NFL Week 4 Fantasy RB Breakdown: Melvin Gordon in Smash Spot vs. 49ers

For three weeks, the football gawds have been good. Points have rained upon us like manna descending from fantasy heaven. And now, in Week 4, the bye has arrived: Taking their day of rest this weekend will be the Panthers and Redskins.

No Christian McCaffrey. No Adrian Peterson. No problem. We still have a robust 12-game main slate that kicks off on Sunday, Sept. 30, at 1 p.m. ET. Let’s break it down.

For analysis on the smaller slates, consult Chris Raybon’s premium strategy guides (released throughout the week).

In writing this piece, I’ve relied primarily on the FantasyLabs Models. This breakdown is less of a comprehensive analysis of each running back and more of an introduction to this week’s players via our large suite of analytic DFS Tools. We’ll start with the two running backs at the top of the salary scale, follow with two rushers at the top of our individual Pro Models and finish with the rest of the slate’s fantasy-relevant backs.

For updates on Vegas spreads and over/unders, check out The Action Network Live Odds page.

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Jump to: The Priciest RBs | At the Top of Our Models | Rundown of the Rest

Highest-Priced Running Backs

This week, there is a clear tier of two at the top of the salary scale.

• Alvin Kamara: $9,600 DraftKings; $9,100 FanDuel
• Melvin Gordon: $8,300 DraftKings; $8,700 FanDuel

Alvin Kamara: New Orleans Saints (-3.5) at New York Giants, 50 Over/Under

With teammate Mark Ingram serving a four-game suspension, Kamara has dominated touches for the Saints. He leads the position with 33.7 DraftKings points per game, and his +11.41 Plus/Minus is the highest mark among all backs even though he’s been exorbitantly priced. As guest Drew Dinkmeyer said on the Wednesday edition of The Action Network NFL Podcast, as expensive as Kamara is, he’s probably not expensive enough.

Kamara has been a top-12 back each week of the young season:

• Week 1: RB1, 46.1 DraftKings points, 8-29-2 rushing, 9-112-1 receiving on 12 targets, one two-point conversion
• Week 2: RB12, 17.9 DraftKings points, 13-46-0 rushing, 6-53-0 receiving on six targets, one two-point conversion
• Week 3: RB1, 37.0 DraftKings points, 16-66-0 rushing, 15-124-0 receiving on 20 targets

After leading the league in 2017 with 6.1 yards per carry, he’s averaging only 3.8 this year, but he’s faced a league-high average of 8.0 defenders in the box per carry (per PlayerProfiler.com), and he’s compensated for his rushing inefficiency with elite usage as a receiver. Lining up in the slot and out wide for a whopping 44-of-170 offensive snaps (25.9%), Kamara has been relentlessly used in the passing game: His 38 targets and 30 receptions not only lead the position, but also rank in the top five for the entire league. Kamara is first among all backs with a 4.5 Pro Football Focus grade as a receiver.

He’s also compensated for his rushing shortfall by accruing a league-high 16 opportunities (carries plus targets) inside the 10-yard line. A locked-in three-down back, Kamara has played 81.3% of the Saints’ offensive snaps and earned 77.3% of their backfield’s opportunities. Even with his ground-based year-to-date mediocrity, Kamara still leads the league with 430 yards from scrimmage. Right now, he’s in straight-up alpha mode.

And Kamara has a good matchup against the Giants, who last year allowed running backs to total 25.8 DraftKings points per game (the league’s 12th-highest total), and this year they have upped that number to 26.5. Backs with 10+ carries against them have done relatively well so far this year.

• T.J. Yeldon (Week 1): 15.9 DraftKings points, 14-51-0 rushing, 3-18-1 receiving on seven targets
• Ezekiel Elliott (Week 2): 19.7 DraftKings points, 17-78-1 rushing, 5-9-0 receiving on six targets
• Lamar Miller (Week 3): 15.1 DraftKings points, 10-10-0 rushing, 5-41-1 receiving on six targets

If those guys can all have 15+ points against the Giants, Kamara is definitely in play for at least 20. Entering Week 4, the Giants run defense ranks 24th in Football Outsiders’ DVOA with a 22.1% mark.

The only downside to rostering Kamara is that he’s costly in terms of salary and exposure. With his usage, recent production and matchup, Kamara will have a high ownership rate in guaranteed prize pools, which makes him slightly less attractive — especially since he’s not playing at the Coors Field of fantasy football. Still, Kamara is pretty much in a tier of his own: He leads all backs with his median and ceiling projections on FanDuel, where he’s the No. 1 back in the Koerner, Raybon and Freedman Models with his position-high 98% Bargain Rating.

Melvin Gordon: Los Angeles Chargers (-10.5) vs. San Francisco 49ers, 46.5 O/U

Facing a 49ers team without quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo (knee), the Chargers are the slate’s biggest favorites and have the highest implied team total (currently at 28.75 points). The 49ers could struggle to sustain drives with C.J. Beathard starting, giving the Chargers extra opportunities and good field position. With top-eight marks in plays (5.97), yards (38.8) and points (2.56) per drive as well as red-zone conversion rate (70.0%), the Chargers offense should be able to run up the score. And it helps that the 49ers have a league-low PFF defense grade of 47.9. Since former head coach Jim Harbaugh’s departure in 2015, the 49ers have allowed an NFL-high 6,826 yards and 60 touchdowns rushing. The 49ers are eminently exploitable.

And MG3 is the guy to exploit them. He’s one of only three backs (along with Todd Gurley and Le’Veon Bell) with 250+ carries and 50+ targets in each of the past two seasons, and now Gordon has a dream matchup reminiscent of his Week 2 matchup against a Bills defense that last year allowed a league-high 29.1 DraftKings points per game to opposing backfields. You probably remember how that turned out: 30.6 DraftKings points on 9-28-1 rushing and 6-38-2 receiving. Regardless of game script, Gordon’s three-down skill set should keep him involved.

Gordon leads all backs with 11 Pro Trends on FanDuel, where he’s the top-rated back in the SportsGeek Model. He’s in a great spot, as is his change-of-pace running mate.

• Austin Ekeler: $4,200 DraftKings; $6,200 FanDuel

Normally when it comes to secondary backs, I write just a sentence or so — but I’m hot for Ekeler. He leads all backs with his 6.9 overall PFF grade. He’s second with a 92.6% receiving DVOA and third with a 52.9% rush DVOA. He’s first with 9.5 yards per touch and 7.6 true yards per carry (per PlayerProfiler). He’s third with 4.9 yards after contact per attempt (per PFF). Of all backs with more than three carries, he’s first with 0.81 points per opportunity in PPR scoring, immediately trailed by MG3, by the way (0.68).

The second-year undrafted back is likely to regress in efficiency at some point, but he should be considered a viable fantasy contributor in every slate, considering his college production (7,072 yards and 63 touchdowns from scrimmage in 40 games), physical profile (5-foot-9, 199 pounds with a 4.43-second 40 time and 6.85-second three-cone), and his NFL role (as a latter-day Danny Woodhead).

Ekeler has had at least six opportunities in 10 career games (with eight such games in his last 11 appearances). He’s averaged 12.8 DraftKings points per game with the requisite circumstances. The 49ers in past seasons have frequently allowed backup and change-of-pace backs to produce, which makes Ekeler an intriguing tournament play, as Koerner mentioned on the Wednesday podcast.

In particular, you could use our Lineup Builder to stack Ekeler with Gordon, since the two of them will be a low-owned contrarian pairing.

Example: In Week 2, when they had an obviously and massively favorable matchup against the Bills and combined for 43.4 DraftKings points, Gordon and Ekeler were rostered together in just 0.33% of Millionaire Maker lineups. Most people will stay away from the MG3-Ekeler stack because of negative backfield correlations, but their inherent upside and advantageous matchup make the pairing viable.

On Sunday morning, I will probably look for action on Ekeler’s rushing yardage prop. He’s smashed the over in three straight weeks. To find the best bets in the props market, use our Player Props Tool, which is powered by our industry-leading projections. Since Week 1, the props with a bet quality of 10 have gone 62-36-2, which is good for a 62% win rate.

Ekeler is tied with Kamara for first with nine Pro Trends on DraftKings, where he’s the No. 1 back in the Bales, Jennings, Koerner, SportsGeek and Freedman Models.

Model Running Backs

Besides Kamara, Gordon and Ekeler, there are two running backs atop the individual Pro Models that Jonathan Bales, Peter Jennings (CSURAM88), Adam Levitan, Sean Koerner, Chris Raybon, Kevin McClelland (SportsGeek) and I have constructed.

• Ezekiel Elliott: $7,700 DraftKings; $8,200 FanDuel
• Jordan Howard: $6,800 DraftKings; $7,200 FanDuel

Ezekiel Elliott: Dallas Cowboys (-3) vs. Detroit Lions, 43.5 O/U

Zeke has had a mixed season thus far. He leads the league in rushing yards per game (91.3), as he has done each of the past two seasons (108.7 in 2016; 98.3 in 2017), and he’s had a career-high average of six targets (vs. 2.6 in 2016; 3.8 in 2017), but his per-game usage and production are significantly depressed.

• 2018 (three games): 22.0 opportunities, 103.7 yards and 0.67 touchdowns from scrimmage
• 2017 (10 games): 28.0 opportunities, 125.2 yards and 0.90 touchdowns from scrimmage
• 2016 (15 games): 24.0 opportunities, 132.9 yards and 1.07 touchdowns from scrimmage

Zeke hasn’t been bad this year. He’s basically hovered around his salary-based expectations in each game.

• Week 1 (at Panthers): 17.6 DraftKings points, -0.50 Plus/Minus, 15-69-1 rushing, 3-17-0 receiving on four targets
• Week 2 (vs. Giants): 19.7 DraftKings points, +1.88 Plus/Minus, 17-78-1 rushing, 5-9-0 receiving on six targets
• Week 3 (at Seahawks): 18.8 DraftKings points, +0.70 Plus/Minus, 16-127-0 rushing, 3-11-0 receiving on eight targets

But here’s the problem: Kamara, Gurley, MG3 and others have crushed expectations to open the season. They’ve altered perceptions and broken the salary scale. Next to them, Zeke has massively underperformed.

As great as it is for Zeke to get more work as a receiver — he leads the Cowboys with 18 targets — he’s been a massive liability in the passing game. Not one — literally, zero — of his targets has resulted in a successful play (per FO’s Success Rate metric). Seven times he’s been targeted on third down with at least seven yards needed: Not once has he gotten the first down. Five times on second-and-10+ he’s been targeted: He’s picked up six yards total.

It doesn’t help that the Cowboys have no reliable wide receivers or tight ends, but Zeke is almost single-handedly killing drives through his pass-catching failures, and that in turn is limiting his ability to accumulate more touches. Coincidentally, Zeke’s usage as a receiver — and specifically his 0% receiving success rate — is capping his usage as a runner.

Offensively, the Cowboys have been a mess this year, averaging 13.7 points and failing to hit their implied Vegas totals in all three games. The team certainly seems to miss starting center Travis Frederick (Guillain-Barre, doubtful), whose replacement in Joe Looney has a poor PFF run-blocking grade of 54.5. And rookie left guard Connor Williams hasn’t transitioned smoothly to the interior (59.6). Even All-Pro left tackle Tyron Smith has struggled in the running game to open the year (61.2).

This week, though, Zeke might eat. No team has given up more rushing yards to running backs than the Lions have (450). They’ve also allowed the fourth-most DraftKings points per game (34.2) to the position. Last year as the defensive coordinator for the Patriots, new Lions head coach Matt Patricia oversaw a unit that was 31st in rush DVOA with a 2.8% mark. It’s probably not a coincidence that his defense in Detroit this year is weak against the run.

Zeke has disappointed in 2018, but it’s hard to fade a guy with his history of production and matchup, especially when he’s gotten 59 of the backfield’s 60 touches. Zeke is the No. 1 DraftKings back in the Levitan and Raybon Models and also the top option in Levitan’s FanDuel Model, for good measure.

Jordan Howard: Chicago Bears (-3) vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 46.5 O/U

Entering the season, JoHo was expected to see a reduced per-game workload under new head coach Matt Nagy and offensive coordinator Mark Helfrich. That hasn’t happened.

• Howard in 2018 (three games): 21.3 opportunities
• Howard in 2017 (16 games): 19.3 opportunities
• Howard in 2016 (15 games): 20.1 opportunities

While his per-touch efficiency has continued to decline (5.7 in 2016; 4.2 in 2017; 4.1 in 2018), as has his PFF Elusive Rating (55.2 in 2016; 32.0 in 2017; 30.8 in 2018), he’s first among all backs with a 4.9 PFF run grade. He’s additionally been passable as a receiver, accumulating 1.30 yards per route on 60 routes. For context, David Johnson and Javorius Allen — two backs who have strong pass-catching backgrounds — have respective marks of 1.03 and 1.08 on 61 and 65 routes, respectively.

He isn’t a guy who typically wins investors GPPs, but Howard has significant home/road splits and is a home favorite against a Bucs defense that has allowed the fourth-most points per game (30.3) to opponents and the sixth-most DraftKings points (31.5) to running backs.

• Alvin Kamara in Week 1 vs. Bucs: 46.1 DraftKings points
• Jay Ajayi & Corey Clement in Week 2 vs. Bucs: 29.2 DraftKings points
• James Conner in Week 3 vs. Bucs: 14.5 DraftKings points

With his usage and matchup, Howard has 100-yard, multi-touchdown upside and is the No. 1 FanDuel back in the Bales and CSURAM88 Models.

Also on the Bears:

• Tarik Cohen: $4,100 DraftKings; $5,600 FanDuel

The change-of-pace, second-year back started the season with some Tyreek Hill-esque hype, but Cohen has played on just 37.6% of offensive snaps vs. 36.4% last year and has hit the under on his receiving yardage prop in every game this year.

Running Back Rundown

Here’s a quick look at the remaining fantasy-relevant backs on the slate.

Saquon Barkley: New York Giants (+3.5) vs. New Orleans Saints, 50 O/U

• $8,100 DraftKings; $8,000 FanDuel

Barkley leads all backs with his FanDuel floor projection. Since targets became an official statistic in 1992, no running back has gotten more in his first three career games than Barkley with 27.

Leonard Fournette, T.J. Yeldon & Corey Grant: Jacksonville Jaguars (-7.5) vs. New York Jets, 38.5 O/U

UPDATE (9/30): Fournette (hamstring) is officially questionable but fully expected to start.

• Fournette: $7,400 DraftKings; $7,700 FanDuel
• Yeldon: $4,900 DraftKings; $6,000 FanDuel
• Grant: $3,800 DraftKings; $5,100 FanDuel

Fournette (hamstring) missed most of Week 1 and sat in Weeks 2-3, but he had a limited practice session on Wednesday and is expected to play in Week 4. Yeldon (ankle), meanwhile, missed Wednesday’s practice and is questionable to play. The explosive Grant has played 42.3% and 35.1% of the snaps in the past two weeks, averaging 9.5 opportunities per game. If either Fournette or Yeldon sits, Grant will continue to serve as a volatile change-of-pace back.

David Johnson & Chase Edmonds: Arizona Cardinals (+3) vs. Seattle Seahawks, 38.5 O/U

• Johnson: $6,600 DraftKings; $7,600 FanDuel
• Edmonds: $4,300 DraftKings; $5,000 FanDuel

The pass-catching savant and former wide receiver has lined up in the slot or out wide on just 5.3% of his snaps this year vs. 20.4% in 2016. Edmonds has unfortunately averaged 6.3 touches per game. The Seahawks rank 29th with a PFF run-defense grade of 61.8.

Giovani Bernard: Cincinnati Bengals (+5) at Atlanta Falcons, 51.5 O/U

UPDATE (9/30): Running back Joe Mixon (knee) has been ruled out.

• $6,300 DraftKings; $6,400 FanDuel

Bernard played on 87.7% of the offensive snaps last week without Joe Mixon (knee), who did not practice on Wednesday and is expected to sit. Bernard has averaged 17.3 DraftKings points in his three Mixon-less games since last year. The Falcons have allowed the league’s most receptions to backs in head coach Dan Quinn’s tenure.

Tevin Coleman: Atlanta Falcons (-5) vs. Cincinnati Bengals, 51.5 O/U

UPDATE (9/30): Running back Devonta Freeman (knee) has been ruled out.

• Coleman: $5,900 DraftKings; $7,200 FanDuel

The contract-year speedster has averaged 15.9 DraftKings points on 19.8 opportunities per game in his five starts without Devonta Freeman (knee), who missed Weeks 2 and 3 and did not practice on Wednesday.

Matt Breida, Alfred Morris & Kyle Juszczyk: San Francisco 49ers (+10.5) at Los Angeles Chargers, 46.5 O/U

UPDATE (9/30): Both Breida (knee) and Morris (knee) are expected to play.

• Breida: $5,800 DraftKings; $6,400 FanDuel
• Morris: $3,800 DraftKings; $5,800 FanDuel
• Juszczyk: $3,100 DraftKings; $4,500 FanDuel

With quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo (knee) out, C.J. Beathard will start under center. Garoppolo’s absence hinders the offense, but Beathard at least targeted backs last year at a league-high rate of 35.3%. Breida (knee) had a limited practice on Wednesday but is expected to play and ranks first at the position with 3.74 yards created per carry (per PlayerProfiler). Morris leads the backfield in touches (42 to Breida’s 39), but he massively trails Breida in scrimmage yardage (327 vs. 185) and is in danger of being game-scripted out of the contest as a non-entity in the passing game. Juicy has averaged just 2.5 targets and 10 yards receiving per game with Beathard vs. 3.8 and 37.8 with Garoppolo.

The sample is small, but last year the 49ers were 1-4 against the spread in Beathard’s five starts.

LeSean McCoy, Chris Ivory & Marcus Murphy: Buffalo Bills (+9.5) at Green Bay Packers, 45.5 O/U

UPDATE (9/30): McCoy (ribs) is fully expected to play in Week 4.

• McCoy: $5,600 DraftKings; $6,500 FanDuel
• Ivory: $4,600 DraftKings; $5,500 FanDuel
• Murphy: $3,400 DraftKings; $4,500 FanDuel

Last week, the Bills pulled off the NFL’s biggest upset since 1995, and they did it without McCoy (ribs), who is expected to play this week. Ivory (8.9) has more DraftKings points per game than McCoy (7.0). Murphy is a garbage-time specialist. The Packers’ run defense is 29th in DVOA with a 9.5% mark.

Jay Ajayi, Corey Clement, Darren Sproles & Wendell Smallwood: Philadelphia Eagles (-4) at Tennessee Titans, 41 O/U

UPDATE (9/30): Ajayi (back) will play. Clement (quad) is questionable but tentatively expected to play. Sproles (hamstring) is out.

• Ajayi: $5,500 DraftKings; $6,600 FanDuel
• Clement: $4,700 DraftKings; $5,300 FanDuel
• Sproles: $4,400 DraftKings; $5,000 FanDuel
• Smallwood: $3,600 DraftKings; $5,500 FanDuel

Ajayi (back) and Sproles (hamstring) both missed Wednesday’s practice after sitting out Week 3. Sproles also sat out Week 2. Both are questionable to play. In Ajayi’s place, last week Clement and Sproles combined for 28.6 DraftKings points on 26-112-1 rushing and 6-54-0 receiving — but the Titans have held running backs to the fifth-fewest DraftKings points per game (15.8).

Carlos Hyde & Duke Johnson: Cleveland Browns (+3) at Oakland Raiders, 45 O/U

• Hyde: $5,500 DraftKings; $6,800 FanDuel
• Johnson: $3,900 DraftKings; $4,800 FanDuel

Hyde leads the league with six carries inside the 5-yard line and now is the lead back in an offense led by the No. 1 overall pick. After leading all backs with 1,741 yards receiving in his first three NFL seasons, Johnson has just 39 yards on 10 targets this year. He might be someone to sell short via his player prop.

James White & Sony Michel: New England Patriots (-6.5) vs. Miami Dolphins, 48 O/U

• White: $5,400 DraftKings; $6,100 FanDuel
• Michel: $4,500 DraftKings; $5,900 FanDuel

After their embarrassing Week 3 loss, the Patriots are still the No. 2 team in The Action Network NFL Power Ratings, but their offense is compromised. Running back Rex Burkhead (neck) has been placed on injured reserve, leaving White and Michel as the only opening day backs on the team. White has averaged 16.8 DraftKings points per game since 2016 when he’s gotten double-digit opportunities in quarterback Tom Brady’s starts (including playoffs); the first-round rookie has played just 36 offensive snaps this year — but he has gotten an opportunity on a whopping 29 of them (80.6%).

Kenyan Drake & Frank Gore: Miami Dolphins (+6.5) at New England Patriots, 48 O/U

• Drake: $5,200 DraftKings; $6,300 FanDuel
• Gore: $3,600 DraftKings; $5,000 FanDuel

Drake has averaged 20.1 opportunities per game in his last eight starts as the lead back, and last year he willed the Dolphins to a 27-20 victory over the Patriots, scoring 27.3 DraftKings points on 25-114-0 rushing and 5-79-0 receiving. Gore is yet to play more than 40.0% of the offensive snaps in a game.

Lamar Miller: Houston Texans (-1.5) at Indianapolis Colts, 47 O/U

• $5,000 DraftKings; $6,500 FanDuel

Miller has averaged 16.3 DraftKings points in his six games with the high-flying triumvirate of the Michael Jordan of fantasy football and wide receivers DeAndre Hopkins and Will Fuller. The Colts-Texans game features two teams with top-10 rates of play and could be a shootout.

Marshawn Lynch, Doug Martin & Jalen Richard: Oakland Raiders (-3) vs. Cleveland Browns, 45 O/U

• Lynch: $4,800 DraftKings; $6,400 FanDuel
• Martin: $3,700 DraftKings; $5,100 FanDuel
• Richard: $3,400 DraftKings; $4,600 FanDuel

Lynch is the team’s only running back to touch the ball inside the 10-yard line (seven carries and three receptions). He has yet to hit a snap rate of even 25% in any game this year. Richard is a game script-dependent back who is second on the team with 18 targets and 15 receptions but hasn’t touched the ball in the first quarter.

Chris Carson & Rashaad Penny: Seattle Seahawks (-3) at Arizona Cardinals, 38.5 O/U

UPDATE (9/30): Carson (hip) is questionable but expected to play.

• Carson: $4,600 DraftKings; $6,400 FanDuel
• Penny: $3,900 DraftKings; $5,700 FanDuel

The Cardinals have allowed a league-high 32.6 fantasy points per game to running backs this year, and Carson is coming off a career-best, backfield-seizing 32-102-1 rushing, 2-22-0 receiving performance. Penny, meanwhile, was relegated in Week 3 to new lows of 10 snaps and three touches.

Kerryon Johnson, Theo Riddick & LeGarrette Blount: Detroit Lions (+3) at Dallas Cowboys, 43.5 O/U

• Johnson: $4,400 DraftKings; $5,700 FanDuel
• Riddick: $4,300 DraftKings; $5,400 FanDuel
• Blount: $3,900 DraftKings; $5,500 FanDuel

Last week, the 2017 SEC Offensive Player of the Year became the first Lions back with a 100-yard rushing game since 2013. Across his career, Riddick has averaged 5.0 targets per game in losses vs. 3.7 in wins. Blount has gotten just two of his 31 touches on third or fourth down. The Dallas defense, under coordinator Rod Marinelli, has allowed an average of 94.5 yards rushing in 39 healthy games with linebacker Sean Lee (hamstring, doubtful) and 114.1 in 28 games he has missed or exited early.

Dion Lewis & Derrick Henry: Tennessee Titans (+4) vs. Philadelphia Eagles, 41 O/U

• Lewis: $4,400 DraftKings; $5,700 FanDuel
• Henry: $4,100 DraftKings; $6,000 FanDuel

Lewis is playing a #RevengeGame against the team that traded him away in 2013 and robbed him of a Super Bowl victory in February. Henry has played only 77 snaps (40.5%), and only four of his 46 carries have come after second down.

Jamaal Williams, Aaron Jones & Ty Montgomery: Green Bay Packers (-9.5) vs. Buffalo Bills, 45.5 O/U

• Williams: $4,300 DraftKings; $5,400 FanDuel
• Jones: $4,100 DraftKings; $5,500 FanDuel
• Montgomery: $3,800 DraftKings; $5,100 FanDuel

Since last season, Williams has been the best pass protector of the trio with just one sack allowed in 72 pass blocks. Jones has been the best runner with 5.6 yards per carry. And TyMont — a former wide receiver — has been the best pass-catcher with 6.48 adjusted yards per attempt from Aaron Rodgers. This is a true three-headed backfield with a one-legged quarterback.

Jordan Wilkins, Marlon Mack & Nyheim Hines: Indianapolis Colts (-1.5) vs. Houston Texans, 47 O/U

UPDATE (9/30): Mack (hamstring) is questionable but tentatively expected to play.

• Wilkins: $3,900 DraftKings; $5,300 FanDuel
• Mack: $3,800 DraftKings; $5,700 FanDuel
• Hines: $3,800 DraftKings; $5,000 FanDuel

Wilkins is a game script-dependent grinder with 34-of-37 touches coming on first and second downs. Mack (foot, hamstring) is the ostensible lead back, but he missed Weeks 1 and 3, was limited in Wednesday’s practice and is questionable for Sunday. Hines is a hurry-up shotgun-based high-percentage pass-catcher (86.7%) with incredibly low efficiency as both a receiver (4.3 yards per catch) and runner (3.1 yards per carry).

Bilal Powell & Isaiah Crowell: New York Jets (+7.5) at Jacksonville Jaguars, 38.5 O/U

• Powell: $3,800 DraftKings; $5,900 FanDuel
• Crowell: $3,700 DraftKings; $6,400 FanDuel

Powell is the team’s long-yardage back, with 26-of-31 carries and all nine targets coming with 7+ yards to go. Crowell has a position-high 99% DraftKings Bargain Rating but radical scoring splits this year with 22.2 DraftKings points per game in his two outings with touchdowns and just 5.9 points in his scoreless game.

Peyton Barber: Tampa Bay Buccaneers (+3) at Chicago Bears, 46.5 O/U

• $3,800 DraftKings; $6,000 FanDuel

Barber has only 14.1 DraftKings points for the season, but he’s played 65.0% of the snaps and gotten 70.2% of the backfield opportunities on a team averaging 34.0 points per game.

Positional Breakdowns & News

Be sure to read the other Week 4 positional breakdowns.

• Quarterbacks
• Wide Receivers
• Tight Ends

For more in-depth NFL analysis information, check out The Action Network.

After this piece is published, FantasyLabs is likely to provide news updates on a number of players. Be sure to stay ahead of your competition with our industry-leading DFS-focused news blurbs.

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Matthew Freedman is the Editor-in-Chief of FantasyLabs. He has a dog and sometimes a British accent. In Cedar Rapids, Iowa, he’s known only as The Labyrinthian.

Pictured above: Melvin Gordon
Photo credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports