Fantasy Football Injury Rundown
In a game like football, injuries are inevitable. And Week 1 certainly had its fair share of them. FullTime’s Fantasy Football Injury Rundown catches you up on all the fantasy-relevant injuries from last week and their potential consequences. Before you finalize your Week 2 Waiver Wire adds, here is the fantasy football injury rundown: Dak Prescott (QB) Dallas Cowboys – (OUT) The most devastating blow for the week came to America’s Team. Prescott broke the thumb on his right (throwing) hand and is expected to miss a minimum of four games. The normal recovery period for this injury is 6-8 weeks. Prescott’s absence will be a huge blow to the Cowboys’ offense, with all skill position players needing to be downgraded until Prescott returns. Elijah Mitchell (RB) San Francisco 49ers – (OUT) As soon as we saw the footage of Mitchell’s knee being bent in awkwardly we feared it was a serious MCL injury. That is indeed the case as the 49ers placed their starting running back on IR with a sprained MCL. That means Mitchell will miss at least four games but is expected to be absent for up to eight weeks. Jeff Wilson is the next man up and a must-add if he is on waivers in your league. Tyrion Davis-Price was a healthy scratch in the opener but will be active. The sneaky pickup may actually be undrafted rookie Jordan Mason, who made the opening day roster. With Kyle Shanahan’s history of finding late-round gold with running backs, Mason could be the next man up on Shanahan’s scheme. Keenan Allen (WR) Los Angeles Chargers – (OUT) Allen was felled by the dreaded hamstring injury. Although the injury itself isn’t considered serious, hamstring ailments have a notorious propensity for reoccurring. The best bet is for Allen to rest a week or two to get back to 100%. There is no chance he plays this week on short rest. DeAndre Carter should take over Allen’s slot role. Michael Pittman (WR) Indianapolis Colts – (OUT) Although he emerged from the tie with Houston fine, Pittman got hurt at practice on Wednesday. This is a worrisome situation because Pittman was ruled out so early. The Colts will also be without No. 2 WR Alec Pierce, who will miss Week 2 with a concussion. Parris Campbell appears to be the biggest benefactor in the short term. Najee Harris (RB) Pittsburgh Steelers – Harris exited in the fourth quarter of Pittsburgh’s Week 1 victory. His foot was injured and Harris limped off and was unable to return. While initial reports came back positive and Harris claims he’ll be ready to play in Week 2, there is cause for concern. Not only does Harris play a huge snap share for the Steelers, but he also dealt with a Lisfranc injury on the same foot this summer. Those injuries are difficult to heal without total rest. We’ll keep an eye on it but fantasy managers with a spare roster spot might want to consider adding Jaylen Warren via their waiver wire. Chris Godwin (WR) Tampa Bay Buccaneers – It wasn’t his surgically-repaired knee but an unrelated hamstring ailment that is going the shelve Godwin for the next few weeks. We were pretty surprised to see the star wideout be active in Week 1 and hate to see him absent again. The good news here is that his knee held up. As long as the hamstring fully heals, Godwin will be back on the weekly WR2 radar when he returns, hopefully in October. Tee Higgins (WR) Cincinnati Bengals – Higgins is in the league’s concussion protocol and is listed as day-to-day. He’s got a full week to be medically cleared. We’ll monitor his progress this week and have an update on the FullTime Fantasy Podcast. Mac Jones (QB) New England Patriots – Jones is also considered day-to-day after suffering from back spasms in New England’s Week 1 loss in Miami. He’s fully expected to be fine for Sunday but won’t be a recommended fantasy start against the stout Pittsburgh defense. J.K. Dobbins (RB) Baltimore Ravens – Dobbins was close to suiting up last week but was held out to get another week to heal. We will monitor his progress this week ahead of the Ravens’ matchup with Miami. Wan’Dale Robinson (WR) New York Giants – (OUT) It was a promising start for Robinson, who was in on the first nine snaps Sunday before hurting his knee. As of now, the injury isn’t considered serious. Add Robinson to the list of athletes listed as “day-to-day.” Damien Williams (RB) Atlanta Falcons – (OUT) After a promising start, Williams was forced from the game with a rib injury. In an update, Williams indicated he would be ok. Consider him questionable for Week 2. UPDATE: Williams has been placed on IR and will miss a minimum of four games. Ken Walker (RB) Seattle Seahawks – After sitting out Week 1 recovering from a hernia, Walker is expected to be active this week as the Seahawks travel to San Francisco. It’s completely unknown how much Walker will eat into Rashaad Penny‘s workload. Until we see how Pete Carroll divides up the touches, Walker should be left out of fantasy lineups. Ty Montgomery (RB) New England Patriots – (OUT) New England placed Montgomery on IR Tuesday. That means he’ll miss at least four games. Montgomery played six more snaps and ran nine more routes than Rhamondre Stevenson in Miami. But, with Montgomery sidelined for a month, expect Stevenson and Damien Harris to split the backfield reps 50/50. Kyren Williams (RB) Los Angeles Rams – (OUT) Williams hurt his ankle on Thursday and is expected to miss at least 6-8 weeks. His only value is in dynasty formats with larger rosters. Andre Roberts (WR) Carolina Panthers –(OUT) Roberts was placed on IR with a knee injury he re-aggravated in Week 1. Roberts only factors in as a returner but was among the best in the league on kick returns. Harrison Butker (PK) Kansas City Chiefs – (OUT) The Chiefs play on Thursday, which means Butker’s lack of practice participation is worrisome. Butker
Week 3 Draft Contest – Win a Rondale Moore Golden Rookie Auto to 25.
We’re proud to offer a brand new BESTBALL DRAFT CONTEST for each and every week of the NFL Season! All you have to do is DRAFT YOUR WEEK 3 TEAM, submit your entry, and the highest-scoring team from each and every week wins! IMPORTANT: Not only do your drafted teams count for Week 3, but they count every week thereafter as well, so each drafted team gives you another 15 opportunities to win both weekly prizes and the Grand Prizes! Congrats to Week 2’s Winners! 1st Place: DYNOMITE 2nd Place: Fire boyz 6 3rd Place: Comfortably Numb 44 Last week, our top-3 winners all racked up over 220 points with impressive Week 2 lineups and took home the Elijah Moore Immaculate Signature Moves, free subscriptions and lots of FFWC game credits. For Week 3, will it be your team that has a monster outing and wins one of these great prizes? 1st Place – 2021 Panini Gold Standard Golden Debuts Cardinals WR Rondale Moore Rookie #’d 04/25 2nd Place – Your choice of a Derrick Henry Patch or a Cordarrelle Patterson Rookie Auto. 3rd Place – Prize remaining above. 4th-10th Place – 20 FFWC Game Credit 11th-25th Place – 10 FFWC Game Credit DRAFT YOUR WEEK 3 TEAM and see what kind of phenomenal fantasy football roster you can build. It only takes minutes to complete. Once you’re comfortable that you’ve built the winning roster, submit your squad and enjoy watching them roll up the points throughout Week 3! The three highest-scoring rosters for the week win the above prizes, but everyone who enters is still in contention for the Mock Draft World Championship, which runs all season. ENTER OUR WEEK 3 DRAFT CONTEST! How it Works: Draft your team using our On-Demand Simulator. Try to stack the team with players you think will do well in Week 3! The highest Week 3 Score wins! Here’s our Week 3 Player Rankings to help. It’s a bestball contest, so no need to submit a lineup. We’ll optimize the best one! Just sit back and watch your team climb the leaderboard! Weekly Prizes and a Grand Prize at the end of the season! The Grand Prize Winner (highest individual week of the season) gets to choose from the amazing prizes below. If you don’t know just how awesome and amazing the Panini Flawless Football briefcase is, make sure and watch the video starting at the 8-minute mark! Trading cards are back! MEMBER PERK! Fulltime Members get 5 Free On-Demand Drafts each month in our contest! DRAFT YOUR WEEK 3 TEAM and enter your REDEMPTION CODE you received by email.
Week 2 WR/CB Matchups Deeper Dive
A couple of important tools to help you each week in your weekly start/sit decisions. One of our most valuable tools here at FullTime Fantasy is our “Head to Head Stats” tool. Just enter any positional player and the team they’re facing this week, to see how they’ve fared against them in the past. Our Weekly WR Matchups tool. This helps you identify statistical matchup problems or advantages for wide receivers, tight ends and running backs. It gets stronger throughout the year. My job is to take a deeper dive into this tool to better understand the data it presents. Check out the full report for Week 2 here. DeVante Parker vs Buffalo Bills On paper the Bills look like a nightmarish matchup for Parker, however, he has been a major problem for Buffalo. Going head to head with Tre’Davious White and Levi Wallace, Parker has scored more than 16 Fantasy points in their last six meetings and has scored more than 12 Fantasy points in all of their last 9 matchups with one exception when he scored 0 after leaving with an injury according to our FullTime Fantasy “Head to Head Stats” tool. In two meetings last season, Parker totaled 12 receptions on 22 targets for 169 yards and a TD. This includes one game started by his current quarterback Tua Tagovailoa in which he posted a seven-catch, 116-yard game. White was out that game, but with the absence of Will Fuller again this week for Miami expect Parker to see plenty of targets up against the Bills corners and history tells us he should get the best of this matchup making him a valuable flex option. He has consistently gotten the best on White and the Bills throughout his career. DeAndre Hopkins vs Minnesota Vikings With Patrick Peterson now in Minnesota, he will be forced to face off against his former team and their star wideout. Hopkins and Peterson have faced off twice before in 2013 and 2017 while Hopkins was in Houston. In those two matchups, he has posted Fantasy totals of 12.9 and 17.6 points. This is a revenge game for Peterson, but don’t anticipate it going well for him. While Hopkins is still an elite option, Peterson has lost a step. It’s likely Nuk will have the best game he’s ever had against Peterson this week. He is no longer a corner to fear like he once was and even when he was playing at an elite level, Hopkins still got his. Tyreek Hill vs Baltimore Ravens This one could be a blood bath for the Ravens. Hill has faced off with the Ravens’ DBs twice in 2018 and 2020. Both times he tallied more than 20 Fantasy points. Most notably last season he has rung up more than 100 yards from scrimmage and a TD. This was against the trio of Marcus Peters, Jimmy Smith, and Marlon Humphrey who took turns matching up with the cheetah. Unfortunately for the Ravens this time around Peters and Smith are both injured so the burden will all fall on Humphrey’s shoulders and whatever help he can get from his safeties. There is no reason Hill shouldn’t eat in this matchup. The Ravens’ secondary was scary coming into the season, nonetheless, injuries have drastically tampered down their expectations, and opposing wideouts should benefit. In this case, it’s Hill. Plug him in and expect elite WR1 numbers. Julio Jones vs Seattle Seahawks Now with the Titans, Jones has gone up against the Seahawks corners in each of the past two seasons. Using our “Head to Head Stats” tool we learn that in both games, he saw 12 targets and in both games, he went for over 150 yards. Tre Flowers and DJ Reed will try to prevent him from having another big Fantasy day at their expense. The big difference in this one is of course that Jones is now in Tennessee. On top of not being the clear-cut WR1 now, his quarterback is Ryan Tannehill and not Matt Ryan. That changes this matchup drastically. It’s very unlikely Jones sees 12 targets in this one due to the run-heavy scheme and A.J. Brown running opposite him. However, Derrick Henry and Brown make it much more difficult for opposing defenses to key in on Jones and he may not even see WR1 coverage. Jones is a solid flex option or WR3 this week, however, he doesn’t come without risk. The good news is the Seahawks’ corners don’t exactly strike fear in your heart, especially if he isn’t the focal point of their defensive scheme like he was in Atlanta. He’s a bit risky, but he also brings high-end WR2 upside. Get him in your lineups this week. Jakobi Meyers vs New York Jets Meyers gets another shot at Bryce Hall and the Jets secondary after torching them last year. His first true breakout game last year came against this secondary in Week 9 when he caught 12 passes for 169 yards posting 28.9 Fantasy points. Now he has a much more prolific throwing quarterback in Mac Jones by comparison and is more established as the team’s WR1. He also had a nice Fantasy day in Week 17 against the Jets totaling 18.3 Fantasy points. This is a tad misleading though. Looking at our “Head to Head Stats” tool we get all the numbers and we see Meyers only caught six passes for 68 yards, however, he threw a touchdown which inflated his points total. Still, I expect him to be a great option this week coming off a brutal home loss to the Dolphins. Bill Belichick will look to throw the ball often and run the score on the lowly Jets. He has a lot more value in PPR leagues as Jones will look to dink and dunk so this will be a death by 1,000 paper cuts situation. Double-digit receptions and triple-digit yards totals aren’t very much in the realm of possibilities. If he can get into the end
Week 2 Draft Contest – Win an Elijah Mitchell Immaculate Auto
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The Ambush – NFL Week 2 from Steve Renner
Injuries once again are playing a major factor this week on the chalk and where the general public will go with roster construction. The biggest of them is the news coming on Friday that Falcons RB Devonta Freeman is OUT (as kind of expected) for their match-up this week against the Panthers this week which will drive Tevin Coleman’s usage up and his ownership as well. Let’s not confuse ownership with players being in good spots based upon situation rather than someone being in chalk simply because of their name and the match-up.
NFL DFS: Week 2 QB Report
Shawn Childs NFL Week 2 QB Report and Cheat Sheet
Monday/Thursday Week 2 Primer – Fuego Steve
Monday/Thursday Slate Week 2 We have an interesting short slate or small slate, as they are called this week. This is one of those slates we can make any lineup we wish practically on DraftKings. You can use the highest players at every position, except defense on this slate. Fanduel it is a little more difficult, but if OBJ is out makes it very easy to construct lineups. Other times on short slates, it is hard to get in several of the highest priced players, let alone all of them. Look for my short slate advice article coming soon. This slate is one of the ugliest mini slates I have ever seen, but that isn’t going to stop us from playing it and making money. I am going to break it down by position this week as opposed to by teams. New York Giants vs Detroit Lions (Giants -3.5, O/U 42) San Francisco 49ers vs L.A. Rams (Rams -2.5, O/U 40.5) Quarterbacks: BEST: Gross, go Matthew Stafford or Eli Manning This is not the slate we get to choose between Matt Ryan, Aaron Rodgers and Tom Brady. I like Matt Stafford, but he is going on the road, off the turf, against what should be a tough Giants defense. I do not like either QB in the Thursday game, so that only leaves him and Eli Manning. In general, if there are no stud options on the slate, you want to choose QBs from the Monday night game. I will be rolling out these two in my lineups, mixing them both in a few different ones. The Giants offense looked horrible last week without Odell Beckham. Even if he returns to action tonight, I am not banking on a great night from OBJ or Eli. WORST: Jared Goff, Brian Hoyer The game play on Thursday night’s the past few seasons has not been very good for the offenses, especially the passing attacks. I am not high on either of these quarterbacks in general, let alone playing and game planning on short rest. Stick to one of the Monday night QBs. HIGH RISK/HIGH REWARD: None Running Back: BEST: Todd Gurley; Carlos Hyde Unfortunately, the two best running back options on the slate play on Thursday night. In addition, neither one of them really excites me, but I do have them projected higher than the backs on Monday. Gurley would be my top option, because he has the better matchup of the two. Also, he has been getting the touches and has scored in each of the first two games. WORST: Giants running backs Shave Vereen I guess is in play due to the amount of catches he got last week, more on DraftKings with the full PPR. However, neither he nor Paul Perkins are great options. Vereen didn’t carry the ball once last week and Perkins only got eight attempts. Without OBJ, this offense looks pitiful. If Beckham plays, I would have more confidence in Perkins, but we are still in wait and see mode. HIGH RISK/HIGH REWARD: Detroit running backs Theo Riddick and Amir Abdullah also don’t get me too excited. Abdullah at least got the carries last week, though he did nothing with them. He only rushed for 30 yards on 15 carries. That’s a whole two yards per carry. Encouraging though was he did get four targets, catching three of them. If however, the Lions are in catch up mode, Riddick will be in the game. He caught six of his seven targets last week including a touchdown. Either one of them is viable, choosing which one is the hard part. Wide Receiver: BEST: Golden Tate, Pierre Garcon This slate is really looking worse and worse as I go along. We have one stud wide receiver on the slate and he may not even play. If Beckham doesn’t play, Golden Tate is your next best option. He caught 10 balls last week on 12 targets for 107 yards. However, that was at home on the turf and they were throwing the ball all second half. There are no real stars on the Lions offense, Tate is about as close as there is. Pierre Garcon is my second favorite option, though don’t love it. Garcon goes from playing with Kirk Cousins last season to Brian Hoyer this season. Certainly, a downgrade in my mind. Can he get going this week versus the Rams? I don’t know, but we don’t have very many other options. Sterling Shepard and Brandon Marshall are in play, but I don’t love either of them. WORST: Rams Wide-outs Cooper Kupp, Robert Woods, Sammy Watkins and Tavon Austin are the four wide receivers currently for the Rams. Watkins has seven catches for 88 yards through the first two games. Austin has two catches and Woods has four so far. Not what we are trying to target at the wide receiver position. Kupp is the only one that has scored so far, catching four balls week one with a score. As bad as our options are this week, I don’t see me going to any of these guys unless maybe in a super large field GPP. HIGH RISK/HIGH REWARD: Kenny Golladay Week one Kenny Golladay had a huge game catching two touchdowns with four catches for 69 yards. I had heard good things about him, but is he going to score two touchdowns again this week? I highly doubt it. But, sometimes when a quarterback starts to get in the end zone with a certain receiver, he tends to look for him more often. He did play 44 snaps week one, only 10 less than teammate Marvin Jones. My concern is that he will be more highly owned than he should be due to his big game last week. Jones may be the lowest owned of the three Lions and could be sneaky as well. Tight End: BEST: Evan Engram; Eric Ebron Evan Engram looked decent last week, catching four of his
The Fuego Pit – NFL Week 2 GPP Plays
QUARTERBACKS Aaron Rodgers – One of the top quarterbacks on the board, in both price and projections, he is a great play this week. Rodgers has had success against the Falcons in the past and I expect that to continue Sunday night. Being the primetime game, with the highest over/under on the board, this game will be popular including Rodgers. You can pair any of his wide-outs with him and/or even Ty Montgomery in a stack. If playing more than one lineup, get some shares of him. Matt Ryan – I will have a lot of Matt Ryan on Fanduel as he is $900 cheaper than Rodgers. On DraftKings they are within $100 of each other, so can go either one. This game should be a shoot-out as they have been in the past. He will be popular like Rodgers, but I never worry about QB ownership too much. This game is chalk, but it is good chalk and think we must have a piece of it. Tom Brady – Brady is in a great spot on the road against the Saints. A pissed Brady, is a dangerous Brady and he should eat against this porous New Orleans defense. I could see him spreading the ball around and hammering Brandin Cooks with targets in Cooks homecoming. My only concern is if they get close Mike Gillislee will take some touchdowns. HIGH RISK/HIGH REWARD Jameis Winston – This is more of a feeling play than based on any solid statistics. The Bucs game was canceled last week due to the hurricane. They have had quite a bit of time to prepare for this game versus the Chicago Bears. The Bears defense generated only two sacks last week and zero turnovers at home versus the Falcons. I think Winston and the Bucs come out firing and he connects a bunch with Mike Evans and hits a long one or two to Desean Jackson. Other QBs in play – Cam Newton should be low owned. Russell Wilson also should carry lower ownership than he should after a bad game last week. Big Ben is always good at home. Tyrod Taylor is my sneaky play at QB this week. RUNNING BACKS Ty Montgomery – Combine his low price and favorable matchup, Ty Montgomery will be mega chalk for sure. However, this is good chalk and almost a must play. He got 23 touches last week including 19 carries. Whether he can handle a full running back workload may have been answered week one. At least while he is healthy, I see the Packers sticking with him, even near the goal line. The Falcons allow running backs to catch a lot of balls out of the backfield. True to form, they gave up 8 catches to Tarik Cohen last week. Fade him at your own risk. I AM GOING OVERWEIGHT ON HIM IN ALMOST EVERY LINEUP Melvin Gordon – Gordon is another back who will be popular on Sunday. I don’t mind playing him either at high ownership. He faces a Miami Dolphins defense that was not very good against the run last season. First home game for the Chargers in L.A., look for them to control the clock on the ground. I can see Melvin getting 20+ touches and a touchdown or two. LeVeon Bell – He should bounce back this week after a pitiful week one performance. My hope is people feel burned and he won’t be as highly owned as he should be this week. Look for a big game running and catching the ball out of the backfield. He gets in the end zone this week as well, at least once if not more. SHOULD GET LOT CARRIES, NO BRADFORD, COULD BE BLOW OUT. HIGH RISK/HIGH REWARD Ezekiel Elliott – Elliott is in a perceived bad spot going against the Denver Broncos this weekend. However, they are not nearly as good against the run, than they are against the pass. If you don’t want to pay up for Lev Bell, he would be a nice pivot at lower ownership. His ceiling isn’t as high as Bell, but with no more David Johnson, he and LeSean McCoy are the next best fantasy backs. Other RBs in play – Marshawn Lynch, look for the Raiders to take control of this game early, then feed Lynch. Todd Gurley is in another good spot this week. Jacquizz Rodgers at only $4400 on DK is the starting running back for the Bucs while Doug Martin is out. Mark Ingram, can get a piece of the Saints/Pats game at lower ownership. Should catch a lot of balls. Jonathan Stewart also only $4400 on DK, there are a lot of low end options this week at running back. WIDE RECEIVERS Mike Evans – I like Mike Evans in general, and think he is going to have a break out year this season. With DeSean Jackson now on the Bucs, he has someone opposite him to stretch the field. Maybe this will limit him to at least only double coverage and not triple coverage. He doesn’t get much after the catch, but that’s because he is downfield and covered so tight. Yet he still comes up with the catches and touchdowns. Tampa Bay should shake the rust of early, and look for Evans to have a good game especially if Prince Amukamara is out for the Bears. Randall Cobb – He is my favorite Green Bay receiver this week. Cobb had 13 targets last week, catching 9 balls for 85 yards. Hard for me to imagine him doing any less this week, unless Rodgers targets Davante Adams more. Even if he does, I think there is plenty to go around in this game including Jordy Nelson as well. Tyreek Hill – I really like Hill this week and may pair him with the Chiefs defense (see Chiefs write-up below). He is now clearly the number one guy in K.C. with Jeremy Maclin gone. He had a huge week one versus the Patriots
The Chalk Report – Fuego Steve
The first week of the NFL season went pretty much as expected regarding the popular plays. The obvious chalk of the week on DraftKings was Zach Ertz at his ridiculous salary of only $3500. As expected, he was the highest owned player in the Milly Maker coming in at 41%. Not only was he chalk, but he was what we call “good chalk”. He was mispriced, in a great spot against the Skins and was a must play in cash games. It paid off as he scored 17.3 DK points. Todd Gurley was another player I expected to be highly owned and to be paired with the Rams defense. This was the case as he came in at almost 31% and the Rams defense was 22%. Le’Veon Bell 34% and David Johnson 25% were the next two highest owned on DK and the two highest on Fanduel. It will be interesting to see what Bell’s ownership is going to be the rest of the year without D.J. playing. Does Johnson’s ownership get split up among the next best backs like Ezekiel Elliot and LeSean McCoy? Or more likely, depending on the slate, his ownership may get extremely high. To fade or not to fade Le’Veon may be the question we are asking ourselves the rest of the year. Doug Baldwin at his reasonable price on DK was the highest owned wide receiver coming in at 22.5%. This eclipsed Antonio Brown 14% by quite a bit. Brown was the highest owned on Fanduel at 21%, one point ahead of Julio Jones. Other expected popular receivers; Larry Fitzgerald, Kelvin Benjamin, Terrelle Pryor, Michael Crabtree and Amari Cooper were between 13% – 20%. On the other end of the spectrum were two of my favorite plays of the week. I mentioned them on the podcast and on SiriusXM with Dr. Roto and Adam Ronis. They were Matthew Stafford and the Jacksonville Jaguars defense. Stafford was the highest scoring player on Fanduel and second highest on DK just below Brown. He was only rostered on 1%- 2% of all entries. I mentioned how the Jags would be contrarian on DK because of their high price but were in a great spot. To me, they were a lock on Fanduel at only $4100. They came through big time with 10 sacks and a defensive touchdown at less than 10% on Fanduel and only 1% on DK. Leonard Fournette had a great rookie debut rushing for 100 yards and scoring a touchdown. But no one, including myself, was going to pay up for him week one as he was less than 3% owned. This week there are two games that should draw a lot of ownership. New England visits New Orleans in what is expected to be a high scoring game with an over/under that has gone up to 55.5 points. The Sunday night hammer game is the Packers at the Falcons with an O/U of 53.5 points. The four most popular QBs should come from these games. The night game is going to get the highest ownership of any game on the main slate. People love to have players left going in the night game to begin with. Add the highest total on the slate with two high-powered offenses and they will be chalk. Ty Montgomery and Devonta Freeman as well as Jordy Nelson and Julio Jones will be extremely popular. Check back later in the week to see where we can pivot if we choose to fade them. Look for players that had a good week one to be somewhat popular as well. Players like Kareem Hunt, Stefon Diggs, Tarik Cohen (who I am staying away from), and Dalvin Cook will be chalky. One way to get lower ownership on players is to do the opposite. Roster players that were popular last week that didn’t perform. Kelvin Benjamin, Fitzgerald, and Martavis Bryant come to mind for example. The general public is much more likely to roster players that did well the week before, than did poorly. Especially if they burned them the week before. In fact, I wonder if we can get Lev Bell lower owned than he should be because of his subpar performance last week. He burned a lot of people as the chalk play, and with the rest being burned by D.J., maybe people will be scared to pay up this week. I am hoping we get low ownership on the two teams that did not play last week, the Bucs and Dolphins. Not being on people’s minds, they may not gravitate to these players. I like Tampa Bay this week including Jameis Winston, Mike Evans, DeSean Jackson and Jacquizz Rodgers who is filling in for the suspended Doug Martin. I also like Jay Ajayi on Miami going against the Chargers. Another way we can get lower ownership is talented players that were not popular last week, but are in better spots week two. Players like Jordan Matthews or Greg Olsen may get overlooked but still have upside to get at low ownership. Remember, not all chalk is bad chalk. The saying goes “chalk is chalk for a reason”. Players in good spots are naturally going to be higher owned than players in bad spots. Finding the players in perceived bad situations, but that could do well (like Stafford last week) is the key to pivoting off the chalk. Listen to the late week podcast and read the articles on dfs.scout.com to determine which popular players to roster and which are best to fade.