Week 18 has finally arrived. Most NFL teams do not care about Week 18, so why should we? Well, there is still money to be made out there, so we might as well be the ones making it. There are going to be all sorts of landmines on this nightmare of a slate, so keeping up with news and team-by-team motivations will be highly important. There’s a decent chance we’ll get screwed by some unforeseen circumstances, but that wouldn’t really make it any different than any other Sunday main NFL slate, would it?
Here’s who I’m lookin’ at stackin’ on Sunday.
Detroit Lions at Chicago Bears
This game doesn’t mean anything for the Lions, who were eliminated from playoff contention after a humiliating loss to the fucking Vikings last weekend. They will look to play spoiler for the Bears, though, as Chicago seeks the No. 2 seed with a win here. Dan Campbell says his guys are playing. He doesn’t really seem like a bullshitter, so I trust it, to an extent.
The Lions were pretty fraudulent this season, but this is an offense that should still offer a useful DFS ceiling. The news here is the Q tag on Amon-Ra St. Brown. If he plays, I trust he’s playing full. Pairing him with the $6,100 Jared Goff is the easiest way to stack this bunch, as the target tree has been quite condensed since Sam LaPorta went down. It’ll obviously condense further if ARSB is out, which would propel Jameson Williams ($6,700) and Isaac TeSlaa ($3,700) into more prominent roles. TeSlaa probably becomes a popular salary-saver in that scenario, but there’s a ton of upside given the cheap salary and his proclivity for finding the end zone.
As usual, I’m happy to slap Jahmyr Gibbs ($8,000) into any DET stack. The volume is still too significant to ignore, even if he’s had a painfully low floor on occasion of late. We saw the Bears’ defense struggle quite a bit last week against San Francisco, and I think the Lions put some points on the board here.
The Chicago side is also stackable against a Lions’ defense that’s really sucked for most of the season. This side could be even more popular because it’s cheap to stack. Caleb Williams ($5,900), Luther Burden ($5,300), and Colston Loveland ($3,900) is a high-upside double. I prefer Burden to DJ Moore ($5,500), but so does the field. Burden-to-Moore is an easy swap you can make if you need to lower your ownership product. Playing the two WRs and fading a chalky Loveland is also doable.
Arizona Cardinals at LA Rams
Has Jacoby’s magic worn off? Possibly. The Cardinals’ veteran signal-caller has kinda sucked in back-to-back games after scoring 20+ DK points seemingly every week since taking over for the dreadful Kyler Murray. Marvin Harrison Jr. is back out of the lineup this week, however, which has generally been a favorable development for DFS purposes.
Without MHJ, Jacoby is pretty much exclusively targeting Trey McBride ($7,500) and Michael Wilson ($6,600). Brissett is still a reasonable $5,600 here, which is helpful considering his priced-up stacking partners. The Rams’ defense has been tough for most of the season, but this is a likely meaningless game for LA. Will they play hard to try and make up for their bed-wetting last week in Atlanta? Maybe. I think we’ll see the Rams’ offense put some points on the board here, though, and playing from behind has suited the AZ stack exceptionally well all season.
McBride and Wilson are likely to be popular individual plays, but I’m happy to get them with a lower-owned Brissett here. If the Rams win this game, they set themselves up with a first-round date with the trash-ass Bucs or Panthers. If they lose, they get the Eagles. Pretty good motivation to win, I’d say. Puka Nacua will be mega-chalk on this slate, but he’s also one of the few reliable spends we’ll have on this slate. Obvious runback.
Honorable Mention
- Vikings – McCarthy + Jefferson. Mason optional.
- Eagles – McKee + Cooper + Calcaterra
- Jags – Lawrence + Meyers + Washington. Strange optional. Etienne playable in passing stacks.
- Giants – Dart + Hodgins + Slayton
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