News and Notes

• Houston will start Case Keenum at quarterback Sunday against Kansas City. The second-year pro will be making his first career start in one of the most hostile venues in football. This could be a very frustrating week for the Houston offense as Kansas City’s 30 sacks are eight more than any other team’s total and its 10 interceptions rank tied for first. I wouldn’t start Andre Johnson, unless you are insanely thin at receiver or in a very deep league, or Garret Graham.
• Justin Blackmon (hamstring, groin) is expected to play Sunday even though he probably won’t practice today. Cecil Shorts will most likely be a game-time decision as he’s still suffering from an SC joint sprain in his right shoulder.
• Michael Vick ruled himself out for this week’s game against Dallas. That means Nick Foles will start again after accounting for four touchdowns last week. Dallas is allowing the most fantasy points to quarterbacks this season, so Foles is a borderline top 10 starter. Foles is owned in just about 30 percent of ESPN leagues, so if you’re a Terrelle Pryor or Drew Brees owner and need a better backup try to grab Foles. Also, Riley Cooper, owned in just two percent of ESPN leagues, makes for an intriguing deep-league play coming off the best game of his career (4-120-1). Three of Cooper’s last four touchdowns have come from Foles.

DraftKings Running Back Recommendations

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Here are the rules for the different NFL games DraftKings offers, and I’ll go ahead and list the running back scoring settings here:

• 10 Rushing Yards = +1PT (+0.1PT per yard is awarded)
• Rushing TD = +6PTs
• 100+ Yard Rushing Game = +3PTs
• 10 Receiving Yards = +1PT (+0.1PT per yard is awarded)
• Reception = +1PT
• Receiving TD = +6PTs
• 100+ Yard Receiving Game = +3PTs
• Punt/Kickoff Return for TD = +6PTs
• Fumble Lost = -1PT
• 2 Point Conversion (Pass, Run, or Catch) = +2PTs

Expensive

Jamaal Charles – $8,500 – vs. Houston – Charles is DK’s leading scorer at running back, averaging almost four more points than the next best back. His lowest scoring output is 19 points, which would rank seventh if it was his average. He has at least 100 total yards in every game, and the Chiefs should be up and burning clock against Houston, with Case Keenum making his first career start.

Arian Foster – $8,200 – at Kansas City – Foster looked very good last week against St. Louis, and Houston should be riding him as much as possible with Keenum starting. Foster has at least 98 rushing yards and 118 total yards in each of the last three weeks, with two of those games coming against Seattle and San Francisco.

Reasonable

Matt Forte – $7,600 – at Washington – Forte has at least 91 total yards in each game this season, and Washington is allowing 131 total yards per game to running backs. Washington’s also allowing the third-most fantasy points to running backs this year. Forte should feast.

Stevan Ridley – $5,600 – at New York Jets – Ridley scored twice last week and ran for 96 yards, his second straight game averaging 4.8 yards a carry. The Jets are stingy against the run, but Ridley should see a lot of carries this week as the Pats should be in control of the game for the most part.

Cheap

Ryan Mathews – $4,500 – at Jacksonville – Mathews had one of the better games of his career last week. He recovered quickly from a concussion suffered in Week 5 to rush for 102 yards on 22 carries against the Colts, who rank eighth in fantasy points allowed to running backs. Jacksonville is the sixth-friendliest fantasy D to running backs, and it’s giving up 4.67 yards a carry and a touchdown a week to them.

Brandon Jacobs – $3,900 – vs. Minnesota – Jacobs also had one of the better games of his career last week, rushing for 106 yards and two touchdowns against the Bears. The Vikings have given up seven touchdowns to running backs as well as 132 total yards per game. With other options basically non-existent Jacobs should see another 20+ carries.