Fantasy
9/20/22
7 min read
What We Learned From NFL Fantasy Week 2
It’s only been two weeks, but we’ve already seen an NFL season’s worth of crazy games and results.
Last year’s Super Bowl teams are a combined 1-3 and one Jalen Ramsey interception away from 0-4. Brand new Miami Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel - a man who looks like he was president of the Dungeons & Dragons club in high school - has slain Bill Belichick and John Harbaugh in back-to-back weeks. To top things off, no lead of 30 points or less is safe!
Thankfully, at the end of all the craziness, we now know much more about what the season will look like. Going into Week 3, it is essential to make the right moves to get your team back on track. After Week 2, I have fourt significant takeaways.
Amon-Ra St. Brown Is a Top-5 Fantasy Wide Receiver
Amon-Ra St. Brown’s ADP was in the fourth or fifth round this year. That is low for considering he was the highest-scoring fantasy wide receiver from Weeks 10 to 18 last season. Many fantasy owners seemed concerned St. Brown’s production was not sustainable. The beginning of this season has shown us he can sustain the numbers he had last year and do even better. In his first two games, St. Brown has 24 targets and 17 receptions for 180 yards and 3 touchdowns.
He is so reliable because no matter how the Lions play, he will always get volume. Aside from Cooper Kupp, St. Brown is the least-likely receiver to have a bad fantasy game, regardless of the score. That said, this year, the Lions' offense has put up more than 35 points in each of their first two games. They have figured out how to score, and it seems they will be playing in several shootout games this season. Detroit has one of the most fantasy-relevant offenses in the league, and St. Brown is the focal point. He may have been disrespected in this year's draft, but he will surely be going in Round 1 next year.
Jaylen Waddle and Tyreek Hill are Unguardable
The Dolphins' offensive performance on Sunday was exactly what the front office dreamed of when they traded for Tyreek Hill this offseason. The combination of Hill and Waddle is simply too fast for defenses to guard. Week 2 saw Waddle finish with 11 receptions for 171 yards and 2 touchdowns as the second-leading receiver on his team. The Ravens' secondary looked lost trying to keep up with Hill and Waddle simultaneously. It seemed inevitable one of them would find themselves wide open downfield on any given play.
Some credit does belong to Tua Tagovailoa. Hill hyped him up all offseason, claiming Tagovailoa took a big step forward and was ready to lead his team. Despite a pretty slow first half, Tagovailoa had 469 yards and 6 touchdowns on Sunday. While he definitely looked better, we have to acknowledge he now has the easiest job in the NFL. He doesn’t have to worry about tight passes or long drives as much as most quarterbacks do because his receivers are often wide-open 50 yards downfield.
Nonetheless, Tagovailoa is now a great fantasy option, and this Dolphins offense as a whole is looking scary. Currently, Waddle and Hill can both be considered WR1s for the foreseeable future.
It’s Time to Worry About Kyle Pitts
Let’s take a look at Kyle Pitts' timeline. Two years ago, NFL scouts drooled over Pitts. He was a tight end with the build of a receiver. There was so much hype around him the Falcons were willing to draft him No. 4 overall. They even ended up taking him before Ja’Marr Chase and Waddle. Many people said Pitts would be one of the most dominant fantasy tight ends the league has ever seen. In 2021 fantasy drafts, Pitts went around the fourth round of most leagues.
After a decent 2021 season, many people claimed Pitts was not seeing as much fantasy success because he played on a bad offense. Then, the 2022 draft came, and the Falcons took Drake London No. 8 overall to help improve the offense. This year, many fantasy owners kept faith in Pitts, who had an ADP around the third round. London went toward the very end of fantasy drafts or went undrafted altogether.
After the season's first two games, though, London has been the bonafide top weapon on the Falcons. London has 13 receptions for 160 yards and 1 touchdown in two weeks. Pitts, on the other hand, has 4 receptions for 38 yards. It’s starting to look like Atlanta's offense isn't the problem, but rather, Pitts isn’t ready to be a top tight end.
Of course, it is super early in his career. Pitts has plenty of time to improve and reach his potential. As of right now, however, Pitts is not deserving of his fourth-round draft slot. Moreover, it’s hard to make an argument that he’s even a top-10 fantasy tight end.
Josh Allen Has Begun His MVP Campaign
As of right now, it’s hard to imagine a defense stopping Josh Allen and the rest of the Bills' offense. Allen has been flawless this season. After dominating an away game against the defending Super Bowl champions, the Bills came home to play the Titans. Allen finished with more than 300 yards passing and 4 touchdowns in a 34-point win.
He probably would’ve had a couple more touchdowns if he hadn’t gotten pulled from the game in the 3rd quarter. Allen’s dominance is great for every fantasy owner who has a Bills receiver. Diggs got most of the volume this week, finishing with 12 receptions for 148 yards and 3 touchdowns.
However, Allen is on pace to be so successful this season that pretty much any primary receiver on the Bills will be relevant for fantasy. Next week, the Bills play the Dolphins, who also just had a monster offensive week. This will be their biggest test of the season so far. These first two games have shown us the Bills are sick of all the playoff tragedy they have endured during the past few years. They are ready to take the NFL by storm and make a strong Super Bowl run. Expect the offense to keep this same pace throughout the whole season. This team and their quarterback are the real deal.
On To Week 3
Now that we’ve seen two weeks of football, we are starting to get a bigger sample size of stats to work with. It looks like we will see many records broken this year, as there have been some ridiculous numbers put up these first couple of weeks. This has been among the most exciting starts to a season I’ve ever seen. As a football fan, it’s hard not to be thrilled with the league's direction. We are in store for some great action in the coming weeks.
