4 NFL FanDuel Stacks for Week 3
On the Week 3 FanDuel main slate, there are seven games with an over/under of at least 46.5 points, which makes for some nice team and games stacks across the league. There are also 10 teams implied to score at least 25.25 points this week, which should lead to some high-scoring players.
In this article, I will break down my favorite DFS stacks for this week. These decisions are made by using player projections, Vegas implied team totals and player draft percentage projections.
Arizona Cardinals
Kyler Murray ($8,400) and DeAndre Hopkins ($8,500)
This is certainly the chalkiest stack I’ll be discussing this week, so let’s start with that. Both Kyler and Hopkins are in smash spots against the Detroit Lions, whose defense has allowed a combined total of 69 points in the first two weeks of the season.
The Arizona Cardinals have the second-highest implied total on this week’s main slate with 30.5 points. The game itself also has the second-highest over/under, coming in at 55.5 points. If the Lions can keep this game close, this could turn into quite the shootout.
Kyler is currently forecasted to be the highest-scoring quarterback on the main slate, per our projections. We also peg him as the best point-per-dollar value at the position.
He’s been lights out through the first two weeks of the season, posting 27.3 FanDuel points in Week 1 and 33.1 points in Week 2. He’s thrown the ball at least 38 times in each of those games but has been even more impressive running the ball. Through two games, Kyler has had 21 rushing attempts, 158 rushing yards and three rushing touchdowns.
Stacking him up with his new favorite wide receiver, Hopkins, makes a lot of sense this week. Like Kyler, Hopkins is projected to be the highest-scoring player as his position as well as the best value, per our algorithm.
Through two games, Hopkins has seen 35.7% of the Cards' targets and 28.4% of their air yards. He’s also been on the field for 100% of the team’s passing plays.
Per Pro Football Focus (PFF), Hopkins is expected to line up against Lions’ cornerback Amani Oruwariye. PFF is currently giving Hopkins a 25% advantage in this matchup, and he should have his way with this porous Lions’ secondary.
New England Patriots
Cam Newton ($7,700) and New England D/ST ($4,900)
I sat and debated on if this qualifies as a legit stack, but considering Cam’s upside as a runner, I’m looking at this just like I would a running back/defense stack. When playing in tournament contests, it’s certainly ideal to stack your quarterback with another offensive player from the same team, but Cam’s unique ability rushing the ball allows for him to be rostered as a solo play.
We haven’t seen a quarterback rush the ball more than Cam through two weeks. The newly acquired Newton has had 26 rushing attempts, 122 rushing yards and four rushing touchdowns to open the 2020 season.
He also showed last week against the Seattle Seahawks that he is also pretty good throwing the ball. Albeit that game was a shootout, Cam had 44 passing attempts and 397 passing yards. He’s now averaging 30.6 FanDuel points after two weeks of football.
Per our algorithm, Cam currently offers the second-best point-per-dollar value among signal callers on the main slate. He’s projected for 35 passing attempts, 254 passing yards and 1.67 passing touchdowns. On top of that, we have him totaling 8 rushing attempts and 0.49 rushing touchdowns, which may be a bit low considering we’ve seen him hit double-digit rushing attempts and two rushing touchdowns in each of his first two games.
Again, this is a rare stack, but pairing Cam with the Patriots' defense makes sense. Their opponent, the Las Vegas Raiders, currently has an implied total of 21.0 points -- which is the seventh-lowest on the main slate. Vegas is playing on the road -- a long way from home -- on a short week after their Monday Night Football matchup against the New Orleans Saints, and that's worth noting.
If the Patriots can get a lead -- hopefully via Cam -- they'll be in a position to aim for sacks and turnovers, which would then set up Cam with good field position. We’ve all seen how the Patriots have operated in the red zone through two weeks, and they can keep it rolling in Week 3.
Philadelphia Eagles
Carson Wentz ($7,600) and Zach Ertz ($6,200)
There hasn’t been a lot to love about this Philadelphia Eagles team through the first two weeks of the 2020 season, but if they are going to bounce back at any point, now is the perfect time as they host the Cincinnati Bengals. The Eagles are implied to score 26.00 points in this game -- the seventh-most on the main slate.
The DFS industry seems to be very high on Eagles’ running back Miles Sanders this week, and he’ll likely carry a high draft percentage. One way to make your lineups contrarian to that is by stacking up Carson Wentz with Zach Ertz.
These two have built solid chemistry since Wentz came into the league in 2016, but we haven’t seen that translate into the 2020 -- so far. However, Ertz is still running a route on 87% of Wentz's drop backs and has seen 16.9% of the team’s total target share. More importantly, Ertz has seen 25% of Philly's red zone targets.
We haven’t seen the Eagles or Bengals play well defensively in either of their first two games to start the season. There is some sneaky shootout potential here, as the game currently has a 47.5 point over/under -- tied for the fourth-highest on the main slate. That would bode well for the passing attack on both teams.
Ertz is currently projected to be the highest-scoring tight end on the main slate, per our numbers. He’s expected to see 8 targets, 57 receiving yards and 0.45 touchdowns -- all of which ranks as first or second most at the position.
Wentz is projecting to have a top-seven performance at the quarterback position but has a projection of 1.93 passing touchdown, which ranks in the top five.
This seems like a do-or-die situation for the Eagles, so I expect the best out of both Wentz and Ertz against a mediocre Bengals defense.
Seattle Seahawks and Dallas Cowboys
Russell Wilson ($8,700), Tyler Lockett ($6,800) and Michael Gallup ($5,700)
The final stack I like this week is a game stack between the Seattle Seahawks and Dallas Cowboys. There’s a lot to love about this game, including the 56.5-point over/under, the highest on the main slate.
There are several ways to run this game stack, but my favorite way is to stack Russell Wilson with Tyler Lockett, and then run it back with Michael Gallup.
Starting on the Seahawks' side of things, Wilson has been a monster through the first two weeks of the season, racking up 63 pass attempts, 610 passing yards and nine touchdown passes. He’s certainly one of the early-season MVP frontrunners. The Seahawks are seemingly giving Russ the keys to do what he wants with this offense early in the season, which hasn’t been the case over his career. They’ve notoriously been a run-heavy team, but now, they’re letting Russ cook.
The quarterback has posted 30-plus FanDuel points in each of his first two games, and with another likely shootout in Week 3, he should continue posting big numbers.
Pairing up Russ with Lockett should make for a nice stack this week. Per PFF, Lockett has the biggest wide receiver/cornerback matchup advantage in Week 3. He’s expected to face Cowboys’ cornerback Jourdan Lewis and has a 42% advantage in this matchup.
Lockett has been a model of consistency in his first two games, catching 15 of 16 passes thrown his way. He’s ran a route on every single one of Russ’ pass attempts and is currently seeing 26.7% of the team’s target share.
We have Lockett projected to be the third-highest scoring wide receiver on the main slate with a projection of 8 targets, 69 receiving yards and 0.62 touchdowns. If this game ultimately turns into a shootout, his ceiling score could go well beyond that.
Running back this game stack with one of the Cowboys’ receivers makes a lot of sense. I personally like going with Gallup, but I think Amari Cooper and CeeDee Lamb are fine plays, as well.
You’ll likely see Gallup be the least popular of the three Cowboys’ receivers this week, making Gallup a way to dodge some chalk while still getting exposure to what should be a popular game.
Gallup has yet to see a red zone target so far in 2020, but that number will obviously regress in his favor going forward. He saw 13.5% of the team’s red zone targets in 2019 and had six touchdown receptions.
The Seahawks' secondary has allowed 55.0 FanDuel points per game to opposing receivers so far this season, which is 11 points more than any other team. I don’t expect that number to get any better after facing the receivers Dallas has.
Griffin Swanson is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Griffin Swanson also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username GriffDogg_. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his/her personal views, he/she may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his/her personal account. The views expressed in his/her articles are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel. (edited)
