Best Ball: Three Value Stacks to Consider for Tournaments (Fantasy Football)

Summer is in full swing right now and our Best Ball Rankings and Best Ball Primer are live inside the Ultimate Draft Kit+.

Betz and myself will be discussing our favorite team stacks later on this week’s DFS & Betting Podcast but I wanted to jumpstart the conversation. Everyone and their mama know that stacking in Best Ball is the way to go.

On average 11 out of 12 teams in your league will have at least one stack. A QB-WR combination or a QB-TE pairing has to actually “elevate” each player. In other words, if BOTH those players fail to return their draft cost, or what we would call meet their “expected value”, then your stack decreases your player’s advance rate. For more detail on the statistic, check out Best Ball Win Rates & What They Tell Us.

Here are a couple of simple reminders to keep in mind about stacking:

• Value stacks are league winners.
• Early stacks have to be GREAT.
• Bad QBs can be elevated by their teammates.
• Find stacking combos of later WRs + later QBs for your secondary stacks.

Here are three teams with QBs going later that I consistently take as secondary stacks in Underdog’s Best Ball Mania tournament.

Pittsburgh Steelers

Team ADP

Team Stacks

The Steelers are a screaming value for us at all four positions. It was a slow start for Najee Harris last year dealing with a foot injury and we cautioned that he wasn’t worth a 1st round pick labeling him in our UDK Busts. But after the Steelers’ Week 9 bye, he was a completely different person. He averaged 21 opportunities per game, 88 total yards, and over 14 fantasy points per game en route to being the RB6 from Week 10 on. He’s being a bit undervalued this year as a 4th round pick as one of the few true every-down RBs still remaining in the NFL. 300+ touches seem a given if he’s healthy and the Pittsburgh offense should take a step forward in Year 2 with Kenny Pickett. I have him ranked as my RB11 and a good 15 spots ahead of the overall ADP. I love Najee’s draft cost and the ability to lock in an RB2 with an insane workload. Diontae Johnson is going to show up higher in our ranks than ADP. We are also pro-Kenny Pickett… ok, let us clarify: we are pro-Kenny Pickett being better than his 1.8 % TD rate as a rookie. Pat Freiermuth’s ADP is also outside the top-100 and he makes a strong TE1 in 3TE builds or someone we feel fine bringing as a TE2. I discussed being higher than consensus on Freiermuth on the most recent DFS & Betting Podcast. Pickett can be 75-80 % of Daniel Jones and at his ADP, that sounds like a win-rate player to us as a QB3. Expect the Steelers’ offense to take a step forward

Week 17 Matchup: Seattle Seahawks

• DK Metcalf
• Kenneth Walker
• Tyler Lockett
• Jaxon Smith-Njigba
• Zach Charbonnet
• Geno Smith

Cleveland Browns

Team ADP

Team Stacks

Watson and the Browns offense was porous in his final six starts but we can’t copy and paste 2022. In fact, the Browns might be a passing game to lean into considering there is a massive gap between Nick Chubb, Amari Cooper going in the first three rounds, and everybody else on the team. Watson is settling in at the end of a tier of QBs we feel comfortable targeting before pick 100. If you want to forget 2022 and flush it down the toilet, Watson is one of the fewer “later” QB with an established rushing history. Even if he regains 70 % of that rushing floor, you could find 4-5 rushing TDs in Round 8. I personally do not target him as a stack with the RBs. During his last three full years as the Texans’ starting QB, Watson targeted the RB position 14.7 percent of the time, dead last in the NFL. Last year, it was only 17%. Jerome Ford slowly is rising up draft boards as a valuable insurance back and worthy of an RB5 in lots of different builds. He seems like the direct backup to Nick Chubb so if you are looking for a late CLE player to correlate with. Elijah Moore feels like a buy-low in lots of different formats. Cleveland lacked a true slot WR in 2022 with Amari Cooper actually leading the team in slot receptions. Rookie Cedric Tillman and Moore have very different skillsets so if you project a jump in Cleveland passing volume, Moore could be a sneaky beneficiary considering how much we love the talent. Watson was recently quoted talking up Moore “… that’s what he’s been since he’s walked in the building. He’s motivated, ready to work, asking me questions. . . . Whatever I need him to do, he’s going to do it. He’s just like Amari [Cooper], very quiet but he just puts in the work. All the guys love him, he’s a great addition, and we’re excited to have him.” David Njoku, aka the Chief, is one of the better late-round TEs this year to target as his ADP remains relatively low. In 2022, David Njoku set a career-high in receptions (58) and quietly ranked 2nd among all TEs in red zone targets. He could see a spike in TDs if Deshaun Watson returns to a fraction of his former self. If you miss out on the elite tier of TEs and plan on punting off the position, Njoku seems like a good safety net.

Week 17 Matchup: New York Jets

• Garrett Wilson
• Breece Hall
• Allen Lazard
• Tyler Conklin
• Corey Davis

New Orleans Saints

Team ADP

Team Stacks

Chris Olave rightfully ascends into being a top-24 pick but a backdoor stack with Derek Carr should not go unnoticed. We’re not here saying Carr is the greatest thing since… well since anything. But the ADP (QB20) doesn’t necessarily match a QB who beat this ADP every year of his career. The weapons in New Orleans are more than adequate to make this offense the best in its division. Carr seems like a worthy QB2/QB3 especially if he goes at or after his current ADP and maintains similar production. He likely will not be asked to throw as much but the efficiency numbers could be there for him to finish with 3500+ yards and 25 TDs… a very Derek Carr-esque season. Rasheed Shaheed received some love this week from beat reporters that he might be running primarily out of the slot which is a boon to his value and opportunity. The RBs are also affordable although it’s hard having confidence in Kamara given his legal situation. Rookie RB Kendre Miller is showing up on a fair amount of my rosters. He’s super young (21) which is an encouraging sign when you mix in his production and an impressive 6.7 yards per carry in college. In fact, Alvin Kamara’s legal situation is a giant question mark and while free agent signee Jamaal Williams certainly should inherit a goal-line role, he just turned 28 so the clock is ticking. Miller fits in as an RB4 with upside.

Week 17 Matchup: Tampa Bay Buccaneers

• Chris Godwin
• Mike Evans
• Rachaad White
• Cade Otton