Underdog Best Ball Stacks to Target

Stacking in DFS has been a profitable strategy for years and the philosophy has carried over to best ball. The goal is to maximize upside; if you’re able to predict one event, it’s easy to get correlated events correct over an entirely separate outcome. In layman’s terms, predicting a quarterback will have a big year will likely carry over directly with multiple of his receivers having big seasons. The more successful an offense, the more players it can support and the more upside each of those individual players have.

Stacking a quarterback and his receivers is a traditional stack, though stacking a quarterback and his top running back also works as you are trying to capture all of the weekly touchdowns for that team. You can also stack an offense while missing out on a quarterback and double-dipping on receivers. You are trying to get multiple pieces of an offense so that, as they have high weekly ceilings, you are getting as much of that pie as possible.

When looking at the below chart, we see just how correlated top quarterback play is with top weapons. Of the top eight quarterbacks, only Deshaun Watson and Ryan Tannehill didn't have their top option finish top 10 at the position, but both Will Fuller and A.J. Brown finished top six in 0.5 PPR points per game, while Keenan Allen finished top 10 in points per game with Justin Herbert under center. Lamar Jackson and the Ravens offense is such an outlier that it’s best to completely ignore it.

QB Rank	QB	WR1 0.5 Rank	WR
1	Josh Allen	3	Stefon Diggs
2	Kyler Murray	5	DeAndre Hopkins
3	Aaron Rodgers	1	Davante Adams
4	Patrick Mahomes	2	Tyreek Hill
5	Deshaun Watson	15	Brandin Cooks
6	Russell Wilson	7	DK Metcalf
7	Ryan Tannehill	11	A.J. Brown
8	Tom Brady	8	Mike Evans
9	Justin Herbert	14	Keenan Allen
10	Lamar Jackson	34	Marquise Brown

When and how to stack in best ball

Look at the payout structure. If you are in a tournament like the Best Ball Mania with a top-heavy payout, then stacking is the right approach, because you are trying to capture as much weekly upside as possible in the championship rounds. The more top-heavy the payout, the more contrarian you can get with your stack.
Pay attention to who you draft. It sounds simple, but with so many people having so many teams you want to check you roster before each pick and understand what is coming down the pipe. Don't be scared to go early on ADP to secure your stack. Reaching a round early on Ryan Tannehill because you have A.J. Brown and Julio Jones is better than forcing a Round 10 receiver and missing out on Tannehill when the Round 11 receiver is in the same tier.
Untraditional stacking is good. You can go QB/RB/TE, double stack or even triple stack an offense. You can also stack top quarterbacks and players with secondary pieces less drafted than a traditional stack. If you are in the championship round and you have Patrick Mahomes, Byron Pringle and Demarcus Robinson, and Travis Kelce and Tyreek Hill are out you have such a massive edge on the field.

Best Ball Mania stacks — Underdog Fantasy

This is a top-heavy tournament, so I am looking to be different with these. While there are obvious stacks such as CeeDee Lamb and Amari Cooper stacked with Dak Prescott, I want to think outside the box and be contrarian. What teams and players are being slept on at current ADP and what last round flier could have a major impact on an offense that is currently being ignored?

Dallas Cowboys stack in fantasy football provides value

Dak Prescott, Ezekiel Elliott, CeeDee Lamb, Amari Cooper, Michael Gallup

How to make it different: Dalton Schutlz

Per the FTN Underdog ADP tool, Schultz is currently going at pick 214.3, or two selections before the last pick in the draft. He is going undrafted more often than he is getting picked because he is presumed the backup tight end in Dallas. Blake Jarwin was a hot name last year and tore his ACL early on, but he has never done much in the league. His career-best season was in 2020, where he finished with 365 yards — 50% of his career touchdowns and 16% of his entire career output came in one Week 17 game in 2018 against the Giants. Schultz is the presumed backup but is also the younger player with more career success coming off a 63-catch, 615-yard, 4-touchdown season. In his three complete games with Dak Prescott last season, Schultz he saw 24 targets with 17 catches — 12 going for first downs — 208 yards and two touchdowns. He showed real chemistry with Prescott, but it is getting ignored because it’s assumed he is just headed to the bench. If he wins this job, he could end up smashing this ADP and not many people will even have him on their roster.

Stack the Chiefs in best ball

Patrick Mahomes, Tyreek Hill, Travis Kelce

How to make it different: Byron Pringle and Demarcus Robinson

Mahomes is a player I rarely get on my teams as the opportunity cost of picking a quarterback in the third round is almost always too great for me to justify paying for it. Instead, I stack his weapons, with Kelce one of my favorite picks in the first round and one or two Chiefs receivers being key late adds. Derek Brown did a fantastic job gathering up all of the early offseason news, noting what players are making an early impact in camp. So far in camp, “the teammate Mahomes has targeted the most is Pringle” Pringle actually ran more routes than Hardman did last year in games Watkins missed, while Robinson outsnapped Hardman in each of the final eight games of the season. Hardman is the presumed WR2, but grabbing multiple pieces of the league's best offense for a near free price tag is a no brainer way to be different.

Under-the-radar stacks in fantasy football

Miami Dolphins best ball stack

This offense has so much talent if Tua Tagovailoa can unlock it. Jaylen Waddle and Will Fuller add sub-4.4 speed to DeVante Parker and Mike Gesicki, who are both 80th-percentile athletes (or higher). Tua was set up in a bad situation last year, coming off a major hip injury and not being 100% ready mentally for the NFL game. We are still talking about the fifth overall pick, an elite college passer, with touch, arm strength and excellent decision-making skills. All he needs to do is get these guys the ball and they are going to take over. This offense is a matchup nightmare for teams as there is too much speed, the likes of which only the Chiefs really rival. If it all comes together this will be a premium stack next year; if not, hey, you swung for the fences, and the fences are what take down the Best Ball Mania on Underdog.

Carolina Panthers fantasy football value — best ball

I am buying in on Joe Brady, on the loss of Teddy Bridgewater, and the fact that Sam Darnold doesn’t play for Adam Gase anymore. This is a dirt-cheap stack outside of Christian McCaffrey, who is the 1.01 in almost every draft. D.J. Moore had eight games with 93 or more yards, one of only three receivers to do that, but finished as just WR24 as Bridgewater consistently missed him in the end zone. With some regression, Moore could easily pay off as a top-10 receiver in 2021. Robby Anderson has a history with Darnold and has been one of the league's most explosive playmakers. He finished eighth in receptions, fifth in yards after the catch and 13th in receiving yards last year; the only thing holding him back was touchdowns, but again, Darnold should improve that. Terrace Marshall Jr. has an elite prospect profile coming in as a 6-foot-2 rookie with 4.4 speed with a 19.2 breakout age. As far as third receivers go, not many have a stronger profile. Dan Arnold is another free tight end at the end of drafts who is rarely getting drafted but is in line to start and someone the Panthers prioritized this offseason. Arnold has caught 31 passes for 450 yards in 19 games with six touchdowns and was the Cardinals’ third leading receiver last year, playing just 40% of the snaps.

The question is whether you trust Sam Darnold. It’s easy to say no, but the book is still out on him with what he can do with a proper coaching staff and real playmakers. With an ADP of just 174.3, he is the perfect third quarterback when stacking the Panthers to try and capture their ceiling without going all in on the Panthers. Looking at best ball win rates, three-quarterback builds were a part of three of the six most successful builds in the 2020 Best Ball Mania.

New Orleans Saints stack could win your fantasy league

Jameis Winston or Taysom Hill and Michael Thomas. Right now, the betting odds suggest Winston is going to be the starter — currently sitting at -280 on FanDuel Sportsbook — but his ADP suggests people are worried about the situation, as his current ADP is 184.1, the 26th quarterback off the board. In 2019, Winston was QB3 overall, and in 2018 he was just 0.01 points per game behind Dak Prescott. This is the kind of pick everyone is uncomfortable making because he is not a surefire starter, but getting a QB with top-10 upside at the end of drafts is the kind of thing that can take down the Mania. Winston will force-feed his favorite target and lead them to huge fantasy games. In 2018, Mike Evans finished as WR8 overall, while in 2019 Chris Godwin finished as WR2 and Mike Evans finished as WR12. If Winston is the start you can bet, he will lock in on Thomas, who has less competition for targets than any other top-tier receiver this year. Gone are Jared Cook and Emmanuel Sanders, and the Saints didn’t add anyone of note in the offseason. Thomas is a year removed from being WR1 overall where he scored 67 more points that No. 2 Godwin and now likely gets a strong-armed QB who will attack down field with him and force feed his top target. Thomas was a top-five pick last year — now he is WR9 off the board and you can get him in Round 3. This is the kind of situation people avoid because of the uncertainty, but in the Mania I am big on taking the contrarian angle and am going to see if I can catch lightning in the bottle and finish with a top-10 QB and a top-three receiver for a dirt-cheap price tag.