Week 2 Fantasy Football Low-Ranked Starters: Keon Coleman, Brenton Strange, and More

Anyone can make the easy calls in fantasy football; you don't deserve plaudits for starting Josh Allen and Derrick Henry in Week 1. If your entire starting lineup turns into easy calls, that makes for a great season, but that's hardly ever the case. More often, fantasy owners are left to make tough decisions on players with very similar outlooks.

Part of finding value in the draft is getting players in the later rounds who can play like fantasy starters. Those guys are often listed outside the top 10 or 20 at their position in weekly projections, so starting them is a leap of faith all its own outside of just drafting them.

Let's look at one player at each offensive fantasy position who is rated outside the weekly starters at their position but has the upside to finish among that top group. The projections are our own here at FantasySP.

Be sure to check out FantasySP's weekly projections to help with your toughest lineup decisions every week.

Quarterback

Drake Maye, New England Patriots @ Miami Dolphins

Maye was one of the preseason sleepers making the rounds as a guy who was worth drafting late and could hit top-10 production. It didn't work that way in Week 1, as Maye finished as QB18, more than eight points from 10th place. He had good volume stats (287 yards), but it took him 46 passes to get there, just 6.2 per attempt.

Since he is also expected to do plenty of running, his 11 rush yards were also disappointing. That number is likely to look better moving forward, as Maye was over 30 yards per game on the ground last season and never had a game below 12 (not counting the final week when he threw only one pass).

Better things might come as early as Week 2 against the Dolphins. Miami allowed Daniel Jones to have a big day: 272 passing yards (9.4 per attempt), a touchdown, 26 rushing yards, and two more scores on the ground. That tied Jones for QB2 on the week.

Even if he doesn't put together a game that big, Maye is likely to have a better fantasy Week 2. Just running the ball more will help, and the Dolphins look vulnerable on defense and particularly weak in the secondary. For anyone who doesn't have a weekly starter at QB, Maye might be the best bet to get to that level this week.

Running Back

Travis Etienne, Jacksonville Jaguars @ Cincinnati Bengals

Etienne was a big winner in Week 1 because he got 16 carries for 143 yards while all other backs combined for just nine carries and 30 yards. Jacksonville then traded backup Tank Bigsby to the Eagles, leaving two rookies behind Etienne. The veteran is primed for a big role.

Etienne was RB5 in standard scoring and RB6 in PPR, but he's being rated back down in the mid-20s this week. While he won't average 8.9 yards per carry, Etienne is likely to lead the backfield by a wide margin in touches and catch the ball (he had three receptions for 13 yards in Week 1).

The Bengals were right in the middle in yards per rush attempt allowed last season. They were successful holding down the Browns in Week 1, allowing just 40 yards on 21 carries to running backs. I'm willing to bet the Jaguars will have more success against Cincinnati, though.

While Cleveland ranked 22nd in run block win rate in Week 1, Jacksonville was ninth. Cincinnati is likely a tougher matchup than Carolina, though the Bengals were just 25th in the same mark last season. (To be fair, Jacksonville was also worse in run blocking last year, but they have revamped the offensive line and brought in an offensive head coach who orchestrated a very good rushing attack in Tampa Bay.)

Volume is Etienne's biggest friend. He will get the ball both in the run and pass game and has a decent matchup here, putting him in line to finish again inside the top 20, maybe even fighting for the top 10.

Wide Receiver

Keon Coleman, Buffalo Bills @ New York Jets

Coleman is projected as WR35 by both our standard and PPR numbers. I'm betting that he is Allen's top option moving forward, which would seem to put him closer to WR20 on a weekly basis if proved true.

In Week 1, Coleman led the team with 11 targets, eight receptions, 112 yards, and a touchdown. The TD came off a tipped pass, which won't happen often, but Coleman was fed the ball more than any other pass catcher on the Bills, ending up with WR1 usage. Allen threw the ball 46 times, a number he is unlikely to hit often, but even lower volume can let Coleman excel if he's the clear WR1.

The Jets started last year good on defense but got worse after head coach Robert Saleh was fired midseason. They were similarly weak defensively in Week 1, giving up 34 points to the Steelers and letting Aaron Rodgers throw for 244 yards on 8.1 yards per attempt with four touchdowns and no interceptions.

That allowed DK Metcalf four catches for 83 yards and Calvin Austin III four catches for 70 yards. Though Sauce Gardner is around to make things tough for opposing receivers, we now have a longer sample of games with teams finding success against this New York defense; it's impossible to ignore.

While there is the downside of Coleman's target share being inconsistent and Gardner possibly clamping down on the top receiver, the Bills don't have too many slow offensive games, and Coleman stands to benefit big time if he can keep acting like Allen's top receiver.

Tight End

Brenton Strange, Jacksonville Jaguars @ Cincinnati Bengals

I didn't mean to pick two Jaguars; it's just the way it turned out. Cincinnati doesn't project as a great defense, having many of the same names that last year led a group that was below average in terms of points, rushing yards, and passing yards allowed. (They were in the middle in per-attempt yardage allowed.)

Cleveland's tight ends did plenty of damage in Week 1 against the Bengals, as David Njoku and Harold Fannin combined for 10 catches and 100 yards. Cincinnati allowed the most fantasy points to tight ends of any team last season.

Strange had four receptions for 59 yards in Week 1 against the Panthers, the latter number leading the team. He caught all of his targets, with those four tying for third on the team on a day in which the Jaguars dominated the score from halftime on.

Strange is likely to have a nice role in the offense again in a good matchup, something that puts him on track for top-10 numbers at the position, a mark he missed in Week 1 despite a solid outing.