Week 2 recap: Derrick Henry runs wild
Don't want to scroll Twitter to find all the relevant fantasy football news you need? Let us do it for you. Henry wins your week, Rondale Moore's hot start and more.
It’s truly amazing how unpredictable the NFL is on a week-to-week basis. Through one week, the Titans (and all their fantasy weapons) were left for dead, the Bengals were legit and the Rams were an unstoppable force.
The Rams still won and multiple fantasy weapons produced good days, but they were far from a well-oiled machine. Joe Burrow tossed interceptions on three consecutive plays before garbage time stat-padding nearly turned into a comeback win. And of course, the Titans, who were absolutely demolished by the Cardinals in Week 1, went on the road and took down the Seahawks in an overtime thriller.
Derrick Henry looked every bit the workhorse you drafted him to be with 35 carries for 182 yards and three touchdowns on the day. The most shocking part came through the air, as he hauled in six receptions for 55 yards. Henry has never topped 19 receptions in a season.
After an absolute nightmare Week 1 for the Titans and (from a fantasy perspective) Henry especially, it was a dream scenario in Week 2. Why? The Titans got back to who they are.
And that result is why it’s so important to not overreact in fantasy football. Each week is a data point, and the cream will eventually rise to the top.
Want to hear more on our takeaways from Week 2? Dalton and I will list some players you can cut and do some buy or sell to jump around the league. For reference, one of the buy or sell questions last year after Week 2: Can Josh Allen be a top 3 quarterback for the rest of the season?
Without further ado, here’s a recap of everything you should care about after Week 2.
Waiver Wire Finds
All roster percentages are per cbssports.com.
Justin Fields, Bears, 78%
I’m cheating the roster percentage cutoff just to put Justin Fields on the list this week. If he’s out there in your league, you need to go pick him up, even though Matt Nagy still insists Andy Dalton is the starter when healthy. We all wanted Fields to get his chance, just not due to an injury to Dalton. Initial reports indicate that Dalton avoided a major injury. However, if Dalton misses Week 3, Fields needs to be added in all standard 12-team leagues this week.
If Fields does in fact get the Week 3 start against the Browns, it’s very possible he never gives the job back. It’s worth mentioning that Fields didn’t exactly light the world on fire when he appeared in Week 2, going 6-of-13 for 60 yards and a brutal interception, totaling just 3.5 fantasy points. He’s no sure thing, but the upside is too good to pass up. This is a potential league winner.
Cordarrelle Patterson, Falcons, 9%
I guess we’re really this desperate for running backs in fantasy football. Do I have any confidence that any semblance of production will continue for Patterson? No, I do not. We’ve seen him have big performances and then disappear. But do you have to chase the points at running back? Yes, you do. For now, he seems to be a key part of the Falcons’ offense. The backfield touches for Atlanta were 16-12 in favor of Mike Davis, but Patterson was the one who scored two touchdowns. It’s possible Wayne Gallman eventually gums up the works here, but Patterson is worth a small FAAB bid and a bench spot for now.
K.J. Osborn, Vikings, 3% rostered
I’m still skeptical that Osborn can continue to be a fantasy producer in the Vikings’ offense, but I’m chasing the points after two good games. It’d be impossible to tell him, Justin Jefferson and Adam Thielen apart by just their stats through two weeks. It’s still Kirk Cousins, but the Vikings do have another promising matchup in Week 3 against the Seahawks.
He’s been the biggest benefactor of Irv Smith Jr. missing the season with a knee injury, as Osborn rarely comes off the field. You shouldn’t have to start him if you add him, but he could be a nice bye week fill-in down the line.
Other names to monitor
Ty Johnson, Jets, 8% rostered
Zach Pascal, Colts, 19% rostered
Sam Darnold, Panthers, 25% rostered
JaMycal Hasty, 49ers, 27% rostered
Dawson Knox, Bills, 6% rostered
Pat Freiermuth, Steelers, 18% rostered
Van Jefferson, Rams, 26% rostered
News
Tyrod Taylor is week-to-week with the hamstring issue that forced him out of Sunday’s game against the Browns. Taylor is a potential quarterback-streaming option once he’s back in the lineup.
Zach Ertz was placed on the Reserve/COVID-19 list. He is vaccinated and could still play in Monday night’s game against Dallas.
Will Fuller is back after whatever craziness happened with him last week. He’s expected to play Sunday against the Raiders. Now we wait on the status of Tua Tagovailoa, who is dealing with bruised ribs.
Carson Wentz is dealing with an ankle sprain in both ankles. Not ideal!
JaMycal Hasty is week-to-week with a high-ankle sprain. Stash him if you have the roster flexibility. The 49ers are bringing in Duke Johnson and Lamar Miller for workouts.
Diontae Johnson is banged up again. It happened on the last play of Sunday’s game. Thankfully, it seems he avoided anything serious. But should he miss any time, both of the remaining receivers and Pat Freiermuth would see a boost in value and volume.
Darrell Henderson left Sunday’s game with a rib injury. Monday’s report seems optimistic, but this is still a situation to monitor. Henderson hasn’t exactly been a model of good health throughout his short career. Add Sony Michel if he’s on your waiver wire.
Situation Watch
It’s been an interesting journey following the fantasy value of Michael Carter. The Jets’ rookie running back received a ridiculous amount of hype early in the summer. By the time drafts rolled around, he was barely draftable because of the presence of Ty Johnson and Tevin Coleman.
This is me calling my shot here, but I think we’re close to Michael Carter being a consistent low-end flex option. After very little playing time or production in Week 1, Carter had 13 touches (including a few inside the five that were stuffed) and produced nearly 90 total yards in Week 2. He looked good doing it, too.
Ty Johnson (12 carries for 50 yards) was productive, too, and I believe both can have their share of fantasy of moments once Tevin Coleman (five carries for 24 yards) predictably fades out of favor. Coleman only played seven snaps compared to 33 apiece for Carter and Johnson, and didn’t even enter Sunday’s game until the second quarter. Carter can definitely help Zach Wilson by just being a safety valve in the passing game. The Jets say they want Wilson to learn that “boring is OK,” after a brutal four-interception performance. Carter can turn boring plays into production.
It’s only two weeks, but the pecking order at wide receiver for the Rams seems to be evolving. Cooper Kupp has been the clear top guy — he just had 9 receptions for 163 yards and two touchdowns for crying out loud — but Robert Woods’ role isn’t as rock-solid as it’s been in years past.
Woods still had a productive day with five receptions for 64 yards on Sunday. The opportunity didn’t lead to production for Jefferson in Week 2, as he had just one reception for 14 yards on three targets. But he did have two receptions for 80 yards and a touchdown in Week 1. I don’t see Jefferson turning into a guy you need to start, but I could see this force us to recalibrate what we think of Woods — and obviously Kupp — going forward.
I couldn’t possibly get through this section without talking about Rondale Moore, one of my favorite prospects in last year’s draft. He’s been exactly as advertised through two games — a human bowling ball who never gets brought down by the first defender in the open field.
He’s not on the field often (relatively speaking) but when he is, the rookie receiver has made an impact.
It needs to be noted that his numbers are inflated by a 77-yard touchdown on a broken play. Still, Moore has been impressive in all the ways you’d hope and is probably going to rotate with Christian Kirk as a WR3 for fantasy.
Must Reads
I’m just going to link Matt Harmon’s weekly “what we should care about and what we should ignore,” piece every week. Welcome to the fantasy starter club, Michael Pittman?
10 things we learned from Week 2. Is Mike Williams finally headed for a breakout season?
Chris Towers recaps Week 2. Should we be concerned about George Kittle?
“It's too early to panic about Kittle, but it's time to start asking some questions, because we're two games into the season now, and he has had a target share below 20% in each game.”
This & That
Oh, Kenny Golladay was yelling at his offensive coordinator, not his quarterback. What a relief.
Go buy low on Jonathan Taylor if the manager with him in your league is only watching the box scores and growing frustrated.
An interesting list here…
The Bills had a nice bounce-back win against an overmatched Dolphins team. Especially after Tua’s injury. But still, there are shades of 2019 Josh Allen creeping into 2021.
It’s been a slow start for everybody in Jacksonville.
I know it was especially bad for Laviska Shenault in Week 2. I’m still hanging in for another few weeks.
What a brutal weekend of officiating in the NFL. It’s bad enough to have missed calls like Justin Herbert being ruled down at the 20, Tyrann Mathieu’s illegal touching, Julio Jones being robbed of a touchdown (so sorry if that lost you your fantasy matchup) to name a few. But the NFL compounds that with these taunting penalties.
I promise you, NOBODY wants this.