5 Daily Fantasy Football Matchups to Exploit in Week 8

Pittsburgh Steelers' Rushing Offense

So far, we've discussed reasons for adoring both Joe Mixon and Kareem Hunt. Those two guys are $7,800 and $8,100, respectively, on FanDuel.

Sandwiched between them at $8,000 is James Conner. We've got to mention him, too, and you could make a case for jamming all three of these players into your cash-game rosters.

Conner is a bit of a blend of both Mixon and Hunt this week, and once you combine both the factors, he might actually be the most desirable piece in this grouping.

Conner is like Hunt in that his team is a heavy home favorite. The Pittsburgh Steelers are favored by eight against the Cleveland Browns, and it's hard to argue with that. As good as the Browns have looked at times, they're coming off their fourth overtime game of the season, and the Steelers just had their bye week. There's a major fatigue discrepancy between the two teams.

Conner is like Mixon in that his passing-game usage has been mighty spicy all year. Conner has had seven targets in two of the past three games, more than Hunt has had in any game this year. Conner has 4 or more targets in every game and 13.7% of the Steelers' overall targets.

He's a big home favorite who gets work in the passing game. Those are the two things that get us so excited about Hunt and Mixon. Conner adds a plus matchup to boot.

The Browns enter this game ranked 18th against the rush, according to numberFire's schedule-adjusted metrics. Even though that's below average, it may also be a bit too generous for the Browns in their current state.

Back in Week 6, linebacker Joe Schobert injured his hamstring and was held to just 55% of the snaps. Prior to that, Schobert had played every defensive snap the entire season. He's the quarterback of their defense, and his absence has been noticeable.

In that game, Melvin Gordon went absolutely off. He ran for 132 yards and 3 touchdowns on just 18 carries, the third time this year the Browns have allowed a running back to hit 130 yards against them (one of which was Conner in the opener). They lucked out last week by facing a Buccaneers team that can't run, but that luck will run out this week. And it doesn't look like Schobert will be back out there.

Combine this with Conner's heavy workload and the potential game script here, and you can start to see another big day on the horizon. But where should we rank him among the three backs in this tier?

The considerable spreads in Conner's and Hunt's favors likely makes them a hair safer than Mixon. But the workload -- with such consistent passing-down usage all year long -- seems to make Conner appear preferable to Hunt. It's very possible he's the top option in this grouping. Again, all three players are on the board for both cash games and tournaments, and Conner may be the one we'll want to go at hardest.