Fantasy Football Saturday Mailbag for Week 2
Welcome into the weekly mailbag series where I take selected questions from The Fantasy Footballers’ Discord server and give you, the Footclan, my takes every Saturday morning throughout the season. The Ballers’ Discord is home to one of the largest fantasy football communities in the known universe (and probably the unknown universe), and is the best place to talk about all things fantasy-related with your fellow Footclan members. Visit today and you’ll discover a host of dedicated channels for start/sit questions, trade advice, and waiver wire insights, as well as exclusive areas that are only available to members of the Footclan.
Week 1 is in the books…and what a way to kick off the new season. Saquon Barkley reminded the Giants just what they are missing, New England ruined everybody’s eliminator picks by defeating the Bengals in Ohio, and 99% of tight ends showed us why they can be a thorn in every fantasy manager’s side. As usual, we have a great variety of start/sit, waiver, and trade-related questions for you this Saturday, so let’s get right to it!
Question #1 – Trade Advice
Who are your guys’ top “sell-highs” and “buy-lows” going into week 2? – Phineas & Ferg
Answer: The Footclan is great, The Footclan is mighty…The Footclan is also smart and knows not to overreact to every negative thing that may have happened in Week 1. That said, just because you know not to panic this early into the season, that doesn’t mean to say your league-mates do…and there’s value to be had in that. There were some rather pedestrian performances over the opening weekend – with some huge names not living up to pre-match expectations – as well as some studly levels of production from unexpected sources.
Players that had a poor Week 1 that I am targeting – especially if they are owned by a manager who lost their opening matchup – include the wide receiver trio of Brandon Aiyuk, Tank Dell, and Chris Olave – all of whom finished outside the top 40 at the position last weekend. If you could trade the likes of Rashid Shaheed, Chris Godwin, or The Lazard King Allen Lazard plus something extra for one of those three, that would be a great move to set you up for the rest of the year. On the flip side, if I am the Stefon Diggs or Jayden Reed manager, you better believe I am shopping them off the back of those multi-touchdown outings last time out.
Question #2 – Season-Long Strategy
Which RB ranked in the same UDK tier should I have more season-long confidence in: Mostert or Rhamondre? – Velvet Thunder
Answer: Ahead of Miami’s TNF clash with Buffalo, I would have had these two pretty close, ranking them both somewhere in the low RB2/high RB3 range – but with the uncertainty surrounding Tua Tagovailoa, as well as the injury to Mostert – I have to go with Rhamondre at this time. Originally I was going to comment on how “the New England offense as a whole looked relatively sharp against the Bengals,” but who am I kidding – Rhamondre was the New England offense. Stevenson’s 25 carries were the third most of any running back across the league, with his 120 yards on the ground good enough for fourth. Even when Mostert returns to full strength, he will be the 1B (possibly even the clear-cut number two) to De’Von Achane in the Miami backfield – and who knows what this Dolphins offense could look like with Skylar Thompson potentially under center for the foreseeable future. The sun on Mostert’s summer could be setting; it’s Rhamondre Steven-season baby.
Question #3 – Season-Long Strategy
What’s the panic level on the lack of usage for Dalton Kincaid? – Who Pooped on My Kua???
Answer: If you were one of the fantasy owners who spent a fourth or fifth-round pick on the Buffalo Bills‘ sophomore tight end…come join me in my house of pain. It’s been far from the ideal start for Kincaid, seeing just six total targets from Josh Allen over the first two weeks of the season for a combined total of five receptions and 44 scoreless yards. This is not exactly what we had signed up for…but don’t lose hope just yet. While Kincaid’s usage in Week 1 against the Cardinals was frustrating, his somewhat under-utilization in Thursday night’s win over the Dolphins was far more understandable. Buffalo’s opening drive on TNF was more of what we had hoped for during draft season, as Josh Allen connected with his second-year tight end twice on the first two passing plays of the night for the Bills…then Kincaid took an unfortunate knee to the head from Dolphins defensive tackle Zach Sieler – forcing him off the field until the start of the second quarter. In the handful of plays when Kincaid was back on the field before the half, the Bills rushed out to a 17-point lead – this combined with Miami’s inability to stop James Cook and Ray Davis in the run game led to the entire Bills passing attack being wholly unnecessary for over half of the game. The bottom line is don’t panic too much just yet, and certainly don’t sell low on Kincaid. Better days are ahead, with the road games in Baltimore and Houston looking particularly favorable.
Question #4 – Start/Sit
What are your thoughts on the Packers WR core? – ghostface0316
Answer: As it stands right now, I am avoiding starting all Packers wideouts not named Jayden Reed until we get more clarity on the quarterback situation up at Lambeau. Entering the season, Christian Watson was my own personal My Guy pick in The Fantasy Footballers Writing Staff “My Guys” for 2024 article, and even though he found the end zone in Brazil against the Eagles – I just don’t trust putting him in my lineup without Jordan Love under center. If it is Malik Willis who gets the nod at home to the Colts, it’s going to take some of Mike Wright’s patented steel underpants to lock in any of this wide receiver room into your lineup. If you’re a member of the Footclan (and if you’re not…why not?) you’ll see the Ballers’ consensus rankings of Green Bay’s pass-catchers this week have Reed at WR36, Watson at WR51, Doubs at WR58, and Wicks at WR-Who Cares…sorry, he’s at WR78 – in other words, unless you are in a league that’s starting three WRs, it’s unlikely you’re playing anyone outside of last week’s overall WR1 – and even then I’m sweating hitting that submit button. When Love returns, it should be a case of a rising tide lifting all boats – elevating each of the receiving quartet significantly. Reed immediately slides back into a high-upside WR2, with Watson a WR2/3 with overall WR1 upside.
Question #5 – Season-Long Strategy
Can we get a post-week 1 temperature check on Kyren? – Sharkmob
Answer: What a wild ride as a Kyren Williams fantasy manager these last few weeks. As if the drafting of Blake Corum with a day-two draft pick didn’t have us tilting enough over the summer – the Rams then announced just days before the new season that Kyren would be the team’s primary punt returner…face melting ensues. Thankfully, following a 91% share of the running back snaps in last Sunday night’s opener against Detroit, and Blake Corum being used exclusively on special teams – the only thing melting now is the ice-cold shade that was thrown on the Rams’ RB1 by the naysayers in recent weeks. Kyren was far from efficient with the ball in his hands, his 2.8 Y/A ranked 32nd out of 34 for backs who saw double-digit carries on the week, and his three receptions for four yards were hardly awe-inspiring from a player that fantasy managers had spent a second-round draft pick on – but regardless of the output, any doubts of Williams not being the guy can be put to bed for now – #NotADoctor – but Kyren is going to be just fine going forward.
Question #6 – Start/Sit
Would you start D.K Metcalf this week against New England or Jordan Mason versus the Vikings if CMC misses? Full PPR – joshua_nguyen
Answer: Wow, this is a close one, but even in a full PPR format, I have to give it to the Week 1 hero – Jordan Mason. With CMC out last Monday night and Elijah Mitchell on season-ending IR, it was the third-year UDFA out of Georgia Tech that was given the freedom of Levi’s Stadium, and with it a massive 28 rushing opportunities in the routine 32-19 win over the Jets. Mason looked good, real good – and while it would be easy to pin the 26-year-old’s success on the Shanahan system, Mason looked very comfortable with the ball in his hands, ripping off a handful of plays for double-digit yards – including a 24-yard dash on the 49ers’ final drive of the game – not to mention a 17-yard score chalked off for a holding penalty in the second quarter. The Vikings on the road will be a tougher nut to crack, but with San Francisco entering the matchup as five-point favorites, all signs point to Mason getting a significant amount of work out of the backfield in McCaffrey’s absence. Metcalf on the other hand is much harder to forecast as the Seahawks head east for a Week 2 encounter with the New England Patriots in Foxborough. D.K. saw only four targets from Geno Smith in the Week 1 victory over Denver but played second fiddle to the ageless Tyler Lockett, who led the team in targets, receptions, and yards. We saw Metcalf’s boom/bust potential last season – in the final 11 games of the year, D.K. finished as a WR2 or better in six of them, but outside the top 40 in four. Mason gets the nod from me, for his safer floor if nothing else.
Question #7 – Trade Advice
Is Kyler for Jayden Daniels fair value or is that too panicky after one week? – Voodoo Mama JuJu
Answer: I originally read this as Kyren for Jayden Daniels and couldn’t have told you quickly enough to take the Williams side…but then my eyes re-focused and could see this is a much closer trade proposal than I’d initially thought.
Week 1 of the Jayden Daniels experience was everything we imagined it would be – ordinary through the air, electric on the ground! In his defense, Daniels did everything right on his debut apart from finding a man in the end zone – his 71% completion rate was just outside the top 10 at the position, and his 184 passing yards led all rookies on the week…definitely a solid foundation to build on – but let’s not ignore the elephant in the room any longer, it was all about the rushing performance from the number two overall pick. Daniels’ 16 rushing attempts were tied with Lamar for the most by a QB in Week 1, and while Jackson may have broken the 100-yard barrier, it was the rookie’s touchdowns on top of his 88 yards that really made fantasy managers sit up and take notice.
That said, should you be jumping ship off the S.S. Murray after just one week? Kyler’s opening day performance was definitely not what we expected, and his inability to connect with rookie Marvin Harrison Jr. has already come under media scrutiny…but season-long, I still want him as my starting QB over Daniels – at least for now. The value is fair, so if you really want Daniels, then make that trade – but I want to see more of what the Commanders can do in the passing game before I sell Murray for him straight up. Daniels could end up being a cheat code for fantasy come the end of the season, or he could go the way of so many run-heavy quarterbacks before him and get found out, or worse…injured.
Question #8 – DFS (Bonus Question)
Hello Ballers! What happened to the DraftKings Fantasy Faceoff? It was a Friday show highlight for me! – Russ
Answer: Fear not Russ, the Fantasy Faceoff is back with a bang for Week 2! Make sure to catch up on yesterday’s podcast to hear the guys’ picks for the Sunday Main Slate – and then of course tune in next Friday to hear who will be spinning the Wheel of Shame!