Ranking Week 17 Matchups for 2024 Best Ball Game Stacks

    

Game Stack to Win Big in Best Ball

Game stacking – drafting players from opposing teams – is a key tenet of a winning best ball strategy.

It's especially powerful in big best ball contests like Underdog Fantasy’s Best Ball Mania V and FFPC’s Best Ball Tournament. The idea is to roster multiple players from a game that blows up for 50+ or even 60+ points to catapult to the top of the leaderboard.

We’re particularly looking to stack Week 17 matchups in best-ball contests – since that’s when the big money is won.

In Best Ball Mania, 10% of the entire prize pool goes to the contest winner. In the FFPC, a whopping 21.8% of the pot goes to the champion.

But stacking Week 15 and 16 games has value, too. You'll need to have strong scores in those weeks to advance to the next round.

 

Which Games Should You Stack in 2024?

Exactly how much value there is in stacking Week 15 and 16 games compared to Week 17 depends on the contest's advancement structure. And that, in turn, impacts how you should build your roster.

To pinpoint the best teams and games to stack in 2024 best ball, we studied the advancement structures on Underdog and FFPC and assigned weights to the importance of Week 15, 16, and 17.

We then assigned each offense a Stack Strength Rating based on that offense's overall firepower and target concentration. (More concentrated offenses are more valuable to stack.)

Finally, we matched each offense with its Week 15, 16, and 17 opponents to calculate the teams with the best playoff game-stacking value.

Here are the results for both Underdog and FFPC.

Underdog Best Ball Mania V Game Stack Rankings

Underdog advancement and payout structure:

• Week 15: Finish first in 13-team pod to advance, eliminated teams win 1.4x entry fee
• Week 16: Finish first in 16-team pod to advance, eliminated teams win 7x entry fee (on average)
• Week 17: Finish first in 539-team pod to win $1.5 million (10% of total prize pool)

Our stack importance weighting:

• Week 15: 1x
• Week 16: 3x
• Week 17: 20x

 

FFPC Best Ball Tournament Game Stack Rankings

FFPC advancement and payout structure:

• Week 15: Finish top 2 in 12-team pod to advance, eliminated teams win 2x entry fee
• Week 16: Finish top 3 in 12-team pod to advance, eliminated teams win 7.2x entry fee
• Week 17: Finish first in 81-team pod to win $300,000 (21.8% of total prize pool)

Our stack importance weighting:

• Week 15: 1x
• Week 16: 2x
• Week 17: 30x

 

Week 17 carries easily the highest weight for both Underdog and FFPC and should be your stacking priority in those contests.

So let’s rank the Week 17 matchups from least appealing to most appealing for game stacks.

 

Week 17 Best Ball Game Stack Rankings

16. Las Vegas Raiders at New Orleans Saints
15. Carolina Panthers at Tampa Bay Buccaneers
14. Los Angeles Chargers at New England Patriots
13. Indianapolis Colts at New York Giants
12. Tennessee Titans at Jacksonville Jaguars
11. Atlanta Falcons at Washington Commanders
10. Kansas City Chiefs at Pittsburgh Steelers
9. Denver Broncos at Cincinnati Bengals
8. Seattle Seahawks at Chicago Bears
7. Green Bay Packers at Minnesota Vikings
6. New York Jets at Buffalo Bills
5. Arizona Cardinals at Los Angeles Rams
4. Miami Dolphins at Cleveland Browns
3. Baltimore Ravens at Houston Texans
2. Dallas Cowboys at Philadelphia Eagles
1. Detroit Lions at San Francisco 49ers

 

16. Las Vegas Raiders at New Orleans Saints

DraftKings Projected Total: 43.0 points

Neither QB situation in this game is exciting in best ball drafts. And there's not much to get excited about in the pass-catching corps outside of Chris Olave, Davante Adams, and Brock Bowers.

The best we can say for this game is that it'll be played indoors.

15. Carolina Panthers at Tampa Bay Buccaneers

DraftKings Projected Total: 43.0 points

The Dave Canales Bowl.

We'll see how big a difference Canales makes for a Panthers team that finished dead last in both total yards and points last year. We're not betting on this becoming a high-upside offense.

The Bucs, meanwhile, could take a step back sans Canales. It's at least a concentrated offense with Rachaad White, Mike Evans, and Chris Godwin handling most of the work.

But do you really think a Bryce Young-Baker Mayfield matchup is winning you $1.5 million?

14. Los Angeles Chargers at New England Patriots

DraftKings Projected Total: 41.0 points

This game has the lowest projected total of Week 17. We're a tad more optimistic for two reasons:

1. Justin Herbert has the firepower to elevate any game.
2. The Patriots offense might be hitting its stride at this point with talented rookie QB Drake Maye.

This is also a very cheap game to stack on both sides.

13. Indianapolis Colts at New York Giants

DraftKings Projected Total: 43.5 points

Both of these offenses come into 2024 with questions, specifically at QB.

Can Anthony Richardson hold up? 

Can Daniel Jones bounce back?

There's upside to this game if both offenses click, though. And the Giants stack is very cheap in best ball drafts.

12. Tennessee Titans at Jacksonville Jaguars

DraftKings Projected Total: 46.0 points

The ceiling on this game likely hinges on Will Levis. If he gets rolling in his second season, this game might belong much higher on this list.

The Tennessee and Jacksonville passing games are reasonably priced in best ball drafts.

11. Atlanta Falcons at Washington Commanders

DraftKings Projected Total: 46.0 points

Here's another game with a wide range of outcomes. If Kirk Cousins bounces back from his Achilles' tear and Jayden Daniels fires as a rookie, this one has shootout potential. This could also be Michael Penix vs. a struggling Daniels.

The Commanders defense again projects to be one of the worst in the league.

Worth noting: This game's projected total is tied for fifth highest in Week 17.

10. Kansas City Chiefs at Pittsburgh Steelers

DraftKings Projected Total: 42.5 points

This is a tricky game, pitting our top-ranked offense in Stack Strength against our 32nd-ranked offense. Whether this game delivers will come down to the Steelers' ability to put up enough points to keep it close.

The oddsmakers aren't very optimistic, slapping this game with the second-lowest projected total of the week.

9. Denver Broncos at Cincinnati Bengals

DraftKings Projected Total: 45.5 points

The Bengals' offense is an easy bounce-back bet this year with better health from QB Joe Burrow.

The Broncos are a bigger question after a mediocre first season under HC Sean Payton. Stacking Denver is at least cheap, which offsets the high price tags on the key Bengals.

 

8. Seattle Seahawks at Chicago Bears

DraftKings Projected Total: 45.5 points

The Bears could take a huge step forward in both passing volume and production this year under new OC Shane Waldron and new QB Caleb Williams.

The Seahawks, meanwhile, look like one of the better value stacks on the board right now, according to our ADP Market Index.

7. Green Bay Packers at Minnesota Vikings

DraftKings Projected Total: 45.5 points

Jordan Love was one of the league's best QBs in the second half of last season and could take another step forward in 2024. The tricky part with the Packers is figuring out which WRs to stack with Love. None is expensive, which means you can take shots on them all.

The Vikings are a bigger question mark sans Kirk Cousins. But we expect this to remain a pass-leaning offense under HC Kevin O'Connell.

This game will be played indoors.

6. New York Jets at Buffalo Bills

DraftKings Projected Total: 45.5 points

The Bills have failed to top 20 points in three of their last four meetings with a tough Jets defense.

Better play from the Jets offense to push Josh Allen and Co. would help. Hopefully we get that with a healthy season from Aaron Rodgers.

Weather could be a problem in this game.

5. Arizona Cardinals at Los Angeles Rams

DraftKings Projected Total: 48.0 points

This game (surprisingly) has the second-highest projected total in Week 17.

The Cardinals offense should take a nice leap in 2024 with a healthy Kyler Murray and the addition of Marvin Harrison Jr.

The Rams sport one of the most concentrated passing games in the NFL with Puka Nacua and Cooper Kupp dominating targets. But don't sleep on Demarcus Robinson as a late-round target, especially on Matthew Stafford teams.

4. Miami Dolphins at Cleveland Browns

DraftKings Projected Total: 44.5 points

The Dolphins were one of the most valuable stacks last year, with a lofty weekly ceiling and a concentrated target tree.

We saw Cleveland's upside late last season with Joe Flacco under center. A bounce-back season from Deshaun Watson would give this game major shootout potential.

Hopefully the Cleveland weather cooperates.

3. Baltimore Ravens at Houston Texans

DraftKings Projected Total: 46.5 points

The Texans' passing game could be special in C.J. Stroud's second season and with the addition of Stefon Diggs. 

Lamar Jackson and the Ravens alway brings blowup potential. They scored 30+ points eight times last season -- tied for fourth most.

There will be no weather concerns in this game.

2. Dallas Cowboys at Philadelphia Eagles

DraftKings Projected Total: 47.0 points

Stacking this game is expensive but could certainly pay off.

The last six meetings between these division rivals have produced the following point totals:

• 62
• 77
• 43
• 74
• 51
• 46

1. Detroit Lions at San Francisco 49ers

SuperBook Projected Total: 48.5 points

This game's projected total is 1.5 points higher than any other. And for good reason.

These teams both finished top three in total yards and top five in points last season. They met in last year's playoffs and produced 65 points. And both offenses return all their key pieces this season.

The only thing that would make this matchup hotter is if it was played in Detroit. But weather is unlikely to be a problem in Santa Clara.

 

Top 5 Week 15 Game Stacks

1. Miami Dolphins at Houston Texans
2. Los Angeles Rams at San Francisco 49ers
3. Buffalo Bills at Detroit Lions
4. Kansas City Chiefs at Cleveland Browns
5. Green Bay Packers at Seattle Seahawks

 

Top 5 Week 16 Game Stacks

1. Houston Texans at Kansas City Chiefs
2. San Francisco 49ers at Miami Dolphins
3. Los Angeles Rams at New York Jets
4. Cleveland Browns at Cincinnati Bengals
5. Detroit Lions at Chicago Bears

 

Ready to Draft Money-Making Best Ball Game Stacks?

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