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Building backdoor stacks in an NFL best ball tournament on DraftKings

Derek's DraftKings Best Ball Millionare review

NOTE FROM MIKEY: Basement Brewed Fantasy Football is happy and proud to offer a space for friends of BBFF to share their own articles, thoughts and analysis, like what you're about to read below.


That said, please note that what you're about to read does not necessarily represent the views, opinions or beliefs of Mikey or anyone at Basement Brewed Fantasy Football.


Most of the time when I'm on the 30 second clock in a best ball draft, I have a pretty solid idea on the direction I'm going before the clock even starts. But there's always those few picks where you plan something out, only to see it sniped from you once your clock starts.


This situation is what separates the good best ball players from the great best ball players, and this draft - hopefully - showcases how you can pivot to create a team that can still structurally compete for the top prize.





Let's talk about the snipes


The board fell in a way that taking wide receiver in the first five rounds was the logical choice. It's not my preferred way to start, but hey - take what the board gives you, right?


Two of those five (Terry McLaurin and Devonta Smith) were paired with elite quarterbacks, so obviously those stacks did not happen, but the three others (Puka Nacua, Brian Thomas Jr., and DJ Moore) were still in play. I was aiming to get the Bears stack with the week five bye and then one of the Jaguars or Rams stacks, given both have a week eight bye.


As I come up to my ninth round pick, 106th overall, Caleb Williams is still on the board. Every player except for one - who is two picks ahead of me - has a quarterback already, and with me holding on to DJ Moore, it's likely that Caleb will be there at my pick, especially given his ADP is slightly behind that pick slot.


So pick 104, who again, has no quarterback, gets on to the clock...and selects Jayden Reed to pair with his prior-round pick of Matthew Golden, setting up a Packers stack for him. Excellent! Caleb Williams should be mine, so long as pick 105 - who already has Brock Purdy with CMC and George Kittle - doesn't draft Caleb Williams without a single Bears player on his roster. Plus, if he wanted another QB, he could just take Drake Maye here to pair with his Stefon Diggs selection. There's no way he would take Caleb, right?


Think again!


The pick comes in, and it's Caleb. Now it's time to make some tough decisions. I don't like most of the wide receivers in this area - especially not for stacking - and I just took three straight running backs. Do I want a tight end here? Or should I take a different quarterback and try to set up a backdoor stack?


And taking a different quarterback is exactly what I do, grabbing Drake Maye, who the guy before me seemingly didn't want for some reason.




You keep saying "backdoor stack" - can you explain that?


Simply put, a backdoor stack, as I define it at least, is when you take your quarterback before you have a skill position player selected for that team. In some cases that's pretty much guaranteed, like with Josh Allen, but you can do it with non-elite quarterbacks as well, as you'll see with this Drake Maye backdoor stack. Ironically, this team has two backdoor stacks built in, as I took Dak Prescott in the tenth round in this draft, too.




The team, position by position

  • 3 QBs

  • 6 RBs

  • 8 WRs

  • 3 TEs


Back to the default here. With Maye & Dak, I probably could have left this as a 2QB team, but I alerady had the optionality built in for either the Jaguars (Trevor Lawrence) or Rams (Matthew Stafford) set up, so I went down that road and it ended up working out.




The stacks


New England Patriots backdoor double stack

  • QB Drake Maye (pick 106)

  • WR Kyle Williams (pick 154)

  • TE Hunter Henry (pick 159)


The first of the backdoors are here. In this setup, I've taken a shot at an upside rookie who could end up being the WR2 in New England by the end of the season and paired him with a reliable tight end option. While I don't have the number one option on the offense, these guys both have theoretical (and obviously conditional) upside that could bolster Drake Maye's finish. I'm happy with the result here.


Dallas Cowboys backdoor double stack

  • QB Dak Prescott (pick 111)

  • WR Jalen Tolbert (pick 202)

  • TE Jake Ferguson (pick 135)


This one feels thinner than the Patriots one, but I'm a firm believer that this team might be the most pass-heavy team in the league this season, so even without the clear top two guys in the passing offense, there's contingent upside here on a week-to-week basis.


Los Angeles Rams double stack

  • QB Matthew Stafford (pick 130)

  • WR Puka Nacua (pick 10)

  • TE Tyler Higbee (pick 207)


Funnily enough, this was almost another Jaguars stack - I don't think I've ever done one of those in the DraftKings Millionaire Best Ball tournaments before - but Trevor Lawrence went a pick before me, at pick 129. Hey! The same guy that sniped Caleb also sniped Trevor Lawrence! At least he had Travis Hunter on his team by that point.


Anyways, Puka will be a target machine again so long as he stays healthy, and Stafford, so long as he stays healthy, will be buoyed by that. And Tyler Higbee continues to show an ability to command targets himself. I think this offense will be really condensed around four guys all season (Puka & Davante as the main guys, Higbee and, to a lesser extent, Tutu filling out the rest), so getting two on any team with Stafford seems like a winning formula.




Playoff correlations


  • Vikings RB Aaron Jones (pick 63) plays the Cowboys in week 15.

  • Lions RB David Montgomery (pick 82) plays the Rams in week 15.

  • Ravens RB Justice Hill (pick 183) plays the Patriots in week 16.

  • Commanders WR Terry McLaurin (pick 34) plays the Cowboys in week 17 - this is actually the reason I took the Cowboys stack and backdoored it!




The resources


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