Week 2 Fantasy Football Primer

Seriously, I’ve lost track of the days already. Are we having Tuesday Night Football again? Is it 2020? How’s the Mu variant of the coronavirus doing? Why did I draft Drew Brees on my dynasty team? These are all questions I can’t really answer, at least not without the help of my trusty worksheet from the fair maiden Rudy Gamble. What? Rudy’s a man? I’m so out of sorts, I don’t even know who my boss is anymore. Maybe it’s time to jump into the stats and get you ready for Week 2 of fantasy football. 

Week 2 Player Highlights

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All right! Let’s jump in Steve Irwin-style and see what monsters we can wrestle into submission. 

Quarterbacks

Tom Brady: Legend has it that the Crystal Skull of Monstradamus was stolen from its native protectors and installed in Tom Brady’s skull, giving him super-pliable muscles and an affinity for tequila. Brady is hands-down the favorite for “most snaps” in Week 2 while going against the Atlanta Falcons. I mean, we thought it was ridiculous to open the season with Brady against the Cowboys, where the Brady Bucs were -400 favorites (or for those not in the odds calculating business, a whopping 80% chance of victory), and now the Bucs are a -650 odds (nearly 90%) chance of shooting some prey out of the sky. The local fishwraps indicate that Bucs captain Bruce “Not an Ubermensch” Arians really wants to establish running back Ronald Jones this week. Is that like a social media flea flicker? [in the dark galleys of Buccaneers headquarters, Bruce Arians sips rum that has gunpowder floating in it] “Release the Jones hype!” Arians shouts to an empty room as he stabs a dagger into a treasure map titled, “Path to the Super Bowl.” Nah, unleash Brady in your GPPs and leagues. 

Running Backs

Chase Edmonds: How quiet was his 100 yard production last week? 60 on the ground, 40 in the air…that’s how you stay under the radar in fantasy and in investing. 60/40 stocks/bonds, and nobody makes an NFT of your face but you took the slow and steady path to wealth. Maybe that’s what Chase Edmonds is doing this year. Looking at his projected targets and carries (a nice feature provided in the Razzball Premium Tools), we’re looking at another 15 touch week for Edmonds as he is projected to be around RB20. Are you excited about RB20? No, I’m not talking about my 1990s-inspired reggae music project (UB40 representing). But there are a ton of Hero RB and Zero RB squads out there wondering who to slot into their RB2, and Edmonds looks like a nice option this week. He takes on the Vikings, who were absolutely embarrassed by the Bengals last week (Zac Taylor has one of the worst records as a head coach in NFL history and a former NFL GM said to Sports Illustrated that Taylor wasn’t qualified to coach in the NFL). We saw Joe Mixon come off a season-ending foot injury to get 34 touches against the Vikings in week 1, so I’d confidently bet the over on Chase Edmonds this week. 

Wide Receivers and Tight Ends

Let’s be fair — we’re going to see a ton of volatility on receivers to start the season, so let’s keep this at the “Quick Hit” level until we see more roles snapping into place. 

Corey Davis: I recommended him last week and he snared 5 catches on 7 targets for 100 yards and 2 TDs. He faces New England this week and might have a tougher matchup but he’s still projected at 7 targets and 5 catches, and we’ll see if his TD prowess continues. 

Tim Patrick: Basically free on waivers and is projected in the top 100 for targets. That’s — you know — deep league stuff. With Jerry Jeudy out and the Broncos still getting their feel of a healthy and new offense, Tim Patrick will be an explosive option for deep league teams. 

Brandon Aiyuk / Trent Sherfield: 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan remarked that Brandon Aiyuk is in a surprise competition with Trent Sherfield for targets this year. Although it makes sense to us analysts to recommend Aiyuk, we can’t deny the reports that Sherfield is getting nearly as much time on the field as Aiyuk, who had big fantasy expectations coming into this year. That said, the QB situation in SF is volatile, and we already saw Trey Lance appear on the field to give Jimmy G some motivation, the result of which was 300 plus yards passing from JG. I remember when Donkey Teeth brought in a buncha rookie writers to try and replace me, and I got super-motivated to make hot takes like, “Le’Veon Bell will be a top 25 running back.” If you have Aiyuk, give him a start; if you’re building a DFS lineup, get a cheap Sherfield in there. 

Thursday Night Football Preview

Last week the football media gods believed that Tom Brady vs Dak Prescott was a winning combo, and for the most part they were right. Dak impressed despite his team having a 20% chance to win, and the Cowboys nearly caught the thieving Buccaneers until Tom Terrific did one of his patented game-winning drives. This Thursday, the NFL media gods have given us another barn burner…the New York Giants vs the Washington Football Team. [sigh] Washington is a slight favorite in this one at the time of writing, which is absolutely stunning given the fact they’re taking backup QB Taylor Heineke into battle. The over/under line is 41, which points to a low-scoring affair that you’ll want to DVR and then forget about as you’re catching up on the latest episode of Surreal Estate. 

Let’s check out some of the player options: 

Kenny Golladay / Sterling Shephard: The Giants want to get their passing game in order and might do a heavy air attack — Daniel Jones is favored for over 33 attempts and is 50/50 on over 230 passing yards (which is a fair bet for him). Razzball sees both Golladay and Shepherd in the 7 target range, which provides a nice upside. 

Saquon Barkley: Ace running backs don’t always kick ass. Until Saqon strings together 3-4 poor starts in a row, we keep putting him out there. 

Antonio Gibson: Basically the new captain of the Washington Football Team [insert “I’m the Captain Now” GIF]. Taylor Heineke is a short passer and the WFT will need to grind yards after the catch for the next part of the season. Gibson could get those D’Andre Swift levels of touches — 10ish catches and the moon’s the limit on his NFT collection. 

WAS DEF / NYG DEF: With a favored total points score of under 41, here’s where you stream your DEF. Daniel Jones is favored to throw at least one pick, and Taylor Heineke is favored to throw one TD. All you IDP fans, this is your game! 

What are your expectations for Week 2 in fantasy football? Let me know down in the comments!