It’s Week 2, which means we’re already 5% of the way through the 2025 NFL season. Time flies, eh? The schedule kicked off with the Packers tattooing the wobbly Commanders on Thursday night, and we’re looking at a beefy 12-game main slate on Sunday afternoon.
Unlike last week, we’ve got quite a few high-end QBs available this week. We’ve also got an extremely obvious $4,000 punt starting for the 49ers in a plus matchup in New Orleans. Stacking in NFL DFS may not be quite as vital as it is in sports like MLB or NHL, but it’s still typically the key to reaching the top of the GPP leaderboards.
So, who should you stack up this week?
Baltimore Ravens (vs. CLE)
They wound up getting a little overshadowed thanks to the Bills’ late-game heroics on Sunday night, but let’s not forget the Ravens still managed to put 40 points on the board in a losing effort in that one. Baltimore was firing on all cylinders offensively for the majority of the game, only to get undone by a rather poorly-timed Derrick Henry fumble late in the fourth.
This week, the Ravens will open their home schedule against the Browns. Cleveland’s defense won’t be a pushover – Joe Burrow can attest to this – but Baltimore’s 28-point implied team total is the highest on the slate.
Lamar Jackson accounted for more than 200 yards with a couple of passing touchdowns along with 70 more rushing yards and another TD in Buffalo last week. Derrick Henry did Derrick Henry things, averaging an absurd 9.4 yards per carry en route to 169 yards on the ground with a couple of scores himself. The passing game revolved almost exclusively around Zay Flowers, whose 7 catches matched the number all other Ravens hauled in combined. Flowers attracted twice as many targets (9) as any other Baltimore pass-catcher, and he found paydirt.
As a result, playing Baltimore looks pretty straightforward. You never have to find a stacking partner for Lamar thanks to his rushing ability, but Flowers is the obvious pairing if you’re so inclined. I’d expect this to be a popular tandem in tournaments, though Henry’s projected for more moderate ownership. It’s not conventional, but I do think stacking Jackson + Henry is a viable strategy, especially considering the Jackson + Flowers stack will be exponentially more popular. If Baltimore jumps out to a big lead – which is very possible given the 11.5-point spread here – siding with the rushing game script makes sense.
Cincinnati Bengals (vs. JAX)
In true Bengals fashion, they did not look prepared for the start of the season last week in Cleveland. Cincinnati managed to escape with a 1-point victory, but 17 points was an awfully meager total for a supposedly elite offense. Last season’s leading passer – Joe Burrow – mustered all of 113 passing yards, while Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins combined for 5 catches for 59 yards. Cincy’s lone receiving score went to – you guessed it – Noah Fant?
Fortunately for the Bengals, one game does not a season make. They’re back at it this Sunday in a #CatBattle with the Jaguars, who are riding high after a solid showing in another #CatBattle last week at home against the Panthers. Cincinnati also has one of the highest implied team totals on the slate (26.5), and they’re only favored by 3.5.
The Bengals ran just 49 plays offensively last week, but this game against Jacksonville is expected to run at a much faster pace. That obviously bodes well for production on both sides, and the Jags have been an exploitable defense against the pass for what feels like decades. Jacksonville’s pass rush is about league average, so it’s a softer spot than the Bengals faced last week against Myles Garrett and friends.
The best thing about stacking the Bengals is we typically know where the ball’s going – to Chase, Higgins, and Chase Brown. I expect Brown to garner a little ownership, but he’s likely to be relatively contrarian compared to Cincy’s passing attack. He’s still involved enough in the passing attack to merit stacking with Burrow in some lineups, while I don’t mind skinny-stacking Burrow with Chase or Higgins in lieu of the full 3-man.
Arizona Cardinals (vs. CAR)
In news that may shock you, it appears as though the Panthers may still be terrible at footballing. Carolina went out and got curbstomped in Jacksonville, 26-10, by a Jags team that might be average. The Cardinals are probably in the same echelon as Jacksonville this season, and they’ll play their home opener against those hapless Panthers on Sunday.
Jacksonville found success in all facets in this matchup last week. They racked up 200 yards on the ground – thanks to a terrific effort from Travis Etienne Jr. – while their passing attack was slower to come around. This Arizona team averaged better than 5 yards per carry last week in New Orleans with Kyler Murray, James Conner, and Trey Benson combining for 27 attempts. Benson’s level of involvement was a slight surprise, but I’d still expect Conner to get the lion’s share of the work for now.
As is the case with the Bengals, we know most of Murray’s targets in the passing game will go to Trey McBride and Marvin Harrison Jr. The vast majority of the field will use tight end as a salary-saving position, which makes flipping the build and spending up for McBride a pretty intriguing strategy regardless of whether you pair him with Kyler. He was wildly productive a season ago despite finding the end zone just twice, and I’d say he’s a good bet to score in this one.
You never need to stack a running QB like Murray with a pass-catcher, but I like it in this spot. Carolina’s complete inability to generate a pass rush leads me to believe Kyler won’t be running for his life on Sunday, but he’s always a threat to take it himself in goal-line situations. With Conner (justifiably) projecting for some ownership, I’m a big fan of leveraging that with the Murray-McBride stack instead.
Detroit Lions (vs. CHI)
There are enough high-end offenses on this slate to where some of the better teams will naturally fly under the radar. I’m very interested to see what happens with the Lions after last week’s dismal showing in Green Bay. The narrative will be that the Lions aren’t what they used to be without Ben Johnson, but it’s also fair to think they struggled against the Packers because the Packers’ defense looks completely legit.
Anyway, the Lions will return home on Sunday to take on Johnson and his new team, the Bears. Detroit is running it back with the same group of players that ran over the league just last season, so I see little reason to believe they’re suddenly washed. The Packers held Detroit’s vaunted backfield to a paltry 2.1 yards per carry last week, while they were able to generate consistent pressure on Jared Goff. It’s not a stretch to assume the Bears aren’t likely to find similar success in that department despite some early success against J.J. McCarthy last week.
Detroit is a bit more complicated to stack because they have so many weapons. Jahmyr Gibbs is the one guy here projecting to be semi-popular, but he’s not going to be owned enough to where it’s prohibitive chalk. I have no qualms whatsoever with fading Gibbs and taking the savings with David Montgomery in some lineups given Detroit’s fondness for handing him the football in short-yardage scoring situations. Given the salaries, even pairing them isn’t the wildest idea for larger-field stuff despite the perceived negative correlation.
Gibbs did have a team-high 10 catches and 10 targets in Week 1, so stacking him with Goff is very doable. None of Amon-Ra St. Brown, Sam LaPorta, or Jameson Williams is projected for anywhere close to double-digit ownership despite Detroit having one of the slate’s highest team totals (26.5) and playing in a dome against a defense playing on short rest that just got gashed by what was essentially a rookie QB. Seems like something to exploit, IMO.
Honorable Mention: Bills (at NYJ), Eagles (at KC), 49ers (at NO)
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