5 Daily Fantasy Football Matchups to Exploit in Week 8
Arizona Cardinals Rushing Offense
Chris Johnson has two very important things working in his favor this weekend. First, he is a living, breathing running back on an NFL roster. Second, he is facing the Cleveland Browns. Those two factors alone are enough to justify starting him in Week 8.
So far this year, the Browns have played in seven games. In those seven games, they have allowed seven different running backs to finish in the top 13 in scoring at the position for the week. Every single week of the season, at least one running back has totaled a minimum of 100 yards from scrimmage against them. I can't emphasize enough how unbelievably bad this team has been against the rush.
This is backed up by numberFire's metrics. The Browns are *gasp* last in the league in Adjusted Defensive Rushing NEP per play at 0.17. The next worst team is the Chicago Bears at 0.09. The Browns allow almost twice as many points per rush as the second worst team in the league. Whew, doggies.
The Browns aren't just bad by 2015 terms, either. They're historically bad. Since 2000 (as far back as numberFire's NEP data goes), no team has ever finished the season with a mark worse than what the Browns have right now. That's 510 teams worth of data points, and the Browns are 510th.
There are a couple of things that provide the teeniest amounts of worry for this one. The Cardinals are on short rest after playing on Monday night. I generally try to avoid that when possible. They are also flying across the country with the game starting at 1 pm Eastern. That's also a bit of a concern, so it would be wise not to have 100 percent exposure to Johnson. But the matchup is really too good to pass up.
Whether it be because of Johnson himself or the assets around him, the Cardinals' rushing offense has been superb this year. They rank fourth in Adjusted Rushing NEP per play. The trio of Johnson, David Johnson, and Andre Ellington all have a positive Rushing NEP on the year, which is rare to find within an offense. As long as Chris Johnson continues to see a majority of the looks, he's going to be a valuable fantasy asset. That doesn't appear likely to change on Sunday.
