Welcome to Week 17’s top fantasy football stacks analysis, where we’ll look at some of the best passing game options to consider for Sunday’s main DraftKings NFL slate. The concept to care about here is that quarterbacks and wide receivers generally have correlated fantasy point totals, meaning that one of them scoring points corresponds to the chances of the other one scoring points. For GPPs, we’ll want to keep an eye on ownership estimates, too, so the goal is to present a comprehensive breakdown of which passing game combinations could provide an edge in DraftKings DFS tournaments.
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5. Chad Henne ($5,100)/Mecole Hardman ($4,200), Kansas City Chiefs vs. Los Angeles Chargers
The Chiefs have nothing to play for in Week 17 with the 1-seed and home field advantage locked up for the AFC Playoffs, so they’ll turn to Chad Henne and a handful of backups for their final game of the regular season against the Chargers. The firepower is just about entirely gone from KC with the backups in, so the appeal here really just comes down to pricing. Henne and Hardman, as well as other receivers like Demarcus Robinson ($4,800) and Byron Pringle ($3,900), are cheap enough to allow for maximum roster flexibility in Week 17. There are plenty of other running backs and wide receivers on this slate to pay up for, and the Chiefs’ passing game makes all of that much more affordable.
4. Kirk Cousins ($6,300)/Adam Thielen ($7,400), Minnesota Vikings at Detroit Lions
Kirk Cousins isn’t likely to be very contrarian this week against the Lions’ porous defense, but there should be decent leverage with the Vikings’ receivers. Justin Jefferson ($7,600) has overtaken Adam Thielen in terms of DFS popularity, but Thielen is obviously still a top-end receiver in his own right and it appears as though he’ll be substantially lower owned in Week 17. The Vikings are out of the playoff picture and it would seem as though feeding the rookie Jefferson makes more sense, but Thielen benefits from the great matchup all the same and should be a strong contrarian play this week.
3. Tom Brady ($7,200)/Chris Godwin ($6,600)/Mike Evans ($7,500), Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs. Atlanta Falcons
Week 17 isn’t going to matter much for Tampa Bay, as the Saints already have the NFC South locked up and the Bucs are only playing for lower-tier seeding. Nonetheless, Tom Brady and the other starters are expected to be on the field, and they draw another strong matchup against the Falcons. Potential for limited playing time is a concern here, but it seems like that sentiment is going to scare enough people off of this spot such that it’s becoming significantly under-owned. Brady and his receivers could be in line for another huge day if the playing time is sufficient, and this is probably a shot worth taking in GPPs.
2. Kyler Murray ($7,500)/DeAndre Hopkins ($7,900), Arizona Cardinals at Los Angeles Rams
Kyler Murray wasn’t a sure thing to play this week after hurting his leg in Week 16, but it appears as though he’ll be on the field against the Rams. The Rams won’t have Jared Goff in the lineup which hurts the overall offensive potential for this game, but as a result there’s likely going to be very little ownership on the Cardinals’ passing game. It’s not a good matchup against a very strong Rams defense and the prices are high, but Murray-plus-Hopkins at low ownership is always appealing in GPPs. There are plenty of high-priced Week 17 stacks that people seem to be gravitating towards, and this clearly isn’t one of them.
1. Matt Ryan ($5,900)/Calvin Ridley ($8,500)/Russell Gage ($5,100), Atlanta Falcons at Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Revisiting the game between Tampa Bay and Atlanta, the Falcons look like potentially the best stack of the week despite this being a game that has no playoff implications. That would normally be a cause for some concern, but the Falcons have been playing meaningless games for the past several weeks already anyway so this really isn’t a new consideration for them. This matchup also might not be as challenging as it seems — the Bucs are very good defensively overall but far weaker against the pass than against the run — and the Falcons’ passing game had little trouble against them just two weeks ago when they lost 31-27. There are plenty of other teams with similar potential to Atlanta in Week 17, but the ownership on Ryan, Ridley, and Gage is low across the board and it makes for a very strong target in the NFL’s final week.
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