In week 18, monitoring news throughout the weekend is important because you will see teams resting players this week. This opens up values you would not see on a normal slate. The challenge is making sure the high-priced studs those values are allowing you to fit are going to be playing the entirety of the game. You should have zero doubt about playing time or if a team will be resting players in your stack.

We will see a large chunk of the field playing “cash” lineups in small-field tournaments. This presents a unique opportunity to play a lineup you would expect to see in a larger field tournament. Even if you hit the right stack in a large field tournament, it may not be enough even to hit the cash line because all the other players in that tournament are game-stacking.

In smaller fields, with only a small percentage of the field stacking games, when your stack hits in a big way, not only are you all but certain to cash, but more often than not, you are live to win the tournament. (I consider small fields 500 people or fewer, but I primarily play in contests with fewer than 100 entries.)

Each week I will go through a few game stacks to consider in these types of contests. As well as what I consider the most important leverage points of the slate

You will see quarterbacks you would never consider on a normal slate look like good plays this week. My issue with the Nick Mullens ($5100) and Easton Stick ($5000) types is that they are backups for a reason. I prefer to stick to quarterbacks at a little more of an expensive price tag who will be going all out to win. After all, we do not have to try and fit two almost 10K plays like Tyreek Hill and Christian McCaffrey on this slate.