4 NFL FanDuel Tournament Pivots for Week 2
Running Back
Chalk
There are a few running backs who should garner a lot of interest this week. James Conner is clearly one of those. He is coming off a game in which he torched the Cleveland Browns for 192 combined yards and 2 scores. He'll face a Chiefs defense this week that just gave up 166 combined yards and 9 receptions to Melvin Gordon, who is also an intriguing play this week against the Buffalo Bills.
Aside from Conner, there will obviously be interest in Alvin Kamara, who is coming off a monster game and facing the same Browns team Conner just demolished. We should also see a spike in ownership for Tevin Coleman. With Devonta Freeman ruled out, Coleman steps into a big role for the Atlanta Falcons.
Despite a tough matchup against the Carolina Panthers, people should gravitate towards Coleman and his $5,900 salary, which is tied for just 37th among running backs on the Sunday-Monday slate.
Pivot
Lamar Miller, Houston Texans: $6,800 (at Tennessee Titans)
Yes, another Houston Texan has made the grade here. Lamar Miller is coming off an effective, if not flashy, performance against the New England Patriots. Miller finished with one reception and 109 yards from scrimmage in Week 1, good for a respectable 11.4 FanDuel points.
Last week's owners no doubt expected more for a salary of $6,500, but the Texans' offense struggled to put anything together for much of the game. With Will Fuller back this week, however, the passing game should open up, which could in turn create more space for Miller on the ground.
When the Titans and Texans played their first game last year, Miller -- and pretty much every other Texans skill player -- went off. He finished with 27.1 points in a 57-14 Houston victory. He put up a respectable 11.4 FanDuel points when the teams saw each other again in Week 13, despite Houston being without Deshaun Watson and Fuller.
Our models have the Titans ranked 24th against starting running backs. We have Miller's upside in the matchup at a 25.5 FanDuel points, good for a value of nearly 3.8 points per $1,000 and just 2.9 points below our modeled upside for James Conner.
