Detroit Lions

FANTASY PLAYS: 49ers-Lions an attractive high-scoring stack

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 8:03 p.m. ET

With all the excitement around the NFL last weekend, it was one high-scoring Saints-Buccaneers game that brought home all the money in daily fantasy contests.

Tampa Bay quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick threw for 400-plus yards and four touchdowns, while adding another 36 yards and a score with his legs. Two of Fitzpatrick's top weapons, DeSean Jackson and Mike Evans, cracked the 100-yard threshold and accounted for three of the receiving touchdowns.

On the other side of the ball, the New Orleans was forced to play catch-up, leading Drew Brees to attempt 45 passes, the majority going toward Michael Thomas (16 catches, 180 yards, one TD) and Alvin Kamara (9-112-1). There was more than 1,000 yards of total offense in the Bucs' 48-40 victory. And the $1 million Fanduel winner loaded up on the game, playing Fitzpatrick, Jackson, Thomas and Kamara.

Stacking, or pairing a QB with a wide receiver or tight end, is a strategy that has been used for years by many of the best fantasy players to win daily fantasy tournaments. The Saints-Bucs game showed the power of "game stacking" — combining up to three or four players from the same game in hopes of a shootout. While it's an aggressive approach that can leave fantasy players in last place if it doesn't work, it will hit big when it hits.

One of the best games to consider stacking this weekend is the San Francisco 49ers vs the Detroit Lions. Jimmy Garoppolo was held in check last week at Minnesota, which finished as the third toughest defense in 2017 against opposing QBs. The 49ers should bounce back this week at home versus the Lions, who are on a short week having given up 48 points to the Jets on Monday night. The 49ers have the fourth highest team total this week with Las Vegas oddsmakers projecting them to score close to 27 points.

With wide receiver Marquise Goodwin day-to-day, Garoppolo can be paired with wide receiver Pierre Garcon and tight end George Kittle, who accounted for 47 percent of the team's targets in the opening game. If Garoppolo has a tournament-winning performance (300-plus yards or three-plus touchdowns) it is likely that both Garcon and Kittle benefit. The other value of a 49ers game stack is that you can "bring it back" with an attractive stack from the opposing team. Wide Receiver Kenny Golladay is an attractive value and his $4,800 price was locked in before he exploded Monday night for 100-plus yards and 20-plus fantasy points on DraftKings. Golladay out-snapped both Golden Tate and Marvin Jones, accounting for 93-percent of the snaps and receiving 12 targets, making him the top option as part of this game stack.

For daily users who prefer multi mass enter contests, composing 20 or more lineups in a single contest, the 49ers-Lions game is perfect. While Golladay is the preferred option due to value, all three Lions receivers are projected within 3 fantasy points of each other. Both Golden Tate and Marvin Jones saw 80 percent of snaps as the Lions ran a lot of three wide receiver sets and were both targeted twice in the red zone. Users composing multiple DFS lineups can game stack Garoppolo-Garcon-Kittle with Golladay on one lineup, Tate on another, and Marvin Jones on a third, ensuring that if the game does shoot out and the 49ers win, you have a lot of the combinations covered.