The headline of Week 2 was obviously the entire league getting injured, but an important subheadline was the surprising usage for a lot of players in the passing game. Determining which players can expect targets moving forward will go a long way towards replacing some of those injured players, so let’s get right to it.
Austin Hooper ’s fantasy owners were certainly hoping for more than four targets Thursday with David Njoku out, but there is a silver lining. Cleveland as a team only had 21 targets, and a 19 percent target share is not bad. I’m not certain Hooper or this offense will be good, but I think we have to give it one more week before we start dropping him.
I would also like to give Drew Sample one more week before we consider adding him, but he should be on your radar. Most of his nine targets Thursday came in garbage time, and much like Baker Mayfield won’t have 23 pass attempts most week, Joe Burrow won’t have 61 attempts most week, either. That being said, C.J. Uzomah was looking like he might be a fantasy starter before he tore his Achilles, and there is no reason to believe he is a significantly better receiver than Sample.
I think Jerry Jeudy’s three drops and 50 percent catch rate represent a buying opportunity. He has looked explosive, and even if the drops remain a problem, plenty of receivers have been productive for fantasy despite being at or near the top of the league in drops. Drops are really only a problem if they lead to fewer snaps or targets, and I don’t believe that will be the case for Jeudy this season.
Miles Gaskin had seven targets Sunday en route to having as many touches as Jordan Howard and Matt Breida combined. We know Breida can catch passes, and this situation could still be fluid, but Gaskin is a borderline flex play for as long as he continues to get most of the targets out of the backfield.
Rob Gronkowski probably should be dropped in most leagues. You don’t have to drop him, and nobody will be shocked if he is a fantasy starter by Thanksgiving, but at the very least, they are bringing him along slowly. Even if you can afford to use a bench spot on him, I believe he is more likely to get hurt than to help your fantasy team.
I’ve long considered Nyheim Hines a poor man’s Tarik Cohen , and both players caught their only target Sunday. I think a functional offense would find a way to get these backs 5-10 touches a week, but it rarely happens consistently. They are both probably droppable outside of deep leagues, though they are both capable of being flex plays if the usage is there.
Mike Davis caught all eight of his targets for yards Sunday. I think he’s a solid to above-average back who simply cannot stay healthy. Nobody can replace Christian McCaffrey , but Davis is a fantasy starter if he’s going to be so heavily involved in the passing game.
Haven’t we all wasted enough FAAB and waiver claims on Falcons No. 3 receivers over the years to not fall for Russell Gage ? I don’t see anything to separate him from Mohamad Sanu, who was fine during the bye weeks but was never someone you could actually feel good about starting for fantasy. You could argue Week 2 was actually bad for Gage because while he did catch six of nine targets for 46 yards and a touchdown, Hayden Hurst had eight targets and a touchdown himself. I might be interested in Gage if I thought he would get most of the check-downs that went to Austin Hooper last season, but if Hayden Hurst is actually stepping into that role, it is hard to imagine Gage being a fantasy starter so long as Ryan’s top receivers are healthy.
Mo Alie-Cox caught five of six targets for 111 yards in Week 2, but I’d like to see him do it with Jack Doyle active and against a team that hasn’t allowed the fifth-most passing yards in the league. I think it’s too soon to act outside of deep leagues, but he could easily be a starting tight end in a week or two.
Golden Tate caught all five of his targets in Week 2, and with Saquon Barkley and Sterling Shepard both out, Tate should see plenty of targets going forward.
Corey Davis has been getting an awful lot of attention for fantasy for a guy who
The Patriots have long adjusted their offensive gameplan each week to match their opponent, and it shouldn’t be surprising they are taking it to the extreme with one of the most versatile quarterbacks in the league. That is going to make it especially difficult to trust N'Keal Harry , but at least he has firmly established himself as Cam Newton ’s No. 2 wide receiver. It was nice to see Harry bounce back from an awful fumble Week 1 to lead the Patriots in targets last week.
Robbie Anderson has gotten all of the headlines, and he certainly looks like a different player now that he’s gotten out of New York, but D.J. Moore is tied for third in the league in targets. There may be fewer touchdowns for everyone without Christian McCaffrey to drive the bust, but Moore may be a buy-low if whoever drafted him is worried about Robbie Anderson’s emergence.
Among those tied with Moore with 22 targets through two weeks is A.J. Green . Green only has eight receptions, but there is some cause for optimism. Green’s 16.14 average depth of target is much higher than everyone else with at least 22 targets; Moore is next at 12.64. I would be lying if I said I felt great about starting Green this week, but it is clearly too early to give up on him.
I think I would wait for Josh Allen and Stefon Diggs to have one bad game, and then I would try to trade for Diggs. He is good, and even if Josh Allen isn’t as good as he has looked through too weeks, I think it’s clear he isn’t as bad as Diggs’s preseason detractors believed. Diggs leads the league in receiving yards through two weeks, and while I don’t expect that to continue for the entire season, I believe it could.