Fantasy Football NFL Week 2 Musings

Episode 36 of the podcast covers this week’s fantasy football thoughts from games.

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Fantasy Football NFL Week 2 Musings

Fantasy Football NFL Week 2 Musings
_Episode 36 of the Fantasy Sports Collective Podcast. This episode is our weekly discussion on fantasy performances and…_share.transistor.fm

Episode 36 of the podcast covers this week’s fantasy football thoughts from games.

Has there ever been a season with so many prominent, critical fantasy football injuries 2 weeks into the season? Aaron Rodgers, Nick Chubb, J.K. Dobbins, and Saquon Barkley are the headliners. Maybe we’ve had a similar or worse start, but over the past two decades, this season stands out.

So, let’s jump to happier matters. How about Patrick Mahomes getting paid, legitimately getting paid. He’s been guaranteed $52.5M a year for the next 4 seasons. Good for him; he deserves it.

Here are the most significant fantasy musings to date.
QBs —

Russel Wilson - is the #2 overall fantasy QB but that’s a misnomer. He hasn’t looked good, his team is 0–2 and sans an incredibly lucky hail mary connection Sunday, he wouldn’t be in the top 10. 
Baker Mayfield — is currently the 11th-scoring QB through 2 weeks. Who would have predicted this? Mike Evans is thriving as well. 
Sam Howell — is #9, there was good buzz on him this training camp but he’s delivering. Albeit they’ve played Arizona & Denver so let’s see once they play Philly and Dallas.

RB’s —

Kyren Williams — has scored 4 td’s through two weeks. He’s #2 overall fantasy RB through 2 weeks.
Brian Robinson — is the #3 and Raheem Mostert is #4. Lots of random names up at the top. But that’s because we’re only 2 weeks in, and we’ve had a lot of difficult RB news. There are injuries to many top guy’s holdouts (Jonathan Taylor).

WRs — The top 4 guys are expected, long-term fantasy stalwarts.
Tyreek Hill, Mike Evans, DeVonta Smith and Justin Jefferson. The 5th guy though.. Puka Nacua, and fellow rookie Jordan Addison is #7. We may finally have Nico Collins breaking out in Houston as well.
We’ll see Chris Olave, CeeDee Lamb, Stefon Diggs, Jaylen Waddle, J’Marr Chase, and DK Metcalf ascend in the next few weeks. They are all too talented and so close to exploding. If Burrow is out for several weeks, Chase and Tee Higgins may be the exception.

TE’s — TJ Hockenson and Hunter Henry are nearly 100% higher in total points scored (29ish each) vs. #3 guy Hayden Hurst (16 total points so far). This position is a bit abysmal so far this season. All it would take is a big Travis Kelce week 3, I sense that is coming, for him to retake the #1 spot (he scored 10.6 points in week 2). The two guys that are a bit under the radar that I like going forward -
Hunter Henry — appears to be Mac Jones’s security blanket; if he can stay healthy, he could be a top 4 fantasy TE this year.
Evan Engram — he has remained Trevor Lawrence’s slot/short yardage receiver, and he’s 2nd on the team in targets; they’re going to throw a ton, so he will have plenty of big weeks coming up.

K — Arguably, the two best teams in the NFL’s kickers are rookies, and both are playing well (perfect from the field). Brandon Aubrey (Dallas) and Jake Moody (SF), I like them both to be solid fantasy starters as their teams will continue to score a lot.

The ultimate guide to who to own and drop is the success of their respective teams. The NFL teams winning and scoring a lot will have a disproportionate number of productive fantasy assets versus those struggling. So who are the teams who have taken maybe a step forward (surprise) and who have fallen back (doing poorly).

Surprises (positive)
Tampa Bay Bucs — They’re 2–0, and they may be the best team in the NFC South (which features 3 undefeated teams). Their offense is at the worst middle of the pack. Maybe we all wrote them off too soon.
Miami Dolphins — We all predicted they would be good, but they may be the toast of the AFC. They’ve won back-to-back road games in LA (vs. Chargers) and then versus New England. They’ve put up 60 points, and they’re doing what they want. Of course, the caveat with this team is whether Tua can stay healthy. That’s a legitimate concern, but if he does, the Dolphins look pretty special on offense, and their defense is better than last year.
Dallas Cowboys — They’re absolutely dominating so far through 2 weeks. Now, they may have just played 2 opponents at the perfect time (NY Giants in monsoon & NY Jets at home with Zach Wilson at QB), but their point differential is already at 60. The next best is SF at 30. The 49’ers, though, played the 1–1 Steelers and Rams on the road. Regardless, a 60-point differential is impressive, and they’re doing it on both sides of the ball. The week 5 49ers vs. Cowboys matchup is shaping up to be one of the best early-season Sunday night football games ever.

Shocking (negative)
Cincinnati Bengals — we all expected to have a minimum of 5 every week fantasy starters from this team (Burrow, Mixon, Chase, Higgins, and K Evan Mcpherson). So far, those who went big on Bengals are likely staring at the same 0–2 hole as the real-life Bengals. If Burrow misses more time or the injury lingers, this won’t change soon. That said, Burrow is too good for this to be a lost season. At some point, they will find their groove.
New York Jets — this comes down to a single point of failure: Aaron Rodgers. We wouldn’t be talking about this if the Jets had Gardner Minishew as their backup. But Zach Wilson may not be ready to be an NFL starter. With ARod out, it’s reducing Garrett Wilson’s value immensely. Sans a nice slant catch and broken tackle, we’d be talking about Wilson having a 2 for 25-yard game. The RBs Breece Hall and Dalvin Cook were bottled up. There will be better days for this squad when they’re not playing the Bills, Cowboys, or Patriots (they face off this Sunday), but the upside we all hoped for in August won’t be realized this season.
Houston Texans — this call may not be fair. The Texans have been a dumpster fire for multiple seasons, but there was huge hype for Dameon Pierce this season. Through two weeks, though, that hype was hyperbolic; Pierce looks ordinary and isn’t even featured, no doubt bellcow sharing with 2 other backs. Maybe this changes in the weeks ahead, but call me dubious; the guy never was the primary back in college, has been injured, and is a rotation-level talent.