Darren McFadden Daily Fantasy News, Rankings, Projections

Smith is inactive and won't play in tonight's game against the Philadelphia Eagles, as expected, after previously being listed as questionable on the Dallas Cowboys' injury report with separate groin and back injuries, while Darren McFadden is inactive and a healthy scratch, leaving just Alfred Morris and Rod Smith as the only running backs on the Cowboys' active roster for Sunday night's game. In his absence, Byron Bell will attempt to hold down the left side of the offensive line against this ferocious Eagles' front seven. However, Smith's absence can't possibly be overstated following the massive six-sack performance Adrian Clayborn was able to put up by his lonesome for the Atlanta Falcons in Week 10, adding to those concerns is the fact that the Philadelphia defensive line is arguably the team's biggest strength on defensive side of the ball, making them a viable option at defense on the primetime slates and FanDuel main slate despite the high game total.

This ridiculous saga has finally come to a close. Elliott has given up his battle and will remain sidelined for five more games. While he's out, the Cowboys will likely continue to roll with Alfred Morris in the early-down role with Rod Smith coming on for passing situations. Game flow turned against Morris last week and he only ended up carrying the rock 11 times, although he picked up a solid 53 yards on those attempts. Smith ended up attracting six targets but only turned them into 15 yards on four catches. Week 11 presents a terrible spot for Morris as the Eagles are first in adjusted line yards (2.33, per FO) and they're limiting RBs to the third-fewest touchdowns per game (0.33). They are, however, giving up the second-most receptions (6.44/g) and receiving scores (0.44/g) to the position though. Smith out-snapped Morris 38-22 last week (McFadden played one) and with the explosive Eagles - who've scored the second-most points this season (283) - coming to town, the game could head in a similar direction. At $3.4k on DK, Smith is an intriguing GPP option that should come with very low ownership. As Ian Rapoport reported last week, the Cowboys see Smith as their "wildcard" and they want to use him.

Elliott's motion for an injunction was denied by the Second Circuit Thursday, meaning his suspension will be reinstated. The ban will begin immediately and he'll miss the Cowboys' Week 10 matchup with the Falcons. Alfred Morris is expected to start in his place with Darren McFadden and Rod Smith working in behind him. Although they'll begin with a committee approach, it's possible Morris or McFadden seizes control of the backfield and secures the feature role while Zeke is sidelined. The general consensus among beat writers is that McFadden has the best shot to do so based on his three-down skill set. He's been inactive all season, so he's fresh heading into his first game of the year. He only appeared in three contests last year but back in 2015, before Elliott arrived in Dallas, McFadden racked up 1,089 rushing yards and added 40 catches for 328 yards. His ability to produce as a receiver is an advantage this week as the Falcons rank 22nd in receiving RB DVOA and have allowed the most receptions to the position this season (6.7/g). They're also 21st in adjusted line yards, which could enable Morris to get in a groove early though. Fortunately for McFadden, game flow could turn in his favor. The Cowboys were three-point road dogs before the Elliott news hit and the spread should widen. However, it's possible he'll lose some of the receiving work to Smith, potentially limiting his market share/ceiling. It's definitely a backfield to watch but targeting any one of them will be risky in DFS this week as it'll be tough to predict volume distribution in Dallas' first game without Elliott.

Elliott's motion for an administrative stay was granted, making him eligible to play this Sunday. The story is not over yet though, per ESPN's Dan Graziano, a panel of Second Circuit judges will convene next week to decide whether to overturn Monday's ruling and grant Elliott an injunction. It's possible he'll begin serving his suspension next week. For now, he'll prepare for a meeting with the Chiefs on Sunday. It's an exploitable spot as they're 30th in adjusted line yards (per FO) while Dallas' offensive line is fifth and they're 31st in rush DVOA. Kanas City is allowing the third-most rushing touchdowns per game to RBs (0.88) and the seventh-most rushing yards (107.6) but they have been effective in coverage. They're first in receiving RB DVOA and they're holding backs to the fewest receiving yards per game (25.1). After averaging 4.0 receptions over the first four weeks, Elliott has taken a back seat in the passing game, hauling in just one catch three straight weeks. At the same time, he's picked up 29.3 carries for 137.7 yards and 1.3 touchdowns per game - he clearly doesn't need a huge presence in the air to return a strong fantasy performance. As a team, the Cowboys are running the ball at the fifth-highest rate in the league (47.6%) and they'll likely try to stick with their run-heavy approach as much as they can. It appears to be a great matchup for that type of attack and after the news broke, the game immediately went from a pick'em to favoring the Cowboys by 2.0 points. Zeke's presence eliminates the fantasy value of Alfred Morris and Darren McFadden, and it is a downgrade for Dez Bryant, who could've seen a volume boost if Elliott was suspended. He's still an appealing buy-low target though considering he'll avoid Marcus Peters' coverage most of the game and the Chiefs are 29th in WR1 DVOA while allowing the most passes (10.4/g) and yards (112.7/g) to the position. There may be plenty of fantasy goodness to go around as this game now has the highest total of the week at 52.5 points.

Darren McFadden and Alfred Morris are expected to take over the majority of the running back duties, although it isn't clear which one has the edge yet. Jerry Jones said Rod Smith will have a role as well. Hopefully, we'll learn more about what the Cowboys plan to do with their backfield as the week progresses. In the story that never ends, there is still an outside chance the NFLPA's appeal of this decision will allow him to stay on the football field, we're expecting a decision on that tomorrow evening.

What a difference three days makes. McFadden appeared to be the Cowboys main running back to start the season with Ezekiel Elliott suspended for the first six games. Now, Elliott's suspension is on hold after he was granted a temporary restraining order and Alfred Morris will step in to serve as Zeke's backup.