I love daily fantasy games for a lot of reasons, but one of the main ones is the fact that you get to choose a new squad every week, with complete disregard to your results in the week prior. So what if you had Jamaal Charles and Ryan Mathews as your running backs in Week 2? Week 3 is a clean slate, and I am here to give you some advice on what running backs to add to your squad.
Before I get started, let’s go over a bit of housekeeping. As always, the good folks at FanDuel provide dollar amounts shown for players. If you aren’t playing there currently, follow this link to get started! Secondly, here is how my choices for last week played out:
Matt Forte ($8,900 vs. San Francisco): 6.1 fantasy points
Montee Ball ($7,800 vs. Kansas City): 10.4 fantasy points
Shane Vereen ($6,800 at Minnesota): 4.5 fantasy points
Terrance West ($5,300 vs. New Orleans) 16 fantasy points
Not a great week by any means, but Terrance West should have been a nice budget play for you, if you followed my advice. Now, let’s move on to my Week 3 running back picks.
Arian Foster ($8,800), RB Houston Texans at New York Giants
Rumors around the football world this week say that Foster’s workload will decrease from his 55 total carries that he received in the first two weeks. I won’t buy it until I see it. Foster is looking like he has returned to the form that he had when he scored 45 touchdowns in 47 games back between 2010-2012. The Giants’ defense is awful, and I expect for the Texans to control the clock a lot in the second half, which will lead to Foster carrying the ball. Foster is worth the high price tag, and is a great play this week in 50/50 leagues. In Week 2, the former Tennessee Volunteer ran for 138 yards and one touchdown with two receptions for 12 yards against the Oakland Raiders.
Alfred Morris ($7,600), RB Washington Redskins at Philadelphia
I normally am not a fan of backs without any pass catching ability in daily fantasy games, but something about Morris intrigues me this week. Maybe it’s due to the fact that Kirk Cousins is starting at QB. Maybe it’s the fact that Morris had a great game (22 carries for 85 yards and two touchdowns) last week against the Jaguars. Maybe it’s the fact that the Eagles gave up 149 yards rushing to the Colts. No matter, I believe that the Redskins will have to control the clock early and keep Philly’s high-flying offense off of the field, which alludes to Morris seeing a heavy workload. I like Morris in GPP tournaments this week.
Chris Johnson ($6,800), RB New York Jets vs. Chicago
The Bears are still not good at defending the run, and I think that CJ2K is in line for a great game on Monday night at home. There is no doubt that there is a committee in New York with Chris Ivory getting a large bulk of carries as well, but last week against the Packers, both Ivory and Johnson were on the field for 27 offensive snaps. If a dead split in the snap count occurs again this week, I like Johnson’s big play ability to propel him to a nice fantasy performance in both GPP tournaments and 50/50 leagues. Johnson ran for only 21 yards on 12 carries last week against Green Bay, however.
Darren Sproles ($6,000), RB Philadelphia Eagles vs. Washington
How this man is still only $6,000 is completely beyond me. Sproles had a career day on Monday Night Football in Week 2 against the Colts, catching seven passes for 152 yards and rushing the ball four times for 26 yards and a touchdown. The Redskins won’t be giving up only eight yards to Philadelphia like they did against Jacksonville in Week 2. I love Sproles’ big- play ability and modest price tag, and I will be featuring him on both my GPP tournament and 50/50 league lineup this week. Pairing him with Nick Foles would be a great play as well.
What running backs are you targeting for Week 3? Let me know on Twitter.
Categories: Daily Fantasy Football, Fantasy Football
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