Week 12 picks and stacks

Special to Yahoo Sports

Whether you are playing in the biggest tournament of the week on Yahoo or prefer to play in smaller GPPs, there are some general positional strategies that you can implement in any size tournament. These concepts include stacking, finding pivots off of popular players, and looking for leverage in other spots. While it’s important to implement these into your lineup-building approach, the foundation of any tournament lineup is a solid core — usually players you would use in cash games.

Stacks to Target

QB Jimmy Garoppolo, 49ers ($25)

WR Brandon Aiyuk, 49ers ($17)

TE George Kittle, 49ers ($24)

WR Adam Thielen, Vikings ($25)

We highlighted the Packers’ passing game in this space last week because the Vikings push their opponents into shootouts more than any other team in the league.

Week 12 pits a 49ers offense that is just hitting their stride against that same Minnesota team.

[Play in Yahoo’s Week 12 Million Dollar Baller DFS contest]

When adjusted for strength of schedule, the Vikings rank 27th in fantasy points allowed to quarterbacks and dead last against wide receivers. While that matchup favors Deebo Samuel just as much as it does Brandon Aiyuk, Aiyuk has averaged a 26 percent target share over his last four games, including 37% of targets in Week 11, and his salary is more than 50% lower than Samuel’s.

Since George Kittle has returned from injury, he too has averaged a 26% target share and he has converted all three of his end-zone targets into touchdowns after converting just 3-of-23 in his career prior to Week 9. Teams have thrown 64% of the time against Minnesota once inside the 10-yard line, the highest rate against any defense in football.

On the Minnesota side, Adam Thielen‘s salary comes at a $4 discount to teammate Justin Jefferson despite averaging 25% of targets since the Vikings bye week compared to 23% for Jefferson. San Francisco is vulnerable against short and intermediate passes (24th in QBR allowed on passes under 10…