Week 6 NFL FanDuel Stacks: Play Drew Brees at Home

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 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's TJ Hernandez, a quarterback's top receiver has a moderately strong correlation to the quarterback's performance -- and his tight end and second receiver aren't too far behind.

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 -- all while possibly being under-owned. Which teammates might fit the bill in Week 6 (if we ignore the Monday night game between the Arizona Cardinals and New York Jets, which isn't on FanDuel's main slate)?

New Orleans Saints

QB: Drew Brees ($8,500)
WR: Michael Thomas ($5,400)

In Week 6, Drew Brees gets to head home to play the Carolina Panthers. The game has an over/under of 53 (no other game is above 47.5), and the New Orleans Saints are 3-point underdogs. There should be points, they should be trailing, and they shouldn't be so far behind that the passing becomes predictable.

While you can target Brandin Cooks against the league's 15th-ranked pass defense -- according to our Adjusted Defensive Passing Net Expected Points (NEP) metric -- Michael Thomas is shaping up to be a fantastic tournament pivot from Cameron Meredith, who is the same price. Thomas led the Saints' receivers in snaps back in Week 4 and ranked second in snap rate in two other weeks. His 16.9% target market share isn't far off the mark of Cooks' 17.5% this season. You'll want exposure to this offense, and Thomas is a way to get under-owned exposure for tournaments.

Seattle Seahawks

QB: Russell Wilson ($8,400)
WR: Doug Baldwin ($7,600)

The Seattle Seahawks are coming off a bye, which means time for Russell Wilson to heal. They're stepping into a matchup with the Atlanta Falcons, who rank 23rd in pass defense, per our metrics. They're also 23rd in sack rate. Seattle is a 6.5-point favorite with and over/under of 46, giving them an implied total of 26.25. That'll do this week on a slate full of ugly Vegas totals.

Doug Baldwin is a monster at home, and there's really only one player to worry about in the Falcons' secondary. That would be Desmond Trufant. Well, Baldwin is primarily a slot receiver, and Trufant generally stays outside. I'm not saying he'll see no Trufant, but he'll likely be able to avoid the tough coverage. This pairing is identical in price to a Brees-Cooks stack, so it could fly under the radar. Just be mindful of the weather concerns before locking this stack into your lineup

Kansas City Chiefs

QB: Alex Smith ($6,800)
TE: Travis Kelce ($6,400)

The Oakland Raiders rank 29th in pass defense, per our metrics, and they're 30th in sack rate. The Kansas City Chiefs are a one-point underdog in Oakland. This suggests that Alex Smith could have time to find gaps in the secondary in a game where neither team can simply kill the clock. Smith has been below average in terms of efficiency -- with a 0.06 Passing NEP per drop back, which falls below the league average of 0.13 -- but the matchup and price negate that a bit. (After all, he's fared better than Andrew Luck in terms of NEP.)

You can consider Jeremy Maclin, of course, but Travis Kelce is more of a price-conscious option. Oakland is the 28th-worst defense against the tight end, per our daily fantasy tools, and they're the worst against receivers. The 22.75-point implied team total rubs off some of the tournament luster, but this stack could let you load up on high-priced running backs in a cash-game construction.

Detroit Lions

QB: Matthew Stafford ($8,000)
RB: Theo Riddick ($6,600)

You can spend $8,000 for Matthew Stafford or $400 more for Russell Wilson or $500 more for Drew Brees. Not many people are going to pick Stafford. Plus, this week, running back is shaping up to be a position to pay up for. That's going to leave Theo Riddick as an afterthought even at a reasonable price. The Rams are 9th against the pass, per our metrics, but 28th against the rush. Riddick, who has played at least 65% of Detroit's snaps in the past four games, could find some wiggle room there, considering that Robert Quinn, Michael Brockers, and William Hayes are all banged up and the rushing defense is already weak.

Riddick's 16.4% target market share is tops among all running backs and would rank him in the top 40 among receivers. This stack is only for a large-field GPP, as both should be under 5% owned, and you could potentially have access to all of Detroit's touchdowns while saving money and going chalky everywhere else. It's also indoors, so you'll avoid the bad weather that is plaguing just about every other game. You won't want to load up on this one by any means, but with a lot of ugly matchups this week, you can get creative in massive tournaments.

Editor's Note: Since this story was published, Riddick has been ruled out with an ankle injury. Justin Forsett and Zach Zenner are expected to split the workload in the Lions' backfield.