7 FanDuel NFL Value Plays for Week 1
Mike Gillislee, RB, New Orleans Saints
Price: $4,600
Mike Gillislee has not been in New Orleans for long. In fact, his tenure there is so brief that there's not even a picture of him in Saints attire available for this slide.
The team seems pretty pleased with the acquisition, though. In the past week, they've released three running backs -- Jonathan Williams, Boston Scott and Trey Edmunds. That leaves them with Gillislee, Alvin Kamara and the suspended Mark Ingram as their only healthy runners.
Kamara had a monster rookie year in 2017, but he was never leaned on as a true workhorse on the ground. He didn't get more than 12 carries in a game all season and tallied only 120 rushes compared to Ingram's 230. Kamara dominated the passing-game touches, but those aren't something we'd expect Gillislee to see anyway.
Of course, Gillislee is no Ingram, so Kamara should still see an uptick in carries. But if it's a moderate increase, that should leave plenty of volume available for Gillislee to pick up. Especially considering the fact that the Saints are the week's biggest favorites, meaning we can expect their game script to be pretty run-heavy since they should be playing with a lead.
At only $100 above the minimum salary, you're not going to find anyone in this price range with a workload that comes close to Gillislee's potential.