A good Week 1 stack or two could help you maximize your shot to win a $1 million contest offered by NBC Sports and Yahoo Fantasy.
The Peacock has partnered with Yahoo for a first-of-its-kind million dollar fantasy football sweepstakes that will add a little spice to the NFL regular season’s first trio of primetime games, as if you needed another reason to tune in for the year’s opening tilts.
If you draft players from the following Week 1 primetime matchups and they score touchdowns in that opening game, you get free entries into the sweepstakes -- one entry per touchdown. As a reminder, here are the three season-opening primetime games, all presented by NBC Sports and Peacock.
Editor’s Note: Create or join a private Yahoo Fantasy league and enter the $1 Million in the NBC Sweepstakes. Download the redesigned Yahoo Fantasy app or click here for more details.
Thursday, Sept. 5, 8:20 pm ET: Baltimore Ravens at Kansas City Chiefs (NBC and Peacock)
Friday, Sept. 6, 8:15pm ET: Green Bay Packers vs. Philadelphia Eagles (Peacock)
Sunday, Sept. 8, 8:20pm ET: Los Angeles Rams at Detroit Lions (NBC and Peacock)
While bonus entries can be earned across multiple Yahoo leagues and teams, there is a limit of one bonus entry per player per touchdown. This means if you have a Rams player on two Yahoo fantasy teams, he will only get one bonus entry for each touchdown he scores against the Lions in Week 1. There’s a limit of eight total entries per person.
That these are some of the league’s best teams means you won’t have to veer off the proverbial ADP reservation to chase players with touchdown upside, or quarterback-pass catcher combinations (stacks) that could deliver the maximum eight entries into the million dollar contest. Below are some ideas for how to play it in redraft leagues if you’re intent on giving yourself the best shot to snag a cool million to start the NFL season. It should cover your office league entry fee, at least.
Running Backs
Running backs with locked-in goal line work are always a nice little addition to a fantasy squad. Touchdowns are good. We like them, and we like the guys plunging one yard into the painted area.
Derrick Henry - 15.3 ADP on Yahoo
Isiah Pacheco - 21.5 ADP on Yahoo
Henry should see all the red zone and inside-the-ten work he can handle in his first season with the Ravens. Ravens backs combined for 42 inside-the-ten carries last season and scored 16 touchdowns on those rushes. Henry, against a Kansas City defense that profiled as one of 2023’s most extreme run funnels -- meaning opponents turned away from the pass against the Chiefs -- definitely has multiple-TD outcomes in Week 1.
Chiefs coaches, including head coach Andy Reid, have been clear that Pacheco will function as a three-down back in KC’s high-powered offense. Pacheco had 20 inside-the-ten rushing attempts last season and nine inside the five. He’s as good a bet as any for an opening week touchdown.
Jahmyr Gibbs - 13.3 ADP on Yahoo
David Montgomery - 48.0 ADP on Yahoo
Montgomery is a cheap way to play it for touchdown purposes in Week 1. The Lions back is going well after backfield mate Gibbs in early drafts, and could — according to Lions beat writers — serve as the team’s short yardage and goal line back. Montgomery in 2023 had 18 inside-the-five rushes to Gibbs’ seven. D-Mont punched in nine of those opportunities for scores. Detroit last season had the fourth lowest pass rate over expected in the red zone.
Josh Jacobs - 25.8 ADP on Yahoo
AJ Dillon - 127.4 ADP on Yahoo
Jacobs should be Green Bay’s primary red zone back, though the big-bodied Dillon could cut into that role if he keeps up his good summer form. The problem could be the Packers leaning on the pass in the scoring area. Last year, only seven teams were pass heavier than the Packers in the red zone.
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Week 1 Stacks
Going all in on a Mahomes-based stack is hardly ever a bad choice, and after a summer of the Chiefs telegraphing that they’re going to be more aggressive in the pass game in 2024, we could see a return to Early Mahomes form in Week 1 against Baltimore. Chiefs tight ends and running backs are always targeted heavily near the end zone. That leaves Kelce and Pacheco as the natural stacking options alongside Mahomes, who had more inside-the-ten pass attempts (50) than every QB but Dak Prescott in 2023. Speedy rookie Xavier Worthy would also be a cost-effective stacking partner.
Patrick Mahomes - 28.1 ADP on Yahoo
Travis Kelce - 24.8 ADP on Yahoo
Xavier Worthy - 116.1 ADP on Yahoo
Jalen Hurts - 31.7 ADP on Yahoo
A.J. Brown - 10.8 ADP on Yahoo
DeVonta Smith - 52.0 ADP on Yahoo
Dallas Goedert - 109.4 ADP on Yahoo
Hurts probably has the best chances of scoring at least one touchdown of any player in any of these three games. The unstoppable tush push, if it remains the centerpiece of the Eagles’ goal line offense, almost guarantees a rushing score for Hurts, who can leg press at least one tank. Stacking Hurts with Brown or Smith is fairly expensive, if not sensible, in redraft formats. Goedert would be the cheaper way to play a Hurts-based Week 1 stack.
Jordan Love - 75.5 ADP on Yahoo
Romeo Dobbs - 133.0 ADP on Yahoo
Uncertainty about which Green Bay wideout will operate as the team’s lead pass catcher has suppressed the receivers’ ADPs all summer. It’s a welcomed development if you’re in on the Packers passing attack, led by Love, who had the seventh most inside-the-ten attempts last season (37). Doubs, who easily led the team in red zone looks last year, is a sneaky stacking option with Love.
Amon-Ra St. Brown - 8.0 ADP on Yahoo
Sam LaPorta - 25.5 ADP on Yahoo
Jared Goff - 104.1 ADP on Yahoo
Though the Lions were dead set on bullying their way into the end zone last season, LaPorta and St. Brown combined for 39 red zone targets from Jared Goff. Both St. Brown and LaPorta are great bets for touchdowns if the Rams-Lions game shoots out.
Puka Nacua - 14.4 ADP on Yahoo
Cooper Kupp - 40.0 ADP on Yahoo
Matthew Stafford - 127.0 ADP on Yahoo
The Rams have what could be the narrowest target distribution in the NFL. Nacua and Kupp are sure to dominate targets from Matthew Stafford when both are healthy. Against Detroit in the Wild Card round last January, Kupp and Nacua combined for a 55 percent target share in the Rams’ loss. It was Nacua who went ballistic, catching nine balls for 181 yards and a score.
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