Fantasy Football 2024 Week 2: Start ‘em, Sit ‘em
This season is already moving too fast.
Week 1 left plentiful fantasy managers throwing up their hands and second guessing their picks with a plethora of injuries and poor fantasy performances, seemingly making this just another year of finding those hidden gems in the waivers that no one would’ve thought about drafting.
It was a tough blow right out of the gate in terms of injuries, but thankfully none of what’s been made known is season-ending or extended periods of time. Packers QB Jordan Love went down at the end of their game in Brazil with an MCL sprain and will miss 3-4 weeks, Bills QB Josh Allen suffered a contusion in his non-throwing hand but should expect to play Thursday, Rams WR Puka Nacua sprained his PCL and will miss at least 4 weeks, and Christian McCaffrey surprisingly was ruled out week 1 with a calf strain suffered in camp.
With all this in mind, let’s look at the best options to capitalize on while we can still enjoy the benefit of no bye weeks.
Ian’s Record: 7-1
Start ’em
Jared Goff (QB, Lions) vs Buccaneers
While Baker Mayfield and the Bucs put on an impressive performance to win their season opener, they got shredded by Jayden Daniels (hope you read my first article) and currently sit third to last in fantasy points allowed to quarterbacks. Obviously Jared Goff is less mobile and it’s a small sample size of one week, but there’s more.
While Goff struggled at times to put away the game against the Rams last week, the capabilities of WR Jameson Williams were on full display as he torched LA’s secondary and made his deep-threat ability known. Tampa’s secondary also was brutally hit with injuries last week, paving the way for Goff to put up much stronger numbers than he did in week 1.
J.K. Dobbins (RB, Chargers) at Panthers
If you know of a Panthers fan, try your best to give them a hug today.
Nothing could’ve gone worse for Carolina in week 1. Second year QB Bryce Young still looks to be struggling after posting a 32.8 passer rating with 2 interceptions and a fumble, neither the pass nor the run could be contained (against the Saints, who have one of the worst offensive lines in football), and to top it all off, they just had to put arguably their best player in Derrick Brown on season-ending IR.
As they look ahead to the Chargers this week, they’ll certainly have J.K. Dobbins to fear, as he just ran all over the Raiders’ new-look defense (13.5 YPC). He was only handed the ball 10 times in a community with Gus Edwards, but expect Dobbins to take more of a workload this week after his shocking debut in the powder blue.
Cooper Kupp (WR, Rams) at Cardinals
I would like you all to look at this tweet:
And that was with Puka Nacua playing in the game!
Now hold on a second, obviously Nacua’s injury is a brutal blow to the Rams’ offense and I would never celebrate or hold hopes for anyone to get injured. But in the context of fantasy football, this is a delicious opportunity for Kupp to pick right back up where he left off and prove to any doubters that he’s still the triple-crown winner from 2021. Cha-ching.
Brock Bowers (TE, Raiders) at Ravens
I know I’ve talked several times about how stout the Ravens’ defense is and how they were number one in scoring last year and all that, but hear me out on this one.
Bowers had a strong start to his rookie campaign, leading Vegas in receptions AND targets in week 1. And while Baltimore did a good job containing Travis Kelce, that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re able to keep the cap on all the teams’ tight ends. They surrendered the sixth most fantasy points to tight ends in week 1, and Bowers split the workload with fellow TE Michael Mayer pretty evenly against the Chargers.
With his size, Bowers has the upside of a receiver to bet on him having another strong performance in week 2.
Sit ’em
Derek Carr (QB, Saints) at Cowboys
While I was just recently talking about how New Orleans poured it on the Panthers, I’m not expecting Carr to follow it up with another multi-touchdown day in Dallas. Mostly for the reason of I was also just recently talking about how the Saints have one of the worst offensive lines in football.
Dallas just held Deshaun Watson to under 200 yards and picked him off twice, so my guess would be this is a back-down-to-Earth game for Carr and the Saints. Pass.
D’Andre Swift (RB, Bears) at Texans
Here’s my thing about Swift and the Bears’ offense as a whole. I firmly believe they’ll be able to find their rhythm and become much more fun to watch as the season draws on, but it feels really crowded right now and may need a couple more weeks to untangle itself.
QB Caleb Williams wasn’t overworked in his debut (only threw the ball 29 times), but Shane Waldron only handed the ball to Swift 10 times. It just feels like a strange situation that sometimes comes with an entirely new offense.
Houston also did a good job at containing Jonathan Taylor last week, so it’s a pass on Swift for me this week.
Broncos WRs vs Steelers
While neither offense looked incredible during their week 1 bout, Pittsburgh didn’t allow a Falcons receiver to surpass 100 yards or find the endzone (minus Kyle Pitts, but on the technicality that he’s a tight end this still works).
Bo Nix also looked shaky in his pro debut, only managing 138 yards through the air and 2 interceptions. Pittsburgh’s cornerbacks may not be as talented as Seattle’s, it’s still worthy of noting the hype surrounding Kirk Cousins being paired with Drake London and Mike Macdonald being able to keep that under wraps. And Minkah Fitzpatrick.
Evan Engram (TE, Jaguars) vs Browns
After a stellar campaign last year, Engram had a horrific start to this season in a very favorable matchup against the Dolphins in week 1. He only managed to haul in 1 of his 4 targets for a measly 5 yards, while the whole Jaguars offense struggled to get things going outside their running backs.
The Browns have been lock-down against tight ends for as long as I can remember as well, so it’s not in the cards for Engram this week either.
