Favourite Under the Radar Stacks

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One of the better ways to prepare for your fantasy drafts each summer is to indulge in some best ball drafts before your main draft. For those unfamiliar with the format, you draft your team, and that’s that. Your starting lineup in a given week is based on your highest scorers by position, and the computer automatically sets everything for you. There is no lineup setting, and there are no transactions of any kind- it is a set it and forget it type of deal in the truest sense. It can be a ( sometimes) cheap, enjoyable way to have some skin in the game, and it tends to be far more educational than your typical free mock draft where half the participants leave the lobby partway through and it turns into an autodraft fest. 

It is generally accepted that stacking is a recommended strategy in this format, especially in larger-scale tournaments. Remember, since you generally need 75th-80th percentile outcomes or better to make money in these types of leagues, we should be prioritizing upside. At the end of the day, the 6th place finisher in your league gets paid the same amount of money as the 12th place team. 

I’m not going to elaborate on the fact that stacking teams such as the Bills and Chargers offers incredibly high-ceiling outcomes – that should be obvious enough by now. Not to mention, those teams can often be expensive to stack, so opportunity cost must be considered. Compromising value just for the sake of completing a stack can sometimes prove to be a counterproductive approach. My goal here is to pinpoint high-ceiling stacking opportunities that may be undervalued on the market. If executed properly, nailing these types of stacks can prove to be an extremely profitable strategy . Without further ado, here are my favourite undervalued stacks of 2022. 

Note that these stacks are listed in no particular order. Any reference to ADP is from underdog

Jacksonville Jaguars

Potential Targets: Trevor Lawrence, Travis Etienne, James Robinson, Christian Kirk, Marvin Jones, Zay Jones,Laviska Shenault, Evan Engram

Favourite Cheap Stack: Trevor Lawrence double stack with Christian Kirk and one of Evan Engram/Zay Jones

I’m willing to give Trevor Lawrence a mulligan after a disastrous rookie season in a broken offense operated by Urban Meyer. After all, he was legitimately one of the most hyped QB prospects of all-time coming out of college, so the natural talent is there. Fortunately for us, nearly every Jaguar is affordable thanks in large part to the ambiguity of the situation. I am out on James Robinson at cost, but I personally have decent  interest and exposure to every other relevant Jacksonville skill position player, thanks in large part to how cheap they are. If Trevor Lawrence even remotely plays to his potential, then multiple players from this team will likely prove to be undervalued. The Jags infamously overpaid for Christian Kirk, but at the end of the day, he is still a talented player with a history of production. He would likely stand to benefit the most from a potential year 2 leap from Lawrence. Evan Engram’s bark has generally been bigger than his bite over the course of his career, but he is still a talented player who has flashed major upside at times. Given the wide open nature of Jacksonville’s target tree, and Doug Pederson’s history of enabling tight ends, there are certainly worse late-round dart throws to make. Considering you can poke major holes in all of his positional peers in terms of ADP anyway, this is a situation worth chasing in my mind. The other notable receivers have a very wide range of outcomes, but since the downside is so heavily baked into their prices, they are certainly worth keeping tabs on come draft day.

Detroit Lions

Potential Targets: Jared Goff, D’Andre Swift, Jamaal Williams, Amon-Ra St.Brown, DJ Chark, Jameson Williams, Josh Reynolds, TJ Hockenson

Favourite Cheap Stack: Jared Goff-DJ Chark

It may feel gross to openly advocate stacking a team quarterbacked by one Jared Goff, but bare with me. With a potentially elite offensive line, and a sneaky strong group of skill position players, it is entirely possible that Goff’s box score production will be propped up by environmental factors- at least enough to pay off as a QB 2/ 3 in best ball. In my opinion, most of the major Lions are underpriced simply because they play for the Lions. While there may be at least some merit to those concerns, it is easy to argue that there is an overcorrection of sorts on these prices.Swift, St.Brown and Hockenson are all generally off the board within the first 8 rounds, but there is still room for all of them to pay off at their current prices, especially if Goff performs better than expected. Swift in particular is an aggressive target of mine, and he could be sneakily stacked with Goff to provide an element of uniqueness in a sense,  since many inherently don’t think to stack running backs with their respective quarterbacks. There aren’t more than 3 running backs in the entire league with a more enticing floor/ceiling combo in the passing game than Swift. DJ Chark has become a top target for me at cost. While he has yet to replicate his performance from 2019 ( WR17 in half-PPR points per game), there is reason for optimism regarding his 2022 outlook. With Jameson Williiams on the shelf to start the year as he recovers from a major knee injury, Chark figures to start the year as the teams unquestioned top deep threat. If he and Goff are able to develop a strong connection, Chark figures to have major spiked-week potential and can easily pay off at his ADP of 138. Even if/when Williams does return to even remote full strength, Chark still figures to be a fixture in 3 receiver sets at the absolute minimum. The aforementioned Williams is certainly an interesting prospect. While I am mostly out on him in season-long ( unless it is a deeper league and you can immediately stash him on IR) , I am comfortable taking him in best ball beginning in round 15 or so. With his type of talent, he can potentially emerge as a late-season hero and win a lot of people some serious money. While I’m not necessarily expecting much out of Josh Reynolds this year, there are certainly worse ways to spend your last pick, and he has some sneaky early-season upside. He’s a guy that Jared Goff has trusted dating back to their time in LA, and he figures to start the year in 3 receiver sets as Williams recovers from injury. Even when the team is at full strength, he still figures to get some reps and could score the odd touchdown here and there. 

New York Giants

Potential Targets: Daniel Jones, Saquon Barkley, Kadarius Toney, Kenny Golladay, Wandale Robinson, Sterling Shepard, Daniel Bellinger

Favourite Cheap Stack: Daniel Jones-Kadarius Toney

Going from Joe Judge and Jason Garrett to Brian Daboll over the span of an offseason could not be a more dramatic change for the better. Said coaching change is a major reason why I’m targeting Giants players at cost this summer. Daniel Jones has mostly struggled in real life over the course of his career, but he has still demonstrated genuine spiked-week ability for fantasy purposes, largely thanks to his rushing ability.  Brian Daboll has rather famously helped kickstart Josh Allen’s career, and while I am obviously not comparing Jones to Allen, if there is one man who can coach up Daniel Jones and allow him to reach his potential, perhaps it is Daboll. At an ADP of 167.8, Jones is one of my favourite QB2 targets. Saquon Barkley appears to be as healthy as ever and can very affordably be taken in the 2nd round in most leagues. Because of aforementioned concerns regarding quarterback play, and also because of ambiguity with the pecking order, the Giants pass catchers are also affordable options, thus creating opportunity for profitable stacks. I was admittedly skeptical of Kadarius Toney last year coming out of college, but I feel the opposite this year. He flashed some major upside as a rookie in 2021, and should be considered the favourite to lead this team in targets in 2022. He is battling some sort of hamstring injury as of this writing, but with an ADP of 81.5, I’m still in. Kenny Golladay, meanwhile, might legitimately be cooked. Coming off a pathetic 37-521-0 statline in 14 games last season, Golladay was one of the biggest busts in fantasy as a ~ 6/7 turn pick. However, at an ADP of 151.1, with his history of production, and with the potential to be a top 2 option in a potentially improved offense, there are worse gambles to make. Some uninspiring clips from training camp have made their way to the Twitterverse, but it is important to note that even when Golladay was at his best in Detroit, he was never an elite separator or an aesthetically-pleasing route runner. He often won from grown man strength and would excel at hauling in 50/50 balls. That obviously does not guarantee a bounce-back season, but it is important to reiterate that confirmation bias can be a helluva drug. Even if he is indeed toast, the downside is heavily baked in at cost.  Moreover, Wandale Robinson and Sterling Shepard, despite coming off a torn achilles, remain viable dart throw options with more than enough room to profit at ADP.

New York Jets

Potential Targets: Zach Wilson, Michael Carter, Breece Hall, Elijah Moore, Garrett Wilson, Corey Davis, Braxton Berrios, Tyler Conklin, CJ Uzomah

Favourite Cheap Stack: Zach Wilson-Elijah Moore

As is the case with the other quarterbacks previously discussed, Zach Wilson has mostly struggled to date over the course of his NFL career. And as is the case with the other teams mentioned, there is also at least some level of ambiguity with the Jets passing game pecking order. However, I am not yet ready to pull the plug on Wilson, and there are a number of skill position players within this offense to be excited about. After a slow start last year, Elijah Moore enjoyed a midseason breakout before ultimately suffering a season-ending injury. The WR6 from weeks 6-13, Moore demonstrated some true gambreaking ability that left many within the fantasy community salivating as we enter the 2022 season. His ADP of 65.9 ( WR32) seems a bit low for someone with his type of upside. A lot has been made about how Garrett Wilson has been operating as the Jets number 4 receiver thus far in training camp, but I’m also old enough to remember when Elijah Moore started the season behind Keelan Cole on the depth chart. At his depressed ADP of 116.9, I am more than willing to take a chance on the 10th overall pick in this past year’s draft. It should surprise no one if he surpasses Corey Davis and Braxton Berrios on the depth chart and emerges as a clear-cut top 2 option in this offense. The aforementioned Davis is a fine pick at cost and can easily, affordably be stacked with Wilson.He will likely induce several headaches if you have him in season-long, but he is the classic case of someone who is better in best ball as your 6th or 7th receiver.  Braxton Berrios, CJ Uzomah and Tyler Conklin are not necessarily guys I am targeting in isolation, but they are passable last-round picks if the situation allows for it, especially if I am completing a stack. 

Quick Hits:

New England Patriots: Potential for a low-volume, vanilla offense, but almost everyone here is so cheap. There is also the potential for a year 2 leap from Mac Jones. I get the sense at least one Patriot will significantly outperform their ADP.

Houston Texans: Feels weird pumping this team’s tires, but Davis Mills is essentially free in drafts right now despite performing pretty well down the stretch last year. Brandin Cooks is a good pick at ADP, as Derek pointed out, but the real values here can be had in the form of Nico Collins and Brevin Jordan. If Mills plays anywhere near the level he did to close out last year, there’s a reasonable chance at least one of Collins or Jordan will be fantasy-viable.