5 NFL FanDuel Stacks for Week 14

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 Chris Raybon, a quarterback's top receiver has the strongest positive correlation to quarterback success -- and his tight end and second receiver are next in line.

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 underowned. Which teammates might fit the bill in Week 14 on FanDuel's main slate, which excludes the Thursday and Monday games?

Los Angeles Chargers

Quarterback: Philip Rivers ($8,100)
Tight End: Hunter Henry ($5,600)

This slate is wonky, as it excludes the Sunday Night Football tilt between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens. The Thursday Night Football matchup -- New Orleans Saints and Atlanta Falcons -- rules out a good number of stack options. And the New England Patriots play on Monday Night Football, so Tom Brady and company are off the radar. Nixing those teams gives us the Los Angeles Chargers with the highest implied team total (26 points) based on bookmaker odds.

Per FanShareSports, Alex Smith is the early-week favorite to be the most popular quarterback on the main slate. While he pairs well with Travis Kelce and Tyreek Hill against the dreadful Oakland Raiders pass defense, we should probably try to avoid the likeliest chalky stack of the week in large tournaments.

So, let's peep Rivers. Washington has given up 18.8 FanDuel points per game to quarterbacks in their past six contests but 24.23 per game if you remove the Eli Manning debacle on Thanksgiving Day and the rainy game against Dak Prescott in Week 8. Rivers has thrown for 434 and 344 yards in his last two games, giving him a floor even if he doesn't rack up passing touchdowns (though the hefty-for-the-main-slate implied total suggests he can do just that).

Since their Week 9 bye, Keenan Allen has accounted for 48 targets (12 per game), good for a 32% market share, as well as 34% of their air yards, per AirYards.com. Josh Norman doesn't shadow and has moved into the slot for just 4% of his snaps this season, according to ProFootballFocus. However, Washington ranks 12th in receiving FanDuel points per target to wide receivers this season.

They're 29th against tight ends by that measure, and Henry checks all the boxes for tight end upside: he's a home favorite with a high implied team total. His snap rate has climbed to 77% an 71% the past two games, and he's coming off a season-high nine targets.

Cincinnati Bengals

Quarterback: Andy Dalton ($7,300)
Wide Receiver: A.J. Green ($8,300)

Sure, Green might be popular (and he should be). His 31.4% target market share ranks fourth among all receivers, his 49.1% deep target market share (passes traveling at least 16 yards downfield) ranks fourth, and his 36.8% red zone market share ranks third. You can't ask for much more than that from an individual wideout. The Chicago Bears have allowed six different receivers to hit at least 12 FanDuel points over the past five games, and none really come close to Green's caliber from a market share or talent standpoint. Since Week 9, the Bears are 25th in receiving FanDuel points per target to wideouts. Green is a strong play for sure.

But people don't generally like to stack Andy Dalton, which is understandable. The Bears rank 15th against the pass by our adjusted metrics and 18th since Week 7. Against top-12 pass defenses this season, Dalton has averaged 11.98 FanDuel points in six games. In his other six against pass defenses out side the top-12, he's averaged 17.76. The Cincinnati Bengals are favored by a full six points, but if Joe Mixon misses due to a concussion, they should lean on the pass a bit more in a positive script. That sets Dalton up well for a "good Dalton" game in Week 14.

Los Angeles Rams

Quarterback: Jared Goff ($7,700)
Running Back: Todd Gurley ($8,500)

In the two years of writing this article, I've almost always refrained from writing up stacks that didn't include a wide receiver or a tight end. Quarterback/running back stacks are generally a different animal, and we tend to use them to get exposure to all of a team's touchdowns. That's true for this Los Angeles Rams duo, but there's also some receiving upside to it, as well.

Robert Woods has missed two games in a row and is expected to return in Week 15. In two games without him, Gurley has garnered 14 targets, second on the team to only Cooper Kupp's 17. Gurley has also been able to net at least 13.0 FanDuel points in four straight games despite scoring just once in that span. This may be a good time to note that the Philadelphia Eagles rank 1st in the league in rushing FanDuel points per attempt against running backs but are 23rd in receiving FanDuel points per target. Gurley can certainly take advantage.

As for Goff, the Eagles allowed 19.5 FanDuel points per game to quarterbacks before running into the "buzzsaw" of C.J. Beathard, Brock Osweiler, a reeling Dak Prescott, and Mitchell Trubisky. Of course, Russell Wilson threw for three touchdowns against them last week, so we shouldn't be afraid of this Eagles defense entirely, and the Rams are eighth in FootballOutsiders' adjusted sack rate to help mitigate some of the concerns about Philly's pass rush.

Cleveland Browns

Quarterback: DeShone Kizer ($6,400)
Wide Receiver: Josh Gordon ($6,700)

Gordon could be really popular. Like, prohibitively popular. He faces a Green Bay Packers defense that ranks 30th in receiving FanDuel points per target to wide receivers and 26th against the pass since Week 7 by our adjusted metrics. And in his return to action, he drew 11 targets against a stingy Chargers secondary. He caught just 4 of them but produced 85 yards. Of his 11 targets, 6 were at least 16 yards downfield, accounting for 210 total air yards. He was a missed connection or two from a monster game, and this matchup should provide little resistance.

But one way to help with ownership concerns is to go the full way in on this team and stack Gordon with Kizer, who looked to Gordon on 6 of his 13 deep attempts last week. In all, 34% of Kizer's attempts were to Gordon, and 48% of his air yards were to Flash. Antonio Brown leads the league with a 46% air yards market share, for context. And, frankly, Kizer could be a viable fantasy asset on his own. He's racked up more than 20 FanDuel points in two of his past five, while hitting at least 14 in two of the other three (those coming against the Chargers, Jacksonville Jaguars, and Minnesota Vikings). Green Bay is a much friendlier matchup for the rookie, who could unlock his 20-point upside this week.

Arizona Cardinals

Quarterback: Blaine Gabbert ($6,600)
Wide Receiver: Larry Fitzgerald ($7,600)

Before you close the article because I'm recommending Blaine Gabbert, let's ease you in on Fitzgerald first. He's been targeted on 27% of Gabbert's 104 attempts over the past three weeks (10, 8, and 10 targets in those three games). The Tennessee Titans are 21st in receiving FanDuel points per target allowed to wide receivers. Since Week 7, they rank 1st against the rush by our metrics but 19th against the pass. Offensively, the Arizona Cardinals are 32nd on the ground on the full season. They just can't run the ball, and they certainly won't be able to do so this week. Fitzgerald should have a floor of 10 targets against a weak pass defense.

Now, to Gabbert. He dropped 21.58 FanDuel points on the Houston Texans in his debut, then 18.34 against the Jaguars, and 12.04 against the Rams last week. Tennessee has allowed 17.13 FanDuel points per game over the past five to a string of not-necessarily-elite passers: Joe Flacco, Andy Dalton, Ben Roethlisberger, Jacoby Brissett, and Tom Savage. Only Brissett failed to hit 14.6 FanDuel points against them in that span. On a 13-game slate that's missing some of the league's high-octane offenses and features a lot of ugly defensive matchups, Gabbert is an appealing value play of his own, and he has a clear favorite target.