Week 2 Fantasy Football Start 'Em & Sit 'Em
Well, Week 1 was weird. And Week 2 is shaping up to be just as strange.
I’ll save the preamble and get right to it in a second, but I have one housekeeping item before we move on.
In case you missed these last week, let’s revisit the ground rules on what we’re doing here:
- We’re not looking at starting players who are obvious starts. I’m never going to tell you to start a healthy Stefon Diggs. I know you’re smarter than that.
- We’re not looking at sitting players who are obvious sits. I’m never going to tell you to sit a scrub fifth-string receiver who only plays on special teams. Again, I know you’re smarter than that.
- We are looking at starting players who you may have never heard of until today who might have an increased opportunity and/or juicy matchup.
- We are looking at sitting good players who might have a bad matchup, a recent string of bad games, and/or an injury risk.
And with that in mind, let’s dig into some Week 2 start/sit recommendations.
Quarterback
START: Jared Goff, Detroit Lions
Yup, you read that correctly. Jared Goff! Look, I wouldn’t want to start an NFL team with him as my quarterback, but Goff is almost always serviceable as a fantasy quarterback. He’s coming off a game in which he threw for 215 yards with two touchdowns, and gets to play an abysmal Commanders secondary that is suffering from not having Chase Young up front to make their jobs easier.
Bonus start: Daniel Jones, New York Giants
SIT: Aaron Rodgers, Green Bay Packers
I’ve been wrong before (only like once or twice), but I think this is going to be a loooooong year for Mr. Aaron Rodgers. I realize he was missing Allen Lazard last week, but let’s be honest – Lazard is more of a WR3 in a good receiving corps. While I don’t think Rodgers will be as bad as last week (195 passing yards, zero touchdowns, one interception), Randy Moss and Jerry Rice aren’t walking through that door either. Assuming you have a better option (Kirk Cousins, Derek Carr, etc), I’d sit Rodgers this week.
Bonus sit: Trey Lance, San Francisco 49ers
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Running Back
START: Nyheim Hines, Indianapolis Colts
I’ll avoid the obvious Jeff Wilson Jr. call here and look to Nyheim Hines. He’s never going to usurp a healthy Jonathan Taylor, but Hines is more than serviceable as an RB2 in PPR leagues. While Hines only carried the ball three times last week, he saw six targets and should be hovering around that mark every week. He may not win a week for you, but Hines has a nice floor of 8-9 fantasy points every week with some upside. And you can’t say that about most running backs ranked in his range.
Bonus start: Dontrell Hilliard
SIT: Rhamondre Stevenson, New England Patriots
I’m of the mind that Rhamondre Stevenson would be a top-12 fantasy running back if he was on a team that made him their bellcow. Alas, he’s on the Patriots and only saw 25% of their snaps last week. There’s a chance he could see an uptick in playing team (and passing-down work) with Ty Montgomery headed to short-term IR, but I’d prefer to take a wait-and-see approach on that before starting him again.
Bonus sit: Cam Akers, Los Angeles Rams
Wide Receiver
START: Devin Duvernay, Baltimore Ravens
Devin Duvernay had a fantastic Week 1, but can we trust him in Week 2? While I don’t think he’ll rack up two touchdowns again, I do think he’s going to be a weekly flex candidate as the third receiving option in the Ravens offense. It’s worth noting that he only had four targets last week (minor red flag), but Duvernay seems to have developed a solid chemistry with Lamar Jackson and it’s not like the Ravens have a bevy of talented receivers waiting in the wings to steal targets.
Bonus start: Curtis Samuel, Washington Commanders
SIT: Hunter Renfrow, Oakland Raiders
I’m going to be stubborn and continue to have high hopes for Renfrow this season as he steps into the Wes Welker role in Josh McDaniels’ offense, but the three targets last week have me shook for Week 2. While I still think Renfrow will end up as a weekly flex option, I also think you’re better off sitting him in lieu of players who had larger target totals last week like D.J. Chark, Robbie Anderson, or Jarvis Landry.
Bonus sit: DeVante Parker, New England Patriots
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Tight End
START: Tyler Higbee, Los Angeles Rams
I feel like anything after TE2 is a crapshoot, so why not Tyler Higbee? With Allen Robinson on the side of a milk carton somewhere, Higbee saw the second-most targets (eleven!) on the Rams last week. He only caught five of his targets (and I’d assume the Rams will try to get the ball to Robinson more this week), but there’s no reason Higbee can’t be a top-10 tight end against the Falcons this week.
Bonus start: Gerald Everett, Los Angeles Chargers
SIT: Cole Kmet, Chicago Bears
While I’m still a Cole Kmet fan and think he’s worth having on your fantasy roster, I’m moving to a prove-it-first approach before I start him again. To be fair, the Bears were playing in a monsoon last week. But Kmet only saw one target in that monsoon. That’s not a great sign, and I’d be looking at guys like Pat Freiermuth, Albert Okwuegbunam, Gerald Everett, or Robert Tonyan over Kmet this week.
Bonus sit: David Njoku, Cleveland Browns
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