Below, check out my fantasy-centered recaps of key players from this week’s contests. For instance, did a player come back to earth after an aberrant breakout, or were they simply affected by something like game flow?
Ravens 23, Cardinals 17
You can’t stop Lamar Jackson right now. Last week, he barely attempted to run the ball as he threw five touchdowns, and this week, he goes off for 120 rushing yards to add to a strong passing day, becoming the first player in NFL history to throw for 270 yards and run for 120 yards in the same regular-season game – Colin Kaepernick beat those numbers in the playoffs. Jackson gets a weak Kansas City defense and will face a quarterback who will put up points in Week 3, so just keep raking in that fantasy gold.
Mark Andrews and Marquise Brown are for real, as their air yards and targets went up in Week 2 after a huge Week 1. There will be some games in which the Ravens don’t throw the ball that much, but Andrews and Brown are the keys to the passing offense and will get the biggest percentage of work and air yards each week.
This was the game we needed to see from Kyler Murray, as he completed 25-of-40 passes for 349 yards on the road against a tough Baltimore defense. Would I have liked a touchdown and more rushing work, sure, but no interceptions and a big passing game in that situation gives me plenty of confidence for his ability to put up big numbers this year, especially if/when he breaks out for some big rushing lines.
We will continue to boost Cardinals offense players based on their extremely up-tempo offense, and so far, Christian Kirk and Larry Fitzgerald have benefited the most. Fitzgerald may be the default No. 1 still, but Kirk has more juice after the catch, and I expect he’ll take over that No. 1 job at some point. Both should remain safe plays in this offense, but Kirk’s the guy I want if I had to choose.
Lions 13, Chargers 10
It was good to see Kenny Golladay shine this week against an undermanned, but still good secondary in a game where Matthew Stafford threw just 30 passes. His 10 targets led Marvin Jones by four, which should continue to be the norm.
Colts 19, Titans 17
Jacoby Brissett threw for three touchdowns, but couldn’t top 200 yards, as the Colts continued to prioritize Marlon Mack and the run. Against weaker run defense, Mack’s opportunities will give him some upside, but the offense as a whole will likely keep his touchdowns suppressed. Jordan Wilkins did outshine Mack, as he had a 55-yard run and put up 82 yards on just five attempts while Mack had just 51 yards on 20 attempts. That may get Wilkins a few more looks, but Mack is still the lead back on a team that wants to run to limit its quarterback’s usage.
T.Y. Hilton managed another touchdown, giving him three in his first two games. He’s obviously the safest play each week in this passing offense, but he isn’t going to average a touchdown per game with Brissett at the wheel. Hilton’s a sell candidate.
Derrick Henry put up another solid game, rushing 15 times for 81 yards and a touchdown while catching 2-of-3 targets for 12 yards, but he did split time on the field with Dion Lewis in a negative game script and also had a bad drop. Henry is going to get his chances, but game script will hurt his upside whenever his team trails. With three touchdowns, I also think Henry could be a good sell-high candidate unless you think the Titans are going to cruise with leads going into the fourth quarter each week.
49ers 41, Bengals 17
Kyle Shanahan’s offense again proves it can put up fantasy points, but it also spread the points around and to players who probably weren’t started in many fantasy leagues. But it was still a good sign that the offense as a whole rebounded from a poor Week 1.
Despite not getting into the end zone, Matt Breida looked great as he rushed 12 times for 121 yards. We also can mitigate some fear for Breida’s workload, as this game became a blowout and the ball was spread around to the backup running backs more than it would have been in a closer matchup. Raheem Mostert was the no-doubt backup, as Jeff Wilson saw the bulk of his work in the fourth quarter. Mostert did come in for work near the goal line, but it was hard to tell if Breida was just getting a breather after a 32-yard run or if Mostert is seen as the better goal-line back. It’s worth monitoring, but Breida is in line for the majority of the touches while Mostert, during Tevin Coleman’s abscence, is worthy of a place on your fantasy team.
Deebo Samuel looks like another player we can target if he’s on your waiver wire, as he caught 5-of-7 targets for 87 yards and a touchdown while also seeing two carries for seven yards. There are a lot of good players on this team, so we can expect touches and targets to fluctuate quite a bit, but Samuel was clearly the lead target this week and proved he was worth getting those looks.
John Ross can’t keep up his big-play numbers, can he? Well, he sure did in college, and if he can get opportunities, his speed is still other-worldly. He makes for a sell-high of course, but you might not be able to sell high enough due to his track record and I don’t see him falling off a cliff, especially with the Bengals’ defense rotting and their offensive scheme improved.
Texans 13, Jaguars 12
Carlos Hyde is alive. He saw a 61 percent snap share and 20 carries for 90 yards. Those aren’t league-winning numbers, and the Texans won’t always face a Gardner Minshew offense, so starting Hyde will be completely dependent on game script. Those numbers also hurt Duke Johnson, who ended up with six carries for 31 yards and one target, which he didn’t catch. That one target is my main concern, as Johnson will be more involved when his team is trailing, but the return of Keke Coutee could limit Johnson’s passing-game usage even in those scenarios.
Leonard Fournette rushed 15 times for 47 yards and caught 4-of-6 targets for 40 yards as the Texans went all-out to stop him instead of Gardner Minshew. The good news is, Fournette once again saw six targets, just like in Week 1 after only getting one game with six targets in his last 24 games. The loss of Nick Foles hurts, but Fournette’s floor has gotten higher with his passing work and huge snap share.
Bill O’Brien is going to annoy DeShaun Watson backers in games like these, but thankfully, they won’t all be like this. The Texans’ pass defense remains poor, and we should see more games with offensive explosions than not.
Cowboys 31, Redskins 21
Dak Prescott completed 26-of-30 passes for 269 yards, three touchdowns and one interception, adding five carries for 69 yards. He’s locked in with Kellen Moore’s new offense, and even with Michael Gallup out a few weeks, I believe Prescott will continue his strong play.
Michael Gallup will miss 2-4 weeks, but his replacement, Devin Smith, just caught all three of his targets for 74 yards and a touchdown. Gallup is better, but Smith should fit in well in what is a much more explosive offense than it was last year.
Terry McLaurin caught 5-of-9 targets for 62 yards and one touchdown. This comes after a big Week 1 and against a tough matchup with Byron Jones. We can officially start considering McLaurin as Washington’s No. 1 receiver and a useful every-week fantasy player despite Washington’s not-that-good defense.
Another McLaurin stat that should perk our ears up comes from NFL.com’s Graham Barfield who writes, “Only two receivers have seen over half of their team’s air yards in the first two games of the season: Keenan Allen (54% of LAC air yards) and Terry McLaurin (50%).” This is the kind of usage that keeps players consistent.
Bills 28, Giants 14
Josh Allen completed 19-of-30 passes for 253 yards and a touchdown, adding seven rushes for 21 yards and an additional touchdown. Once again, Allen’s rushing ability boosted his fantasy day. He’s now seen half of all rushing attempts inside the 10-yard line since returning from injury last season in Week 12. That’s a great stat to keep us banking on a continued high floor.
Devin Singletary looked good, but once again, he was used as a backup to 36-year old Frank Gore. Gore ran the ball 19 times for 68 yards and a touchdown, while Singletary rushed six times for 57 yards and a touchdown. Hopefully at some point, the Bills will give their best back the lead role, but it hasn’t happened yet and Singletary is also dealing with a hamstring injury. I still wouldn’t want Gore starting on my fantasy team unless it was a 16-team league.
Eli Manning is washed up. We all know this and finally the team will acquiesce, as Daniel Jones has been named the starter after Manning checked down to a 35-17 beatdown against the Cowboys at home. Yes, the loss isn’t all Manning’s fault, but he isn’t helping New York by making defenses not need to worry much about the ball traveling over 10 yards in the air. Jones won’t turn this team around, but he’ll at least avoid some pressure, put up positive yards with his legs and test defenses deep. Those three things will help Saquon Barkley.
Patriots 43, Dolphins 0
The Patriots get some insanely easy matchups this year, and none will be easier than this one. The good news is that they still play at a fast pace and don’t care about humiliating the other team, as Brady threw for a touchdown at the end of the game. We can safely play all of the top offensive players and their D/ST without worrying about game script.
Antonio Brown’s big workload was in part to get him quickly acclimated to the offense, as who knows when he might become a monk or go to jail or whatever, but it did hurt Julian Edelman’s and Josh Gordon’s numbers. This team is going to put up big fantasy points as long as Brown is around, but the target distribution will likely be inconsistent enough to not feel great about one player going off over another. Thankfully, the Patriots won’t have a great tight end to throw to as well.
The Dolphins will likely have someone go off here and there for fantasy throughout the season, but unless we can grab onto a pattern of who that will be, nobody is worth starting each week.
Chiefs 28, Raiders 10
I think this Patrick Mahomes guy might turn out to be okay. Even with Tyreek Hill out, Mahomes ended up going all out through the air, throwing four touchdowns in one quarter! Demarcus Robinson and Mercole Hardman put up the big numbers while Sammy Watkins didn’t, but Watkins was still the team leader in targets and will continue to be a top play. Robinson and Hardman both deserve to be rostered, but Watkins and Kelce will remain the top targets.
LeSean McCoy and Damien Williams both are hurt, so we’ll need to see how those injuries play out this week. Darrel Williams and Darwin Thompson split work after them, but Thompson has the juice to put up big numbers on just a few touches in this offense. He’s my first pick if McCoy and Williams have trouble getting back to the field this week.
Josh Jacobs looked good, but he also got hurt and wasn’t the primary receiving back when trailing. That’s not great news for big usage when trailing and the Raiders will likely trail more often than not. Jalen Richard and DeAndre Washington split work as third-down backs, so they are hard to recommend.
Seahawks 28, Steelers 26
First and foremost, Ben Roethlisberger is out for the year. That brings in Mason Rudolph, who looked good in relief of Roethlisberger, with his one interception due to Donte Moncrief’s stone hands. Rudolph is worth a waiver add in many leagues, but he’s also not going to throw as much as Roethlisberger. I expect him to have some nice games against poor defenses when trailing.
Donte Moncrief remained awful and saw his snaps drop from 90 percent to 58 percent, and there’s a good chance that number drops even further next week after he caused an interception. That should push James Washington into the No. 2 role, which is good for Rudolph, as the two have a strong connection.
Vance McDonald played more in Week 2 and also scored two touchdowns, both from new starter Rudolph. That’s a good sign for his usage moving forward, but again, we likely will see number of pass attempts curtailed with Rudolph at the helm.
Chris Carson lost another fumble, his second in two games, and he was benched for a time. Rashaad Penny ended up rushing for a 37-yard touchdown, so Carson’s big workload is in jeopardy. The good news is the Seahawks went back to Carson on a critical fourth down to finish out the game and he got the first down. If he can keep from fumbling, he should still hold a good lead on the starting job.
Will Dissly put up two touchdowns in the passing game, but he is splitting time pretty evenly with Nick Vannett while D.K. Metcalf and Tyler Lockett are the only big snap, big usage receivers on the team and they both have good value, especially in games where the Seahawks are forced to throw more.
Packers 21, Vikings 16
Aaron Jones and Jamaal Williams had 39 touches against the Vikings, with Jones leading the two 27 to 12. A big early lead precipitated that kind of usage, but the Packers almost lost the game when they went conservative. We likely won’t see quite that number of touches for the running backs all that often.
Week 2 was a little concerning as Aaron Rodgers threw for just 209 yards and two touchdowns despite getting off to a strong start. Coach Matt LeFleur isn’t going to air the ball out if he doesn’t have to. The fact that Green Bay’s defense looks good for the most part should keep Rodgers from consistent high usage. His efficiency should be good, but we can’t rely on him being a top-five quarterback each week.
Even with a big deficit early, the Vikings stuck with the run, which paid off for Dalvin Cook, who put up a big game, powered by a 75-yard touchdown run. They did throw the ball more than last week, but with that deficit, I’d expect more than 32 pass attempts to 27 rushing attempts. That is troubling for Adam Thielen and Stefon Diggs.
Rams 27, Saints 9
The Rams were never going to use Todd Gurley exclusively between the 20s and give Malcolm Brown all the goal-line carries, but we once again saw a limited workload from Gurley, who rushed 16 times for 63 yards and one touchdown and caught 3-of-4 targets for four yards. His usage isn’t awful, and if he can average 20 looks per week, he’s going to have some good upside, but this is still below his prime usage and it’s hard to believe it will go up as the season moves along.
Robert Woods had many targets and plays called back due to penalties this week, so don’t get too anxious about his two official targets. Cooper Kupp is a slightly bigger factor than even last year when he was putting up great numbers, so he’s my favorite to stay consistent, but all three of the starting receivers should remain strong plays.
Drew Brees will be out until around Week 10 with a thumb injury, so Teddy Bridgewater will take over. Bridgewater will bring down the whole offense, making ancillary players nearly impossible to start and lowering the upside of studs Michael Thomas and Alvin Kamara.
Bears 16, Broncos 14
David Montgomery was the only Bears player to put up usable fantasy numbers, as he saw multiple attempts near the goal line, finally getting in. Matt Nagy rightfully doesn’t trust Mitch Trubisky and will do his best to win with Montgomery and Chicago’s top defense. Trubisky’s poor play will hurt Montgomery, even in good game scripts, but the rookie running back will get his shots.
Joe Flacco threw 50 times and couldn’t reach 300 yards passing. The Bears’ defense is good, but Flacco is also bad. Thankfully, Emmanuel Sanders was targeted on 13 of those passes and caught 11 for 98 yards and a touchdown. That’s the kind of usage he’ll need to stay consistent, and it looks like he’ll easily be Flacco’s preferred target.
Royce Freeman and Phillip Lindsay split snaps, with Freeman getting 52 percent to Lindsay’s 48 percent. But Freeman outplayed Lindsay, rushing 11 times for 54 yards to Lindsay’s 13 attempts for 36 yards and catching 5-of-7 targets for 48 yards to Lindsay’s 4-of-7 targets for 30 yards. I think we’ll see this trend continue, which should give Freeman the lead role sooner than later.
Falcons 24, Eagles 20
Julio Jones caught 5-of-10 targets for 106 yards and two touchdowns, giving him eight touchdowns in his last six games and 11 in in his last 11 games. I believe Atlanta has finally fixed Jones’ usage in the red zone, as he’s seen 16 redzone targets since Week 9 of last season, which means we should keep getting touchdowns to go along with his usually big yardage.
Devonta Freeman had trouble against the Eagles’ tough defensive line, rushing 11 times for just 22 yards, while Ito Smith ran four times for 32 yards and saw work near the goal line. Freeman did do well as a receiver, catching 3-of-4 targets for 42 yards, and Smith caught 2-of-3 targets for 13 yards. Neither found the end zone, but Smith did continue to show that he is an asset. Things will get easier for Freeman than playing the Vikings and Eagles, so there is room for optimism, but Smith isn’t going away either.
The Eagles lost Alshon Jeffery, DeSean Jackson and Dallas Goedert in this game, so Zach Ertz and Nelson Agholor were force fed targets. If those three remain out, we would likely see more of the same, so keep an eye on the news.
Browns 23, Jets 3
Baker Mayfield can thank Odell Beckham Jr. for elevating his statistics this week, as Mayfield was not great. But thankfully, he does have Beckham Jr. to throw to as he tries to get back on track.
Nick Chubb is getting top-running back usage, as he’s running plenty of routes and caught 4-of-4 targets for 36 yards. His efficiency on the ground wasn’t great, but he saw a workload we’d expect from a top back when his team’s in the lead and he also scored a touchdown. All bets are off once Kareem Hunt returns, but for now, Chubb should be consistent as an every-down back.
Sam Darnold hopes to be back by Week 5, and the Jets will need him, as Trevor Siemian, who started in Week 2, is done for the season and Luke Falk has taken over. Falk will dink and dunk until the cows come home, which could keep Le’Veon Bell afloat, but his other receivers will have trouble.
Bell caught all 10 of his targets and ran the ball 21 times. For those 31 touches, he amassed 129 yards, which isn’t great, but in PPR leagues, it’s still elite. He will be the motor until Darnold returns.
