Sleeper Late-Round Stacks for Best Ball Tournaments

In large-field best ball contests, where we are competing with thousands of entrants, we want to maximize our chances of hitting a high-end outcome since the difference in payouts ranges from a hearty handshake to life-changing money. And the simplest approach to building a 90th-percentile lineup is by betting on big-picture outcomes; i.e., reducing the number of situations we need to get right. That’s where stacking and correlation can help.

As Michael Leone pointed out in his Best Ball Manifesto, having 3-5 of your skill players stacked with your QB in the regular season is optimal. So there’s no pressing need to reach for a huge stack; 1-3 stacked players per QB is +EV. And that’s where we can help.

The following is an ETR aggregated list of stacks (and smaller combos) that are manageable in the last handful of rounds of large-field tournaments. This list will be updated weekly throughout the offseason as players gain steam and are no longer stackable at ADP.

1. Washington Commanders

Terry McLaurin, Jayden Daniels, Jacory Croskey-Merritt/Rachaad White, Chig Okonkwo

Last-Round Flier: Antonio Williams

One year removed from an NFC Championship run with the league’s fifth-highest Success Rate (48.2%) and 5.7 yards per play (10th), Washington’s being discounted across the board for last season’s injury-plagued five-win burnout. First-year OC David Blough will reportedly implement more play-action, which Jayden Daniels has averaged 8.5 yards per attempt and a league-leading scramble rate (22.5%) from for his career. Terry McLaurin stands to benefit the most, registering career-high marks in end-zone targets and per-game points with Daniels in 2024 sans Deebo Samuel (free agent). Chig Okonkwo was gifted $14 million guaranteed as an explosive every-week starter, forcing 0.18 missed tackles per catch (10th).

Jacory Croskey-Merritt failed to win this backfield at any point as a rookie but, over the summer, was drafted as an eighth-round pick. Picking him this year includes a two-round discount despite Rachaad White’s inability to drown anyone in Tampa; the latter could open as Washington’s receiving back — JCM totaled nine catches last year — which makes this ambiguous backfield worth chasing. Third-rounder Antonio Williams, albeit undersized at 6-foot, 187, ran 79% of his career routes from the slot, producing 56/604/4 as an 18-year-old with Clemson (and stands out in the final rounds for it).