4 NFL FanDuel Tournament Pivots for Week 1

Running Back

Chalk

Even though everybody has had months of time to prepare for Week 1, daily fantasy players still often gravitate toward the same couple of players. At running back this week, three names come to mind as players who could see higher ownership: Alvin Kamara, Todd Gurley, and--of course--James Conner.

They'll be owned for different reasons. The move to Sean McVay as coach was all Todd Gurley needed to show his full potential. Everyone knew it was there, but Jeff Fisher knows how to squeeze mediocrity out of greatness. Gurley's 23.42 FanDuel points per game were 3.48 points higher than Le'Veon Bell.

Speaking of Bell, his absence from the Steelers is what will drive Conner to what could be the highest ownership on the slate at any position. Even so, it will be hard to veer away from him this week. We project him to have the highest value at the running back position.

Kamara, like Gurley, was consistently dominant last year. He gets a matchup against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, a team against whom he scored an average of 28.0 FanDuel points in their two meetings last season. All three of these backs are solid options, but obvious pivots are lurking for those who choose to seek.

Pivot

Alex Collins, Baltimore Ravens: $6,700 (vs Buffalo Bills)

If you're not considering Alex Collins as an alternate to the big names at running back, you're doing it wrong. The third-year player out of the University of Arkansas really came into his own last year, especially down the stretch.

numberFire's own Brandon Gdula noted in this week's start or sit column that Collins separated himself from others in the Baltimore Ravens backfield, averaging 19.9 touches per game after last year's bye.

Despite not getting many touches to start 2017, Collins finished the season as the FanDuel RB18. The lead back role is his out of the gate this year. If you weren't sold on that fact, consider that the Ravens gave him the superstar treatment, playing him for only nine snaps all preseason.

His opponent this week, the Buffalo Bills, were a team you wanted to target running backs against nearly all of last year. The team gave up 25.39 FanDuel points per game in 2017, 1.68 points more than the next closest defense.

The offseason hasn't offered many improvements. Our rankings have the Bills continuing to be the worst team against the run in 2018.

This week's game script couldn't be much better either. The Ravens are 7.5-point favorites in a game with a total of just 40.5 points. Bettors are almost screaming that Baltimore will get up big and then use their defense and a heavy dose of Collins to run out the clock.

Yes, you'll need to have lineups with the bigger-owned names mentioned above, but don't forget Collins, who we project for an upside of nearly 4.4 points per $1,000.