Last-Minute Notes For Fantasy Football Week 2

In today's Fantasy Life Newsletter, presented by Particle:

Rise and shine, everyone. Week 2 is here and it’s time to finalize those lineups.

Here’s everything you need to do before kickoff …

The Niners are in rough shape. No Brock Purdy (turf toe). No George Kittle (hamstring), and WR Jauan Jennings is considered a “game-time decision.” Christian McCaffrey and Ricky Pearsall are the only obvious starts here, but former teammates Mac Jones (only $4,000 on DraftKings) and Kendrick Bourne are sneaky DFS plays and options in super deep leagues.

Dart watch? The Giants say there is “no sense of urgency” to bench Russell Wilson for Jaxson Dart, but it’s happening sooner rather than later—especially if the Giants get bulldozed by the Cowboys today like I’m expecting. I would stash Dart on teams where you need more upside at the QB position.

Browns backfield update. This could have been the Dylan Sampson show today, but unfortunately, we aren’t allowed to have nice things. Instead, Quinshon Judkins will be active today and is expected to have “the snaps of a backup RB” as he ramps up. See how our crew is ranking the Browns RBs.

The game of the week? Similar to the Niners, the Chiefs are pretty banged up (Xavier Worthy is officially out) and now face a tough task vs. the defending Super Bowl champs. Check our start/sit tool powered by Xfinity, but I feel comfortable saying Hollywood Brown is a must-start wherever you got him.

MNF notes. Chris Godwin has already been ruled out, but Brock Bowers (knee) thankfully returned to practice on Saturday. You could roster Michael Mayer just in case, but he should be good to go. Also, if you were on the Younghoe Koo train, hop off and find a new kicker.

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Editors’ Picks

Week 2 is here. Catch up with everything you need to prep for kickoff, including start/sits, rankings updates, and more.

Smashes and Stashes

Who’s set to smash in Week 2? Who’s in a prime position to hold on your bench as an elite stash for later in the year? Mark Drumheller breaks it down.

WR/CB Targets and Fades

Is a bounceback on tap for Amon-Ra St. Brown? Will Emeka Egbuka keep it going? Chris Allen has the answers to these questions and more in his WR/CB Matchup Guide for Week 2.

Week 2 FanDuel DFS Picks

If you play DFS on DraftKings, we’ve got you covered below. If you’re looking for core plays and contrarian stacks, Geoff Ulrich breaks down the winning targets on FanDuel.

Million-Dollar Plays For Week 2

When it comes to DFS, the quickest way to a payday is correlation, and there might not be a better million-dollar stack than what Geoff Ulrich has in store …

⚡ Breece Lightning

Breece Hall ($6,200)
Josh Allen ($7,100) AND Dalton Kincaid ($3,700)

The Bills allowed 9.4 ypc and a pair of rushing TDs to Derrick Henry in Week 1, and via RBSDM.com’s EPA per play stats, ranked 31st in EPA per play vs the rush. Enter Breece Hall, their Week 2 opponent, who doesn’t figure to allow for a quick reprieve.

Hall took 21 touches vs the Steelers in Week 1, racking up 107 rush yards (5.6 ypc) and 38 yards receiving for the day. For his career, he’s relished playing Buffalo, and comes into this week having averaged 6.4 YPC and 33.5 receiving yards per game vs the Bills. With DraftKings' full PPR scoring, his chances of landing a 5-6x return look better than almost any other elite RB on the slate.

From a game-script standpoint, if Hall does go nuclear, it’s almost certain that we’ll see Josh Allen have to drop back 35+ times again. That’s bad news for New York, which just allowed four TDs to 41-year-old Aaron Rodgers and looked lost in coverage (outside of Sauce Gardner).

Stacking a receiver alongside Allen is tricky, but even with semi-questionable usage vs Baltimore, I still like the upside for TE Dalton Kincaid in this spot. New York allowed two TDs to TEs vs the Steelers, and for his career, Kincaid has brought in six receptions in two of his four games vs the Jets.

An Allen-Kincaid stack should also provide great leverage in bigger fields, as most will look to combine Allen with one of his WRs, whom he connected with for big games last week.

TARGET A BOUNCEBACK FROM THE EAGLES PASSING GAME, TOO

A Last Look At Week 2 Rankings

Of course, the lead-up to kickoff wouldn’t be complete without some news to shake up the league.

Luckily, early-week reports already had Brock Purdy trending in this direction. His turf toe may keep him sidelined for multiple weeks. Mac Jones will take over for Purdy. And if you wanted an idea of what to expect from the former Jaguar and Patriot, Dwain and Freedman already have you covered, projecting him for 14.5 fantasy points.

Two things here, though. The first number you might see on the projections page is his rank: ’26.’ Jones is an immobile pocket passer with a depleted set of passing-game options. If you were looking to him as a streaming option, let’s look at other options! But the next numbers that caught my eye were the projected ‘211.1’ and ‘1.4.’

League-wide passing sat at an average of 231.3 yards. Seven starters didn’t complete a touchdown pass. Any data suggesting Jones can come off the bench and pilot a functional offense that can score points is music to my ears. Adam and Jorge laid out a similar case earlier this week.

“If he can feed Ricky Pearsall in their matchup against the Saints’ rebuilding defense, fantasy managers will be happy. Christian McCaffrey should easily see 20+ touches.”

If you have McCaffrey, you can have some confidence in his production. The same logic would apply to Pearsall.

But afterward? Things get tricky.

Jauan Jennings was back at practice yesterday, but an in-game aggravation to his shoulder injury is still possible. And it’s unclear if Jake Tonges will be the George Kittle replacement until the veteran returns. Regardless, it’s a positive sign to see a viable projection for the 49ers despite the personnel changes. Sure, facing the Saints helps. But Jones did showcase some level of competency, flinging the ball downfield to Brian Thomas Jr. in Jacksonville, which should stabilize our hopes for San Francisco.

Anyway, we’ve still got some other ...

INJURY SITUATIONS TO WATCH

Around the Watercooler

The latest fantasy nuggets, silliness, and NFL gossip from our merry band of football nerds.

👀 Looking for last-minute start/sit help? Look no further.

🚨 Reminder: You can track all of your fantasy scores on one single page.

🚑 Our Week 2 Injury Report got an update with the latest injury info.

🚁 The Week 2 chopper is here … love this call from Ian.

🤦 A weird trade. What are the Saints up to these days?!

🙏 ICYMI: fantasy legend Austin Ekeler is out for the season. Get well soon.