Sony Michel Fantasy Outlook Improves With Damien Harris Injury Update

The New England Patriots are notoriously tightlipped when it comes to injury news. That has made it really difficult to figure out what to do with this backfield from a fantasy perspective. The only certainty appears to be James White's role in the passing game.

The early-down work appears to be a three-headed competition between Sony Michel, Damien Harris and Lamar Miller. While Harris has generated the most buzz in training camp, a hand injury could help Michel retain the starting job, though he's been dealing with health issues of his own.

Sony Michel Fantasy Football Outlook

Michel is currently coming off the board with an average draft position of RB37, per FantasyPros. That might be a bit too low, but it's right around where he should be going given all the uncertainty on this offense.

Aside from his incredible stretch in the 2018 postseason, Michel hasn't been great for the Patriots. He has been fantasy relevant almost entirely due to the volume he's seen, averaging 228 carries per season over his first two years with the team.

If Harris or Miller start to threaten that rushing volume Michel will be irrelevant for fantasy purposes. He's not explosive enough (3.7 yards per carry in 2019) to generate value without seeing significant rushing volume, and he offers next to nothing as a pass-catcher, averaging 15.5 targets and 9.5 receptions per season over his two-year career.

Harris' hand injury does make it a bit more likely that Michel starts the year as the bell cow, as Harris appears to be in danger of missing Week 1. But in an offense as unpredictable as New England's, he's no surefire bet to retain that role.

Michel is little more than an intriguing late-round flyer, though he does have some 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.