5 Daily Fantasy Football Matchups to Exploit in Week 6

Pittsburgh Steelers' Rushing Offense

It should go without saying that you want a piece of Leonard Fournette this week. The dude is a beast, he's at home, his team is favored, and it's a pretty solid matchup against the Los Angeles Rams. This is a player you want to target liberally.

While flocking his way, though, don't forget about the guy who is just $400 more expensive, Le'Veon Bell. Bell's still the best back in the league from a usage perspective, and his matchup is sneakily good on the road against the Kansas City Chiefs. This is a great week to use him, as well.

Let's start off with the opponent before diving into Bell himself. The Chiefs aren't generally considered as being a cushy matchup against any position, but the early returns for 2017 suggest a perception change could be in order.

The Chiefs enter this week ranked 22nd against the rush, according to numberFire's schedule-adjusted metrics. This has been masked a bit because the team has held so many leads, forcing teams to abandon the rush and go to the air. That's certainly a possibility with the spread up to five points over the Pittsburgh Steelers, but Bell's passing-game involvement would at least allow him to remain part of the gameplan if things were to go south.

That spread, though, is a bit indicative of how the public is feeling about quarterback Ben Roethlisberger right now, and you really can't blame them. He is coming off a five-interception game, and that was while he was at home, where he traditionally performs much better.

This should concern you if you want to invest in Bell. If Roethlisberger can't generate touchdown drives, then why should we believe Bell will have the upside we need?

To say that this is a different situation than that, though, would be a major understatement. The Jacksonville Jaguars defense that mauled Roethlisberger last week is -- by a grotesque margin -- the best pass defense in the league by numberFire's metrics. They've been doing that to all quarterbacks they have faced. The Chiefs are a bit more pedestrian in 12th place.

Prior to that game, Roethlisberger was ninth in Passing NEP per drop back of 32 quarterbacks with at least 75 drop backs. Sure, he wasn't quite doing as well as we expect him to do, but he also wasn't atrocious. Against a more middling defense, it's fair to expect a bounce-back performance from Roethlisberger.

On top of that, the Steelers' defense ranks 8th overall and 12th against the pass. That's a unit that can keep things close. It's possible the spread here is a bit wider than it should be, meaning Bell's volume concerns would be less drastic. Why not give him a crank?

Bell is one of only two running backs this week with a projected snap rate higher than 80%, and he's up at 91.20%. That's a huge gap. His 43.56% overall market share is also the top mark. You can't do better than this from a workload perspective, and his matchup is pretty good. There's really not much more we could want out of a fantasy asset.

With Fournette and Kareem Hunt both home favorites with hefty involvement, they're likely the preferred cash-game options for this week. But Bell's appeal for tournaments is massive. Nobody touches the ball more than he does, and the perception of the team should put a cap on his ownership. That's good enough to justify putting him on your tournament rosters.