We have reached the midpoint of the regular season of football, which is crazy because it feels like just yesterday that we were all gloating about how great our teams were that we drafted. Now, we are licking our wounds and trying to figure out what happened to our teams that were so promising a couple of months ago! However, I digress; we are here to talk about Fantasy Stacks, so let’s get into it. Before we get into the stacks for this week, though, let’s take a step back and look at how last week’s stacks fared.
Want more data-driven stats and tools to help you win your fantasy league? Check out the Razzball Fantasy Football premium subscriptions for $0.00 upfront with our 3-day free trial!
A Look Back at Week 8’s Fantasy Stacks
The first of the Fantasy Stacks from last week was a big hit, with Jalen Hurts and AJ Brown scoring 60 combined points! Hurts completed 29 of 38 passes for 319 yards and four touchdowns, 130 yards and two touchdowns of which went to Brown. Even without the big fantasy scoring line, Brown had a pretty amazing day, with both touchdown grabs becoming highlight reels for the season, especially the first one:
UNREAL. @1kalwaysopen_
📺: #PHIvsWAS on FOX
📱: Stream on #NFLPlus https://t.co/Quwvdzpx7G pic.twitter.com/vwFT61DBjb— NFL (@NFL) October 29, 2023
The next two stacks didn’t pan out, though, as injuries kept them sidelined, especially Justin Fields, who didn’t even suit up for the contest. It was a huge miss on my part thinking that Fields might play, but even more so was thinking that DJ Moore would still be fantasy-relevant against the Chargers with Tyson Bagent throwing him the ball. Cole Kmet took the bulk of the load, and Moore was held to 9.5 PPR points.
Finally, there was Kenny Pickett and Diontae Johnson. Pickett left the contest early with a rib injury, unfortunately, especially given that Johnson received the bulk of the receiving work with 14 targets sent his way. Still, the early departure for Pickett saw him leave with only 3.92 points, making this Fantasy Stack a bust.
Sam Howell and Terry McLaurin
There is something kind of magical about Sam Howell. Is he the greatest quarterback in the NFL? No, but he is a ton of fun to watch, and a big part of that is him throwing the ball with reckless abandon. Okay, so maybe it is not that intense, but Howell sure does move the ball through the air a lot, throwing over 50 times this last week. Howell is QB8 on the year right now and is averaging an impressive 18.6 PPG. It does need to be mentioned that he has had a couple of bad games, but everybody does. The fact that he is making up for it by throwing the way he does in contests such as last week’s matchup against the Eagles is impressive to me. It was so impressive that it had me dipping back into the well of used Fantasy Stacks to select Howell and McLaurin again this week.
McLaurin has remained Howell’s favorite target throughout the year. He leads the team with 63 targets so far this year and is averaging just under eight targets a game. Even though he did not score the most out of the receivers on the team last week, he still saw the most targets with a season-high of 12. This should continue to be the trend for our incredible duo moving forward, especially going into next week against a vulnerable New England Patriots secondary. Expect McLaurin to ball out this coming week, with Howell targeting him early and often.
Will Levis and DeAndre Hopkins
I spent last week trying to make trades that put DeAndre Hopkins on several of my fantasy teams because I had a feeling that he is about to have a great rest of the year. Looks like the boat might have left the sailed with how well he and Will Levis looked out there this past week against the Atlanta Falcons. Will Levis completed 19 of 29 passes for 238 yards and four touchdowns. Not too shabby for being his first appearance in an NFL regular season game. The young rookie stepped up to the challenge this last week and scored 26.62 points in his first outing. Typically, I would want to see more from him before I’d be willing to put him in a lineup, but Levis has a favorable matchup this week against Pittsburgh. I expect him to take full advantage of the situation by targeting his best receiver like he did this last week.
That receiver is, of course, Hopkins. Hopkins hauled in four of his six targets for a whopping 128 yards and three touchdowns. It wasn’t the most targets he’s received, and it wasn’t the most yards. However, it was the first time he scored any touchdowns, and it was his highest yards per catch average. Levis has a cannon for an arm, and it appears that Hopkins is ready to take advantage of that by being downfield when his quarterback needs him to be there for a big play. I fully expect these two to continue to grow together and for Hopkins to really come to life for the rest of the season.
Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb
The last of this week’s Fantasy Stacks is going to come down to Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb. Prescott and Lamb have been quietly putting up numbers the last few weeks. Prescott is only QB16, but that includes a couple of middling performances, one of which he was not really needed for the team to compete for a win. Looking back at the past couple of weeks, however, Prescott has put up over 20 points in each of the last two contests. This week should be another fun matchup as they face the Philadelphia Eagles, who just let the first of this week’s Fantasy Stacks go off this past weekend. Dak has a good chance to continue putting together a streak of big points for fantasy players this coming week, something I am getting on board with while I can.
CeeDee Lamb, on the other hand, has been fairly dominant this season and secured the WR9 spot this week after putting up 41 points against the LA Rams this last weekend. He hauled in 12 of his 14 targets, scored two touchdowns, and had 158 receiving yards to boot. Lamb has been one of the league’s top-performing wide receivers since entering the league, and the young man is continuing to grow. Expect him to have another great week this coming weekend against the Eagles and for him and Prescott to connect for big numbers.
What is Your Favorite Fantasy Stack?
How about you? What is your favorite Fantasy Stack of the week? What is a Fantasy Stack I should investigate for next week? Let me know in the comments below!
For more from Richard and his Razzball content, find him on Twitter @gingerbe3rdman.
