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    Fantasy football rankings Week 2: Dave Richard’s tough calls who to start, sit flex

    Savannah HeraldBy 23 Mins Read
    Fantasy football rankings Week 2: Dave Richard's tough calls who to start, sit flex

    Game On: Sports News, Highlights & Commentary

    Key takeaways
    • Pass-rush pressure and coverage shells decide QB outcomes; avoid starting Jared Goff vs Bills when pressured.
    • Target tight ends in zone-heavy defenses; Dalton Kincaid and Mark Andrews gain consistent middle-of-field looks.
    • Beware target erosion when opponents run well; consider sitting Rashee Rice if the Chiefs lean the ground game.

    Fantasy Football is all about the matchups. Even though you drafted your team with certain hopes and intentions, your weekly lineup decisions shouldn’t be determined by the order you picked your players in. You need to check who your players play and make sure you’ve got the right guys in — and the wrong guys on the bench.

    It’s too early to be absolutely sure which matchups will be easy and which will be tough, but we can make some educated guesses based on healthy personnel, defensive schemes, track records and key details of offenses. The things we know can help us minimize the impact of the things we don’t know. This should lead to better decision-making.

    Let’s go through every game and highlight the players who aren’t obvious starts and sits (because you don’t need to be told to start Bijan Robinson). You should feel more comfortable starting or sitting players based on the information given, and feeling comfortable with your Fantasy lineup before the games start is the best feeling in the world.

    Dave Richard’s Week 2 rankings: Top 150 | QB | RB | WR | TE | K | DST

    Lions deserve credit for putting a lot of pressure on Tyler Shough last week, landing five sacks (more than any other team). However, it’s notable they had a solid-not-spectacular 35.5% pass rush pressure rate. I’m not even sure it’ll matter how much they blitz in this short-week road game at a charged-up, fresh venue in Buffalo. I’d expect them to play a lot of zone coverage until they have to revert to man-to-man in an effort to blitz Allen and create some turnovers. If that’s the case, then I’d expect Dalton Kincaid to keep seeing targets like he did last week (29.4% target per route run rate and 22.5 yards per catch against Houston’s zone defense). Remember, the Lions’ defense gave up a combined 7-87-2 stat line over 15 targets to New Orleans’ top two tight ends last Sunday. 

    Jared Goff will have one of his six outdoor games in Week 2 against a Bills defense that was knocked around pretty good by C.J. Stroud on Sunday, especially in the middle of the field. I would guess Buffalo will stick with zone-heavy coverage but blitz plenty, something they did against Stroud, even though the pass rush pressure really didn’t make a difference until late in the game. They might this week — the Lions will be down two starters on the offensive line from Week 1 (three if you could center Cade Mays). Goff has rarely played well when pressured, the latest example being last week, when he avoided pressure nicely on Amon-Ra St. Brown’s red-zone touchdown but otherwise was 2 of 6 passing for 30 yards. His 50% completion rate last year when pressured is also an example. It’s also a worry that it took Goff a while to get rolling last week and frankly got lucky to have a decent Fantasy game (the overtime TD was huge). I would go with higher-upside choices like Brock Purdy and Baker Mayfield (against the Browns). Anecdotally, Goff’s career-best game on the road on a Thursday short week was 13.4 in a six-point league. 

    Since Jalen Coker saw a normal snap share in 12 games from Week 8 on last year, he’s outproduced Tetairoa McMillan in PPR points per game despite seeing fewer targets. The numbers really favor Coker if you go back from Week 11 on last year, a nine-game sample. 

    Since Week 11 2025 Since Week 8 2025
    Coker T-Mac Coker T-Mac
    15.4 12.8 PPR/gm 12.7 12.6
    5.9 6.7 tgt/gm 5.2 7
    14 16.2 yds/rec 13.3 15.1
    6 5 TD 6 5
    6 6 RZ tgt 6 9
    4.6% 4.6% explo% 22.6% 25%
    11.3 9.2 yds/tgt 10.7 9
    2.12 1.82 yds/route 1.91 1.97

    I say that to let you know that it’s not wrong to view Coker and McMillan as equals, at least as of now. That being said, Coker enjoyed a coverage bust on his 51-yard touchdown and may just be the Panthers‘ best wideout in man-to-man coverage. He certainly looked quicker than he did in 2025. The Falcons pass rush was actually effective last week, getting pressure on 43% of their snaps despite just a 12% blitz rate, but I’d bet against that being a factor against Bryce Young and the Panthers passing game. Even if the Falcons go the shadow route with A.J. Terrell on Tetairoa McMillan, I think both receivers can have another solid week. Besides, McMillan had a 4-70-1 stat line against Terrell over 34 routes in one game last year, per FantasyPoints Data.  

    It’s really hard to get excited for Drake London or Kyle Pitts with Cooper Rush starting. Rush deserves credit for reading the field well on most of his pass attempts but he had timing and accuracy problems that will be tough to fix in one week. Rush held the ball a little too long at times and had an especially egregious 72.7% catchable throw rate, his worst mark in any start of his since 2024. Rush underthrew what would have been a huge play to Pitts, underthrew Jahan Dotson on a deep out route, sailed another throw to Dotson that was intercepted, underthrew a checkdown to Bijan Robinson, and threw behind London on a big third-down play. If there’s good news it’s that the Panthers pass rush isn’t as aggressive as the Steelers, but it’s no pushover either. Perhaps having a week’s worth of practice and maybe an extra beat in the pocket can help Rush improve his accuracy a little bit. Enough to call London a top 24 receiver or Pitts a top 12 tight end? I’d bet against it.

    Tyler Shough was cool under pressure in Detroit and connected on 5 of 7 deep throws on top of his other shorter, quicker completions. While his play was a very encouraging sign for his future, his offensive line didn’t hold up so well and the Saints run game was mostly stymied by the Lions outside of two good runs by Travis Etienne. The Ravens generated a higher pass rush pressure rate against a better Colts offensive line last week while playing lots of heavy zone coverage, but they also gave up five carries of 10-plus yards to Jonathan Taylor. It’s possible the Saints try to get their ground game established but they gave up on it pretty quickly last week once they fell behind by one score — the same thing can happen here, which is why I wouldn’t expect a big game from Etienne. Baltimore’s zone coverage might mean more short throws from Shough, perfect for Devaughn Vele to rack up more targets and have another solid game.  

    The Ravens didn’t throw much after Zay Flowers left in the second quarter last week, but you probably could have guessed that Mark Andrews saw the most targets (four over 12 routes run). But you may not have guesses that Chris Moore saw two targets over just seven routes, both of them deep balls. Moore really only got some run once Flowers and rookie Ja’Kobi Lane went off the field, but Jackson was instantly attracted to him downfield when he stacked Sauce Gardner and Charvarius Ward once each. LaJohntay Wester also had two targets over 13 routes, but they were shorter throws. Lost in this is Rashod Bateman, who looked plenty quick but has rarely been a solid contributor in Baltimore, seeing a team target share in a game north of 20% in just 11 of 46 games with Jackson since 2023. Jackson’s history with Andrews suggests he especially likes throwing to him, especially against single-high safety coverage, which the Saints do lean toward playing based on not just last week but last season.  

    There were four games last year where Caleb Williams was blitzed at least 40% of his snaps — two were by the Vikings. And, to defensive playcaller Brian Flores’ credit, Williams completed just 55% of his passes for one score (he ran for another) in those two games. That’s especially notable because Williams wound up having some of his best numbers when blitzed last year except against the Vikings. However, the Vikings have to at least be mildly concerned with breakdowns in their secondary last week that led to both Christian Watson touchdowns. Williams is capable of keeping plays alive when pressured and finding open receivers downfield. If the Vikings get too aggressive again, then all of Chicago’s downfield pass-catchers are in play to make a splash or two. Rome Odunze comes to mind as someone who might, just as he did last week, when he Mossed a Panthers defensive back on an improvised deep ball. 

    The day will come when Carson Wentz will have to deal with a ton of pass rush pressure. That day probably won’t be Sunday. Despite blitzing on nearly 40% of their snaps in Week 1, Chicago was league-average in pass rush pressure rate and notched just two sacks versus a Panthers offensive line starting two backup tackles. Bryce Young went off. Wentz has always been much more capable when not stressed by a defense, and the Bears‘ secondary was a mess in Week 1. I wouldn’t rule out Jordan Addison having some big plays, enough to make him a flex. Hopefully, his timing is much improved with Wentz. 

    Cincinnati’s defense got a boost by recovering four fumbles last week, two of them a byproduct of its improved pass rush. Bank on the Bengals bringing more heat this week against a Texans offensive line that started breaking down against the Bills late last week. Typically, that means shorter throws for C.J. Stroud, who threw to Dalton Schultz and Xavier Hutchinson (four targets each) when he gets the ball out inside of 2.5 seconds. That matches up with last year’s numbers when Stroud was pressured — both of those guys were in the top three in targets under 2.5 seconds behind Nico Collins. Not that you’re dying for a streaming tight end this week, but Schultz certainly qualifies.  

    Even though Josh Allen had a monster game last week, I would lower expectations for Joe Burrow this week. The Texans’ pass rush should be far more dangerous than the Buccaneers‘ was in Week 1, and Burrow was quick to get the ball out last week. Imagine how fast he’ll be on the trigger this week. That means more short throws, which works against Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins, who already have challenging coverage to deal with. You’re going to start these guys, but a smash week would be surprising. And while I don’t know if this is actually actionable advice I’d recommend, but a week after Mike Gesicki got a lot of looks against the Buccaneers’ suspect linebackers in coverage, he can win his matchups again this week in the middle of the Texans zone defense down starting linebacker Henry To’oTo’o. Just understand that Gesicki had seven targets on just 17 routes last week and is not typically a full-time player for Cincy. 

    • MUST-STARTS: Chase Brown, Ja’Marr Chase, Nico Collins
    • STARTS: Joe Burrow, Tee Higgins, David Montgomery, Texans DST (low-end DST)
    • SITS: C.J. Stroud, Dalton Schultz (low-end PPR starter), Xavier Hutchinson (desperation WR if Collins is ruled out), Mike Gesicki, Jaylin Noel, Woody Marks, Samaje Perine, Bengals DST

    The Steelers are catching Drake Maye coming off a rough game, but he especially struggled once A.J. Brown got hurt, throwing all three of his interceptions in the fourth quarter, including two that were inexcusable. But if we’re being fair then he deserves credit for some clutch dimes late in the game, including multiple throws to Mack Hollins on gotta-have-it downs. New Steelers defensive coordinator Patrick Graham brought his heavy-zone scheme to Foxboro last year with the Raiders and held Maye to one touchdown in Week 1. Expect lots of zone coverage again this week, but with a little more blitzing than what the Steelers gave us on Sunday against the Falcons and backup QB Cooper Rush. Look for the Patriots to simplify their passing game with Brown sidelined and Maye in need of a bounce-back, adding quick-throw concepts that help negate the Steelers pass rush, and not too many deep throws. That’s how he and the Patriots usually responded after he personally posted bad stats, the team lost, or both. In either of those instances, the ensuing results for Maye’s Fantasy stats were excellent: at least 27 Fantasy points after each of three losses in 2025, and at least 24.5 points in three of four games following a statistical stinker. 

    Rico Dowdle and Jaylen Warren pretty much rotated drives in Week 1, occasionally subbing for each other on just three of the Steelers’ 13 offensive possessions. But Warren is the only one who passed the eyeball test in every meaningful way: He was more efficient on the ground and through the air, and he was deployed as a receiver on all of his passing downs; Dowdle was asked to pass protect and had mixed results. I know I liked Dowdle more to begin the year, but that could wind up being a mistake — if the Steelers recognize that Warren’s a better player, they’ll start to give him more opportunities and thus make him the better Fantasy option. The Patriots were pretty strong against the run last week, just as they were in 2025 when they had Milton Williams on the field. It’s a matchup that may further enhance Warren’s chances to make plays through the air since the team seems willing to use him more as a route runner and not at all in protection. 

    Aaron Glenn’s first game unveiled an improved pass rush that came off the bus, blitzing a good amount before relenting late as well as an improved run defense that missed one tackle (fourth-best 2.0 yards after contact in Week 1). The jury is still out on the effectiveness of Glenn’s secondary, though, especially after losing two starting defensive backs to injury last week. That’s where the Packers offense is expected to go, just as they did last week. Green Bay posted an outrageous 70% completion rate at halftime last week and thrived against a really aggressive Vikings defense. Jordan Love will have to manage the Jets pass rush, but outside of that he should be in line for another strong game, hopefully without as many turnovers.

    Todd Monken’s a smart guy — he saw the Bengals attack the Buccaneers’ middle zone coverage with a good dose of Mike Gesicki last week. It would make sense for him to boost the plays for Harold Fannin Jr. in that area of the field. But that can only really happen if the Browns can contain the Buccaneers’ pass rush to the same level the Bengals did last week: despite a 48.6% blitz rate, Tampa Bay created pressure just 21.6% of the time with one sack of Joe Burrow. Deshaun Watson was sacked twice in the first quarter and five times in the game, so he’s easily susceptible to getting hit, even against this defense. Drawing up more targets for Fannin, who drew some doubles but otherwise did get open, would make sense.

    Emeka Egbuka got off to a blazing start last week — a 5-63-0 stat line on six first-half targets — but didn’t get a single ball in the second half. That was primarily because the Bengals pass rush brought a lot of heat in the second half and made Baker Mayfield uncomfortable. There were some double-teams, too. While I don’t love the specific cornerback matchups he’ll have, Egbuka is still a candidate to go off in Week 2 simply because the Browns pass rush shouldn’t harass Mayfield. 

    • STARTS: Baker Mayfield, Bucky Irving, Emeka Egbuka, Buccaneers DST 
    • FLEX: Quinshon Judkins, Chris Godwin (PPR flex), Harold Fannin (PPR flex/low-end TE starter)
    • SITS: Deshaun Watson, Kenneth Gainwell (desperation PPR RB), KC Concepcion (stash), Denzel Boston, Jerry Jeudy, Jalen McMillan, Ted Hurst, Cade Otton, Raheim Sanders, Browns DST

    There were a few off-target throws from Jalen Hurts last week, but he made more than his fair share of great reads and throws, including a deep shot to Dontayvion Wicks, another deep shot to DeVonta Smith and the perfectly synched score to Wicks in the back corner of the end zone. And best of all for Fantasy, Hurts scrambled more when plays broke down. If there’s a concern this week, it’s that the Eagles offensive line lost Landon Dickerson at left guard. The Titans defense was a little bit better than expected against the pass last week but struggled to stop the Jets’ run game behind their strong O-line. Expect the Eagles to focus on getting their ground game going, even with a new left guard — if they can’t then it’s probably a bad omen for the next several weeks. 

    The entire Broncos offense was blown up by a Chiefs pass rush from the jump last week. Bo Nix was pressured on 51.5% of his dropbacks, and half of his clean dropbacks came in the second half when the Broncos were down two scores and the Chiefs stopped bringing the pressure. Kansas City definitely dialed their coverage to take Jaylen Waddle away and force Nix to go elsewhere with the ball, but Denver’s lack of scheming Waddle open beyond a slant that he dropped was discouraging. I’m not sure how much of Jacksonville’s Week 1 defense we can buy into, since they overmatched a really weak Cleveland offense, but they generated pressure on 44% of their snaps in the first half and 48% for the entire game. So at bare minimum, we know they’re willing to attack an O-line for four quarters — and they can do it without blitzing a ton. We’re going to need to see some evidence from the Broncos offensive line and overall offense, including the playcalls, before buying into pretty much anyone in their offense as a locked-in starter. 

    Justin Herbert started Week 1 on fire but by the fourth quarter, he and the Chargers offense couldn’t get out of their own way. Penalties, poor pass blocking, poor timing on throws downfield, a poor throw to Ladd McConkey that left him injured on a hit … it all added up to a mess. Herbert really couldn’t get much going with anyone other than McConkey (David Njoku was okay but one of his targets was a tipped pass meant for Tre Harris). Las Vegas’ pass rush got pressure on 46% of the Dolphins‘ dropbacks last week despite a low 18.9% blitz rate. That’s dangerous for Herbert to deal with, considering the guards he’s playing behind. This is Herbert’s last decent matchup for a while, and it’s not really all that great if he doesn’t have McConkey. 

    As encouraging as Jadarian Price’s film was, and as encouraging as the playcalling went for the Seahawks last Wednesday, there’s still the reality that the Seahawks coaching staff is dead-set on using multiple running backs. George Holani handled nearly every single third down while also playing on a handful of first- and second-downs, and Emmanuel Wilson worked short-yardage situations. Price, who ran hard and with speed and quickness, needs to overtake Wilson’s role to become a full-time Fantasy starter. It might happen in the short term, but we have to see it happen first before we go hog wild with Price. Arizona’s run defense did yield some modest rushing yardage on the edges against the Chargers but did a good job between the tackles. Seattle’s O-line should be a tougher challenge in both areas, and if Seattle’s defense does what it’s supposed to and keep the Cardinals offense in check, then there could be in the realm of 15 touches for Price and thus a modest No. 2 running back even if he doesn’t have the kind of role we want him to have. 

    Lost in the Week 1 analysis of Stefon Diggs and Antonio Williams is the disheartening film of Terry McLaurin against the Eagles. It’s frustrating that he had just two targets through the first three quarters and didn’t get his first reception until the fourth quarter. This wasn’t a case of Quinyon Mitchell following him around — Mitchell played only on the right side. You could see that McLaurin changed cleats during the game, but that shouldn’t be a huge factor. My view is that Diggs ran most of his routes between the numbers and made himself available in the middle of the field while McLaurin ran a slim majority of his routes outside of the numbers. And, at least for one game, the Commanders clearly targeted the middle of the field against a zone-heavy Eagles defense. Diggs’ emergence as a shiftier version of Zach Ertz and rookie Antonio Williams’ development into a solid target in the fourth quarter may put McLaurin’s target volume in jeopardy. The lowered expectations put McLaurin into flex territory, not into sit territory, especially since the Cowboys defense underwhelmed in Week 1 and can be beaten on outside throws. 

    Caleb Douglas‘ breakout game against the Raiders last week should have been even bigger. Malik Willis turned down a couple of routes where Douglas was open on dig routes downfield, had another target to Douglas batted down at the line of scrimmage, and threw to the wrong spot on a deep lob that resulted in an ugly interception. Most of these are pretty fixable, which is why I’m bullish on Douglas continuing to be the target leader for the Dolphins, especially since Malik Washington feels miscast as a constant deep-ball receiver and the Dolphins are seemingly managing Chris Bell’s reps (54% route rate for Bell in Week 1). The 49ers defense is similar to the Raiders schematically and should be ripe for giving up downfield horizontal routes, especially in the second half if the Niners build a lead. That makes Douglas worth chancing as a decent flex this week — and potentially every week since Miami’s game scripts will frequently be pass-heavy. 

    My biggest fear surrounding Rashee Rice became reality on Monday night when the Chiefs were too good on the ground, eliminating the need for Rice to pick up a bunch of short, easy targets. He had a lot of those previously when the Chiefs couldn’t run the ball well — now they clearly can. Indy’s run defense let up 3.82 yards after contact per rush to the Ravens, so there should be zero hesitation by the Chiefs to attack on the ground again this week, perhaps with a smidge less on Walker’s plate since he’s coming off of a 26-touch game on Monday. That puts Rice’s targets in jeopardy again — he will need the Colts offense to put up points in order to see more than two throws from Patrick Mahomes. The Colts scored 20 points at Kansas City late last November and 23 points in Week 1 versus Baltimore, so it’s certainly possible they stay competitive, which is why Rice sticks as a No. 2 receiver, especially in PPR. 

    New York’s pass rush had its moments against Dak Prescott, but they weren’t dominant. Obviously, that will help Matthew Stafford hang in the pocket behind his quality offensive line and make some throws. New York went heavy with Cover-2 and Cover-3 usage last week against Dallas and it worked out. I’m reasonably sure the Giants will stick with a zone-heavy approach, but Cover-2 was an unexpected wrinkle. The stats say they should stick with it — Stafford had the worst efficiency against Cover-2 among all of the coverage shells last year and both Puka Nacua and Davante Adams had weaker-than-normal yards per route run and yards per target against Cover-2. I wouldn’t expect the Giants to use a lot of Cover-2 unless they played with a large lead, and that’s tough to assume, especially since the Rams run game looked good last week and should rake this week. Meanwhile, Stafford was awkwardly off against the 49ers zone coverage last week, completing just 53% of his throws for 6.6 yards per attempt despite a 10.9 average depth of target. He was off-target on a very uncharacteristic 21% of his throws against zone. Those numbers are way, way off from how he did against zone in 2025 and could simply be written off as a rusty Stafford fresh off a lonnnnng plane ride not playing to expectations. Stafford should be decent, but I’d expect the bigger game from Jaxson Dart since he can not only find gaps in the Rams’ zone coverage but also use his legs against it. 

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