4 FanDuel Stacks to Target in Week 2

Stacking in daily fantasy football on FanDuel is a key strategy and a way to shoot for upside. There are a few different ways to correlate lineups that can help us maximize our ceiling.

The classic stack is a quarterback with one of his pass-catchers. Sometimes, it makes sense to use two pass catchers with their signal-caller, especially when the target share is concentrated around two players.

In other situations, we can pair a running back and a defense on the same team. This makes sense when a team is a huge favorite and expected to dominate, which can lead to carries for the back and chances for sacks and turnovers for the D/ST. We also can look to deploy a game stack -- rostering a QB, one of his pass-catchers, and a pass-catcher from the other team. Game stacks can work best in matchups that have high totals and close spreads.

Our Brandon Gdula did a study on stacking that is worth checking out before you make your lineups.

Here are four of the best stacks to zero in on in NFL DFS for this week's main slate.

Buffalo Bills

Josh Allen ($9,200) and Stefon Diggs ($8,000)

It's often said that Week 2 is overreaction week in the NFL, so we can try to capitalize on that by rostering a player who everyone saw perform poorly in Week 1.

That player is Josh Allen, who had four turnovers on Monday Night Football. He also wasn't good for fantasy, with just 12.04 FanDuel points. He did have a difficult matchup, and his matchup gets much easier this week.

The Buffalo Bills face the Las Vegas Raiders at home this Sunday. The Raiders' defense picked up where they left off last season, which isn't a good thing for them. They were 31st in numberFire's schedule-adjusted pass defense metric in 2022, and they rank 23rd after one week this season.

Vegas also allowed the third-most adjusted fantasy points per target to wide receivers in Week 1. That's where Stefon Diggs comes into play. Diggs did not struggle despite Allen's poor game. He saw a 31.5% target share and turned that into 10 catches for 102 yards and a touchdown.

Allen might have a higher salary than he should after Week 1, but Diggs probably has a lower one than he should. This is a high-salary stack, but the Bills have the highest implied team total on the slate. This makes this duo worth using as a premium stack.

Seattle Seahawks

Geno Smith ($7,000), DK Metcalf($7,700), Tyler Lockett ($6,500)

Another player looking to bounce back from a poor Week 1 is Geno Smith. He had just 112 passing yards in a game where the Seattle Seahawks were trailing for the majority of the second half.

His performance wasn't too bad, though, from a real-life perspective. He had -0.7% completion percentage above expected -- according to NextGen Stats -- after being the second-best QB in that metric last season.

We should see him bounce back toward his 2022 form this week. Geno will face a Detroit Lions team that he was able to torch last season, and this is a Lions D that ranked 29th in pass defense in 2022 -- although they have added some pieces for this year.

Overall, no one really met expectations in Seattle's passing game in Week 1. The player who was closest was D.K. Metcalf, who saved his day with a touchdown. He saw five targets on 22 attempts from Smith. He got 58.9% of the team's air yards, as well.

Tyler Lockett saw just four targets but had to leave during the middle of the game due to injury. He returned to the game and will be good to go this week. Jaxon Smith-Njigba played only 59% of the snaps coming off an injury, so while he's a talented player, he's still the third option for the team.

These two teams matched up in each of the past two seasons, and the games had 80 points and 93 points in them. The total here is 47.5, the second-highest on the main slate, so playing this Seattle double-stack could pay off handsomely.

Dallas Cowboys

Tony Pollard ($8,000), Dallas D/ST ($4,500)

The first week of the season could not have gone better for both Tony Pollard and the Dallas D/ST.

The defense started off the game in dominant fashion, blocking a kick and returning it for a touchdown. They finished the game with seven sacks, three takeaways, and two touchdowns.

This set up the perfect game script for Pollard. He ended up seeing just 14 carries because the game got way out of hand. The usage was encouraging, though, as he logged four carries inside the five-yard line, resulting in two touchdowns.

It's not too difficult to see the Dallas Cowboys' Week 2 game playing out in a similar way. The Cowboys are 9.5-point favorites at home against the New York Jets.

If you somehow missed the news, Zach Wilson will be starting for the Jets instead of Aaron Rodgers. Wilson has taken sacks at a 9.7% clip in his career, with 19 interceptions in 23 career games. He'll have to face Micah Parsons and the ferocious Cowboys' pass rush.

This stack pairs the RB with the second-highest FanDuel projection -- according to numberFire -- with the defense with the highest projection. It makes a lot of sense to try to get both in lineups this week.

New York Giants

Saquon Barkley ($8,800), New York Giants D/ST ($4,400)

This is a similar stack to the one we just hit on but is likely to be far less popular.

The New York Giants were the team that got trucked by the Cowboys. They had a decent opening drive before the blocked kick derailed everything. The matchup this week will be much easier, and they should be able to better control the tempo in this game.

In a game where his team was getting blown out by half-time, Saquon Barkley saw 20 adjusted opportunities. He will surely see even more in this game, as the Giants are 4.5-point favorites.

They'll face the Arizona Cardinals on the road. Arizona's Week 1 performance was about as expected; they ranked 27th in offensive efficiency by numberFire's metrics. Journeyman backup quarterback Joshua Dobbs had just 132 passing yards and took three sacks.

The Giants have pass-rushers like Dexter Lawrence, Leonard Williams, and Kayvon Thibodeaux -- all of whom can wreak havoc against an overmatched offensive line for Arizona. The Cardinals will likely have trouble moving the ball.

Barkley and the Giants have a stink on them after Week 1, and it's hard to use about as much salary on this pairing as what it takes to stack the Cowboys' D/ST and Pollard. However, we don't quite know how bad this Cardinals team could be, and it's not too difficult to see this being a blowout in New York's favor this time.

Interested in playing NFL DFS? Head over to FanDuel’s daily fantasy football lobby to see all the offerings for this week's slates.

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The above author is a FanDuel employee and is not eligible to compete in public daily fantasy contests or place sports betting wagers on FanDuel. The advice provided by the author does not necessarily represent the views of FanDuel. Taking the author's advice will not guarantee a successful outcome. You should use your own judgment when participating in daily fantasy contests or placing sports wagers.