Daily Fantasy Football Running Back Picks for FanDuel and DraftKings Week 2 - 9/17/17

We already covered Ezekiel Elliott, Melvin Gordon and Ty Montgomery in our main picks article article. For this article we’ll cover some more cash game considerations as well as some tournament targets.

Unlike Week 1, the ownership at RB in cash games could be much more spread out with some rookies taking off last Sunday and other chalkier guys falling short. Let’s take a look at some of the other Week 2 RB’s we can consider

Now’s your chance to get DFSR PRO, which will give you access to our NFL optimizer for FanDuel and DraftKings, our MLB Optimizer, and our new Player Lab! Get started for free by clicking the button below.

First time with NFL? Be sure to read our free MLB and NFL Ebooks on building lineups, general strategy and more. We've got you completely covered.

Le'Veon Bell FD 9000 DK 9800
Opponent MIN
Proj Points FD - 18.39 DK - 20.6
Well, it didn’t take long for Bell to fall out of the main set of picks. That’ll happen when your Week 1 looked something like his 10/32/0 ground game against a Cleveland team horrific against the run last season. It was a brutal performance by a highly-owned Bell who now leave many of us wondering about his role going forward. It isn’t smart to completely overreact to one game, especially for a guy who missed the whole preseason, but it’s at least a little concerning how much the Steelers used him. That being said, we are likely to get low ownership on a guy who has as much week-to-week upside as anyone in the game. Bell is elite, and it’s hard to imagine too many weeks like last one. He doesn’t draw a great matchup

Christian McCaffrey FD 6600 DK 5600
Opponent BUF
Proj Points FD - 14.46 DK - 16.56
The overall output wasn’t anything to write home about (to his famous, former pro dad Ed) but there’s a lot to like about McCaffrey’s first game in the pros. He though Jonathan Stewart led the team in carries, McCaffrey out-snapped the former 47 to 29 (per FantasyData) and the two finished with the same amount of overall relative volume (Rush Att + Targets) at 20 looks total. One very much has to assume this is the Panthers’ plan this season after showing their hand in Week 1 and outside of some gross incompetence on the of CMc, you’d have to think they choose to favor the rookie going forward. I love the upside here and think he comes in wildly underowned based on a rather lackluster first game.

Jacquizz Rodgers FD 6600 DK 4400
Opponent CHI
Proj Points FD - 11.58 DK - 12.75
We saw a significant dearth of offensive production in Week 1, something that can possibly be attributed to "rust" in the sense that few teams spend the preseason playing anything close to live, game-action football. That could be the case with the Bucs going into this week considering they had a "bye" week because of the hurricane. But they still enter the game as favorites at home against the Bears and the Rodgers will be the feature back thanks to the Doug Martin suspension. Last year as a starter Rodgers averaged a 21/92 line on the ground and saw an occassional target through the air. The Bucs were fine making him a lead back and I suspect we something similar this week. He's coming very cheap, especially on DraftKings, against a Bears team that was shredded on the ground last season (though looked fine enough against the Falcons in Week 1). I think we are getting pretty solid value on Rodgers if you think he carries the ball in the high teens and the Bucs can jump out to anything like a lead early.

Kerwynn Williams FD 6100 DK 4800
Opponent IND
Proj Points FD - 13.58 DK - 15.43
Man do I ever hate situations like this. Clearcut RB1 goes down with an injury and the team announces a starter, thought the speculation is that they’ll employ more of a committee approach. We’ve just had innumerable examples of this thing going sideways in a hurry and Kerwynn could very well be the latest example. Too often a team’s stated intentions with a catastrophic injury situation (losing David Johnson qualifies) ends up being vastly different than the one they use on Sunday. Sure, Williams has been named the starter, but where does that really get us? If he's the bellcow early down back then he's likely the best overall RB value on the slate. But with Ellington and CJ waiting in the wings I'm dubious to say the least. The DK price feels worth the risk (especially with the flex position available) but on FD I think I'd trend safer in cash.

Now’s your chance to get DFSR PRO, which will give you access to our NFL optimizer for FanDuel and DraftKings, our MLB Optimizer, and our new Player Lab! Get started for free by clicking the button below.

First time with NFL? Be sure to read our free MLB and NFL Ebooks on building lineups, general strategy and more. We've got you completely covered.