In general fantasy is all about diversification because if you load up on players from a single team, the variance becomes exponentially more likely to burn you when it matters most.  Aside from bye weeks, random weather events and just running into defensive buzz saws, it’s just general accepted practice not to put all your eggs in one basket.  Or, what if you simply got better at picking the perfect basket?  The purest feeling of joy in fantasy football is watching a receiver streak down the field, racking up fantasy points like a slots jackpot and knowing that you roster not just the guy scoring, but also the guy who threw him the rock.  Yes, this article is going to highlight the intersection of reliability and explosiveness of the best QB/WR stacks for fantasy.

10) Lamar Jackson and Zay Flowers

The 10^th spot on this list could have gone to a half dozen QB/WR combinations, but Jackson won the MVP and Flowers showed enough potential that he should follow up a respectable rookie campaign (77 receptions for 858 yards and five TDs) with a monster sophomore season where he manages to eclipse his already gaudy 24.4% target share.  The most convincing reason to draft Jackson and Flowers is that Flowers is clearly the lead dog in terms of WRs on the Ravens as Rashod Bateman and Nelson Agholor are who they are at this point.   The Todd Monken effect was real as Jackson saw his passing yards increase from 188 in 2022 to 229 last season.  What they need to do now is improve their deep-ball connection as Flowers has almost as many receiving yards as Tyler Lockett, but 400 less air yards.

9) Brock Purdy and Brandon Aiyuk

The Niners have a bit of a Catch-22 situation with Aiyuk.  Aiyuk (75 grabs, 1342 receiving yards and eight TDs) is at best a top-three offensive weapon on the Niners and that means while he can often be found streaking down the sideline in single coverage, it also means once the Niners get in the red zone, it’s as or more likely that they give the ball to TD monster Christian McCaffrey or TD dual-threat beast Deebo Samuel.  Aiyuk had a true breakout season and was second in the league in yards-per-reception with 17.9  and was only behind Tyreek Hill in receptions 20+ yards, but he was also the only WR in the top-20 for fantasy that didn’t have double-digit red zone targets.

Purdy himself led the league in touchdown pass rate (seven percent), yards-gained-per-pass attempt (9.6), yards per completion (13.9) and with often found Aiyuk with 24.4% target share.  When targeting a QB/WR, one of the main goals is that you don’t have to share targets or red zone threat and with the Niners that just simply isn’t the case.  Hopefully Aiyuk is able to ink a big deal before the season starts, but at this points it looks 50/50.  The Niners offensive machine will keep on ticket, but Aiyuk is sole player who really stretches the defense and is a threat to score anytime Purdy airs it out.

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