Fantasy Football Start or Sit Week 2: Bryce Young, Tetairoa McMillan, Darren Waller

Week 2 of the Carolina Panthers season is here, as Carolina enters enemy territory to play its first conference game against the Atlanta Falcons.

This conference showdown follows losses for both teams: a crushing loss to the Chicago Bears for Carolina, and a narrow but frustrating loss for Atlanta to the Steelers.

Now that Carolina has Week 1 behind it, the positive takeaway from the loss was the offense. Panthers had multiple players stand out, including QB Bryce Young and talented receiver Jalen Coker.

From a fantasy football perspective, two major questions loom entering Week 2. The first is whether Young's performance is repeatable. The second is whether Jalen Coker will remain the primary target.

In this week's "Start or Sit," we highlight Young, Panthers' new TE Darren Waller, a not Coker, but Carolina's true WR1.

Bryce Young

Quarterbacks can always be tricky, especially when choosing between guys ranked outside of the top eight or so. That said, Bryce Young did finish Week 1 as QB3, posting 31.4 fantasy points.

No one's expecting a top three performance again, but after such a great start to the season, Young does become a intriguing option for Week 2.

It really depends on whether it's a 10- or 12-man league. In standard leagues where only one QB starts, Young isn't a sure-fire starter, because there are other QB's who hae better matchups than him.

Jayden Daniels, Brock Purdy, and Baker Mayfield all have great matchups. Daniels plays for the Dallas Cowboys, Purdy plays for the Miami Dolphins, and Mayfield plays for the Cleveland Browns.

Atlanta's defense isn't an easy matchup for Young; they played well against the Steelers last week. Young usually plays well against Atlanta, but it's still a risky start when there are better matchups to attack.

Overall, especially in a 10-man league, Young has to prove last week was a trend, and not an anomaly.

Bryce Young - Sit

Darren Waller

If someone is considering starting Darren Waller, it's because the tight end position is wide open after getting outside of the top six-ish. That said, there are plenty of better options at tight end than Waller.

In Week 1, Waller finished with just 2 catches, and while he took advantage of his two targets, thats not enough volume to bank on moving forward. Waller wasn't even the most targeted TE on the roster, as Tommy Tremble totaled 5 targets.

Waller joined the Panthers in August of 2026, he's still learning this offense. The only scenario where Waller is effective is if he scores a touchdown, cause if he doesn't then his ceiling is six points.

Darren Waller - Sit

Tetairoa McMillan

It wasn't the most encouraging start to the season, but McMillan and Young eventually found their connection and started showing some production toward the end of the Week 1 loss.

McMillan finished the game with 10.5 fantasy points, not the numbers expecte dout of him but still respectable. After a slow first half, McMillan ended the game with 5 catches for 75 yards and 1 fumble lost.

Don't expect another fumble lost for McMillan, and 7 of those 8 targets were in the second half, showing that McMillan can still see a lot of targets throughout smaller stretches of the game.

It's also worth noting that McMillan had the best game of his career against Atlanta last season, posting 8 catches, for 130 yards, and 2 touchdowns. Thats 33 fantasy points in PPR and a WR2 finish overall for that week.

Coker had an awesome Week 1, but until further notice, McMillan is Carolina's WR1. Still widely viewed as a high-end WR2 in fantasy, don't overthink this just because of a quiet Week 1 performance.

Tetairoa McMillan - Start

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