Daily Fantasy Football Running Back Plays for FanDuel and DraftKings - Week 6  10/16/16

We covered our main cash game plays in our Week 6 Picks where we touched on Le'Veon Bell, Jordan Howard and Demarco Murray. For this piece we will touch on some of the other strong plays to consider on a week chock full of RB's.

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RUNNING BACKS

Christine Michael FD 7400 DK 6800
Opponent ATL
Proj Points FD - 16.81 DK - 18.44
Thomas Rawls remains out, leaving a majority of the Seahawks run game to Michael. The latter’s been solid this season averaging about 4.6 yards per carry and putting up an excellent 20/106/2 game against San Fran in Week 3. He’s averaging 19 carries and 3.5 receptions in the two games with Rawls definitively out and should see similar volume in this matchup against the Falcons. Atlanta’s been a bottom third team against the run this season and the Seahawks come in as one of the heavier favorites on the week at -6.5. With the game at home and the Seahawks utilizing the running game in a favorable script we could see a heavy dose of Michael here. Michael is close to (if not for sure) a cash game play this week.

Lesean McCoy FD 8200 DK 6900
Opponent SF
Proj Points FD - 16.46 DK - 17.64
As my cousin Robbie put it so eloquently last week while Mr. McCoy was ripping yardage at a sick clip:

You can see how hardcore Bills fans feel about the dude. And Bills fans are nothing if not hardcore. Shady may be back to the Shady of Old with the last three games seeing him averaging 18/110 along with some work in the passing game. He's not cheap, but that's kind of theme of this piece isn't it? There's a group of expensive guys who are all vying for your cash game consideration and Shady's one of them. He's facing a SF defense ranked 23rd in DVOA against the run and allowing opponents to run plays in bunches. Plus they've got a new QB under center and are just generally a mess. Could be another high teens running game for McCoy and his usage in the red zone definitely keeps the floor high for cash games.


Terrance West FD 6500 DK 5000
Opponent NYG
Proj Points FD - 12.01 DK - 12.4
Oof, see what I mean about running backs this week? There are some top end dudes we need to sift through and then there are the Terrance West's of the world. West is an interesting case and he, more than most other backs, is very game script dependent. There are games like the one against Oakland in which Baltimore recognizes an edge and hands him the ball 20+ times. Or they just roll their usual way and pass the ball a ton, leaving West completely out of the mix. It isn't like they turn to other backs in this situation, but rather just pass their tails off. The Giants have been fine enough against running backs this season though outside of Zeke they haven't much in the way of top end ground games. West will surely be off radars this week but if he sees touches in the high teens you could see him surprise here.

Lamar Miller FD 7900 DK 6600
Opponent IND
Proj Points FD - 15.47 DK - 16.74
What to make of Lamar Miller? Outside of a disaster blowout of a game against Minny in Week 5, the Texans have been full on willing to just hand the ball to the dude over and over again. The usage numbers rate among the best in the league. But the results? Oof. He hasn't scored a touchdown and really hasn't been all that close considering how many times he's touched the ball this season. You can't even say he's running bad in that department all things considered. But I do love the implied volume and the Colts don't have much in the way of defense. To continue the "Screenshots from my family" theme. My bro-in-law Casey sent me this:

Which can only mean one thing: play the guy. All family jokes aside, and not to play the gambler's fallacy crap of "he's due" but Miller and Texans stand to make up some of their usage into TDs at some point. Right?

Again, you can sign up for our NFL DFS suite of tools including full projections, optimal NFL lineups and our Player Lab, which includes filters to help you create NFL lineups for FanDuel and DraftKings for any format. It’s a set of tools well beyond anything we’ve ever had, and something we feel will help our users crush it this daily fantasy NFL season.

Sign up now for our new NFL DFS suite of tools including full projections, optimal NFL lineups and our Player Lab, which includes filters to help you create NFL lineups for FanDuel and DraftKings for any format.