Cover Photo by Jason O. Watson/Getty Images


With your fantasy playoffs on the line, you need a top running back to slide into your lineup. Luckily for you, and not so lucky for those owning James Conner, the starting running back may be sidelined for the Steelers' huge matchup against the New England Patriots. 


With an opening in the backfield for this high-powered offense, you have to decide between Jaylen Samuels and Stevan Ridley based on their roles from last week. 

Looking at that stat line tells the majority of the story for you, but it's even more impressive for Samuels. Not only did he have more rushing yards than Ridley (28 to four) as the top carrier for Pittsburgh, he also dominated the passing game with seven catches for 64 yards. Ridley, on the other hand, did nothing as a receiver. 


This only becomes a conversation thanks to Ridley's usage as a TD vulture as he was the only one of the two who scored on a short-yardage plunge. 

You still can't trust a vulture. You have no hope with Ridley in PPR formats and can't even expect him to breakout considering he had 40 fewer snaps than Samuel. You can't hope for a goal-line touchdown every week either. 


Samuels' ceiling is sky-high compared to that of Ridley. 

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Dan O'Shea is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Dan O'Shea also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username Doshea93. While the strategies and player selection recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and plater selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in their articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.