The stack is by far my favorite way to build my fantasy teams. Of all the roster construction strategies, being able to pair a quarterback with his pass catchers has always proven most successful. More often than not, it has helped me get to several playoffs despite not having a superior roster. I’ve been playing fantasy football for 10 years now and never have I recalled such a great year for implementing the stack strategy.
Depth at the receiver position combined with the late round quarterback strategy has presented drafters of the 2020 season a prime chance at building productive stacks. More wide receivers are on the field per snap which is leading to more wide receiver production. The more wide receivers there are producing during any given game directly correlates to further depth at the position during our fantasy drafts.
In this article I will explain why three wide receiver sets are important, the rate at which its being used in today’s NFL, and how its contributing to greater depth at the position in fantasy. When we understand exactly why receiver is so deep and how to couple it with drafting quarterbacks in the later rounds, we can then build successful stacks. I will then provide three teams which I believe to have great stacking candidates.
QUARTERBACK AND WIDE RECEIVER ABUNDANCE
Draft strategies are born out of scarcity and demand of specific positions. For example, the late round quarterback strategy arose from the acknowledgment of the abundance of the position. The basic idea is that top 12 quarterback production can be found in the later rounds of the draft forcing an owner not to “waste” an early round pick on a quarterback. In regard to stacking this year, those early, middle, and late rounds should be directed at drafting the number one, two, and sometimes number three receivers of any given team as well as the number one tight ends of those teams.
Also under the abundance umbrella is the 2020 wide receiver position. This abundance is the direct result of more wide receivers seeing more playing time. In today’s NFL (on downs one through three during a four quarter game), the most common personal package is 11 man (one running back, one tight end, and three wide receivers).
Related | Is There Enough Depth to Wait on Wide Receiver?
In 2019, all teams lined up in at least three wide receiver sets 19,678 times (60 percent). Of those three wide receiver snaps 13,213 (67.1 percent) were actual passing plays while the rest were run plays. The average success rate for all NFL teams on passing plays out of three wide was 44 percent.
The Dallas Cowboys finished with the highest success rate at 53 percent. Only three teams finished below the 40 percent threshold. The Denver Broncos finished below the mean with 33 percent success rate. The Buffalo Bills and Cincinnati Bengals were second lowest at 39 percent.
What all of this means is that the three wide receiver set is now being used for the majority of the time. NFL teams are finding moderate success with it which is offering more options when selecting wide receivers in your drafts. We will now be discussing my three best option for late round quarterback and wide receiver stacks. For the sake of this article, we’ll be discussing quarterbacks going outside of the first 10 rounds.
THREE TEAMS TO STACK
1.PITTSBURGH STEELERS
QUARTERBACK: Ben Roethlisberger (ADP 129.6)
Even though Ben’s ADP is in the 13th round, it is late enough in drafts to reach for him a round earlier. Ben’s only drawback is that he has a lengthy injury history. Since 2012, he’s had a total of 11 injuries with only one season ending injury which was week two of last year. However, when this man is healthy, he is firing on all cylinders and is one of the best quarterbacks in the league. The draft risk is low as he is being taken well outside of the first 10 rounds.
In 2018 during Ben’s last fully healthy season, he led the NFL with 15 touchdowns on throws further than 20 yards downfield. When having played a relatively healthy season, en has always outproduced his ADP. In every season he has played at least 15 games, he has finished within the top 12 with two top 5 finishes and two top 12 finishes.
Fantasy Pros has Ben to finish 20th overall behind Kirk Cousins, Daniel Jones, Ryan Tannehill, Jared Goff, Cam Newton, Aaron Rodgers, Carson Wentz, and Drew Brees. At quarterback, the Steelers have the 11th easiest strength of schedule. With he and JuJu Smith-Shuster fully healthy along with the presence of Dionte Johnson, Ben is once again poised for another top 12 finish.
WIDE RECEIVER ONE: JuJu Smith-Shuster (ADP 34.2)
Here’s a fun stat; during JuJu’s last healthy season in 2018, he finished 4th at the position with 166 targets. Antonio Brown finished 2nd with 169 targets. Additionally, JuJu finished the season 9th among all wide receivers with 111 reception for 1426 yards and 7 touchdowns. News flash, Antonio Brown is long gone.
JuJu is a wizard out of the slot and I don’t expect the Steelers to take him out of there. In 2018, he finished with a PFF grade of 81.8 (15th at the position) and is in a line to soak up an obscene number of targets with Brown out of the picture. As JuJu’s production goes so does Ben’s. Expect both players to be contributing factors while significantly outproducing their ADP’s.
WIDE RECEIVER TWO: Diontae Johnson (ADP 9.9)
If you miss out on JuJu, this stack is still possible by grabbing Johnson later in the draft. Johnson might be my favorite middle/late round wide receiver to draft this year. This will be the second player to draft in this stack. His ADP has climbed a bit but is still affordable and could be a steal. He shined on one the absolute worst offenses in the league last year.
Of the rookie wide receiver class, he tied for first with Deebo Samuel with 18 broken tackles which was just ahead of A.J. brown who finished with 16. There is room on this offense for two potential top 10 receivers. The odds are in Johnson’s favor to be one of those receivers. Bet on him to finish with over a 1000 receiving yards if Ben stays healthy.
WIDE RECEIVER THREE: James Washington (ADP 20.6) /Chase Claypool (ADP 22.6)
These two players should be the last players drafted for this specific stack. For now, James Washington maintains control of the WR3 position in Pittsburgh. He is a deep ball specialist and in 2019, caught eight passes 20 yards or more down the field for 335 yards.
Rookie Chase Claypool may be even better than Washington at that specific trait and is a significant redzone weapon. He finished his 2019 season at Notre Dame with 1037 yards, 13 touchdowns, and averaged 15.7 yards per reception.
I don’t expect either player to completely overtake the other during the season. Unless you play in leagues with deep rosters, these two guys are more appropriate for best ball stacks. They are the prototypical low floor high ceiling plays.
TIGHT END: Eric Ebron (ADP 17.3)
Ever since the departure of Heath Miller the Steelers have been searching for a quality replacement at the position. Enter Eric Ebron. He has plenty of talent but has become somewhat of a journeyman. Ebron scored 13 touchdowns during his 2018 season with the Indianapolis Colts and that was with Andrew Luck. Outside of that, he’s failed to top five touchdowns during his six-year career. The good news for Ebron is that when the Steelers do find quality tight ends, they usually end up becoming the third pass catching option on the team.
Vance McDonald is still there however, and he has proven to be an effective receiver when healthy. Should Mcdonald go down, it would open up a significant target share for Ebron. He is a good addition for leagues with deep rosters, premium tight end leagues, or as a late round tight end dart throw. I wouldn’t count on him being an integral part of this stack. He is cheap enough to where you can cut your losses and get away clean if it doesn’t work out.
2.LOS ANGELES RAMS
QUARTERBACK: Jared Goff (ADP 14.8)
I’ll never forget the Vikings at Rams Thursday night game in 2017. I was going against the owner who had Jared Goff, Robert Woods, and Brandon Cooks. I can’t exactly recall the amount of points he scored that night, might have been around 94 if I recall correctly, but it was over for me before any of my players even scored a point. I’ve never tilted so hard.
I like Jared Goff. He is deadly accurate and mostly excels in Coach Sean McVays system but has moments where he completely flails. However, I believe that his talents heavily outweigh his faults and he can help get your teams to the playoffs. His ADP has him ridiculously sandwiched between Gardner Minshew and Joe Burrow. People don’t know what to do with him as he’s had a high ADP of round 10 and a low of 15. He is going late enough to be able to comfortably acquire the other Rams’ receiving options as well as filling up at other positions during our drafts. Unless he completely falls flat, Goff will finish higher than his current ADP.
Jared Goff’s surrounding talent is the primary reason of why I endorse this stack. The key main players being Robert Woods, Cooper Kupp (both top 20 at the position), and Tyler Higbee (top 10 tight end) are all proven players who make for amazing stack options.
WIDE RECEIVER ONE: Cooper Kupp (ADP 39.9)
I don’t think there really is a complete delineation of who the true WR1 is on this offense. I list Kupp here because he has a higher ADP than Robert Woods. A lot of people are down on Kupp this year. Some believe that he’s going to see fewer snaps due to more 12 man personal which would hypothetically replace Kupp with Josh Reynolds. I simply don’t see that happening.
When healthy, Kupp is one of the most productive players in in the league. He shreds zone defenses and is efficiently utilized by McVay. His receptions per game actually increased from 4.1 in 2017, 5.0 in 2018, and 5.9 in 2019. His yards per game also increased from 57.9 in 2017 to 72.6. in 2019.
More touches will be manufactured for him with Brandin Cooks now gone. I have no issue with him at his current ADP as he could prove to be one of the better values should he remain healthy.
WIDE RECEIVER TWO: Robert Woods (ADP 42.6)
Robert Woods is the Leonard Fournette of positive touchdown regression. Woods finished the year as the 17th wide receiver despite scoring only two touchdowns grabbing 90 reception for 1134 yards. With Brandin Cooks gone, his touchdowns should effortlessly bounce back to somewhere around seven to eight scores this year. This guy is being undervalued and is the most crucial pass catching option of this stack. Be sure to pair Goff with him if your waiting on quarterback this year.
TIGHT END ONE: Tyler Higbee (109.7)
Consensus rankings has Higbee as the TE7 overall. His vault into the top 10 this year was largely due to his production towards the end of the 2019 season. Through weeks 13-17, Higbee amassed 522 yards and two touchdowns.
Prior to that he remained irrelevant as he did not top 50 yards anytime before week 13. He has experienced a considerable deviation of a 9.7 pick fluctuation expressing peoples unwillingness to agree with ECR. I’m on the higher end of the Higbee spectrum. It’s going to be difficult for McVay to put the genie back in the bottle after seeing what Higbee did and it would be awfully ignorant of McVay if he did just that.
While I do believe that Higbee has a strong chance to finish in the top 10 at the tight end position this year, I don’t think its a make or break for the stack but rather, a nice added bonus. Because the target distribution has narrowed a bit, as long as two pass catchers are acquired from this offense, this stack will prove to be successful.
3. CINCINNATI BENGALS
QUARTERBACK: Joe Burrow (ADP 140.7)
This is an off-season unlike any other. Burrow has finally convened with his team for training camp and chemistry is being formed as we speak. He was one of the highest graded quarterback prospects to come out of college and is playing under Zac Taylor who once worked with the Rams under Sean McVay as their quarterbacks coach.
The Bengals offense was a non-existent last year. We don’t even know what the offense is supposed to look like. Their quarterback position was a mess, they were without A.J. Green, lost John Ross early in the season, and they rarely saw a neutral game script.
Burrow will be the one to bring balance to all of that. He has few flaws and immense upside. He very well might be the biggest steal at the quarterback position. Burrow also provides a safe floor which is due in part to his rushing capabilities. During his final two seasons at L.S.U. he rushed for an average of 383.5 yards per season. Hayden Winks of Rotoworld notes of Burrow’s rushing:
Joe Burrow "rushed" for 24.5 yards at LSU last year, but that includes the negative sack yardage. If we remove LSU's sack yardage, Burrow actually rushed for 39 yards per game.
↑, ↑, ↓, ↓, ←, →, ←, →, B, A @LordReebs
— Hayden Winks (@HaydenWinks) August 11, 2020
I fully expect him to have a few growing pains to start the season but strongly advise people who draft him to stick it out. He’ll round into form sooner than later and it may be the most profitable stack of the season. If I end up with any of his receivers, I’m willing to reach for him in round 12 despite his 14th round ADP. This is the stack that I am most excited about and it also offers all of it’s skill position players at the lowest cost.
WIDE RECEIVER ONE: A.J. Green (ADP 62.9)
A.J. Green took the 2019 season off due to an injury. He’s back with a fully rejuvenated offense and a stud rookie quarterback to boot. I do not have tell you the caliber of player that this man is. When healthy, it’s watching art in motion. The cornerback match up rarely matters.
At age 32, he’s considered in the twilight of his career but given that he’s had a year off to rehab, I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt. If he does end up getting injured, remember what we spoke about before; the wide receiver position is deep.
Green’s ADP is almost directly in the middle of drafts. He has been going as high 4.05 though, as the Green faithful have been making it known that they still have confidence in him. His lowest mark to date is 7.04. I’d be comfortable taking him in the sixth round and later due to injury concerns. Hopefully, he remains healthy and we’re able to watch him and Burrow coalesce into a beautiful stack for out fantasy teams.
WIDE RECEIVER TWO: Tyler Boyd (85.0)
This is Player Profiler’s best comparable player to Adam Thielen. Yea, I’ll buy that. Of all the pass catchers to build a stack with from the Bengals, I prefer Boyd over the rest. He provides the most safety in terms of floor and health. He’s cracked a 1000 yards in each the past two seasons and is getting over a 100 targets a year. He works in the intermediate areas of the field (eight to ten yards from the line of scrimmage) setting himself up nicely for higher percentage throws from Burrow.
Considering that Green and John Ross stay healthy the entire year, his target share should sit around closer to 15 percent. If one of them misses time expect that share to bump up closer to 20 percent. Boyd is being taken as high as the sixth round and low as the ninth round. I’m perfectly comfortable taking him anywhere in that range.
WIDE RECEIVER THREE: John Ross (ADP 18.9)
We catch rare glimpses of Ross’s talent. It’s like watching a meteor shower. All the conditions must be right, but when they come together, it is amazing to watch. If you acquire Joe Burrow somewhere in the early to mid teens of your drafts, be sure to grab Ross several rounds later. The man is the epitome of upside and when healthy, provides somewhat of a safe floor as well.
Last year we caught a glimpse of that upside in the first two weeks of the season when he put up 270 yards and three touchdowns. At his current draft range, this kind of weekly upside is exactly what we are looking for. His volatility is better suited for best ball formats but I don’t mind him in redraft. Just think of him as a cheaper Will Fuller.
