Week 18 NFL DFS Stacks for FanDuel, DraftKings

Welcome back to another week of NFL DFS GPP Stacks! This is where I talk about the slate and give three stacks you should consider for your GPP lineups!

I generally make 3-5 lineups, because it is hard to nail every stack. I use a different stack for each GPP lineup and hope one of them pops to the top of the standings! If I win a GPP with one lineup and do not cash in the other few, I will still have a very nice day and win a good chunk of cash!

Before just diving into the picks for this week, some reminders about guidelines I use for stacks:

I want games with high point-scoring totals. When looking for a stack, we want to have multiple pieces of a passing offense to score a lot of points. We want teams that can score a lot and will score a lot through the air.

I generally want to fade a stack combination that is projected to be the most popular in the slate. This means I may choose to stack up that team different from the crowd, or I may do an outright fade. With that said, on to the picks!

Week 18 DFS Slate Context

As with the past few weeks with all the COVID protocols, it's difficult to know who exactly is playing and who isn't playing at this point in time. Additionally, many teams are out of the playoffs with not much to play for.  Information is changing rapidly and I suggest you check lineups up to the minute for the latest news and updates on players' status.

Wide receiver in general is the toughest position to figure out on this week's slate. The stacks below feature what I believe are the best wide receiver plays based on the information we have at this time.

This week, we are going to dig one step further to come up with the best stacks.

Week 18 DFS Stacks

(1) Arizona Cardinals

Arizona is playing for playoff seeding. Seattle has the No. 31 pass defense in the league, allowing 270.4 passing yards per game. This stack actually starts with Zach Ertz, who has been averaging 10 targets per week the last four weeks. Christian Kirk would be the second player to add to a stack if you wanted to, as he has 100 targets on the year. Arizona has 26.75 implied points this week, Seattle's biggest weakness is through the air, and regardless of whether you stack or not, you are going to want a piece of this offense in a lineup.

(2) Buffalo Bills

This only applies if Buffalo has a chance to move up in seeding. In order for that to happen, either Kansas City or Cincinnati would have to lose to move up to No. 3. If both Kansas City and Cincinnati lose, then Buffalo could move up to No. 2. If both Kansas City and Cincinnati win, I believe Buffalo stays where they are. In that case, Buffalo could potentially have nothing to play for and is a bit of a risk. If that were to happen, one would have to move to players from another one of the late games. As usual, I like Josh Allen and Stefon Diggs. One could add Cole Beasley if needing a cheaper player. Buffalo has a 28.25 implied point total. If they have something to play for, they have as high of a ceiling as anyone. If both Cincinnati and Kansas City win, this will be a stack to avoid.

(3) Tennessee Titans

Tennessee is playing for the No. 1 seed in the AFC. If they win, they are in. They have a 26.25 implied point total against the No. 21 pass defense in the league. After his sensational output against the 49ers on December 23rd, A.J. Brown followed it up with a quiet, two-catch, 41 yard game on January 2nd. Brown has as high of a ceiling as any wide receiver on the slate. Similar to the other two stacks, I am more interested in the pairing between Ryan Tannehill and Brown.

(4) Minnesota Vikings

Assuming Minnesota indicates they will play their starters the whole game, this is a sneaky play here. Kirk Cousins could be playing his last game in Minnesota and Justin Jefferson is just a beast in that he can go off any given week. Chicago has the No. 3 passing defense in the league. Cousins had only 87 passing yards the last time these two teams played, but it is difficult to shut down a division opponent twice in a season. I'd reserve this stack for larger field GPPs as an under-owned team that could score over 30 points out of nowhere.

(5) Chicago Bears

Looking for a stack that's even deeper? Look no further than the Chicago Bears. Allen Robinson is priced at $4,000 on DraftKings, Cole Kmet is always affordable, and the Bears are starting Andy Dalton. On top of that, Minnesota has one of the worst pass defenses in the league (No. 26) yet is favored to win. Chicago could increase their pass volume being the underdog and these targets are so cheap one can fit in top plays on the slate in the other positional slots.

Playing a GPP with Andy Dalton could seem gross, however, he is part of my biggest GPP win of all time and I will be running it back (four years later) this weekend.

Last Thoughts

With uncertainty regarding playing time on some teams, often having to deal with last-minute weird injury news, this is a week where the winning lineup may not be a three or four-person stack but rather some smaller stacks and correlation plays across several of the games and flopping the nuts. The Saturday Kansas City-Denver game has AFC playoff seeding implications which will impact some teams, the Cincinnati game as well could as well. If having heavy exposure in the later afternoon games, check the news and have pivots ready to go.

Thanks for reading, and I wish you the best of luck with your Week 18 DFS Stacks!

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