Fantasy football: NFL DFS Bargain Bin Week 11 Sunday Slates
NFL DFS Bargain Bin: Week 11 Sunday Slates Running Backs
D’Andre Swift, DET at CAR ($6,400-DK/$6,900-FD)
Swift logged his first official professional start in Week 10 against Washington and made excellent use of the opportunity, racking up 149 total yards (81 rushing, 68 receiving) and a receiving touchdown. The strong performance across 21 touches undoubtedly earned the versatile rookie a similar or greater workload for what shapes up as a solid Week 11 matchup against the Panthers, which have given up a robust 133.2 rushing yards per home game, a figure that includes last week’s 192-yard effort by the Buccaneers’ Ronald Jones.
The Panthers are now yielding a bloated 4.69 adjusted line yards and 4.88 RB yards per carry following Jones’s banner day against them, and they also rank in the bottom 10 of the league in open-field yards per carry (1.19) and second-level yards per carry (1.31) allowed. Swift has broken free for just one gain of greater than 20 yards on his 70 rushes thus far, but the rookie second-rounder boasts 4.4 speed and never averaged fewer than 6.2 yards per tote in his three college seasons, underscoring his big-play ability if given the opening. Detroit’s offensive line has only been about middle of the pack in opening up running lanes, yet Swift’s elite pass-catching ability also dovetails perfectly with the NFL-high 66 receptions and 445 receiving yards Carolina has given up to running backs.
NOTE: With Swift now ruled out for Sunday, the Patriots’ Damien Harris ($5,700-DK/$5,800-FD) is a solid pivot to turn to.
Kalen Ballage, LAC vs. NYJ ($5,600-DK/$5,800-FD)
The ongoing absences of Austin Ekeler (IR-hamstring/knee) and Justin Jackson (IR-knee) have opened up plenty of opportunity for Ballage, who’s come up from the practice squad the last two games to put up 137 rushing yards and a rushing TD, along with an additional 49 through the air, against the Raiders and Dolphins. Chargers head coach Anthony Lynn also confirmed this week that Ballage is his primary running back at the moment among a backfield that also currently includes Troymaine Pope and rookie Joshua Kelley, and that type of affirmation is naturally music to DFS’ players ears due to the relative certainty it affords.
The Jets set up as appealing targets for Ballage through both the ground and air. New York is surrendering 4.4 yards per carry to RBs and have also given up eight rushing touchdowns to the position. Then, Gang Green has yielded a 58-388-1 line through the air to backs as well, leading to averages of 27.2 DK/23.2 FD points per game yielded to running backs. Ballage has a positive run rate of 90.9 percent, has garnered a touch on 51.9 percent of snaps and has seen a third of his 33 carries so far come in the red zone, giving him an excellent potential floor at his salaries.