4 NFL FanDuel Tournament Pivots for Week 17
Running Back
Chalk
Nearly all of the top-projected running backs in Week 17 could be out this week, making it a tough slate to predict. Due to injury, rest, or lack of motivation, Todd Gurley, Christian McCaffrey, Ezekiel Elliott, Alvin Kamara, James Conner, Melvin Gordon, and Phillip Lindsay are all ones that we may normally roster, but likely shouldn't.
That should lead to extremely heavy ownership for Saquon Barkley of the New York Giants. He's projected for 19.0 FanDuel points, and he's posted 12.0-plus FanDuel points in every game this season but one.
Chris Carson has assumed lead back duties for the Seattle Seahawks, and he's balled out in recent weeks -- he's posted 23.0-plus FanDuel points in back-to-back weeks, and he's gone for double-digits in six straight. As a big favorite, as mentioned for Wilson, he should be especially popular.
Don't sleep on Sony Michel being a chalky play, either -- he's in a spot to smash against the 25th-ranked New York Jets rushing defense, who allowed 44 points in total to the Green Bay Packers a week ago, and his 116 rushing yard, one touchdown performance a week ago will definitely have him on the radar screen of DFS players this week.
Pivot
David Johnson, Arizona Cardinals: $7,100 (at Seattle Seahawks)
It's hard to imagine a team being as bad as the Arizona Cardinals have been on offense this season, but it's no lie -- they rank worst in the NFL in total offense, passing offense, and rushing offense per our metrics. That's not good.
The Seahawks also sport the league's seventh-best rushing defense per numberFire rankings -- so why would we want to consider David Johnson?
In recent weeks, the Seattle rushing defense hasn't been quite as good -- they've been blasted by the likes of Damien Williams (13 carries, 103 rushing yards) and Christian McCaffrey (17 carries, 125 rushing yards), among others. In their last five games, they've allowed 390 rushing yards on 65 carries, good for 6 yards per pop.
Despite that poor offense, Johnson ranks 11th in fantasy scoring among running backs in half-point-per-reception leagues, clearly indicating he's a big part of the Cardinals' attack. We have Johnson projected for 12.1 FanDuel points, but could post an even bigger day with upside potential of 24.6 points. Already owning two 20.0-plus FanDuel efforts in 2018, the running back's upside is very real.
