Another week. Another time for Devonta Freeman to shine.
If you own Freeman in fantasy football and aren’t near the top of your league’s leaderboard, then the rest of your team must be one of the worst combination of players in fantasy football history.
Freeman went for 27.60 points in week 6 against the New Orleans Saints.
If you’re keeping track, since Tevin Coleman got hurt, forcing Atlanta to use Freeman as the primary back, Freeman has led all running backs in scoring in three of the last four weeks.
What happened in that fourth week? He finished second.
He’s the leading fantasy football scorer by three points over…you guessed it…preseason stud Andy Dalton. This is why you should take all those experts’ opinions with a grain of salt at the beginning of the year.
With that being said, it’s still early and we can’t imagine Freeman will continue his onslaught on the opposition. However, he does draw Tennessee, which struggled mightily last week against the newfound running team, the Miami Dolphins.
You’re starting Freeman this week. For all those borderline running backs, here’s our start ’em, sit ’em list for week 7 in fantasy football.
Daily fantasy start of the week
Todd Gurley vs. Cleveland Browns
Cleveland’s rush defense is just too bad to ignore.
Denver hadn’t run the ball on anyone this season, but miraculously last week against Cleveland, the Broncos featured Ronnie Hillman with 111 yards and C.J. Anderson for 41 yards.
That’s been par for the course for Cleveland this season. The Browns are the worst team against the run, allowing 150 yards per game. Teams are averaging five yards per carry against the Browns, the second-best average for running backs in the NFL.
So with Gurley entering the picture this week at home, the Browns are in real trouble.
In two games where he’s been the dominant back, the rookie has 146 and 159 yards against Arizona and Green Bay this season.
That’s trouble for the Browns. The Rams have shown they want to run the ball and that strategy definitely won’t stop against Cleveland. Gurley will run all over Cleveland’s porous defense and that’s an added advantage for DFS players considering he shouldn’t be as expensive as other top-tier options.
Start
Lamar Miller vs. Houston
We’re back on the Miller hype train. We liked Miller in the offseason, but former head coach Joe Philbin wanted the Dolphins to look more like the New England Patriots than what the Dolphins had been in the past.
No team attempted more passes during the first quarter of the season than the Dolphins, and that’s with Ryan Tannehill as the quarterback. It’s not Peyton in his prime or Tom Brady. It’s Ryan Tannehill.
So, when Dan Campbell became coach, we were excited about Miller’s potential, because let’s face it, Campbell just looks like a guy who would want to establish the run.
And they did.
Miller had 19 carries and rushed for 113 yards and one touchdown. He totaled 17.80 points, 10 more points than any single game this season.
We anticipate the Dolphins to continue their new approach against the Houston Texans. Houston is a middle-of-the-pack rush defense, so this may not include an explosion of points. But we like how many touches Miller should garner and he’s definitely in the RB2 category.
Frank Gore vs. New Orleans Saints
Gore hasn’t been the kind of fantasy football running back that many owners had hoped for in the beginning of the season.
He’s had more single-digit performances in fantasy than double-digit games. Part of the reason for the early season struggles has been the Colts’ ability to fall behind early.
This week, though, that shouldn’t be a problem.
With a home game against the Saints, Gore should see several snaps as the Colts attempt to milk away the clock in the second half. Also, it doesn’t hurt that New Orleans owns the third-worst rush defense in the NFL.
The Saints have struggled consistently on the road and even though we also like quarterback Andrew Luck, there should be enough opportunities to go around with Gore. Don’t be worried about the veteran running back losing snaps to other running backs. He will get several touches and he should have a solid day.
Daily fantasy sit of the week
Chris Ivory vs. New England Patriots
We’re excited about Ivory, too. The Jets seem to be committed to the run and with Ivory healthy, he can gobble up several yards and touches.
But even though New England isn’t really known for its defense, we don’t like running backs against the Patriots based on teams having to come back often against New England. That doesn’t allow much room for the running game to succeed, meaning Ivory will struggle to get the necessary touches to be a top-tier option in daily fantasy.
Teams are only attempting 23.6 carries per game against New England, only one more carry than the league low.
We like Ivory as a season option for the long haul, but this matchup doesn’t look good for the Jets or Ivory.
Jacksonville running backs vs. Buffalo Bills
The uncertainty floating around about T.J. Yeldon’s injury status has us concerned for not only Yeldon, but for Jacksonville. This offense doesn’t move near as well with Yeldon out of the lineup, and even if he returns this week, the Bills defense will likely shut down any attempt at him having a successful outing.
If he doesn’t go, then other options like Toby Gerhart and Denard Robinson have even less value. We saw how well that duo did last year in fantasy football, and we’d rather not repeat that on our fantasy football roster. Neither option wows us at all, and Robinson, who is more of a big-play threat, looks to have lost carries to Gerhart from last season.
The Bills are one of the best defenses against the run in the NFL and no matter how thin you are at running back, none of these options should be considered.
Melvin Gordon vs. Oakland Raiders
Say what you want about the Oakland Raiders’ defense, but for all its shortcomings, it’s not horrible against the run.
The Raiders have actually given up the third-fewest yards per game rushing this season at 83.2 yards per game. And Gordon hasn’t been the kind of player that Chargers officials believed he would be when they drafted him in the first round.
We’re not going to be too down on Gordon considering it’s only week 7 of his rookie season. However, with all the hype surrounding him in the offseason and the high average draft position that he garnered, many fantasy football owners likely believed he would perform better.
Last week he scored less than a point in fantasy football, giving him six consecutive weeks in single digits in fantasy football scoring. That won’t get better this week as the Chargers will likely focus far more on the pass (last week they completely abandoned the pass) than the run.
