Every Friday, this article provides several FanDuel stacks. Most of these positively correlated combinations are best suited for tournament play. But some of the safer duos with high floors can be used in cash games. We'll discuss highly-owned stacks, dig deeper to find less common stacks, identify potential shootouts, and create strong lineup anchors with defensive stacks.
Highly-Owned Stacks
Matthew Stafford ($7,600) + Golden Tate ($6,700) = $14,300
Since Calvin Johnson's ($7,800) big Thanksgiving game four weeks ago, Golden Tate has become the focal point of the Lions' passing attack. Tate is coming off of back-to-back multi-touchdown games with more targets than Johnson in each of the last three. Costing $1,100 less than Johnson, Tate is a solid cash game play. And hosting the 49ers on Sunday should build on the Lions' recent fantasy success. On paper the 49ers defense seems to slow down passing attacks. But that's mostly due to San Francisco's terrible run defense and inability to keep games close. I'm not banking on a breakout game for Ameer Abdullah or Joique Bell. The Lions will torch the Niners with what's been working for them ever since Jim Bob Cooter took over as their offensive coordinator. They'll pass early and often to Tate.
Less Common Stacks
Tom Brady ($8,800) + Rob Gronkowski ($8,200) = $17,000
The Patroits' top duo is coming off of back-to-back games where they combined for less than 35 FanDuel points. Negative recency bias, relatively high prices, and a tough road matchup against the Jets will scare most people away. That's the perfect time to roster high-upside players in GPPs, hoping for a bounceback. There's plenty of value at other positions this week to create space for Brady and Gronkowski on your roster. Brady hasn't been this cheap since Week 5. And Gronkowski played well against the Jets with a 11/108/1 line back in Week 7. With Danny Amendola and Julian Edelman unlikely to play, Gronkowski will be highly-targeted again.
Twist: James White ($6,600) has 27 targets and two touchdowns in the last three games. He's a great combination of upside and value for a Patriots triple stack.
Shootout: Vegas' 45.5 point total for this game doesn't scream shootout. But so much of the Jets' offense flows through Brandon Marshall ($8,300) and Eric Decker ($7,600) that you'd be wise to add one of them to your New England stack. The Patriots tend to take away teams' greatest weapons. So much like Week 7, I expect the focus of New England's defense to be on Marshall. Decker is the better value.
Aaron Rodgers ($8,500) + Randall Cobb ($6,800) = $13,800
Rostering Packers is riskier than using Patriots, but the concept of picking high-upside, slumping players is similar. The sportsbooks have this one pegged as the second-highest scoring game of the week at 50.5 points. The Packers should be playing from behind. And the Cardinals just lost Tyrann Mathieu, one of the best corners in the league. He primarily covered the slot, so Randall Cobb should have an easier time making plays on Sunday.
Twist: Richard Rodgers ($5,300) should also benefit from softer coverage in the middle of the field. Arizona has been second-worst against the tight end over the past five weeks, allowing them to overperform by 49 percent.
Shootout: The Cardinals' receivers Larry Fitzgerald ($7,300), John Brown ($6,400), and Michael Floyd ($6,300) are priced in the opposite order of my rankings. Fitzgerald hasn't scored in six straight games and has failed to reach 10 FanDuel points in each of the last three. Floyd is one of my favorite receiver plays this week. And Brown is cheap enough that you could pair both Floyd and Brown with Cobb to form a shootout super-stack.
Defensive Stacks
Buffalo Bills ($4,600) + Karlos Williams ($5,400) = $10,000
Dallas has raised the white flag on their season. Dez Bryant is doubtful to play. The Bills are touchdown favorites at home. And LeSean McCoy is unlikely to play. Williams will get a lot of touches and has a high floor. I'm not concerned about Mike Gillislee ($5,300) stealing work from him.
Pittsburgh Steelers ($4,800) + DeAngelo Williams ($7,400) = $12,200
You know a team has phoned in their season when they spend most of the week talking up freshly-signed Ryan Mallett as their quarterback. The 10-point-favorite Steelers have the highest implied team total of the week and should have no problem defeating the Ravens on Sunday. Pittsburgh will lean heavily on their defense and running game in the second half.
Austin Lee hang-glided in Rio, climbed The Great Wall, and caught passes from both Dan Marino and Joe Montana. For more of his DFS insights, watch The Footballguys Daily Fantasy Hour presented by Rotogrinders on Wednesdays at 9:30pm ET or listen to The Audible's FanDuel podcast on Friday mornings. Also check out his Normalized Strength of Schedule tool or hit him up for advice on Twitter.