5 Daily Fantasy Football Matchups to Exploit in Week 11
Los Angeles Chargers' Rushing Offense
If you do wind up being concerned about Barkley's offense, don't fret. There's another player who does check that box while bringing all the other factors that draw us to Barkley. That guy is Melvin Gordon.
Instead of being tied to Manning, Gordon links up with Rivers. Rivers is currently fourth in Passing NEP per drop back, trailing only Brees, Patrick Mahomes, and Jared Goff. If not for what those three offenses have done this year, Rivers would be in the MVP conversation, so there are no concerns around the offense for Gordon.
This is also a great spot for him to show out a bit. The Chargers are favored by seven at home against the Denver Broncos. The Broncos are coming off a bye, but unless they made some serious changes in their week off, they're going to have trouble stopping Gordon.
The Broncos have allowed opposing backs to rack up a 44.4% Rushing Success Rate, the fifth-highest mark in the league. It has been a staple of their defenses for years now, allowing teams to beat them on the ground so that they can't do so through the air.
That strategy has certainly had its shortcomings this year, though. They allowed 219 yards to Isaiah Crowell and 99 to Bilal Powell in the same game, and then allowed 208 to Todd Gurley the next week. The game script sets up well for Gordon to get enough volume to flirt with those marks this week, as well.
Additionally, this defense is not the same when it has to leave Denver. They've allowed 27 or more points in 3 of 4 road games this year while allowing more than 24 points just once at home (with that game being against the Kansas City Chiefs). Having this game be in Los Angeles likely nullifies the positives gained from the bye week.
This means we can check both the matchup and team-wide efficiency boxes for Gordon. The final hurdle is volume, and we've got no cause for concern there.
In the eight games Gordon has played, he has 21.3% of the Los Angeles Chargers' targets and 33.3% of their red-zone targets. He has at least four targets in every game while hitting double digits twice, and this offense hasn't even been forced to throw too often in the midst of a six-game win streak.
The ground volume hasn't necessarily been there for Gordon, but it hasn't mattered because he has been so efficient. Even while maxing out at 19 carries, Gordon has had 93 or more rushing yards in four straight games that left tackle Russell Okung has started (Okung missed Week 5 against the Oakland Raiders, and Gordon was held to just 58 rushing yards). Toss in Gordon's work in the passing game -- where he has 50 or more receiving yards in half of his games this year -- and the yardage upside is tremendous.
As a result of this, Gordon has scored 15.4 or more FanDuel points in every game this year while scoring 25.0 or more points in 4 games. He's got upside via both yardage and touchdowns, and his passing-game usage is beefing up his floor.
This is a week where you're going to want at least two of these high-priced backs in your cash-game lineups. Barkley and Gordon stand out as being worthy of those two slots thanks to everything discussed here. They're both at home in plus matchups with highly desirable workloads. Even if it forces you to get a bit creative at wide receiver, it seems like what these guys bring to the table is very much worth it.
