Waddle up that Hill: Week 2 Fantasy Football Sunday Recap

[starts playing synth riffs] It doesn’t hurt me. Nah, it doesn’t hurt me that the Dolphins/Ravens game — which had an Over/Under of 43 points — ended up with 80 points scored between the teams. Tua Tagovailoa matched 30+ year old Dolphins franchise records with 6 passing touchdowns, equalling Hall of Famers Brian Griese and Dan Marino. Meanwhile, Tom Brady and Jameis Wilson combined threw fewer yards than Tua Tagovailoa alone. This is why DFS players diversify so much — nobody expected Tua to put up a once-in-a-generation performance against the Ravens. But it happened! 

For all of your Monday Night Football coverage, join Jordan Loupe and Fantasy Coach JB live as they lead the Fantasy Besties tonight, 7:15 ET: 

Let’s Waddle up that Hill and see if I can’t find some Reggie Bush references to sneak in here. 

Notable Week 2 Fantasy Football Performances

Jaylen Waddle: The internet laughed in unison in Week 1 when a video of Tua Tagovailoa bouncing a pass to Jaylen Waddle circulated as quickly as that light saber kid video. You want a demonstration of variance? Week 1: Jaylen Waddle had 4 catches on 5 targets for 69 yards and a TD. Week 2? 19 targets. Waddle has been in the NFL for 2 years and his previous game-high targets was 13 (2 games). My momma said there’d be games like this — Waddle obliterated all expectations. Congrats on the career game, Jaylen Waddle. Hopefully there’s another one like this. 

Curtis Samuel: 9 targets, 7 catches, 78 yards, and a TD. Samuel is now on pace for nearly 200 targets, 130 catches, and my heart. If Samuel is still on your waiver wire, stay up until 2 AM and snag him. Your leaguemates will feel intimidated. 

Jared Goff: Made his case for your top streaming QB target with 256 passing yards and 4 TDs. The Lions look like a new team under Dan Campbell in 2022, and Goff has 6 TDs in 2 games. That said, it’s the cursed Lions franchise, and fans are traumatized to expect nothing good to happen. Goff is a clear Superflex QB2, 12-team QB streamer, and after another game like this, he might make a case for [gasp] starting on your team. 

Logan Thomas: 3 catches on 5 targets for 37 yards and a TD. Thomas wasn’t supposed to be playing this early in the year, but he’s already getting meaningful fantasy reps and half of your teams probably need a Tight End. Logan finished as a top 5 tight end in 2020 before getting injured in 2021 — he’s worth a shot if you’re the kind of person who went with David Njoku as your TE1. 

Christian Kirk: Coming into the season, Kirk had only thrived for a brief period in ARI when DeAndre Hopkins was injured. Whatever magic juice that they’re running into the 2022 Jags has revived not only James Robinson, but it’s sustaining Christian Kirk. Keep starting in your WR2/3/FLEX spots. 

James Robinson: As is typical with my James Robinson blurbs, let’s start by discussing how much the Jags tried to get rid of him. The Jags drafted 2-time ACC Player of the Year Travis Etienne with the 25th pick of the 2021 draft. JRob tore his ding dang Achilles to close out the 2021 year. You can see Cam Akers as an example of how hard it is to return from an Achilles tear (he’s up to 2.9 yards per carry this week!). And in the first two games of 2022, James Robinson — the undrafted guy coming off an extremely difficult ankle injury — has made Travis Etienne seem like a distant afterthought. Robinson’s 2.8 yards per carry didn’t thrill fans — it was even worse than Cam Akers! — but his 25 total touches and nearly 80 yards and a TD far outpaced Etienne’s 9 carries for 20 yards. Remember: people drafted Etienne in the third round. There are experts out there who put thousands — nay, tens of thousands of dollars — into Etienne as their top RB. At this point in the season, that investment seems wildly misguided. If James Robinson is still available in your league, snag him for your roster. 

Ashton Dulin: People on Reddit gave me Schmidt for not providing enough actionable alternatives in my injury report. Like, were you really going to start Parris Campbell? You want me just to read you a depth chart? You know what Campbell did in the absence of Michael Pittman? 2 targets and 0 catches. Instead, the top Colts receiver in a dismal game was Ashton Dulin. Hey Siri, who is Ashton Dulin? A special teams tackler / gunner / frappucino fetcher for the Colts. Ah, the natural replacement for a top wide receiver. Just like Greg Dortsch claimed WR1 status in Week 1 following the Rondale Moore injury, Dulin claimed WR1 status in the absence of Pittman. Will Dulin stick on the roster beyond this week? Let’s ask the ghost of Parris Campbell. oooooOOOoooo. Take that for actionable content, Reddit — an interview with a ghost! 

Trey Lance: Carted off the field with an ankle injury shortly after the start of the game. Sigh. Adam Schefter’s report indicates that Lance will likely need season-ending surgery. [goes to cry in the corner] Jimmy Garoppolo is a known quantity — he played over 80% of snaps last year and the 49ers still decided to go with Lance in 2022. Garoppolo streams as well as any other QB, but that’s like saying you’ll take a McDonald’s chicken sandwich over the White Castle chicken slider. Does White Castle even make a chicken slider? Our thoughts are with Lance on his recovery. 

Jameis Winston: The deal with streaming QBs is that sometimes they completely disappear. After 3 quarters of disaster in week 1, Winston showed life in the 4th quarter and put up a full game of stats in 15 minutes. Flash forward to week 2, and Winston and the Saints smartly held off the Bucs for nearly 3 quarters until an on-field fracas between Mike Evans and Marshon Lattimore resulted in the ejection of each player. While Tom Brady went into laser-focus mode, Winston lost his composure and tossed INT after INT after INT. The thing about QBs is that they can still top the fantasy charts even when they throw INTs, under the condition that they throw a bunch of TDs as well. Fingers crossed Jameis Winston follows up those INTs with tuddies for the sake of our fantasy teams. 

Raheem Mostert: 11 rushes with 51 yards on the ground with another 3 catches for 28 yards. People who get paid more than me indicate that Mostert has supplanted Chase Edmonds on the Dolphins roster. But…let’s be fair — the Dolphins did a once-in-a-generation comeback game, and we can’t really extrapolate that. Most people agree that a healthy Mostert could outperform Edmonds, but a healthy Mostert is nearly an oxymoron. Of course, if Mostert is available in your league, add him to your roster. If he’s not available in your league, you’re probably in a league with me because I drafted Mostert on nearly all my teams.  

D.J. Chark: 25% catch rate on the year and 40% of his season yards came on one catch. It takes 3 games to make a trend, but I’m permitting you to move on. 

Donovan Peoples-Jones: Remember how variance played a role in Jaylen Waddle’s career-making game? Peoples-Jones went from 11 targets in Week 1 to 1 target in Week 2. Such is life. DPJ is still a viable FLEX option going forward unless we see data saying otherwise. 

DK Metcalf: With hardly 70 yards to his name, it’s still important to know that Metcalf is still on pace for nearly 90 catches and over 100 targets on the season. Don’t give up hope yet. 

Russell Wilson: Boo’d in Denver after barely beating the Houston Texans. Stat line was meh. Coaches in Denver have been doing some puzzling playcalling and game management, most famously with the 64-yard field goal attempt in Week 1. It’s way too early to say anything definitive about Russ’ cooking, but at least take a digestive to quell your stomach if he’s on your team. 

Greg Dortch: Imagine being on a team with Marquise Brown, Zach Ertz, and A.J. Green, and you’re an undrafted rookie who couldn’t make the Jets…and now you’ve been fantasy-relevant for two weeks in a row. Congratulations, you’re Greg Dortch! What a weird cosplay you’re doing. Dortch is still a puzzling play — he shouldn’t be getting TD looks and 6 targets — but he is, and sometimes you just need to roll with that. 

Hunter Renfrow: Fumbled twice in overtime, with the second fumble leading to the game-winning TD…for the Arizona Cardinals. Renfrow was a top 10 fantasy receiver in 2021. Don’t look back in anger, at least not today. 

James Conner: Missed half the game with an injury, and Eno Benjamin and Darrel Williams shared reps in his place. Hey Reddit, you want me to tell you to start Eno Benjamin in Week 3? Answer: No, I would not start Benjamin or Williams in week 3 unless A) you’re in a deep league or B) your roster looks as apocalyptic as a John Romero movie. Stay tuned to the injury report to see Conner’s status for week 3. 

Who was your favorite play in Week 2? Are you ready for the Fantasy Besties? Can you imagine having this high-quality interview with the ghost of Parris Campbell and not supporting it? (Support us here) Give us a shout down in the comments and let us know how you did in Week 2!