5 Daily Fantasy Football Matchups to Exploit in Week 8
New England Patriots' Rushing Offense
What do we know about the Patriots as an offense? They love to attack the opposing team's biggest weakness. And for the Chargers, that weakness is abundantly obvious in their inability to stop the rush.
Through seven games, the Chargers have already managed to allow three separate 100-yard rushers. Two of them -- Jay Ajayi and LeGarrette Blount -- have struggled to generate much yardage in other matchups throughout the year. The Chargers are just a get-right spot for ground games.
The Patriots don't really need a cake matchup. Their running backs have a 48.81% Success Rate, which is why we want to target them against a team that's allowing the second-highest Success Rate to running backs this year. It's just pegging which guy will get the carries that is difficult.
Thankfully, with a week of having Rex Burkhead back in the fold, we have a better idea of what to expect. And it means we can make some dart throws at this backfield in tournaments.
Let's start with the downsides here, and that clearly starts with the snap rate. Not a single back on this team eclipsed 40% of the snaps in Week 7 with Dion Lewis leading the way at 35%. In a game where they were able to run the ball 31 times with the backs alone, that's a concern, and it means we can't even come close to considering these guys in cash.
The positive, though, is that we largely know who the lead back will be, and that's Lewis. Not only did he lead the team in snaps, but he had five more carries than any other guy on the team. If they're going with a rush-heavy script, Lewis is going to see volume.
On top of that, Lewis has been getting production even on his limited work. He has at least 50 yards rushing in three straight games despite never topping 13 carries. It allows you to play out scenarios in your head where Lewis could have a big day in Week 8.
We know the best way to attack the Chargers is via the ground game, and the Patriots enjoy attacking weaknesses. That would seem to indicate that this could be a game where they let the backs do the work. With Lewis' workload on the rise, that's an intriguing proposition.
What makes this even better is that Lewis seems to be gaining trust near the goal line. Over the past four weeks, he has seven red-zone carries compared to six for Mike Gillislee, and Lewis has added a target, as well. Lewis has six carries inside the 10, two inside the five, and one from the one in this four-week span. He's got some touchdown upside to go with the yards he can accumulate, making him a fun asset at $5,400.
With the ambiguity in the backfield, we can't use Lewis in cash, and he's not a guy to whom we should have heavy exposure in tournaments. But he's certainly at least worth a sniff given how good the offense is, the advantageous matchup, and his broadening role.
If that's not quite your style, you can also ride with James White for $4,900. He -- like Lewis -- has been getting plenty of work in the red zone, both as a rusher and a receiver. He has 33 targets and 10 rushes the past four games. With that usage in this offense, White's not a bad asset, either, if you need to save some salary.
