FanDuel Stacks: Week 12

Zach Bahner

palmer-fitzgerald

As I sit here on this beautiful Thanksgiving morning in rural Indiana thinking of all the things I’m thankful for, many things come to mind. I’m thankful for my smoking hot, incredibly intelligent, amazing girlfriend, Jessica. I’m thankful for my family who has always supported me. I’m thankful for a stable job, no matter how stressful it can be at times. I’m thankful for innumerable things.

I’m thankful for Thomas Rawls going nuts last week and scoring 39 points, making our bonus stack crush value even without the Seahawks defense doing much of anything.

I’m thankful for three football games on this great Thursday, even if one of them is the Lions game.

I’m thankful for the Bills causing Tom Brady to have his worst statistical game of the year, even though he was in our highest upside stack last week. He and Danny Amendola only combined for 30.28 points. No real Dolphins fan can like Brady, though.

I’m not thankful for J.J. Nelson, because he made our stack of Carson Palmer and John Brown miss value by 2.42 points. If Nelson could have remained insignificant as he had the rest of the season, our stack could have been great.

I’m thankful Karl Safchick hates Matt Stafford, so I don’t have to be too upset about his stack with Golden Tate missing value. They only scored 31.48 points last week in what could have been a comeback week for the pair.

So, in the spirit of the day, I’m going to use a Thanksgiving theme for this week’s stacks (shocking, I know). Let’s get right to it. Remember, these stacks are intended for guaranteed prize pools with more than 50 entries.

The Turkey Stack

Matt Ryan, QB ATL

Julio Jones, WR ATL

Turkey is the crème de la crème of Thanksgiving food. If you’re one of those weirdos like my girlfriend who doesn’t like turkey, you can call this the ham stack. Without this, your Thanksgiving meal isn’t whole.

Ryan ($7,900) has a decent price tag this week, even though it is sixth among quarterbacks in the Sunday slates. Minnesota is middle of the road against quarterbacks, but Xavier Rhodes has been susceptible to being beat by good receivers. Unfortunately for him, he draws Jones ($9,300) this week. The rest of the Vikings secondary has performed pretty well, and Jones moves around the formation quite a bit, but it shouldn’t keep him from putting up high end WR1 numbers.

This tandem also has the benefit of playing at home in a game where there should be a high amount of scoring. Atlanta is currently only a one point favorite, so the game should remain competitive until the end. Pour some gravy on this turkey. It’s going to be delicious. [inlinead]

The Stuffing Stack

Carson Palmer, QB ARI

Larry Fitzgerald, WR ARI

I love stuffing. It’s easily my favorite Thanksgiving food if you aren’t counting deserts. It’s just so perfectly delicious. If you don’t like stuffing, I don’t know how to help you.

This week Palmer ($8,100) and Fitzgerald ($7,400) have the tastiest of matchups. They visit the woeful 49ers in San Francisco. The Cardinals are 10.5 point favorites in this game. I feel really bad for Jimmie Ward in this draw. He just won’t be able to stop Fitzgerald in this game. The rest of the Cardinals receivers have plus matchups, as well, but I think this is going to be a Fitz game. The Cardinals won’t be stuffed, but the Niners are going to feel like they’ve had their heads up a turkey carcass be the end of this one.

Green Bean Casserole Stack

Josh McCown, QB CLE

Travis Benjamin, WR CLE

As one of Thanksgiving’s most underrated foods, green bean casserole doesn’t get the respect it deserves. It’s often forgotten until you take that first bite of deliciousness. Benjamin ($5,900) has been forgotten. Remember weeks one and two when he was a WR1? Remember how he was the fifth overall receiver in scoring through week six? Well, he’s had a few down weeks, but he had to struggle through the quarterbacking of Johnny Manziel. Now, McCown ($6,300) is back under center.

In week five against the Ravens, Benjamin converted 6 of 12 targets for 83 yards and 11.3 points. I think that will be low compared to what he does this week. This is a redemption week for both him and McCown. McCown is likely playing out this year looking for a contract with a new team next year, as the Browns are going to be in a position to take their quarterback of the future in the draft in 2016. This is a game where these two should connect often. These green bean casseroles are going to remind us why we loved them so much.

Pumpkin Pie Stack

Brian Hoyer, QB HOU

DeAndre Hopkins, WR HOUhopkins-hoyer-2

I. Love. Pumpkin. Pie. My sister usually tries to save an entire one for me on Thanksgiving so I can enjoy it all week. It’s the best desert ever. In lieu of a nasty cranberry sauce stack, I decided to make a bonus stack of the best goodness you can find on the desert table.

Somehow, Hopkins ($9,400) was able to thrive after Hoyer ($7,100) went down with an injury in week nine. Now with him back healthy, Hopkins should really eat. While he doesn’t have the best matchup on paper, he gets consistent volume like no one else in the league. His lowest target total in any game this season has been 11. He still scored over 14 points in two of the three games where he only received 11 targets.

In weeks four through eight when Hoyer solidified himself as the starter, he was a QB1 in both total points and points per game. He’s going to target Hopkins often en route to a high scoring day.

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