5 Fantasy Football Splits That Matter for Week 7
Opportunity Knocks for Marlon Mack
Robert Turbin was diagnosed with a season-ending elbow injury for the Indianapolis Colts Tuesday. That may seem insignificant at first, but fact is he's accounted for 32.55% of Indianapolis' backfield snaps, 19.7% of the backfield's touches, and is currently tied for the team lead in carries inside the five-yard line (three).
Meanwhile, ageless wonder Frank Gore has seen his snap rate progressively decrease from 62.12% in Week 3 all the way to 39.66% in Week 6. The Colts could logically just give Gore more touches moving forward, but that would involve entrusting the 117th-ranked running back in Rushing NEP among 130 qualifiers. Mack is clearly the more explosive of the two, having recorded four runs of 20-plus yards despite having received only 27 carries.
This particular matchup against the Jacksonville Jaguars bodes well for Mack, too. Though Jacksonville's defense is ranked first overall by a wide margin according to our metrics, the team has become what's known in the fantasy community as a "run funnel": a unit that's stout against the pass but can be easily exploited on the ground. The Jags fit this bill well, having allowed only 5.7 yards per attempt through the air but a league-high 5.2 yards per attempt on the ground.
Assuming Mack sees even a slight uptick in volume without Turbin, chances are he's a low-owned tournament play with tremendous upside on FanDuel ($5,300).
