FanDuel Price: $7,200
Salary Change: Up $1,600
Last week when pricing was released, Jordan Howard was still a complementary player, and the extent of Jeremy Langford's injury was unknown. At just $5,600 in Week 4, Howard was a major value in his first game as the lead back with 23 carries for 111 yards and 3 catches on 4 targets for 21 yards.
After the game, head coach John Fox said Howard was "outstanding" and that "they’ll ride him pretty good moving forward." Sometimes, it’s a dicey proposition to rely on coachspeak, but it surely looks like Howard will be the workhorse this week and beyond -- but that doesn't necessarily mean you should use him in Week 5.
In his first two games of the season as a change-of-pace back, Howard averaged 7.65 FanDuel points per game. Players who averaged fewer than 10 FanDuel points per game in the previous month who saw a $1,000-or-higher salary increase -- generally backup running backs who were thrust into the starting role and no longer priced as a reserve -- have only reached cash-game value (two times their salary in points) 33 percent of the time in the last three seasons.
Howard could repeat last week’s stellar effort and just barely hit value this week due to his salary spike -- either use him in GPPs or not at all this week.