Best Fantasy Football Stacks for 2025

Stacking in fantasy football has gained steam in recent years, particularly in conjunction with the increased popularity of DFS and Best Ball formats. What are the advantages and disadvantages of this strategy? What are the best stacks in fantasy football this season? Here are some things to consider when implementing this strategy in your fantasy football drafts.

The What and Why of Stacking

Stacking generally refers to purposely picking players on the same team in the hopes that you can double up on points in the event of a big play. For example, if you have Joe Burrow and CeeDee Lamb in your weekly lineup, you need both of them to perform well separately. You are hoping for two separate but positive outcomes. However, if you have Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase, you are hoping for only one positive result. You need Cincinnati’s passing offense to perform well. If Burrow has a good game, Chase will likely benefit, and vice versa. Employing stacks generally makes more sense in Best Ball formats than Redraft leagues. If an offense has a breakout game, there is a greater likelihood that multiple players will reach their full potential.

Before I get to my favorite stacks for fantasy football leagues this year, I need to be a stickler when it comes to the idea of stacking. Stacking should not just mean picking players on the same team. Drafting Derrick Henry and Lamar Jackson is a great idea. They are both studs. But they are not a stack. Henry caught 19 passes in 17 games last year. The dynamic duo on the Ravens scored fantasy points on the same play roughly once per week. Stacked players need to score fantasy points simultaneously, which is why, for my money, all fantasy football stacks need to include quarterbacks. Christian McCaffrey and George Kittle are never (save for a trick play) scoring fantasy points on the same play. They are not a stack. Brock Purdy and either player (or both!) are a stack.

Potential Pitfalls

While there are certainly positives to stacking, there are also negatives. Most fantasy leagues require eight starters at various offensive positions. You can still win your head-to-head matchup if a couple of players underperform. But, in general, you need to hit a lot more players than you miss. If your stack has a bad week, you are really behind the eight-ball. Quarterbacks usually score more fantasy points than any other position group. It’s not easy to win your weekly matchup if your quarterback isn’t up to the task. Throw in a bad week for a player at another position on top of that, and you are asking for trouble.

Something else to consider when deciding whether to stack is a team’s bye week. The players you stack are obviously going to have the same bye week since they are on the same NFL team. Do you have enough depth on your roster to navigate the bye? Using the Cincinnati Bengals as an example, their bye this year is in Week 10. There are only three other teams on a bye that week. Among them are the Kansas City Chiefs and Dallas Cowboys. This makes all three teams (Cincinnati in particular) intriguing stack options. If you draft Ja’Marr Chase, you aren’t drafting CeeDee Lamb. If you draft Joe Burrow, you aren’t also drafting Patrick Mahomes. You will likely have other players at those positions who can fill in for your idle Bengals in Week 10.

Summary

Overall, stacking can be a viable fantasy football draft strategy in all formats, but especially Best Ball. Having said that, I would not take it too far. Utilizing fantasy football stacks is more of a tiebreaker for me than something I go out of my way to achieve. I participated in a Best Ball draft the other day, where I selected Jayden Daniels in the third round. After missing out on Terry McLaurin and Deebo Samuel, I had the chance to draft Zach Ertz in the middle rounds. I like Ertz, but I decided to draft a pair of wide receivers (Marvin Mims and Chris Godwin, for those keeping score) instead. Similarly, I decided against picking Spencer Rattler as my last quarterback, despite having drafted Alvin Kamara and Chris Olave.

Best Fantasy Football Stacks for 2025

In most cases, I will mention a team’s quarterback and then list 2-3 of their pass-catching options below. I would not advise taking all players on a single NFL team. Even in a best-case scenario, they would cannibalize each other in most instances. But they have very stackable components depending on how the draft falls. The ADP listed is from August PPR drafts via NFFC.

Cincinnati Bengals: QB Joe Burrow (ADP: 33.7), WR Ja’Marr Chase (ADP: 1.16), WR Tee Higgins (ADP: 29.54)

The Cincinnati Bengals can be a tough team to stack because Ja’Marr Chase is the consensus number-one pick in most formats. If you have a late first-round pick, you aren’t getting Chase. If you can pull it off, however, he and Joe Burrow form the top 1-2 punch at the QB and WR positions in the NFL. But don’t sleep on Tee Higgins. Higgins was ninth among wideouts in fantasy points per game last year. I have seen drafts where Higgins and Burrow go in Rounds 3 and 4, respectively. This is a solid stack as well. Honorable mention to running back Chase Brown and tight end Mike Gesicki. The problem with Brown is that he is usually off the board in Round 2. Gesicki has some Best Ball appeal but lacks consistency when the other Bengals skill players are active.

Dallas Cowboys: QB Dak Prescott (ADP: 89.68), WR CeeDee Lamb (ADP: 4.98), WR George Pickens (ADP: 52.54)

CeeDee Lamb is similar to Ja’Marr Chase in that they both go off the board so early that only a small percentage of fantasy football managers can realistically draft them. The good news is that quarterback Dak Prescott is being drafted much later than Burrow. Prescott is usually available after Pick 100, so those with Lamb can wait until stacking him. For those who miss out on Lamb, new Cowboys wide receiver George Pickens is a high-upside pick. The Dallas Cowboys are looking a lot like Cincinnati South, especially after trading Micah (or is it Michael?) Parsons. They may even need to be more reliant on the pass game if none of their running backs emerge. Jake Ferguson is a solid mid-round tight end who is looking like a value at an iffy position.

Philadelphia Eagles: QB Jalen Hurts (ADP: 43.3), WR A.J. Brown (ADP: 21.41), WR DeVonta Smith (ADP: 56.82)

Washington Commanders: QB Jayden Daniels (ADP: 36.83), WR Terry McLaurin (ADP: 44.51), WR Deebo Samuel (ADP: 78.29)

I am torn on where to place these stacks because their quarterbacks tend to love running the football. Because of that, each respective wide receiver does not get the volume that one of the receivers above does. That means their stackability ceilings are lower than the number-one receivers mentioned above. However, both A.J. Brown and Terry McLaurin are hyper-efficient with their opportunities. They combined to average over 10 yards per target last year. They are both elite red-zone threats and capable of scoring every single week. The pair caught 20 touchdown passes in 30 total games a season ago. Each team has a solid number-two wide receiver as well (DeVonta Smith and Deebo Samuel), in case you cannot acquire the services of Brown and/or McLaurin.

Kansas City Chiefs: QB Patrick Mahomes (ADP: 66.95), WR Xavier Worthy (ADP: 45.26), WR Rashee Rice (ADP: 60.71), TE Travis Kelce (ADP: 82.74)

Patrick Mahomes has been more of a game manager than a gunslinger over the past two seasons. Still, his QB8 and QB11 finishes in those two years are nothing to sneeze at. We know Kansas City can air it out if they have to. What could that look like in 2025? Wide receiver Rashee Rice has been suspended for the first six games of the season. That means Xavier Worthy should be the team’s top receiver early in the year. Worthy was a weekly top-30 option roughly half of the time in his 2024 season. Expect more of the same while Rice is out. I expect Rice to emerge as the number-one option upon his return. Then there is Travis Kelce.

It feels like Kelce has fallen off a cliff in recent years. However, he finished as the overall TE3 in 2023 and TE6 last season. That cliff feels more like a curb. Yes, he turns 36 in October, and clearly, he has other things going on in his life besides football. However, there is still a case to be made for Kelce, especially at a position that lacks consistency. At the very least, a stack including Kelce should be a solid option while Rice is sidelined. You can generally stack the Kansas City Chiefs in Rounds 4-6, depending on how you wish to configure your roster after your first three draft picks.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers: QB Baker Mayfield (ADP: 77.86), WR Mike Evans (ADP: 39.87), WR Emeka Egbuka (ADP: 68.22), WR Chris Godwin (ADP: 100.72)

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers had one of the most prolific offenses in the NFL last season. They finished third in passing yards despite 13 missed games from Mike Evans and Chris Godwin. Godwin’s health is a significant factor in how this stack ultimately shakes out this year. Godwin passed his most recent physical, but is still expected to be out until October. Enter rookie Emeka Egbuka, whose draft stock has skyrocketed throughout the summer. With Godwin expected out and Mike Evans entering his 12th NFL season, the hype surrounding the rookie out of Ohio State continues to grow. I was in a draft last weekend where Egbuka was the first Buccaneer wide receiver selected. This is the type of fantasy football stack that feels much better suited for DFS or Best Ball than Redraft leagues.

Detroit Lions: QB Jared Goff (ADP: 104.79), WR Amon-Ra St. Brown (ADP: 10.53), WR Jameson Williams (ADP: 52.57), TE Sam LaPorta (ADP: 69.77)

Minnesota Vikings: QB J.J. McCarthy (ADP: 137.68), WR Justin Jefferson (ADP: 5.88), WR Jordan Addison (ADP: 85.91), TE T.J. Hockenson (ADP: 82.55)

These two stacks share many similarities. They have a pocket passer leading what is expected to be a highly explosive offense. Yet fantasy football managers can routinely acquire their services late in drafts. Each team’s top wide receivers are weekly WR1 options in all fantasy football formats. Their secondary wideouts can easily alternate between having weeks where they finish inside the top-five and outside the top-40. And that’s not even factoring in potential suspensions for off-field issues. To top it off, they both have tight ends who are potential top-five fantasy performers at the position. They even both play in domes, which could enhance their weekly outlooks late in the season. Detroit’s stack tends to go a little earlier in drafts across the board, which is why I am partial to Minnesota’s group from a value perspective.

San Francisco 49ers: QB Brock Purdy (ADP: 110.34), RB Christian McCaffrey (ADP: 8.94), TE George Kittle (ADP: 41.35), WR Ricky Pearsall (ADP: 68.17), WR Juaun Jennings (ADP: 88.34)

This stack features four pass-catching options that have been going inside the top-100 in recent PPR drafts. No other team can make that claim. And yes, I am including Christian McCaffrey after failing to include Jahmyr Gibbs in Detroit’s stack. McCaffrey has 134 catches and 11 touchdown receptions in his last 31 NFL games. For reference, Jerry Jeudy has 144 catches and six touchdown receptions in his last 33 games. But I digress.

This quartet of 49ers could come down to personal preference and positional depth. I have George Kittle as my overall TE3, but he is a whole tier below the top two for me. Ricky Pearsall has been flying up draft boards in recent weeks. Part of that is the murky situation surrounding Jauan Jennings. I have a hard time believing that both players hit value, especially if CMC and Kittle remain healthy for the entire year. This fantasy football stack is likely to struggle with weekly consistency. However, the Best Ball lure is certainly there.

For more great fantasy football rankings and analysis, make sure to check out the 2025 FantraxHQ Fantasy Football Draft Kit!