5 Daily Fantasy Football Matchups to Exploit in Week 9

Kansas City Chiefs' Rushing Offense

The third game this week with a bit extra fantasy juice is between the Kansas City Chiefs and Cleveland Browns. There are a couple ways you can go at this one, too.

If you assume the Browns can keep things close, then Nick Chubb is in play. That may seem outlandish, but the Browns do have numberFire's top-ranked pass defense. That's likely not enough to slow Patrick Mahomes, but it could lead to a tighter game than the eight-point spread would suggest.

Realistically, though, this sets up as a win for the Chiefs. And with the way the Browns' defense looks right now, that could lead to a lot of Kareem Hunt.

With the Browns' pass defense being so stout this year, there's a bit extra incentive for opposing teams to keep things on the ground. When they have done so, they've largely done so with success.

The Browns enter this game ranked 19th against the rush, according to numberFire's metrics. Opposing teams actually have added more expected points rushing than they have passing against the Browns, which is extremely rare.

To make matters worse, it looks like the Browns will be without one of the key cogs in the front seven again.

Joe Schobert injured his hamstring back in Week 6 and has not played since. Prior to the injury, he had played every snap for the defense this season. His absence has been noticeable.

In the second half of that Week 6 game with the Los Angeles Chargers, Melvin Gordon ran 11 times for 69 yards and 2 touchdowns, and Austin Ekeler added 60 yards himself on just 7 carries.

They lucked out in Schobert's first full game out by facing a Buccaneers team that can't run the football. That luck ran out last week as they faced James Conner, who had 212 yards from scrimmage and found the end zone twice.

The rush defense has been the biggest weakness for this unit all year long, and that has been amplified with Schobert being out. The outlook doesn't get much better with Hunt next on the pecking order.

Hunt had early-season concerns around his usage, as he had just three total targets in the first three games. But since then, things have changed drastically as he has six targets in three straight games and at least 50 receiving yards in three of the past five. That's without even discussing his rushing production.

Hunt has added some high-leverage targets into the equation, as well. He's up to nine red-zone targets for the year, equating to 15.1% of the team's total looks. This -- combined with his ground-game prowess -- has allowed Hunt to score in seven straight games, notching multiple touchdowns twice in that span.

That isn't to say that all of the concerns are in the past now. The Chiefs do still use other backs in their two-minute offense, keeping Hunt's snap rate below 70% in five of eight games this year. It did, though, hit a season-high 84.5% in their win over the Denver Broncos last week, so the issues for Hunt revolve more around his floor than his ceiling.

You've got plenty of options in this second tier at running back for Week 9. Gordon should be back, McCaffrey's in a peachy spot, Kamara's workload is back up, and Adrian Peterson's facing the Atlanta Falcons' banged-up defense. Even with those options, it's very possible that Hunt is the top play here. His team is good enough to build a lead against anybody, and he's facing a defense that funnels volume to opposing backs. That should be enough to get us to plug him into a considerable number of tournament lineups.