Bear witness to the devastation before you: Nico Collins’ hamstring; DJ Moore’s shoulder; DeZhaun Stribling’s ankle; Jordan Mason’s…thumb. Fallen soldiers strewn about. Josh Allen, basically, stands alone there against the horizon, a monolithic silhouette of a great fantasy-scoring colossus. We are at war, friends, and the next-man-up mentality is becoming as ironclad a platitude for fantasy managers as it is for coachspeak and player-parroting to the media. Here already in Week 2, most of us are desperate for value and edge.
Happy Fantasy Friday once more, friends. I’m back with the Five Lists of Five: Week 2 edition. Helmets on. Back to marching.
For the newly-ordained: Soundbite-length blurbs with advanced analysis on my favorite plays of the week. We begin now with my Top five FLEX plays for fantasy football Week 2. Here are my other offerings in this edition:
- Top five must-start wide receivers for fantasy football Week 2
- Top five must-start RBs for fantasy football Week 2
- Top five fantasy football players to stash ahead of NFL Week 2 (TK)
- Top five fantasy defenses to start for NFL Week 2 (TK)
Fantasy football Week 2: Top five FLEX plays to start
Dontayvion Wicks, PHI (vs. Titans)
Philadelphia played Dontayvion Wicks on 91% of its Week 1 snaps, and he converted four targets into two catches, 73 yards, and a touchdown. Not even a full handful of targets leave plenty of potential for a goose egg the next game, but the Eagles kept him in the huddle routinely. It’s not as if they only brought him on the field for occasional deep shot packages. I’m most interested in the snap share, and merely enticed by the upside of his touchdown ceiling.
Tennessee played Cover 3 and Cover 4 on a combined 76.9% of its Week 1 coverage snaps against the Jets, matching the zone looks against which Wicks separates better according to all my early charting. The Titans have also allowed 119.6 receiving yards per game to WRs aligned outside since the start of last season. Philadelphia will stress that.
DeVonta Smith and Dallas Goedert will command their share of looks in this run-heavy offense, and a comfortable lead could cut Jalen Hurts’ need to throw altogether. I have Wicks penciled in for five or six targets, three or four catches, and roughly 45-65 receiving yards. He’s my deeper FLEX when I need an explosive reception, with Philadelphia throwing to establish control before leaning on the run.
DeMario Douglas, NE (vs. Steelers)
DeMario Douglas was actually playing ahead of Romeo Doubs before A.J. Brown left New England’s opener. Pop finished with a team-high 79% route share. He commanded seven targets, a 21% target share, and caught five balls for just 20 yards. Hardly stirs the soul, sure, but Douglas already had Maye’s attention before Brown’s ankle implosion vacated more work for the next month-plus.
Mack Hollins will see more snaps outside, Doubs should—hopefully—rebound, and Hunter Henry will keep commanding underneath targets over the middle. Douglas needs Josh McDaniels to emphasize his slot routes while the others inherit Brown’s full route tree. Pittsburgh played Cover 3 or Cover 4 on 92.3% of its opening coverage snaps; although Atlanta’s compromised offense influenced that approach, another zone-heavy plan would let Douglas work between underneath defenders instead of working outside, where he’s never at his best.
After Maye’s three-interception opener, we’d all happily accept a less adventurous afternoon of on-time completions. Douglas runs enough routes to give Maye that option. I’m looking for six to eight targets, five or six catches, and around 40-55 yards. That earns him a multi-FLEX PPR start in a game where New England should value short completions over another afternoon of forcing the ball into trouble.
Devaughn Vele, NO (at Ravens)
New Orleans ran 86 plays and needed overtime to generate its gargantuan passing totals against Detroit—let’s just start there. Devaughn Vele caught seven passes for 69 yards and a touchdown, which was good for 22.8 XFP across 55 routes, according to Fantasy Points. Even without projecting an extra period of play onto Week 2, it’s an encouraging afternoon many fantasy managers chased this week on waivers.
Before injuring his shoulder last season, Vele caught at least three passes and reached 37 receiving yards in four consecutive games with Tyler Shough. In Week 1 against the Lions, he commanded nine targets and played 91% of the snaps. Shough has kept looking for him across enough games, now—especially so early in both their careers, as they’re adjusting to NFL-style routes, timing, defenses, etc.—that I don’t really think we need all 55 routes to trust the connection enough to roll Vele out in lineups.
Baltimore’s stud defense should contest Vele’s catches more effectively, but an early Ravens lead would keep Shough throwing and Vele working the short and intermediate zones, completely available for garbage time. Chris Olave’s new hamstring and questionable game designation introduces another variable, but Vele already has a role alongside him. Six to eight targets, four or five catches, and 45-60 receiving yards strike me as a more reasonable expectation.
Jadarian Price, SEA (vs. Cardinals)
Seattle split its backfield by situation in the opener, leaving Jadarian Price to do most of his damage on early downs. He gained 52 yards on 10 carries with a 70% rushing success rate. He did more than break one run and spend the rest of the afternoon getting stuffed. On wide zone packages, Price has always been good at press the front before cutting back through the smallest of creases, and this should give Seattle a way to help Drew Lock get stuck in too many obvious passing downs.
The Seahawks still gave George Holani the passing-down snaps, and used Emanuel Wilson in short yardage in Week 1. Price finished with a 40.7% route share and only 33.3% of the red-zone snaps; I think they’re going to continue to ramp him up. His running talent will simply win out in this rotation, such as it is.
The Cardinals’ injury report showed Roy Lopez as a Thursday nonparticipant in practice, and Andrew Billings as limited. Arizona’s defensive interior is thus unsettled at best and potentially depleted at worst. In a competitive divisional game, Price should get around 12-15 carries; at that workload, I have him near 55-75 rushing yards. One explosive and one trip to the endzone, though, and Price is about to start making OROTY lists.
Kaelon Black, SF (vs. Dolphins)
Kaelon Black replaced Christian McCaffrey for five snaps on San Francisco’s opening possession, and it was a national event. He then finished with 14 carries for 65 yards, and those 14 carries tally four more attempts than McCaffrey did. Shanahan began rotating Black in to spell CMC before the Niners were even expected to build a comfortable lead. Black, instead, helped the offense get ahead, and that’s the sort of role we buy in fantasy.
The backs split early-down snaps evenly, 26 apiece, while McCaffrey handled 10 of 12 late-down snaps. McCaffrey obviously has dibs on the receiving work that can rescue an ordinary rushing afternoon, so Black’s production will be utterly dependent on his rushing efficiency when he does get carries. It just seems like Week 1 indicates that he’ll certainly do so.
The Dolphins just allowed Jeanty 102 rushing yards on 23 carries, and I expect San Francisco to run well enough against a bad rushing defense to keep both backs busy. Black can retain his early rotations, and he’ll surely accumulate additional carries if the 49ers spend the fourth quarter protecting a fat lead. My expectation sits around 12-15 attempts and 50-65 rushing yards. In a depleted multi-FLEX lineup, I’d use him over a high-ceiling-but-low-snap-share WR.
