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Damien Harris Fantasy Outlook Skyrockets Following Week 4 Performance

Max Staley
Damien Harris' fantasy football outlook skyrockets after his Week 4 showing.
Damien Harris' fantasy football outlook skyrockets after his Week 4 showing. / Steven Ryan/Getty Images
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Damien Harris was reportedly one of the breakout stars of the New England Patriots' training camp. A hand injury kept him sidelined for the first three weeks of the 2020 season, but he finally got a chance to make good on all that hype in Week 4. And Harris delivered.

Likely to serve as the Patriots' leading rusher for at least the next two games, Harris is a really intriguing waiver wire target in any fantasy football format.

Damien Harris Fantasy Outlook

Harris was New England's primary early-down back on Monday Night, handling a team-high 17 carries for 100 yards. He also flashed some real burst on an explosive 41-yard run against a Kansas City Chiefs' defense that has been surprisingly stout in 2020 (No. 2 in points allowed per game).

Harris was clearly ahead of Rex Burkhead (11 carries) for the early-down work, and he's likely to remain the top dog until Sony Michel returns injury. The earliest that could happen is Week 8 against the Buffalo Bills, as Michel has been placed on IR.

Ironically, like Michel the biggest downside to Harris' game is that he might not offer much as a pass-catcher, seeing zero targets on Monday night. He did catch 22 balls his senior season at Alabama, though, so perhaps he's got some untapped potential on that front.

The former Crimson Tide back will be a low-end RB2, or FLEX option while he serves as the Patriots lead rusher against the Denver Broncos in Week 5 and San Francisco 49ers in Week 7 (Week 6 bye).

He absolutely has a chance to beat out Michel for the starting job in the next few weeks, though, and Monday's showing was a great start – especially given the horrible QB play he was saddled with. The potential to earn the starting role gives Harris legit season-long upside.

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Max Staley is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Max Staley also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username mstaley1212. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player 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.

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