Week 14? Sounds right. I missed writing this last week because of some holidays, but #weback. Pretty good main slate on tap for Sunday, and there are some garbage teams I’m interested in stacking. Could be a good time, probably won’t be. The point is I’m playing against my better judgment, because I, like you, am a sucker for the gigantic NFL prize pools.
Anyway, here are some crappy teams I think make for good stacks on Sunday.
Miami Dolphins at New York Jets
Yeah, see? Shitty teams, that’s for sure. The Dolphins are occasionally not a shitty team, and it helps that they have one guy who kinda carries the offense every week. That’ll be De’Von Achane, who’s now up to $8,800 on DK after coming in as heavy chalk in recent weeks. Achane simply has the highest floor of any running back in the league these days thanks to his role as a receiver. Achane’s 72 targets rank 2nd to only Jaylen Waddle among Miami pass-catchers, and New York has been the 5th-best matchup in the league for opposing RBs this season. Achane is expensive, but it’s hard not to jam him in.
If you are, I think there’s merit to running it back with some Jets. Sounds fun! Tyrod Taylor is still only $4,900 on DK, and his two primary targets – Adonai Mitchell and John Metchie – are $4,600 and $4,500, respectively. If you’re a sicko you can roll the dice with Mason Taylor in the mid-$3,000s, I’m just not sure it’s necessary. Taylor is old, but he’s still a capable runner, which gives him something of a floor at that cheap salary.
Mitchell is a legitimately good prospect, he just got squeezed out of a role on a stacked Colts offense. He has 41 targets through 3 games in New York, which is a lot of targets. He only truly exploded last week. Sure, Mitchell is more expensive this week and coming in with much more ownership, but I also think it’s possible he’s still just way too cheap for this role. As things stand, AD looks like one of the best values on the slate. I’m less enthused about Metchie – who’s more of a possession receiver – but the pivot is viable if Mitchell is gonna draw 20x the ownership. I’d also be remiss to ignore a $6,500 Breece Hall, who’s back to playing most of the snaps now that the Jets have apparently concluded Isaiah Davis ain’t shit.
It’s pretty easy to jam something like Taylor + Achane + Mitchell with no shortage of salary left over. I don’t mind mixing Hall into NYJ passing stacks, either.
New Orleans Saints at Tampa Bay Buccaneers
This game sets up similarly. We’ve got Bucky Irving back for Tampa Bay, and he quickly shoved both Rachaad White and Sean Tucker back into lockers in his return last week. The Bucs clearly want to get Bucky as involved as possible as they continue to chase a postseason berth, and he draws an excellent matchup here against a Saints defense that isn’t stopping anybody. At $7,000, Irving is one of the most underpriced players on the DK slate.
Where it gets interesting/disgusting is with the Saints on the other side. New Orleans is likely playing from behind here, and they have no semblance of a rushing attack without Alvin Kamara, Kendre Miller, or any other NFL-caliber RBs. We’ve seen them let Tyler Shough ($4,600) air it out when playing from behind, and that’s what we can expect to see again here. Shough has a bona fide weapon in a $6,500 Chris Olave, while you can pair him with cheaper options like Juwan Johnson ($4,000) and/or Devaughn Vele ($3,700). Vele isn’t great, but he’s under $4,000 and he’s played around 90% of the Saints’ snaps over the past 3 games. The role is pretty secure.
Shough doesn’t have the same rushing floor Taylor gives you, but the target tree is condensed enough. The complicating factor – as has been the case with the Saints for like a decade now – is whether they decide to randomly let Taysom Hill do shit out there. Hill wasn’t involved last week, so hopefully that’s a sign of things to come.
I have minimal interest in Tampa Bay’s passing attack, though you can still sprinkle in a $6,300 Emeka Egbuka.
Arizona Cardinals at Los Angeles Rams
Guess what? More Jacoby Brissett this week. All this man does is top 20 fantasy points, and he’s still an affordable $5,700 on DK for a home matchup with the Rams. LA is a ferocious defense, but, again, we’ll see the Cardinals playing from behind here. Without any semblance of a viable rushing attack, it’ll be on Brissett’s shoulders.
Marvin Harrison Jr. injured his heel in the last game and he looks to be a doubt for this one. If he’s out, we know the ball is going almost exclusively to Michael Wilson and Trey McBride with a dusting of Greg Dortch. Wilson isn’t a punt anymore, but he’s still sub-$6,000 with the potential for a massive target share. McBride is $8,000, which is keeping his ownership very low despite the pass-favorable game script. I’m just doing this again. It is what it is.
The Rams are just a better, more expensive version of the Cardinals. We know where the ball is going here, too. With Blake Corum eating into Kyren Williams’ workload, we can probably safely ignore the ground game and focus on getting some shares of Puka Nacua and Davante Adams. Adams’ TD frenzy has lowered Puka’s week-to-week ceiling, though it does feel like just a matter of time until Nacua reestablishes himself as the league’s top fantasy WR. I think we’ll see lots of ownership flocking to guys like Achane, Ja’Marr Chase, James Cook, and Jaxon Smith-Njigba on the high end, so perhaps Puka slips through the cracks.
I’d rather not fade McBride if I’m playing Brissett, though I don’t hate the idea of slotting Puka into some of the Brissett-Wilson skinnies instead of Trey if salary permits.
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