants still have a ton to play for on the final weekend of the season as they sit just one game ahead of the Cardinals for the final wildcard in the National League. They will send ace Madison Bumgarner to the mound who has put together another fantastic season with 14 wins, a 2.71 ERA and elite 10.09 K/9 rate. He has been up and down lately, but you can expect a top effort tonight with the season on the line. He will face the Dodgers as -120 favorites which seem a bit low considering the Dodgers are locked into their playoff spot and will most likely sit some starters. The game also has a very low 6.0 over/under.

Taijuan Walker FD 7500 DK 8900
Opponent – OAK (Alcantara) Park – @SEA
FD – 30.86 DK – 20.21

Over in the American League wildcard, the Mariners don’t exactly control their destiny two games back with three to play, but all they can do now is win and hope the card spot falls their way. The will be tossing young Taijuan Walker to the mound tonight in a crucial situation. He has been up and down all season but has all the upside in the world as he has shown us with three 11 strikeout efforts this season. The latest coming just two weeks ago as he put up a complete game shutout against the Angels. He will get another great opportunity to shine in his final regular season start against the A’s who have lost nine of their last ten games and rank 27th in wOBA against right-handed pitching.

STACKS

Colorado Rockies vs. Brent Suter (Brewers)
Park – Coors Field

It is the final weekend of regular season baseball and our last chance to get some Rockies in our lineups as they won’t be participating in the post season. It should come as no surprise that they lead all 30 teams in wOBA and Isolate Power at home as Coors Field has historically been the best hitters park in the big leagues. They will look to close out the season strong and get a great matchup tonight as they are -160 favorites and projected to score close to seven runs. They will be going against Brent Suter making his first start since mid-August. He hasn’t allowed a run out of the bullpen in 12 appearances but has just an average K rate and could get exposed facing a strong hitting team more than once through the order.

Elite Options – Nolan Arenado, Carlos Gonzalez, DJ Lemahieu, Charlie Blackmon
Value Options – Nick Hundley, Ryan Raburn

Seattle Mariners vs. Raul Alcantara (Athletics)
Park – Safeco Field

The Mariners are desperate for a win sitting two games back of the AL wildcard and have been doing everything in their power lately. Over the last seven days, they have hit ten home runs and put up a 119 wRC+ with one of the best matchups on the board tonight. The park isn’t great, but they will be facing Alcantara who has been terrible since his call-up in September. In four starts he has allowed five home runs and 5.28 xFIP while striking out less than six batters per nine. The Mariners have been a Top 10 team hitting against right-handed pitching all season with their abundance of left-handed hitters throughout the lineup. Alcantara has also really struggled against right-handed hitters giving up a .462 wOBA and four of his five home runs. This puts Nelson Cruz in elite territory tonight.

Elite Options – Robinson Cano, Nelson Cruz, Kyle Seager
Value Options – Norichika Aoki, Seth Smith, Adam Lind

Chris Durell

In this early week article, I am going to cover a few recaps from some of the prior week’s top matchups in the “What We Learned” section along with some defense vs. position rankings. I will then preview the Thursday night game from a DFS perspective if you just can’t wait until Sunday. Finally, I will have a look at each position and a few players to think about early in the week before giving you my top QB/WR stacks on Thursday/Friday.




What We Learned

This week we are going to start with the Monday Night Football game. It had the highest projected total of the entire week and didn’t disappoint as the two NFC South teams combined for 77 points. The game flow for Atlanta didn’t exactly go as planned if you played Matt Ryan as much as I did (equally as painful as I needed just one more TD pass from him to win in 3 season-long leagues). He completed 20 of 30 passes for 240 yards and 2 touchdowns. He didn’t throw an interception and continued to look like an elite option. The Falcons took the lead early and ended up running the ball a ton with Devonta Freeman (14 carries for 152 yards) and Tevin Coleman (12 carries for 42 yards & 3 TD). Freeman(5) and Coleman(3) also combined to lead the team in targets. Julio had a rough night catching just one ball on seven looks and appeared not to be 100% healthy. Look for a bounce back game in week four at possibly very low-ownership. On the other side of the ball, the game flow worked in the Saints favor for fantasy purposes as their defense proves to be one of the worst in the league. Brees completed 36 of 54 passes for 376 yards and three touchdowns with Coby Fleener and Michael Thomas both receiving 11 targets with Willie Snead out. Both made seven receptions and recorded a touchdown. Mark Ingram looked much better rushing 15 times for 77 yards (5.1 avg) and also had a touchdown vultured by none other than John “Kuuuuuuhn.”

In the Vikings/Panthers game, we learned that it was Jerick McKinnon, not Matt Asiata, who benefited from the Peterson loss as he got 16 carries against the Panthers. He only gained 45 yards, but Carolina is a top-ranked team against the run themselves. We also learned that as long as Sam Bradford is healthy Stefon Diggs and Kyle Rudolph will be very viable fantasy options. Rudolph trails only the Panthers Greg Olsen in targets at the position with 26 on the season and hasn’t received fewer than eight in any game so far. The Panthers struggled all around as Cam Newton was sacked eight times and threw three interceptions. Look for a bounce back against the Falcons on Sunday.

The Packers/Lions game was another high total that didn’t let us down. The Packers offense looked terrific with Eddie Lacy getting on track with 17 carries for 103 yards(6.1 Avg). Aaron Rodgers didn’t have to throw for volume on Sunday with just 205 pass yards, but he did throw for four touchdowns. Jordy Nelson was the beneficiary of two of those end zone strikes as he caught six balls on seven targets for 101 yards. Rodgers was very locked in on Jordy all game as no other receiver got more than three targets. Matt Stafford continued his hot start to the season throwing for 385 yards and three touchdowns against the Packers. He now sits third in passing yards (985), 6th in attempts (120) and Completion% (67.5) while sitting tied for 2nd in touchdowns with seven. He has clearly dialed in with Marvin Jones Jr. who has emerged as the #1 WR in Detroit. He caught six of his eight targets for a whopping 205 yards and two touchdowns Sunday. Jones sits 10th in the NFL in targets (29), 1st in yards (408) and sits with a crazy 22.7 yards per catch average.

There was a lot to be learned in the Bengals/Broncos game this week. Jeremy Hill finally broke out for the Bengals rushing 17 times for 97 yards and two touchdowns. He out carried Bernard 17-5 but it was, as expected, Bernard involved in the passing attack catching all five of his targets. It is going to be a tough pick between them each week and will mostly depend on game flow. AJ Green appeared a bit off Sunday and called himself out for a critical drop late in the game along with a few other missteps. He was still able to catch eight balls on targets for 77 yards but didn’t get in the end zone.

There was also a breakout game for the Broncos on Sunday as Trevor Siemian completed 25 of 35 passes for 312 yards and four touchdowns. He helped both of his top receivers have big as well with Emmanuel Sanders catching nine balls on 13 targets for 117 yards and two touchdowns while Demaryius Thomas caught six of seven for 100 yards and a touchdown. The volume in the air could have had something to do with the off day of CJ Anderson who only mustered 37 yards on 14 carries (2.6 Avg). It doesn’t get any easier for CJ this week as the Broncos head to Tampa Bay to face the Bucs who are allowing under 100 yards per game on the ground.

Other Notable Things to Take Away from Last Week

If Rashad Jennings (NYG) does not return this weekend it will be Orleans Darkwa who will get the bulk of the work in the Giants backfield as Shane Vereen is now also out with injury.

Odell Beckham Jr. had his way with Josh Norman for the most part, and caught seven balls on 11 targets for 121 yards. Sterling Shepard continues to hold high value as the Giants #2 catching five of seven targets for 73 yards and a touchdown.

Ezekiel Elliott had a ton of volume on Sunday night with 30 carries while racking up 140 yards on the ground and also caught both his targets for another 20 yards receiving. His day could have been bigger Dak Prescott, Alfred Morris and Lance Dunbar all vultured touchdowns. Look for big things from Zeke moving forward.

In Tennessee we saw DeMarco Murray edge out Derrick Henry 16-10 in carries and 145-45 in yards. Murray also caught all five of his targets for 41 receiving yards. Murray remains the only viable RB option for the Titans in DFS.

Terrelle Pryor was superb for the Browns last week going ⅗ passing for 35 yards, rushing four times for 21 yards and a touchdown and also catching eight of his 14 targets for 144 yards and a touchdown. He can do it all and now sits 7th in the league in targets from a WR.

Jarvis Landry remains as one of only four WR left who has received double-digit targets each week after catching seven of his 12 targets for 120 yards and a touchdown. He is an elite playmaker and should be safe in cash games week in and week out.

In Tampa Bay, it was Mike Evans showing us his floor with another 13 targets and his upside catching 10 of them for 120 yards and a touchdown. He sits 2nd in targets (37) behind Antonio Brown. A sleeper option moving forward for the Bucs could be Adam Humphries who has seen his targets rise each week in the slot and caught nine of 12 this week for 100 yards.

Defense vs. Position Rankings

I have added this section now that we have more than a one-game sample size. I will take a look at some top defenses to target at each position based on their early play and compared to last years ranks. I won’t always list the bottom feeders but rather the teams that make excellent targets going into the next week. Let’s take a look.

Target the Atlanta Falcons
This weeks Matchup – Carolina Panthers

I am starting here for a few reasons. First, the Falcons have been involved in three straight shootouts allowing no less than 28 points in a game. They rank 29th in the league after three weeks allowing a total of 313 passing yards per game and have allowed the 2nd most fantasy points to the QB position so far. Their corners have proved viable, but they have still allowed the 13th most FP to WR and 2nd to TE. I will be targeting the Panthers heavy this week after they were run over by the Vikings defense last week. Look for a big bounce-back effort from Cam Newton, Kelvin Benjamin and Greg Olsen.

Target the Green Bay Packers in the Pass Game
This week’s Matchup – BYE

I didn’t mention it in the recap above so I wanted to touch on it here even though the Packers are on a bye this week. The Giants WR core of OBJ, Shepard and Cruz could have a monster game in week five as the Packers have allowed the 5th most passing yards per game (307) through three weeks. Their pair of corners (Sam Shields & Demarious Randall) are two of the worst rated in the league and can be torched at will.

Target the Miami Dolphins & New Orleans Saints in the Run Game

The two worst run defenses through three weeks have been the Dolphins and Saints. The have both allowed over 145 yards on average per game and both face teams with affordable options at RB this week. The Dolphins will face a very confident Jeremy Hill coming off a big game. The game flow should help him as well and he should most likely receive around 15 carries. The Saints will face the Chargers and Melvin Gordon this week. While Gordon didn’t get the yardage against the Colts he did get the volume with 16 carries and did score another touchdown giving him four through the first three weeks.

Thursday Night Football

This week we get a decent Thursday night game from a fantasy perspective. The Dolphins will face the Bengals in Cincinnati with the Bengals coming in as early -7 favorites. Both teams have a 1-2 record, but the Bengals have the clear edge on both offense and defense coming into this matchup. Game flow should dictate which players are going to have big days. After AJ Green called himself out after some key drops Sunday I look for him to get the ball early and often and can easily see a huge bounce back game with 8+ receptions, 100+ yards and a TD. Once the Bengals get ahead I see them turning to the run game and Jeremy Hill could be in for a huge game, especially in the second half. He is priced fairly on FanDuel at $7,000 but is a near must play on DraftKings at just $4,100. On the other side of the ball, I see a ton of value in a Tannehill/Landry stack as the Dolphins should be playing from behind for most of the game. DeVante Parker and Kenny Stills make decent value WR options for the Dolphins as well as Parker who has seen 19 targets in his two games played. While Stills has received 17 over his three games and is the deep threat in the offense.

Week 4SUN/MON Top Games to Target

In this final section, I am going to cover a few games that could be very optimal for daily fantasy. I will be using the Player Lab tool on the website to look specifically at things like Vegas Totals, Opponent Defense rankings, past performances and most of all future projections.

San Diego Chargers vs. New Orleans Saints

As it sits on Tuesday afternoon the Chargers are -3.5 point home favorites with week four’s highest projected total of 43.5 points. Looking at the Player Lab tool on the website this game is one of just three with a Vegas Total of 48 or greater that has a thin spread of -4 or less. This means the game should stay extremely competitive throughout giving a ton of players fantasy value. I will start on the San Diego side where I will have a ton of Melvin Gordon exposure this week as he will once again get the bulk of the carries and gets his best matchup, possibly of the entire season. The Saints have allowed a league-worst 149.3 rushing yards per game. You can also feel safe with Philip Rivers this week as he is once again projected for over 40 pass attempts. His top targets will be Travis Benjamin and Tyrell Williams. On the other side of the ball, the Vegas projections have the Saints in another very favorable game flow situation. Their defense has been horrific which is forcing Brees to throw a ton (140 attempts in 3 weeks) and resulted in him leading the league in passing yards (1,062) through three weeks. Even with the high-volume passing, he has only thrown one interception this season while tossing eight touchdowns. The matchup is definitely on his side as the Chargers sit 30th in passing yards allowed per game (322) despite having one of the best corners in the game in Jason Verrett. Without Willie Snead on MNF Brees targeted rookie Michael Thomas 11 times, Brandon Coleman eight times and newly acquired Coby Fleener 11 times. I won’t be worried too much about Verrett shutting one WR as the Saints do a good job of moving their receivers around the formation. Another thing to note with the Saints is that the pricing for this week was released before Monday Night Football meaning a TON of value.

Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Kansas City Chiefs

This is a matchup between two teams who had completely opposite results in week three. The Chiefs are coming off a dominating defensive game where they picked off Ryan Fitzpatrick six times (one Pick 6) and caused three fumbles, recovering two of them with one going for a touchdown. The Steelers, however, were on the losing end of a beat down as the Eagles blasted them 34-2 in a game where Big Ben wasn’t exactly spot on. Both teams will be getting back their star RB this week with Le’Veon Bell returning to the Steelers and Jamal Charles returning to the Chiefs. Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin suggested Bell will be in for a big workload and is in close to peak physical condition. Charles, on the other hand, is returning from injury and even if he starts could be limited with Spencer Ware doing a stand-up job. The Chiefs are currently six-point underdogs so Jeremy Maclin should see another double-digit target day. He is currently ranked 10th in the league with 29 targets through three weeks. Look for Big Ben to get back on track this week after a dismal effort last week. He is most likely going to be low owned as well. Antonio Brown will once again be an elite option and #1 target monster in the NFL after an 18 target week against the Eagles. He is one just four players who have received double-digit targets each week and leads the entire league with 40 on the year. Sammie Coates is a GPP only play as he doesn’t get the share of targets you would like but has home run upside as a deep threat.

Thanks for reading this week’s article and stay tuned later in the week for my Favorite Stacking options for the weekend.

Chris Durell

Welcome to the last hump-day edition [sad face] of our daily fantasy baseball picks. With just one afternoon game we will focus on the 14-game main slate starting at 7:00 p.m. ET tonight.

We are closing in on the end of the 2016 regular season with just five days remaining with many teams still in the hunt for October. Five of the six divisions have been locked up leaving the Red Sox with a magic number of one going into tonight. Between the AL and NL, there are also six teams with a realistic chance of taking one of the two wildcard spots in each league. It’s going to be an exciting race to Sunday evening. Let’s take a look at a few pitching and stacking options for tonight’s slate.

PITCHERS

Cole Hamels FD 9900 DK 10700
Opponent – MIL (Anderson) Park – @TEX
FD – 36.41 DK – 23.94

The pitching is really thin tonight with only two aces on the mound. You will have to make the decision between Jake Arrieta who is at the top in salary on both sites or Cole Hamels. I lean Hamels as he has the slight edge on the projections when looking at PTS/$ value due to the $500 discount on DK and $1,100 discount on FD. Hamels has put together an impressive first full season with the Rangers with a 15-5 record and 3.30 ERA that is backed up by a 3.86 xFIP and elite 9.02 K/9 rate. He had struggled a bit coming down the stretch but rebounded nicely in his last start, limiting the A’s to six hits and zero runs over seven innings while striking out seven batters. The Brewers are a better team against left-handed pitching but have struggled a ton lately ranking 22nd in wRC+ with a 27.5% K rate over the last 14 days.

Jose De Leon FD 7400 DK 8500
Opponent – SD (Perdomo) Park – @SD
FD – 36.3 DK – 23.61

Young prospect Jose De Leon will get the ball tonight for the Dodgers who have wrapped up their playoff spot by winning the NL West. De Leon was called up in September when rosters were expanded after months where many thought he should have already been in the rotation. He dominated at the Triple-A level this season going 7-1 with a 2.61 ERA and high 11.57 K/9 rate. Jose has flashed that upside in his first three starts with the Dodgers striking out 14 batters in 14.2 innings. The issue has been the long ball, but the good news is he gets a matchup in the worst hitters park in the majors tonight. The Padres also rank dead last in wOBA and wRC+ against right-handed pitching. If he can get into the 5th or 6th inning, he should easily be able to crush his value tonight.

STACKS

Detroit Tigers vs. Zach McAllister (Indians)
Park – Comerica Park

One thing I will often do when looking for my stacks for the night is to look at the bottom of the starting pitcher salary on both sites. Tonight it is the same guy, Zach McAllister. Zach has pitched out of the bullpen this season, and while he comes with a high 9.48 K/9 rate, he will be now facing batters more than once if he makes it that far. Mcallister is walking almost four batters per nine with an xFIP(4.53) that is nearly one full run worse than his ERA(3.58). Add to it that he will be facing a Tigers team that has been red-hot, ranking 2nd in wOBA and wRC+ over the last 14 days and McAllister could be in for a long night, (or a short one depending on how you look at it).

Elite Options – Ian Kinsler, Miguel Cabrera, Justin Upton, Victor Martinez
Secondary Options – Cameron Maybin, J.D. Martinez, James McCann

Boston Red Sox vs. Bryan Mitchell
Park – Yankee Stadium

Who else is at the bottom of the salary list? Bryan Mitchell of the Yankees who is just another guy as the team appears to be prepping for next season already. In his first four starts, Mitchell has struggled with control walking seven batters while only striking our nine in 18 innings. If you are not missing bats at the major league level, you are going to get hard (32.3% hard contact) and post less than ideal numbers (4.50 ERA and 5.26 xFIP). Things don’t get any easier tonight as he will face the #1 offensive team in the league looking to clinch the AL East and home-field advantage through the ALCS.

Elite Options – Mookie Betts, David Ortiz, Xander Bogaerts, Dustin Pedroia
Secondary Options – Hanley Ramirez, Jackie Bradley Jr.

As always, thank you for reading and good luck in the final week of the season!

James Leer

As Tuesday pushes forward, we gather our collective breaths in remembrance of a magical evening with the Marlins. We will remember the Jose chants, the upper deck Dee Gordon shot, and Bour’s first career triple. But, life eases on, and we have a lineup to fill. Here are today’s top candidates.

Max Scherzer FD 11300 DK 14200
Opponent – ARI (Koch) Park – @WSH
FD – 39.07 DK – 26.1

Little can be said that hasn’t already been stated about Max Scherzer. He’s stunningly brilliant and elite in every way. You can’t help but to cheer for him, whether it’s going for YET another no-hitting pitch bid, or attempting to break the strikeout record in a single game. To no one’s surprise, he currently leads all of the majors in strikeouts (267) and WHIP (.929). He leaves more runners on base than any other pitcher in the majors (81.8%). The Diamondbacks, while blowing out the Nationals last night, are left baffled at his deliveries. Expect the Nationals to bounce back, against a team that struggles against righties on the road this year.

STACKS

Chicago Cubs vs. Ryan Vogelsong (Pirates)
Park – PNC Park

The Cubs come into the game having an extremely hot offense as of late. Over the course of the last 14 days they are nearly number 1 in every department. Having a .478 SLG, a .368 wOBA, a .377 OBP, and a 4.8 WAR, not much can stop them on their way to the NL pennant. Coupled with the fact that Ryan Vogelsong struggles against them, the Cubs should have no problem hitting him all over PNC Park. Vogelsong’s career has been on a landslide, struggling versus the long ball this season he has a 1.37 HR/9. His K/9 today is one of the lowest with 6.84.
Chicago has shown a tendency to hit him well this season, with a .533 SLG and a .388 wOBA, you would be hard-pressed to find a better offense in the game today.

James Leer

Slated to pitch today, Marlins ace, Jose Fernandez, left us much too early after a boating accident. A haunting "TBD" on MLB.com appeared early this morning where "Fernandez" once was. The Marlins will have to play their first game since losing their team leader; undoubtedly, there will be a lot of emotion involved. Even on his days off, the always smiling, always jovial, Fernandez, will remain within the hearts, of not just the players, but everyone that loves this game we call baseball.

Let’s proceed the best we can as we play out these last few remaining days of MLB Daily Fantasy.

PITCHER

Kyle Hendricks FD 10100 DK 12000
Opponent – PIT (Kuhl) Park – @PIT
FD – 36.00 DK – 20.1

On a bit of the higher salary spectrum, Kyle Hendricks has a lofty price tag. However, he’s proven that he is certainly worth it. Hendricks comes into today, posting 21 straight starts with three or fewer earned runs, the longest streak in MLB. If that sounds impressive, that’s because it is. He leads the majors with a 2.06 ERA, has a .95 WHIP, and a 29% strikeout rate.

Adam Conley FD 7100 DK 5500
Opponent – NYM (Colon) Park – @MIA
FD – 28.4 DK – 14.10

If you’re looking for value, look no further than Adam Conley. After the aforementioned tragedy, there is little chance of the Marlins losing this game. They will come out on the field with endless vigor and intense passion and get the win in honor of Fernandez. Another important factor, Conley’s numbers versus the Mets have been impressive so far this season, with an allowed wOBA of .242, SLG of .283, and OBP of .258. While he does have control issues at times, he makes up for it in his K/9 rate which is a healthy 8.41.

STACKS

Cleveland Indians vs. Buck Farmer (Tigers)
Park – Comerica Park

The Indians are the top stack target today as they are one game away from clinching the American League Central. Going against young right-hander Buck Farmer, it’s possible that the Indians open up their artillery shells and explode. Farmer, going 5-6 with a 4.32 ERA, has less than mediocre results in AAA ball. Expect a lot of runs from the Indians, as they hit Farmer all over and out of the field. Favorite player targets include: Francisco Lindor, Tyler Naquin, Carlos Santana and Jason Kipnis.

Toronto Blue Jays vs. Severino (Yankees)
Park – Rogers Centre

The Blue Jays are on a hot streak winning seven games out of heir last ten. During the last seven games, they have an impressive .359 wOBA and .451 SLG. Putting up runs all over the field, this should continue as they chase a Wild Card spot versus fill-in right-hander, Luis Severino.
Severino moves out of the bullpen into a spot-start in place of the injured Masahiro Tanaka. Severino’s numbers versus the BlueJays are what I find most attractive in this spot. With Justin Smoak, Josh Donaldson, Kevin Pillar and Jose Bautista all homering off of him in relief appearances this season, things can go bad very quickly for The Yankees.

Chris Durell

Week two is in the books and by now we should all have taken a deep hard look at was has been crushing it and taking home all the money in tournaments. If you haven’t, here is a breakdown. Stack, stack, stack!!! Not just a QB/WR either. In week one we saw both Milli Makers won with a Brees/Cooks/Snead stack and week two saw all the money taken home with Newton/Benjamin stacks with most having Olsen on those lineups as well. Don’t be afraid to include of your starting QB’s top options when making your lineups.

Let’s dig in and take a look at a few stacks that could be very profitable in week three. As always I like to start my research with the Player Lab found under the NFL tab on the homepage. I will first check off the High Vegas O/U filter (usually 48 or higher depending on the week). Then for QB’s and WR’s I will also check off the Poor Defense vs. Pass filter (usually have it set to a rating of 20th or worse) but early in the season I open it up a bit. This gives me a tremendous start to the projected top stacks for the week. As we all know, though, it doesn’t always work out that way, and this is why it’s so nice to have over 15 different filters to choose from to narrow the field of players down. Game flow is everything in football.

Note – I am not going to be looking at the Monday Night Football game in this stacks article moving forward as it is no longer included on the main slate on either site. I will be adding a stacking option to the early week article which will be geared towards the Monday-Thursday slate of games that is becoming more popular this season.

STACK TARGERTS

Detroit Lions vs. Green Bay Packers
QB – Matthew Stafford
Elite WR – Marvin Jones Jr.
Value Options – Golden Tate, Eric Ebron

There are two games with a projected total over 48 on Sunday with the Chargers visiting the Colts and the Lions visiting the Packers. I like the Lions as my top stack for a few reasons. Vegas has them as pretty big dogs(+7.5) even though both teams come in with 1-1 records. I do feel the Packers are the better team, and we should see a nice bounce back effort from A-Rod this week. I lean Stafford who comes in cheaper on both sites and sits inside the top 10 in pass attempts through two weeks with an average yards per attempt that is close to two yards higher. Marvin Jones Jr and Golden Tate have flip-flopped salaries since the start of the season with Jones Jr. now the most expensive option. He has been remarkably consistent and is one of only five wide receivers to get double-digit targets in each of the first two weeks. Tate has been disappointing with just 54 yards, but he been heavily targeted (16) and appears to be playing at less than 100%. He has become a value play and could even come in very low-owned with a lot of people turning to Anquan Boldin after his TD last week. He has the toughest matchup out of the three WR’s as the Packers strongest corner is Quinten Rollins out of the slot. If you want a low-owned TE, this week consider Eric Ebron if he is a full go. He has received 12 targets to start the season including a team-leading three in the end zone. With Ameer Abdullah out of the picture and the Lions expected to be down early Stafford could end up attempting well over 40 passes this week.

San Diego Chargers vs. Indianapolis Colts
QB – Philip Rivers
Elite WR – Travis Benjamin
Value Options – Tyrell Williams, Antonio Gates, Melvin Gordon

Sticking with the same filters the other team stack that stands to me is Philip Rivers and Company. Much like the Lions stack I favor the underdog on the road as they will most likely be down in the second half and forced to throw the ball. Once again, game flow is king when nailing these stacks. I feel the Chargers could be an elite tournament stack due to ownership as the team lost Danny Woodhead and Keenan Allen for the season. Philip Rivers is also coming off a game where he only attempted 24 passes due to the run-heavy game flow but still completed 4 TD passes. Expect the yardage total to rise this week. Travis Benjamin has quickly become Rivers favorite target, and he has stepped up in a big way catching 13 balls on 14 targets for 147 yards and two touchdowns. His price is still sitting at a very affordable price and could take a big jump after Sunday’s game. From a value perspective, you should also consider Tyrell Williams who has accumulated 132 and a touchdown in the first two weeks. Gates missed practice on Thursday and if he doesn’t play it only increases the value of stacking both Williams and Benjamin. It will also increase their ownership. If he plays, he is a touchdown dependant value TE that could be combined with either of the WR options.

Miami Dolphins vs. Cleveland Browns
QB – Ryan Tannehill
Elite WR Options – Jarvis Landry
Value Options – DeVante Parker, Kenny Stills

The overall Vegas total is very low, but that is mainly due to the projection for the Browns offense which is now running Cody Kessler at QB with Clipboard Jesus backing him up. We will get to the Dolphins defense in the next segment. For the offense, the Dolphins are projected to score the 3rd most (26.25) points of any team on Sunday which automatically puts them in consideration as a top stack. He is coming off an impressive effort against the Patriots last week completing 32 passes on 45 attempts for 387 yards. While he most likely won’t see 45+ attempts this week, 40 isn’t out of the question as the run game lost Arian Foster and will be relying on the inexperienced Jay Ajayi and Kenyan Drake. Joe Haden is the Browns top corner and one of the top corners in the league and plays from the left side of the defense where he will most likely face DeVante Parker most of the day. This sets up nicely for Jarvis Landry who is one of five players to receive double-digit targets through the first two weeks with ten likely being the floor this week. If it’s value you are looking for you can always take a shot with Kenny Stills who operates as the deep ball threat but only sees around five targets per game. Very boom or bust low-owned option.

Defense/Running Back Stack of the Week

Miami Dolphins Defense vs. Cleveland Browns
RB Option – Kenyan Drake

I am adding this to the weekly stacks article as Running Backs and Defenses are critical and have feelings too. But seriously, did you see the Vikings Defense in Week One? If a team can score a defensive touchdown and force multiple turnovers, it can make all the difference in just cashing and cashing in big. More times than not I will stack a Defense and Running Back in cash games based on game flow. If a defense is shutting down the opposition that means they are most likely leading in the second half which usually leads to increased carries for the running back. This slow pace is most times not conducive for a lot of points in tournaments but can get a running back a ton of garbage time points.

If you have been living under a rock and not sure which defense to use this week, here ya go! The Dolphins should easily be the chalk and are setup for a giant day against the Browns who are starting rookie Cody Kessler. The choices are limited as RGIII is out for the season and Josh McCown is out for at least a couple of games. It was just a few days ago the Browns brass said of Kessler “He is just not ready to play”. It could be a long day for Kessler and backup Clipboard Jesus. Expect multiple sacks and turnovers giving the Dolphins the highest floor and potential ceiling of any team on Sunday.

Looking at the running back situation for the Dolphins without Foster in the lineup it appears to be a timeshare to start with Jay Ajayi and Kenyan Drake both getting a chance to prove themselves not just for this game but for the future job. Ajayi was left home in week one due to attitude problems and when he came into the game last week when Foster went down he under performed with just 14 yards on five carries and also lost a fumble. Drake has almost 100% tread on his tires as he never rushed over 100 times in either of his four years in Alabama as he sat behind stars such as Trent Richardson, Eddie Lacy, TJ Yeldon, Mark Ingram and Derrick Henry. He rushed twice last week for 12 yards and also received two targets in the passing game. I prefer Drake who looks more like the goal line option and could get the TD share. He could also be the lower owned of the two making him viable in GPP’s this week.

Chris Durell

Welcome to another TGIF edition of our daily fantasy baseball picks. Friday brings us one afternoon matchup between the Cardinals and Cubs and a large 14-game slate that kicks off at 7:00 p.m. ET. The pitching is a little thin at the top tonight making it a great night to save on the mound and load up on the bats. Let’s take a look at a few pitchers and stacking options to help you cash in tonight!

PITCHERS

Drew Pomeranz FD 8700 DK 8700
Opponent – TB (Archer) Park – @TB
FD – 36.57 DK – 24.12

Since coming over from the Padres in mid-July, Pomeranz has been down a winding road. He has shown flashes of his double-digit K upside but also has four or more earned runs in four of his 12 starts. Three of those bad games came at home in the most unfriendly pitcher’s park outside of Coors Field. On the road is where Pomeranz excels as he has limited the opposition to two earned runs or less in four of his five road starts with the Red Sox. The good news today is that he is back on the road as he gets a big park upgrade going to Tropicana Field to face the Rays. He met them in Tampa on August 25th allowing seven hits but just two earned runs and a whopping 11 strikeouts. The Red Sox are red hot right now winning eight straight and are starting to run away with the American League East division. Look for the hot streak to continue on Friday making Pomeranz one of the top value plays of the day with an excellent win potential.

James Paxton FD 7300 DK 8400
Opponent – MIN (Gibson) Park – @MIN
FD – 29.16 DK – 19.05

Dipping down even further in the value bin is hard-throwing southpaw James Paxton. He has a fastball that averages 96.9 MPH and throws it 62% of the time generating an above average 11.6% swinging strike rate. He also comes with excellent control and is walking under two batters per nine and sits with a nice 3.61 xFIP for the season. He gets one of the better matchups of any pitcher tonight as the Mariners are -140 favorites facing a Twins team that holds the worst record in the major leagues to this point with just 55 wins under their belt. The Twins have been decent against lefties all year ranking 14th in wOBA, but they are struggling overall lately ranking dead last in almost all offensive categories and striking out at a 27.5% clip. Look for the Paxton and Mariners to come out strong as they try and jump up the standings and into the wildcard hunt.

STACKS

Baltimore Orioles vs. Shelby Miller (Diamondbacks)
Park – Oriole Park at Camden Yards

After getting swept by the Red Sox in their latest four-game series, the Orioles should be angry and come out swinging tonight. They have fallen a half-game out of the second wildcard and sit on the outside looking in at the moment. It will be a welcome site seeing the Diamondbacks come to town with their league worst 5.19 team ERA. The offense has been the least of their worries this season as they have scored the 10th most runs(709) in the majors and rank 3rd in wOBA(.335) and wRC+(107) against right-handed pitching. The O’s are projected for about 5.75 runs tonight, and I would not be surprised to see them go over that total. The elite options for the Orioles are Adam Jones, Mark Trumbo, Chris Davis and Manny Machado with value options in Hyun-Soo Kim, Matt Wieters, and Pedro Alvarez.

Pittsburgh Pirates vs. Gio Gonzalez (Nationals)
Park – PNC Park

The Pirates are another team on the outside looking in at the wildcard with little time to make up ground. They come in as slight favorites(-115) tonight at home against Gio Gonzalez and the Nationals. They could be a sneaky stack that could come in low-owned due to their lower run projection(4.08) tonight. I feel that is low as the Pirates rank 4th in wOBA(.340) and 2nd in wRC+(114) against left-handed pitching, and Gio Gonzalez is nothing more than an average starting pitcher and has struggled mightily lately. Twice in his last two starts he has allowed six earned to the weak hitting Atlanta Braves which raises some red flags. Starling Marte was lifted from last night’s game with back spasms which sucks as he was making long-awaited return. You can roll with Andrew McCutchen, Gregory Polanco and Jung-Ho Kang with confidence if you want some value consider Sean Rodriquez, Francisco Cervelli and David Freese who all hit left-handed pitching with a .400+ wOBA.