Week 2 is upon us. Reminder: Friends and family come and go, but fantasy football championship banners hang forever.

This brings us to today's goal: 10 mostly fantasy-relevant things to know ahead of Week 2 that ideally will help make you both a better fantasy manager and overall person.

As always: It's a great day to be great.

1. What key philosophy shifts did we see from Week 1 offenses?

Yes, it was just one week

Also yes, it's one more week of data for the 2025 season than we had a few short days ago!

I looked at "easy button" offensive features like dropback rate over expected, pre-snap shit/motion, play-action rate, and screens, among other factors, to get an idea of what offenses are potentially moving in the right direction relative to last year. It's not surprising that many of the biggest discrepancies occurred for groups with new play-callers.

Specifically …

Da Bears: The Ben Johnson effect showed up in a major way in terms of the Bears being far more willing to throw the football (+12.8% dropback rate over expected!) and utilize play-action when they did. It makes sense that Johnson wasn't as willing to establish the run when his lead RB is D'Andre Swift, and while Caleb Williams' uneven performance (to be nice) wasn't ideal, he did average a very solid +0.27 EPA per dropback when using play-action–the 11th-highest mark in Week 1 and far better than last season (+0.01, 25th).

Duuuuvallll: Liam Coen seemingly emphasized more pre-snap window dressing in his first game leading the Jags:

Jaguars pre-snap shift/motion:

• 2024: 42% (30th)
• 2025: 63% (8th) 

Another easy button the Wunderkind attempted to feature was the use of screens: This offense was middle of the pack in percentage of plays to feature a screen in 2024 (6.5%, 18th), but heavily leaned on them in Week 1 (11.1%, 3rd).

J-e-t-s Jets Jets Jets: The QB change also certainly plays a role here. Either way, this offense went from being awfully pass-happy in 2024 (+4.1%, 4th) to the league's single-most run-heavy unit in Week 1 (-20%, 32nd). That said: Tanner Engstrand did attempt to make life easier on Justin Fields when he did pass, as the Jets went from being a bottom-10 offense in play-action rate (45%) to ranking sixth in Week 1 (66%).

Colts: No play-caller change here, but Shane Steichen certainly seemed to attempt to play to Daniel Jones' strengths. Specifically: Indy posted pretty big changes in …

• Play-action rate: +8%
• Pre-snap shift/motion: +19%
• RPO rate: +9%

Indy ranked second, sixth, and first in these categories in Week 1 league-wide, respectively. That said: The artist known as Indiana Jones still made some truly awesome plays independent of all this.

Field Gulls: The presence of Klint Kubiak certainly led to Seattle embracing the run more: Their dropback rate over expected went from +4.5% in 2024 (3rd) to -9% in Week 1 (28th). There were also pretty significant drop-offs in play-action rate (-11%) and RPO percentage (-10%). Side note: Kubiak-led offenses have scored 20 or fewer points in 12 of 16 games since that cool two-week start to 2024 that everyone continues to bring up.

2. Which bad offenses should we actually be worried about?

The following chart denotes every team's Week 1 performance in terms of EPA per dropback and per rush.

We'll go ahead and break down the bottom-10 worst offenses in overall EPA per play and assign a panic level from 1 (not worried at all) to 10 (f*ck).

Bengals (24th in EPA per play): I actually featured the large mismatch at the line of scrimmage in favor of Myles Garrett and company last week—and that's exactly how things played out! Bengals RBs averaged the fewest rush yards before contact per carry in Week 1, while Joe Burrow was pressured on 42.9% of his dropbacks (fourth-highest).

Cincy had *seven* net yards of offense in the second half. Seven! Sad! Losing starting RG Lucas Patrick (calf) for multiple games won't help matters, but the Bengals can take solace in knowing they won't have to deal with that fearsome Browns front seven again until Week 18. Panic level: 3/10, but man, that offensive line really does continue to look rough.

Vikings (25th in EPA per play): It was a ROUGH start to the J.J. McCarthy experience for Thor Nystrom and the Vikings, as this group was only better than the Titans and Dolphins in terms of first-half EPA per play. That said: The group began to groove down the stretch and ultimately finished 15th in second-half EPA per play. We might need to pump the brakes on expecting too high of highs from this passing game, considering Minnesota boasted the league's third-lowest dropback rate over expected (-0.14%), but then again, it'd make sense if Kevin O'Connell puts more on McCarthy's plate as the season goes on. Panic level: 3/10, although I wouldn't expect too many fireworks from pass-catchers not named Justin Jefferson in the short term.

Giants (26th in EPA per play): Not having stud LT Andrew Thomas (foot) didn't help. Nor did Russell Wilson, looking every bit of 36 years old. Brian Daboll is going back to Mr. Unlimited for at least another week, although watching Daniel Jones ball out in Indy didn't exactly lend a ton of goodwill to a coach who has now failed to score an offensive TD in three consecutive season openers. Panic level: 8/10, so not too far off from what things were looking like before the season. At least that Malik Nabers guy is still dope!

Texans (27th in EPA per play): The offensive line was predictably bad, and the Rams essentially forced the Texans to try to beat them with anyone not named Nico Collins. Good strategy, and while Jared Verse and company aren't an easy group to overcome, one of the team's Iowa State youngsters needs to show more in the absence of Christian Kirk (hamstring) for us to have any level of confidence in C.J. Stroud getting back to partying like it's 2023 again. I also didn't love new OC Nick Caley spiking the team's play-action rate (-11%) and pre-snap shift/motion (-8%) relative to last season. Panic level: 6/10, let's see what this group looks like vs. the Bucs and Jaguars over the next two weeks before getting too worried.

Broncos (28th in EPA per play): Bo Nix was PFF's lowest-graded passer in Week 1, and yeah, that makes sense. The good news was that both J.K. Dobbins and RJ Harvey largely made the most out of their rush attempts (Broncos RBs averaged 6 yards per carry), and Courtland Sutton continues to turn 50/50 balls into 80/20 propositions in his favor. It'd be a lot cooler if this offense got a No. 2 pass-game option to emerge—Evan Engram (calf) being banged up doesn't help. Panic level: 4/10, tough start for Bo, but let's not let 60 minutes of bad football completely take away from what was still a pretty great rookie campaign.

Panthers (29th in EPA per play): It was a rough Week 1 for Bryce Young, who tossed two picks and had a third luckily nullified by a penalty. Panthers RBs also only averaged 3.6 yards per carry against a Jaguars defense that isn't exactly expected to work among the league's elite units. That said: Tetairoa McMillan looked GOOD, so at least Carolina has that going for them. Panic level: 7/10, it would have been a lot cooler if Young looked closer to his second-half 2024 self as opposed to … pretty much the rest of his professional career.

Seahawks (30th in EPA per play): A late Nick Bosa strip sack ended what would have been a fun comeback for Sam Darnold and company. Before that, this offensive line looked largely overwhelmed for roughly the 10th year in a row, and Jaxon Smith-Njigba was the only skill-position player to register a gain of 10-plus yards. Not great, albeit the Robert Saleh-led 49ers defense could be a force to be reckoned with once again. Panic level: 6/10, like the Texans, I'm not thrilled here, but let's give it another week or two before fully freaking out, man.

Dolphins (31st in EPA per play): The team's only score came in fourth-quarter garbage time courtesy of a great effort from De'von Achane … on an RB swing on 4th and 11 down 30. The run game was efficient in limited volume, but otherwise: Yikes. Tua Tagovailoa threw two bad INTs, Tyreek Hill is already pissed, and Jaylen Waddle hurt his shoulder. Mike McDaniel's hot seat is slowly but surely being engulfed by flames. Panic level: 11/10, the bad offseason vibes were met by a worst-case Week 1 performance.

Titans (32nd in EPA per play): The good: Cam Ward had more than a few really fun throws. The bad: Basically everything else, which was kind of expected against the Broncos, but I mean, c'mon, guys. Panic level: 8/10, which was largely expected from this offense, and don't expect that to overly change ahead of Week 2's rough matchup with the Rams.

3. How many true workhorse RBs exist in the year 2025?

As always, we invite you to check out Fantasy Life's AMAZING suite of Utilization Tools (code "Ian for 20% off!) for the most in-depth usage information in the entire universe, but for today's purposes, we'll sum up Week 1 backfield usage in a bit broader light.

A quick key takeaway for all 32 backfields:

• ARI: Little more 60/40 than expected, but still the James Conner show.
• ATL: Bijan Robinson was eating as a receiver, but man, they do love Tyler Allgeier, who remains a top-tier handcuff.
• BAL: The Keaton Mitchell handcuff era is over.
• BUF: You paid James Cook, feature the man! (with all due respect to Ty Johnson and Ray Davis).
• CAR: It was good to see Chuba Hubbard still get so much work in a bad game script.
• CHI: D'Andre Swift workhorse.
• CIN: Chase Brown workhorse.
• CLE: Hopefully this will be just Dylan Sampson and Quinshon Judkins in the future, but Jerome Ford has the potential to stay annoyingly involved.
• DAL: Javonte Williams workhorse.
• DEN: Tyler Badie??? Really??
• DET: Similar to last year.
• GB: Josh Jacobs workhorse
• HOU: Woody Marks was involved as well. Maybe he'll get a bump after Dare Ogunbowale's game-ending fumble.
• IND: Jonathan Taylor workhorse. Also note that Tyler Goodson was out (elbow).
• JAX: ETN RB1 szn (and Bhayshul Tuten goes from a great to elite bench stash after the Tank Bigsby trade).
• KC: F*ck.
• LAC: Omarion Hampton workhorse BUT Harbaugh said Najee Harris was on a snap count, so monitor.
• LAR: Kyren Williams workhorse.
• LV: Ashton Jeanty workhorse.
• MIA: De'Von Achane workhorse.
• MIN: Jordan Mason runs, Aaron Jones catches. Basically a middle-class man's Lions backfield.
• NE: Sadly, Rhamondre Stevenson isn't going away.
• NO: Alvin Kamara workhorse.
• NYG: Tyrone Tracy workhorse, but still like stashing Cam Skattebo—the rookie has the size and three-down ability to be an every-down back if given the chance.
• NYJ: Breece Hall getting fed thanks to extreme run volume, but Justin Fields/Braelon Allen will continue to be annoying around the goal line.
• PHI: Saquon Barkley workhorse. Likely committee if ever misses time due to injury.
• PIT: Arthur Smith must be stopped.
• SEA: Zach Charbonnet RB1, but man, it's not exactly the world's most exciting role behind a still bad offensive line.
• SF: Christian McCaffrey workhorse.
• TB: Bucky Irving workhorse.
• TEN: Tony Pollard workhorse.
• WSH: 1A/1B with Austin Ekeler/Jeremy McNichols being primary pass-down options and Bill Croskey-Merritt leading the team in carries.

4. Rookie stock watch: What Year 1 players are rising or tumbling in the ranks?

10 rookies who I believe deserve a bump up the ole fantasy ranks based on their Week 1 usage/performance:

• Raiders RB Ashton Jeanty: Was one of MANY high-end fantasy RBs to not get much efficiency going on the ground. The important part is the elite 87% snap rate (tied for 2nd highest among all RBs).
• Browns RB Dylan Sampson: 8-64-0 receiving line and looked GOOD while doing it. Could be the most fantasy-friendly RB in Cleveland even once Quinshon Judkins returns if this pass-game role sticks.
• Commanders RB Bill Croskey-Merritt: Very cool stat from Michael Florio: Croskey-Merritt is the first player in NFL history drafted outside the top 200 picks with 75-plus rush yards and a TD in their debut! There's not quite enough usage for auto-start treatment, but that could change if Austin Ekeler (shoulder) is really banged up.
• Panthers WR Tetairoa McMillan: Should push for weekly double-digit target totals. The man looks like a baller. Here's to hoping Bryce Young gets better at football.
• Buccaneers WR Emeka Egbuka: Two TDs were aided by two b-e-a-utiful throws from Baker Mayfield. Will be in the low-end WR2 conversation for the entirety of Chris Godwin's absence.
• Titans WR Elic Ayomanor: Led the week in unrealized air yards (120), which quantifies how many air yards were thrown on a player's incomplete targets. Better days ahead.
• Raiders WR Dont'e Thornton: Called game on a lovely double-move inside a Raiders passing game that threw far more than expected.
• Lions WR Isaac TeSlaa: Maybe made the best first career TD in NFL history?
• Colts TE Tyler Warren: My TE4 this week and that feels low.
• Browns TE Harold Fannin: Was used all over the field in game one as the team's de facto starting slot receiver. THE TE priority waiver add of the week.
• Jets TE Mason Taylor: Full-time role in a passing game that exceeded expectations.

… and 10 who are staying put and/or tumbling down the ranks:

• Titans QB Cam Ward: Nothing against Ward as mentioned above, but it was more so the reality that basically everyone else involved with this offense looked rough. Just ask Ward's Dad.
• Chargers RB Omarion Hampton: Not as worried about his efficiency as I am about Harbaugh's aforementioned note about Najee Harris being on a snap count.
• Patriots RB TreVeyon Henderson: Not freaking out, but would be a lot cooler if the coaches at least made this closer to a 50/50 split vs. what we saw in Week 1.
• Broncos RB RJ Harvey: Made the most out of his (limited) opportunities. I'm buying, not selling, but at the same time it's tough to be overly optimistic about Week 2 projections at the moment.
• Steelers RB Kaleb Johnson: *One* offensive touch. C'mon Arthur!
• Jaguars WR Travis Hunter: This isn't so much against Hunter as it is Trevor Lawrence continuing to look a lot like, well, Trevor Lawrence.
• Packers WR Matthew Golden: Perhaps a nagging ankle injury and game script limited his usage, but for now, Golden is a WR5 as a non-full-time receiver in an offense happy to run the ball.
• Texans WR Jayden Higgins and Jaylin Noel: Both worked behind Xavier Hutchinson AND Justin Watson with Christian Kirk sidelined. Very cool!
• Bears TE Colston Loveland: Worked behind Cole Kmet in terms of routes (70% vs. 48%) and targets (4 vs. 1). Kmet also made a SWEET catch down the seam. The future might be bright, but Loveland isn't a recommended start for the time being.

5. Doctor, doctor, give me the news: Week 2 Injury Watch

Make sure you check out Fantasy Life's Friday Injury Roundup for updated injury analysis later in the week as things become clearer, but as of Wednesday morning, the four situations I'm mostly concerned with are:

The 49ers graveyard of injuries. Did Christian McCaffrey commit some sort of dark magic sacrifice that required all of his teammates getting hurt in order for him to stay healthy? I'm kidding. Kind of. Anyways, George Kittle (hamstring, IR) is out for at least the next four weeks, while both Brock Purdy (toe/shoulder) and Jauan Jennings (shoulder) are also banged up ahead of Week 2's matchup with the Saints. For now, CMC and Ricky Pearsall are the only recommended fantasy starts in San Fran.

The fastest man alive. Chiefs WR Xavier Worthy dislocated his shoulder and will likely miss some time. Andy Reid's exact quote on the situation: "I know Xavier is the big question. He's rehabbing and working his shoulder. We'll just see where it goes, day by day here. We'll see where we end up." Many have simply referenced this as Worthy being "day to day", but learned doctors believe it's more likely that the chiefs are simply seeing if the second-year talent can rehab the injury without succumbing to season-ending surgery. Here's to hoping things work out, but I certainly wouldn't plan on having Worthy available in the near term.

The Falcons WR room. Both Drake London (shoulder) and Darnell Mooney (shoulder) are considered day-to-day. Head coach Raheem Morris did say Wednesday that London is expected to play, so yay! We'll still have to follow practice report tea leaves here, and the reality that the Falcons do play Sunday night complicates matters if they're game-time decisions. Note that Mooney didn't suit up after practicing in a limited fashion all week and being dubbed questionable, so seeing some full practices would make it quite a bit easier to trust another Q tag for both.

Take my eyes but not Brock Bowers' knee. That said, Bowers himself downplayed the injury and told NFL Network's Tom Pelissero that he's "fine" and there are no concerns moving forward. Of course, the Raiders could also choose to be cautious with their stud TE ahead of their Monday night clash with the Chargers. Uneasy fantasy managers should just pick up Bowers' overqualified backup Michael Mayer, who would enter the borderline TE1 should he be thrust into action.

6. Two key Week 2 ranking questions and answers

I'll be publishing an early rankings column midday Monday throughout the season that gives my top-12 QB/TE and top-24 RB//WR alongside some honorable mention picks while also answering a handful of questions regarding some of the week's biggest storylines. You can read the full Week 2 piece here, but I also wanted to highlight the two biggest questions and answers I had.

*Law and Order Music*

These are their stories.

Does James Conner (again) have one of the week's best matchups?

He sure does! Overall, nobody has allowed more rushing yards *before* contact to opposing RBs than the Panthers (2.06) dating back to Week 1 of last season, a flaw that was (again) on display in Week 1 against Travis Etienne (16-143-0) and the Jaguars.

Now, it's fair to be at least a little bit concerned about Trey Benson's involvement in this offense. The Cardinals utilized more of a 60/40 split during their Week 1 win over the Saints. Per Fantasy Life Utilization numbers…

Ultimately, Conner profiles for 15-plus touches as a 6.5-point home favorite against a defense that hasn't shown any ability to slow down opposing RBs for the better part of the last calendar year. That's enough to earn must-start treatment in my book, even if season-long RB1 aspirations could be tough to reach if Benson stays so involved.

Are we seriously back in on Kyle Pitts?

Kinda! Look, I get it: Pitts always shreds the Buccaneers, and I literally wrote in this column last week that, "I like the idea of keeping Pitts on the fantasy bench in the hope of being able to flip him to a thirsty truther should he manage to put together a solid Week 1."

But then again … the man looked good out there!

Pitts really hasn't been fully healthy since his rookie season due to various hamstring and knee injuries. Now he's suddenly the only overly healthy pass-catcher in Atlanta with both Drake London and Darnell Mooney dealing with shoulder issues.

I'm tentatively drinking the Kool-Aid ahead of this week's matchup with the Vikings, thanks mostly to this volume element–friendly reminder that the 24-year-old mortal enemy of fantasy football still can't legally rent an RV in many parts of continental America.

7. The DST corner: We ride with the 49ers

The 49ers returned a DST8 finish in Week 1 thanks to holding the Seahawks to just 13 points. Shoutout to Nick Bosa for forcing and recovering a last-minute fumble to ice a performance that featured San Fran allowing -0.178 EPA per play—the third-best mark in the league.

And guess what? We're going right back to the well because somehow the 49ers remain widely available in ESPN (35.1% rostered) and Yahoo (52%) alike. This week's matchup against the Saints is even juicier than last week: Spencer Rattler and company are implied to score just 19 points in this one—tied for the fourth-lowest mark of the week. Seriously people: You can more or less trust these guys until their Week 14 bye, let's not overthink things.

That said: Maybe you messed up and didn't roster this juggernaut of a fantasy DST. And hey, that's okay, it happens, but anyways, I wanted to try out a new DST concept called "The Circle of Trust" but in this case, it's basically just targeting defenses that have the most matchups against offenses that we fully trust to suck and/or have turnover-prone QBs.

The following 10 teams make the first edition of our circle of trust in terms of opposing offenses to target with DSTs:

• Browns: Joe Flacco might rack up passing yards, but he's also thrown 19 INTs and taken 30 sacks in 13 starts since 2023.
• Dolphins: This offense looked horrific in Week 1. Would it really surprise anyone if the bottom completely falls out soon and the team more or less quits on Mike McDaniel?
• Patriots: Drake Maye has thrown at least one INT in all but two of his 11 full career starts. He's also taken 38 career sacks in 14 career appearances.
• Steelers: It sure looks like Aaron Rodgers (four sacks taken in Week 1) can't move these days.
• Titans: Rookie Cam Ward is experiencing some growing pains behind an offensive line that was nothing short of BAD in Week 1.
• Texans: I still think C.J. Stroud is a good QB, but there's *one* good avenue to go with the football in this offense, and that o-line might be the worst group in football.
• Giants: Russell Wilson looked old and slow in Week 1 behind an offensive line still missing LT Andrew Thomas (foot).
• Saints: Spencer Rattler remains the starting QB.
• Panthers: It's hard to overstate how bad Bryce Young and company looked in Week 1.
• Seahawks: Darnold honestly didn't look that bad in Week 1, but this ever-cheap offensive line sure did.

Using this relatively subjective group of shitty offenses reveals for DSTs who are at worst decent real-life units and have pretty, pretty, pretty great upcoming schedule stretches:

• Bills DST (76% Yahoo, 57% ESPN): NYJ, MIA, NO, NE, ATL, BYE, CAR through Week 8.
• Cardinals DST (43% Yahoo, 54% ESPN): CAR, SF, SEA, TEN, IND through Week 6.
• Seahawks DST (22% Yahoo, 73% ESPN): PIT, NO, ARZ, TB, JAX, HOU through Week 7.
• Patriots DST (15% Yahoo, 63% ESPN): MIA, PIT, CAR, BUF, NO, TEN, CLE through Week 8.

STILL not able to find a group that helps you? Fine. The Cowboys actually looked pretty good on defense overall last week (especially in the second half), face Russ and the Giants, and are under 20% rostered in ESPN (7.1%) and Yahoo (18%) alike. Good luck!

8. Subjectively ranking every game from an entertainment perspective

Bad football will always be better than no football. That said: We obviously are more excited for certain games over others, so every week I'll take a few minutes to rank the upcoming matchups due to subjective, at times stupid and silly reasons.

1. Chiefs-Eagles: Super Bowl rematch. Enough said.
2. Packers-Commanders: This Thursday night matchup is almost too good. I miss the days of Jaguars-Titans color rush. But yeah: This game should f*ck.
3. Bengals-Jaguars: Tied for the highest game total of the week (48.5) with GB-WSH. Here's to hoping both of these probably bad defenses bring out better performances from these probably good offenses.
4. Vikings-Falcons: A QB rematch from the 2023-2024 college football national championship game will have us waiting all day for Sunday night. Here's to hoping Michael Penix's receivers are healthy and that J.J. McCarthy can start this game like he finished his last one.
5. Raiders-Chargers: The late Monday night game has the ingredients of a fun aerial shootout between Justin Herbert and Geno Smith, who both go about their business honorably by constantly testing defenses downfield—these are two of only five QBs to post a double-digit average target depth in Week 1.
6. Ravens-Browns: These AFC North rivals seemingly put together at least one classic per season. This is also Joe Flacco's first time starting IN Baltimore while not wearing purple. The outcome shouldn't ever be in doubt–the Ravens are a week-high 11.5-point favorites—but I'm still hoping for fun Lamar Jackson/Derrick Henry fireworks combined with plenty of dropbacks for Mr. Elite.
7. Lions-Bears: Ben Johnson must have been saving all his razzle-dazzle bullshit for this one, right? RIGHT? This ranking honestly might be low—CHI-DET has the week's third-highest game total (47)—although neither offense exactly looked, what's the word, good in Week 1.
8. Jets-Bills: It's tough to ever rank Josh Allen too low here. I'm also optimistic about the future of the Jets following Justin Fields' VERY fun and good debut, but then again, we probably shouldn't assume the rest of the dual-threat maven's season will mirror those (again: GOOD) 60 minutes as opposed to the previous four years.
9. Dolphins-Patriots: Drake Maye combines an early-career Josh Allen-mindset with Justin Herbert's arm and mobility. It's accordingly a lot of fun to watch for better or worse. Meanwhile, the Dolphins are basically a car crash at the moment: I can't look away despite their horrific tragedy of an on-field product.
10. Cowboys-Giants: NFC East showdown that features plenty of fantasy star power at WR. Here's to hoping the G-Men look more competent on offense and can turn this one into a fun shootout.
11. Texans-Buccaneers: Worried that the Texans are simultaneously good enough on defense and bad enough on offense to turn every game into a low-scoring rock fight. My big question for this one: Could the Bucs line up Vita Vea as their only down lineman and hold the Texans to like 3.4 yards per carry? I feel like they could.
12. Colts-Broncos: Similar to the Texans: The Broncos' elite defense looks capable of slowing down pretty much anyone, while we also don't exactly have a ton of faith in their offense making things fun after seeing what went down in Week 1.
13. Titans-Rams: The Cam Ward film was a combination of fun and "oh my god, why doesn't he have any help." Ideally, we at least get multiple trick shot moments from both talented QBs, but I have my doubts about the Titans keeping this one overly competitive.
14. Steelers-Seahawks: At the risk of looking like a big, fat phony for (again) ranking the Steelers so low following their electric Week 1 matchup with the Jets: This combination of good defense and bad offensive lines unsurprisingly boasts the week's single-lowest game total (40 points).
15. Cardinals-Panthers: Must be the shortest combined QB matchup in NFL history, right?
16. Saints-49ers: We could see Mac Jones vs. Spencer Rattler in this one. The top storylines otherwise are Uncs Christian McCaffrey and Alvin Kamara continuing to put up fantasy points, and Chris Olave's never-ending battle with the Injury Gods. Not great!

9. The kicker minute: We continue to ride with Cam Little

Despite being very much on the record for despising a kicker's presence in real life and fantasy football alike—I MAY in fact be a savant on the subject after shouting out Jaguars K Cam Little (4/4 FG, 2/2 XP, 14 fantasy points, K2) in last week's column. Honestly, the ability to so easily predict what they'll do is par for the course and even more reason to be annoyed about them.

Anyways, I'm down to of course ride things back with Stuart's brother Cam. His fit as the strong-legged kicker in a good-not-great offense was reinforced by Trevor Lawrence looking like, well, Trevor Lawrence. This week, Little gets maybe the best matchup possible against the Bengals, whose (usually) high-octane offense combines with a putrid defense to foster an incredibly fantasy-friendly matchup for everyone except DSTs—it's no surprise Jaguars-Bengals has the highest game total of the week (50.5 points). The Sunday afternoon weather in Cincinnati features 0% chance of precipitation and low winds.

The other top options:

• Texans K Ka'imi Fairbairn (40.7% rostered on ESPN): Indoors, drained both of his 50-plus yard field goals in Week 1 for a Houston offense that continues to look far closer to average than great.
• Raiders K Daniel Carlson (4.1%): Indoors, Geno Smith-led Raiders offense looks very capable of being a good-not-great real-life offense.
• Colts K Spencer Shrader (2.5%): Indoors, has made all 21 of his career field goal and extra point attempts. 

Final note in case you missed it: Mike Tomlin, when discussing Chris Boswell's game-winning 60-yard field goal, stated, "Our kicker is a serial killer." It was also admittedly fun to watch 41-year-old Matt Prater step off the couch and drill a game-winner in the Bills' epic Sunday night comeback win over the Ravens. Is this position growing on me???

10. Three Bold Calls for Week 2

And I'm talking BOLD. No predicting Derrick Henry to have a big game, or Nico Collins to have 100 yards: We're dumpster diving here in the pursuit of glory, but I swear there's legit reasoning to the madness–usually based on some of the week's perceived top mismatches.

1. George Pickens gets grooving, clears 100 yards and scores a sweet TD. The Giants might have a great pass rush, but that didn't stop Jayden Daniels from averaging a healthy 7.8 yards per attempt. A near-miss deep ball to Terry McLaurin could have had him north of 300 yards. Enter: Pickens, who looks poised to see multiple deep ball/end zone targets per week from a version of Dak Prescott that looked awfully good in Week 1. The Cowboys boast a top-10 combined EPA per play matchup this week.

2. Jordan Mason rumbles, stumbles, bumbles to 106 rushing yards and 2 TD. Mason looked big and physical while serving as the Vikings' lead early-down option in Week 1. Now he finds himself as a healthy -3.5 home favorite against a Falcons defense that held up well against Bucky Irving and the Bucs' banged-up offensive line last week, but still doesn't exactly profile as an elite run-stuffing unit. Mason has a top-five matchup in terms of combined rush yards before contact per carry.

3. Jakobi Meyers stays hot, goes 9-113-1 against the Chargers. The Raiders boast the week's third-best mark in combined pass yards per dropback and were VERY willing to air the ball out in Week 1. Jesse Minter's Chargers should present a stiffer test, but Meyers still profiles as a good bet for double-digit weekly targets with a QB happy to take chances.

Last week: Troy Franklin (4-44-0) did not haul in a 50-yard TD, Joe Flacco (290-1-2) failed to throw for 300-plus yards and 3 TD, and the Giants fell short of upsetting the Commanders. I wouldn't personally use the word "fraud" to describe myself, but this is a what have you done for me lately sort of world. 

Thank you all for reading, and best of luck in Week 2 and beyond!

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