Marshawn Lynch, Duke Johnson are Divisional round RB sleepers

Earlier this season Carlos Hyde ran all over the Chiefs and is at just $5,000, so he’s on my list of value plays this weekend, but I do believe Kansas City puts the Texans behind the 8-ball pretty quickly and limits Hyde’s ability to stack up attempts.

After Hyde we have a lot of part-time players with uncertain usage, but we’ll take a look and see if we can project any increase in workload or useful matchups.

Marshawn Lynch, Seahawks ($4,800)

Travis Homer led the way in touches last week agains the Eagles, but Lynch was the goal line back and scored a difficult 5-yard touchdown Otherwise he was completely shut down but so was Homer. On Monday, head coach Pete Carroll said that Lynch is “ready to handle more of a workload. Lynch isn’t going to outrun many defenders at this point, but in an easier matchup against the Packers this week, he should have a little more running room while getting more work and staying the goal line back. The Packers have allowed the ninth-most DK points to running backs on the season along with 4.9 yards per carry.

Duke Johnson, Texans ($4,700)

Johnson’s ability sets up well against a Chiefs defense that allows a lot of receptions and receiving yards to running backs. Hyde gets a good matchup as well, as I stated earlier, but Kansas City is favored by -9.5 points and if the Texans need to come from behind, Johnson’s receiving ability will be needed.

On the season, Kansas City has allowed the fourth-most receptions and second-most receiving yards to running backs as well as the fourth-most yards per carry. Johnson looked great on his limited work last week against the Bills and should have won himself a few more touches in a game where his ability should be needed more than his running mate’s.