Welcome back to my trust or bust series, brought back for 2022, here we look at the Week 2 matchups.
For those of you who are reading this for the first time, thank you. Let me tell you what this series is about and what its intentions are. (I promise it will have your daughter home before curfew). Every week I select players inside the FantasyPros Consensus Top 12 that I think will finish outside the top 12 and players outside the top 12 that I like more. All rankings are used with full PPR scoring in mind. This is NOT a ‘start/sit’ article per se. This is more or less how I feel about a player, why I feel that way, suggesting what I would do, what to expect, and who I like more. Here is where I would normally share my accountability report from the week prior, but because I’m a coward I didn’t try to predict anything for Week 1.
Week 2 Inside/ Outside Picks
QB Matthew Stafford (LAR)
v ATL
Current Ranking 29th
AVG Points per Game 19.9
Week 2 ranking 12th
It’s still early in the season and while the Falcons aren’t the Bills, it doesn’t take away from the fact that Matthew Stafford looked flat-out bad on Thursday night. He definitely looked the part of a guy who didn’t throw for twelve weeks in the off-season and with three interceptions, he’s well on his way to another season of double-digit turnovers. Now he gets to face an underrated Falcons secondary that was top ten in interceptions in 2021.
Who I like More
QB Matt Ryan (IND)
@JAX
Week 2 ranking 18th
It didn’t take long for Matt Ryan to show the world that he’s still an high-level quarterback. Yes, I’m aware that the Colts and Texans game ended in a tie. That didn’t stop Matty Ice from throwing for more than three hundred and fifty yards and if not for drops by Ashton Dulin and Alec Pierce, Ryan would’ve had two more touchdowns and even more passing yards. Now Ryan and the Colts face off against a Jaguars team that gave up over three hundred yards, four passing touchdowns, and a top 3 fantasy week to Carson Wentz.
RB Derrick Henry (TEN)
@BUF
Current Ranking 39th
AVG Points per Game 8.2
Week 2 ranking 9th
King Henry isn’t a player I think will make the BUST list often this year, but with a matchup against the Bills, there’s not much to like this week. In their matchup versus the Los Angeles Rams, the new and improved Bills defense held Darrell Henderson and the Rams’ rushing attack to a whopping fifty-two rushing yards and ZERO touchdowns! Did you know that dating back to 2019 in the fifteen games Henry didn’t score a touchdown, he averages 9.8 fantasy points? It’s safe to say ‘King Henry’ has met his match this week.
Who I like More
RB Josh Jacobs (LV)
v ARI
Week 2 ranking 18th
After hiring Head Coach Josh McDaniels this off-season and the drafting of Zamir White, Josh Jacobs was a fade for fantasy managers in 2022. However, we saw in Week 1 that Jacobs is still the lead back in the Raiders’ backfield. I know eleven touches are nothing to write home about, but those eleven touches were good for almost sixty percent of the running back snaps. Clyde Edwards Helaire only had eleven touches versus the Cardinals and he turned that into twenty-two points and a top-six fantasy week. Guess who Jacobs plays in Week 2.
WR Mike Evans (TB)
@NO
Current Ranking 16th
AVG Points per Game 18.1
Week 2 ranking 10th
Like Derrick Henry, I don’t foresee Evans being on the ‘BUST’ list very much this season. Unfortunately for Evans, he has “the pleasure” of going up against Marshon Lattimore who has held Evans to nine catches on twenty targets and one touchdown in eight games. Add the fact that Evans is nursing an injury, missed practice on Thursday, and Chris Godwin is out with an injury, and things aren’t looking good for any Tampa Bay receiver this week.
Who I like More
WR Christian Kirk (JAX)
v IND
Week 2 ranking 25th
It didn’t take long for Kirk to show people why Jacksonville made him one of the highest-paid wide receivers this off-season. In his first game with Trevor Lawrence, Kirk had six receptions, over a hundred receiving yards, and eleven targets. With the division rival Indianapolis Colts next on the schedule, this is a sneaky shootout in the making.
TE Dalton Schultz (DAL)
v CIN
Current Ranking 6th
AVG Points per Game 13.2
Week 2 ranking 6th
You guys might not know this about me, but I’m a HUGE Dallas Cowboys fan! So putting one of ‘my guys’ on the ‘BUST’ list hurts. Typically when a backup quarterback is thrust into a starting role, the tight end is the biggest beneficiary. However the last time Schultz had Rush as his starting QB, he scored three fantasy points. It’s a small sample size, but I’m taking a wait-and-see approach on the Dallas offense this week.
Who I like More
TE Cole Kmet (CHI)
@GB
Week 2 ranking 14th
For everyone who had Kmet as a ‘sleeper’ tight end this year, Week 1 did not make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside. In fact, you needed a raincoat and rain boots for that monsoon of a game on Sunday versus the 49ers. So, before you drop Kmet or decide to never read my article again let me remind you that in 2021 the Green Bay Packers allowed tight ends to score an average of ten fantasy points and if you’ve been playing fantasy long enough, you know that ten points are good enough for a top 12 finish more often than not.
That’s gonna do it for this week’s piece. I hope you found the info useful and actionable.
Thank you for reading. Just a reminder, my fantasy podcast: The ATB Fantasy Show records a new episode every Thursday. You can find the podcast on most major platforms, including Spotify and Apple Music. Here’s a link to the most recent episode.
If you use the hashtag #AskATB or send us a DM, we’ll be sure to answer any and all of your fantasy questions.
There you have it! Any questions, or want some more specific help for your league on who to drop, just reach out. Reach out on social media, you can find us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Or jump into our Discord server. And checkout out rankings for each Week.
Image Credit: Kim Klement – USA TODAY Sports
