With the arrival of NFL Week 2 comes a vast number of fantasy football questions to be answered. By this time, you’ve probably digested everything you saw on Thursday Night Football and are in a total panic. What do I do now, having drafted Tua Tagovailoa as my quarterback? Should I try to trade Tyreek Hill? Did I make a mistake drafting Dalton Kincaid? Questions, questions and more questions.

 

 

 

My guess is that you’ve been staring at your roster for hours on end and have moved players in and out of your lineup with each bit of NFL news you’ve taken in. Am I playing Jordan Mason this week or will Christian McCaffrey be good to go? Who do I start with Jordan Love out or does Matt LaFleur really believe this kid will start? How much upside do I need in my lineup because Josh Allen only gave me 12 points this week? 

All these questions, and more, will be answered here today. Welcome to the mailbag!

NFL Week 2 Fantasy Football Advice: Start/Sit, Waivers & Trades

Peter E. Wants To Know…

Likely has been a hit-button topic for tight ends all week and after Dalton Kincaid posted just 7.3 fantasy points in a full-point PPR format, the questions are coming in fast and furious. For the record, anyone who hit me with the Kincaid vs. Likely question leading up to Thursday’s game, I said Kincaid and now the villagers are lined up outside with torches and pitchforks in-hand.

First off, Likely hasn’t played yet so everyone needs to chill out. You don’t know that he is outscoring Kincaid just yet, so don’t assume you were given bad advice. Secondly, let’s understand that while Likely had a great Week 1, his role is still that of the TE2 in Baltimore and Mark Andrews will lead the charge once healthy. For those who weren’t paying attention, Andrews suffered an undisclosed injury in a car accident two weeks prior to the season-opener and had been sidelined at practice for much of that time. 

Still, he played 74-percent of the snaps. The heavy use of two-TE sets put Likely at a 66-percent snap share and his involvement in the passing game was raised with coverage kept on Andrews much of the time. If Andrews is healthy – and there haven’t been any questions/issues at all this week – then I expect him to take on a larger target-share at the expense of Likely’s.

Now do we like Bowers more than Likely? Yes, we do. Not only did Bowers see the heavier snap-share between him and Michael Mayer, but he also ran more routes and was targeted eight times. That progression should continue as Gardner Minshew continues to look for him on the intermediate routes. Davante Adams will always see the lion’s share of targets, but Bowers could end up second, ahead of possession-receiver Jakobi Meyers.

I also like this match-up for Bowers as the Ravens defense has undergone a few changes with Mike Macdonald leaving as their defensive coordinator. They also lost Patrick Queen to free agency so there are changes in the middle of the field. The Ravens allowed 71 receiving yards on six catches to the tight end position in Week 1 and their coverage landed them with a DVOA ranking of 30th among all teams. Not that we’re putting all our eggs into the DVOA basket after one game, but it is still worth noting.

I’ll take the top pass-catching tight end on a team that is expected to be throwing heavily this week as opposed to the second tight end on a team that should control the ball well and play with a lead most of the time. It should be a nice game for Derrick Henry as opposed to one where Lamar Jackson is expected to sling the rock.

 

 

 

Greg M. Asks…

Good job sneaking in the second question, Greg. I never said one per customer, did I?

Let’s start with the quarterbacks here. For me, it’s Stafford over Fields. Everyone is chasing the rushing upside of Fields, and it’s completely understandable. But that’s all you’re getting out of him. The Steelers head to Denver where most teams struggle with the altitude early in the season, so that is going to have a negative effect. 

He’s also got just one legitimate receiving threat in George Pickens who will be blanketed by Patrick Surtain and one of the toughest secondaries in the league. So how much passing work are you going to get? Is he going to rush for 150 yards and two touchdowns on his own? Denver’s run defense can be shaky, but I don’t think this is shaky.

Stafford is a very serviceable quarterback and while you aren’t getting any rushing work out of him, you weren’t from Jordan Love either. They are pocket-passers and there’s nothing wrong with that when you have an array of weapons at your disposal. 

Puka Nacua may be hurt, but between Cooper Kupp, Demarcus Robinson, Tyler Johnson and Colby Parkinson, there are plenty of receiving threats. This Rams/Cardinals game also has a game total of 48 as opposed to the Steelers/Broncos game total of 36.5. Tak the shootout, please.

As for the receivers, that’s a tough question. All four are studs and all four are the No. 1 target on their respective team. Kupp is a must-start and in a match-up against a soft Tennessee pass-defense, I’m banking on Aaron Rodgers and Garrett Wilson to have a strong effort. That leaves us with Rice vs. Diggs; the favorite target for Patrick Mahomes or C.J. Stroud’s new toy. Yeesh. What a decision.

But I’m going to favor Diggs in his first home game of the season. He was featured in the passing attack last week, Nico Collins landed on the injury report with an illness late in the week and the Texans are going to try to put on a show. As much as I love Rice, I also think Mahomes has a tendency to spread the ball around a ton and if the Bengals are still struggling defensively, it could be more of an Isiah Pacheco game than one in which heavy passing is needed.

What you really need to do, Greg, is work out a trade. Package up Diggs and Rice and give the CeeDee Lamb owner a call. Or pair up one of these receivers with a running back and see what Bijan Robinson’s owner is doing. 

I imagine that if you drafted all of these receivers, you are in need of a better running back as all of them went in the first five rounds of your draft. It’s nice to have options but you’re going to go out of your mind all season making this decision on a weekly basis.

 

 

 

Caleb S. Writes In…

A surprisingly good problem to have as it means you drafted well late, or you were savvy enough to land Mason off your fantasy football waiver wire. It’s actually a pretty easy answer here. With the Ravens at home and taking on the Raiders, I am very bullish on Henry’s workload this week. 

Las Vegas allowed 176 rushing yards, fifth-most in the league, to the Chargers and are now traveling across the country into enemy territory. The team signed him so that Lamar Jackson wouldn’t have to run as much as he did last week, so lets’ get him in there.

As for Mason vs. Dobbins, it’s simple. If Christian McCaffrey is out, then I am locking Mason into my lineups against the Vikings. The only reason their run defense has such great numbers is because they faced a horrendous Giants team. They are going to struggle against Kyle Shanahan’s run scheme. 

If McCaffrey suits up, then I am going with Dobbins against Carolina. We know how bad the Panthers are, and we know Jim Harbaugh and Greg Roman employ a run-heavy scheme, but we just cannot take the chance that McCaffrey doesn’t pull a De'Von Achane and see 22 carries after being a game-time decision. 

And even if he doesn’t, if he gets a share of the touches, it diminishes the value of Mason. Love the kid, but to start him in this offense, he needs to be the only guy in the backfield.

 

 

 

Fantasy Football Week 2 - NFL 2024

Hopefully, my answers here were not only thorough for those asking the questions, but also helped some of you who also had similar questions along the way. 

We’ll be doing this every Friday, so if you have lineup, waiver or trade questions you need answered, you can reach out to me in the Fantasy Alarm Discord (just be sure to tag me or send a private DM) or feel free to email me at rotobuzzguy@gmail.com. 

Best of luck in your Week 2 matchups! Let’s crush it again!