Fantasy Football Week 2 Options
Fantasy football week two is upon us. After a high scoring week one, we fantasy managers look to set our fake football lineups in hopes to win this matchup. In this article, we will be going through players that are sleepers.
Everyone should know by this point to start your studs, but what about some players that either didn’t have a great week one, or players that you may have just picked up off waiver wires?
Well, here’s a list of players who should be in for solid fantasy outings, while also falling into one of those categories.
Streaming Options: Quarterback
Detroit's Matthew Stafford, @ Green Bay
Stafford should have had over 20 fantasy points as he led his team down the field to seal a victory, but rookie RB D'Andre Swift dropped a perfectly placed ball.
Stafford was down his number one receiver, who could be back this Sunday, and if he is back and healthy, I would love to fire Stafford up in an NFC North showdown against a resurgent Aaron Rodgers.
Stafford threw the football 42 times on Sunday, and his receivers weren’t doing him many favors in terms of creating separation or holding onto the football.
I expect Stafford to continue to use his cannon to possibly create big-play opportunities for his offense against a solid defense in Green Bay.
Chicago's Mitchell Trubisky, vs Giants
I’m not a huge fan of relying on someone like Mitchell Trubisky, but the Giants secondary has a lot of liabilities that I believe the Bears can exploit with some of their playmakers.
I can already see Anthony Miller streaking on horizontal crosses against Corey Ballentine, who was a player that the Bears targeted frequently last season.
I feel the Bears may struggle to run the football on the Giants front, which could lead to more opportunities for Trubisky who will also use his legs.
Despite being terrible for three quarters on Sunday, Trubisky was still able to put up 24 fantasy points. I know, it’s gross, but fantasy football does not run parallel to real football.
Tampa Bay's Ronald Jones, vs Carolina
Leonard Fournette is looming and received 5 carries in week one; luckily for Jones, he did very little with the carries. Jones, who played 47% of the snaps for Tampa Bay in Week 1, gets to face off against the Carolina Panthers, who were just gashed on the ground by Josh Jacobs and the Raiders.
Jones received 17 carries, 3 in the red zone, and one within the 5-yard line, while also seeing 3 targets in the passing game. If Jones receives around 50% of the work again, which is plausible due to a positive game script and less LeSean McCoy, then he should be just fine for fantasy owners.
However, there’s always the downside of Bruce Arians finding ways to frustrate you as fantasy owners when he likes to use multiple backs.
Running Backs
Indianapolis' Nyheim Hines vs Minnesota
Hines is being scooped up as a number one waiver priority around fantasy football and I can see why; I think his role for the rest of the season is similar to Austin Ekeler’s role last year. Rivers is big on targeting running backs out of the backfield and Marlon Mack just went down for the season with an injury.
This leaves rookie stud RB Jonathan Taylor and Hines. Before the Mack injury, Hines received the goalline work and scored a touchdown in week one.
I don’t expect that to continue; however, Hines will be the predominant receiving back and is in for 8 or so targets a game. I expect him to average around 15 touches for the rest of the season.
As for this week, as the Colts bring Taylor along, I expect Hines to still play a pivotal role in an offense that’s conducive to his skill set. I’m fine with starting him this week...and oh year, start Jonathan Taylor!
Buffalo's Zack Moss, @ Miami
We just witnessed the Patriots have three touchdown scores from the red zone: two to Cam Newton and one to Sony Michel. The Bills get the opportunity to play Miami this week, a defense that still seems to be struggling.
While the debut of Zach Moss was solid with a receiving touchdown in the red zone, he also saw 8 carries in the red zone, and 3 carries within the five-yard line.
The touchdown saved his week one fantasy performance, but this is a prime breakout game for Moss, who is dominating all the important touches in the high leverage areas of the field. He also received 4 targets and caught 3 of them against the Jets, so start Moss if you need to--he shouldn’t disappoint.
Wide Receiver
Pittsburgh's Diontae Johnson, vs Denver
It was a rough start for Johnson on Monday Night Football where he muffed a punt, but it was apparent throughout the game that Ben Roethlisberger loves to target Johnson.
The second-year wide receiver had 10 targets and finished the game with 6 receptions for 57 yards. He looked quick and smooth and was certainly a focal point of the offense.
He gets to go up against a Broncos secondary that just lost A.J. Bouye, so I expect Johnson to have another solid outing; hopefully, he can clean up the mistakes he made in the first half of the game against the Giants. Luckily for him--Mike Tomlin and the Steelers didn’t stray away from targeting and utilizing him in the game plan.
Indianapolis' Parris Campbell, vs Minnesota
The Vikings are not the Mike Zimmer defense that we all are accustomed to seeing. They were just torched by Aaron Rodgers and the Packers, and I expect Campbell to continue to be a focal point for Philip Rivers in the slot.
Rivers has a proclivity to throw to running backs and the slot receiver; his arm strength has diminished which leaves to a lot of low aDot (average depth of target) situations, which is to the benefit of Campbell.
Despite that, Campbell’s aDot was still just over 11 yards. I expect a lot of short to intermediate targets for Campbell against a defense that is struggling and a secondary that has lost a ton of pieces in the last year.
Campbell should be in for a lot of YAC (Yards After Catch) as well, so I’m comfortable starting him in the flex, after his 9 target game with Rivers.
Tight Ends
Washinton's Logan Thomas, @ Arizona
While I believe the addition of Clemson LB Isaiah Simmons will negate the automatic smash start plays of tight ends versus the Cardinals, I still feel like Thomas could be in for another fine fantasy outing this Sunday.
Despite the fact that the Washington Football Team is first in the division, their quarterback is still Dwayne Haskins and he did not look good against the Eagles; this led Thomas to 8 targets, second in the league behind Eagles tight end Dallas Goedert.
The aDot for Thomas was just under 10 yards and he received three red-zone targets. Behind WR Terry McLaurin, Washington doesn’t have reliable pass-catching options, so I expect Haskings to rely upon Thomas and his 6’6 frame once again.
Atlanta's Hayden Hurst, @ Dallas
It’s a bit discouraging that Hurst only had 5 targets in a game where Matt Ryan threw the football 54 times, but Hurst was out there for 80% of the snaps and ran routes on almost every passing play while on the field.
Dallas’ defense is going to be keyed on slowing down the dynamic duo of Julio Jones and Calvin Ridley, and with the injury to LB Leighton Vander Esch, Hurst should have some easy completions over the middle of the field.
I’m looking for a bounce-back week for Hurst in Dirk Koetter’s offense that tends to feature the tight end over the middle of the field.
