5 Daily Fantasy Football Matchups to Exploit in Week 2
Chicago Bears' Rushing Offense
The Chicago Bears' offense didn't exactly give you a whole lot of reason for hope in Week 1. Jay Cutler took 5 sacks, and they generated only 258 total yards on their way to a 14-point afternoon. Completely uninspiring stuff.
Unless you're a fan of Jeremy Langford, that is.
Langford was on the field for 54 of the team's 55 snaps, a higher percentage than any other running back in the entire league. He had 17 carries and four targets, but that pales in comparison to the importance of being on the field as often as he was.
This means we should be looking to target Langford whenever he's in a quality matchup, and he's got exactly that coming up this week.
The Philadelphia Eagles finished last year ranked 29th in Adjusted Defensive Rushing NEP per play. That -- combined with their up-tempo offense -- allowed four different running backs to finish as top-five weekly scorers against them, with two players topping 180 yards rushing. They may not have that fast-paced offense to spice things up anymore, but they don't seem to have cured the ills against the rush.
Isaiah Crowell finished Week 1 ranked 9th in Rushing NEP per carry of the 33 backs with at least 10 carries and 10th in Success Rate. Last year, Crowell was 31st and 35th, respectively, in those two categories among the 44 running backs with at least 100 rushes. He's not an efficient runner, but he found success against the Eagles to the tune of 12 carries for 62 yards and a touchdown.
Langford may not be the world's best back, but we can likely say that he's at least better than Crowell. He was 11th in both Rushing NEP per carry and Success Rate last year, and he at least held his ground last week against a solid Houston Texans' defense.
This isn't to say that the Eagles don't have talent. Fletcher Cox is an animal, and he's not the only quality player on that defense. But those poor metrics from last year included a full helping of 16 games from Cox, meaning we shouldn't allow that to override our thinking.
Langford's a solid cash-game play given his snap rate and the fact the Bears enter Monday night as three-point favorites. But his price -- right next to that of Jonathan Stewart, who figures to be one of the most popular plays on the slate -- will allow him to go under-owned in tournaments, and this matchup states that shouldn't happen.
