DraftKings NFL Week 2 Positional Breakdown

 

Week one was a fun week that certainly had some ups and downs. It is always the toughest week for daily fantasy, because we don’t know exactly what to expect out of coaches. We saw a lot of new faces get into the mix and we saw some unfortunate injuries take place. This week should be a little clearer as we have some of an idea with how things should break down.

 

Without further adieu, let’s get this thing started!

 

QUARTERBACKS

 

HIGH OWNERSHIP: The easy way to start with this week is to look at the New Orleans and New York game, with the highest total on the board, so both Drew Brees ($8200) and Eli Manning ($7600) will both be high owned. I definitely expect Eli to be the higher of the two due to price, and I think he makes for a good play here. After what Andrew Luck ($7700) did last week, I’m sure many will be on him. This is a much tougher test though as the Denver defense is much, much better than the Lions. As usual, I expect the Jaguars to be targeted in the passing game, so I think we will see a pretty high ownership on Phillip Rivers ($6400). The price is definitely right, and I don’t hate it, but he is a much worse fantasy performer without Keenan Allen, as we saw last year. Finally, I think we’ll see higher ownership on Joe Flacco ($6500). At first, I didn’t like this, but the more I think about it, the more I can get behind it. The Ravens running situation is a mess right now, and that could result in more passing situations. The Browns can also be beat easily through the air, and Flacco could put together a nice game.

 

LOW OWNERSHIP: One buy low spot I think you may find this week is Russell Wilson ($7400) against the Rams. I think many see the Rams as a good defense, and they are, but good defenses get beat. Wilson got hurt and didn’t look the same, though he did lead a nice game winning drive on Sunday. I think he will be a guy I want ownership of due to his upside. Matt Ryan ($6800) is the modern day Rodney Dangerfield, as he gets no respect, but I think he could be a nice low owned option this week in what could be a shootout. Jameis Winston ($6200) remains drastically underpriced here in a game that he should definitely need to throw a lot to win. I think he could be a nice undercover option. Finally, I want to go dumpster diving at this position this week, as we saw how well it worked last week with Dak Prescott. I’ll throw out two minimum priced options for you: Josh McCown and Blaine Gabbert. McCown can actually be a good fantasy quarterback, and he had two very good games against the Ravens last year. The Browns should be playing from behind, and thus I expect McCown to air it out. Gabbert is in a similar situation, but against a much better defense. I think the Niners will score some points, and I think the fact that Gabbert can pad his totals by legging it out. He isn’t a Cam Newton type runner, but he gets a good sense of pressure and seems to know when to get away for his own good. I think both could muster over 20, and could be decent low-owned options this week.

 

HOW I’M USING THEM IN CASH GAMES: Manning/Brees/Flacco

 

HOW I’M USING THEM IN TOURNAMENTS: Manning/McCown/Winston/Ryan/Gabbert

 

RUNNING BACKS

 

HIGH OWNERSHIP – There are a few guys immediately that jump off the page at me. David Johnson ($7600) is the highest priced running back on the slate and is in a good matchup and could be the highest owned running back of the week. Lamar Miller ($7200) saw a ton of touches, and though the Chiefs defense is better than it showed last week, he should still have a good game. DeAngelo Williams ($7100) will definitely give Johnson a run for his money as the highest owned option this week, as he should see a ton of touches as well. Finally, CJ Anderson ($6800) rounds out the top tier of running backs this week in a good matchup that Denver should control. Outside of that, I think we should see Spencer Ware ($6100) with high ownership due to his monster game last week and a pretty healthy workload ahead of him this week. I wouldn’t be surprised to see high ownership on Melvin Gordon ($4800) or Danny Woodhead ($5200) after they both performed well in week 1. I’ll take Woodhead over Gordon though. TJ Yeldon ($4700) could also be another highly owned played in a good matchup and could see a ton of work with Chris Ivory on the mend. Jeremy Langford ($4600) appears to be the guy in Chicago, and gets a much better matchup this week and is dirt cheap.

 

LOW OWNERSHIP – I could see Ezekiel Elliott ($7300) being a bit more low owned, as he didn’t look great last week, but people may see the Redskins and remember what DeAngelo Williams just did. I am going to err to the prior and think his ownership will drop. Arian Foster ($6000) is currently questionable with a hamstring issue (imagine that), but he factored into the Dolphins plans in a big way against Seattle and should see a lot of work this week as well. I am torn on Rashad Jennings ($5600) too, as he is in a great matchup, but people just don’t like to play him. I think he could have a good enough game to pay off his salary. After a poor showing in week one, I think this is a nice bounce back spot for Thomas Rawls ($5500), who is now back as the Seahawks starting running back. I think he’ll find low ownership and is a top tournament play for me. Matt Jones ($4500) didn’t fit into the game plan much in week one, but I think the Cowboys are far less intimidating up front than the Steelers, and I expect him to have a nice workload this week. Duke Johnson Jr. ($4500) was a favorite of Josh McCown last year, and should be used as the Browns will definitely be playing from behind again this week.

 

HOW I’M USING THEM IN CASH GAMES: Johnson/Yeldon/Anderson/Woodhead/Langford

 

HOW I’M USING THEM IN TOURNAMENTS: Rawls/Johnson/Woodhead/Langford/Johnson Jr.

 

WIDE RECEIVERS

 

HIGH OWNERSHIP – As far as the top dollar guys go, I’d imagine that Antonio Brown ($9900), Odell Beckham Jr. ($9500), Julio Jones ($9200) and A.J. Green ($8900) will all remain highly owned. The first and the last of that list had big games in week one, and the middle two still saw a fair amount of targets. I think all of them have merit this week and I will be looking to all of them in my lineups. Brandin Cooks ($8000) will also benefit from recency bias, as he was a monster in week one. Amari Cooper ($7600) will likely be highly owned as well as a result of his week one and the fact that this team will still need to air it out Sunday. Jordan Matthews ($6900) is a toss-up, but I’ll say he’ll be high owned this week as a result of a ton of targets in week one and Zach Ertz now being on the shelf. Kelvin Benjamin ($6500) is too low and is a matchup nightmare. I am, hoping he goes lower owned but I am not banking on it. Julian Edelman ($6200) remains a PPR monster and will be used by many against the hapless Dolphins. We should add Willie Snead ($5800) and Mohamed Sanu ($5500) to the high ownership due to big first week pile. Mike Wallace ($4700) could be a high ownership tournament player due to his high upside against a sad Browns defense. Eli Rogers ($4100) should also carry high ownership due to his price, as will Tajae Sharpe ($4100) who is in a nice situation this week.

 

LOW OWNERSHIP – Two of the higher priced options I think could find themselves a little low owned are DeAndre Hopkins ($8700) and Dez Bryant ($8400). Hopkins saw pretty even targets with Will Fuller, so now with him on the team, I think players may go for the lower dollar option. Dez had an awful game, and then Dak Prescott said today that he wasn’t going to force the ball to Dez. Allen Robinson ($7800) could go either way, but I think with so much value and a lot of the top guys in good spots, he could get left behind. He led the league in targets last week and I wouldn’t be surprised if it happened again this week. Jarvis Landry ($6400) could be left behind as well because of a perceived difficult matchup. Still, he’ll catch balls and I think his multiplier is about 10 yards for every catch. I can see him hitting 14 points easily, with upside if he breaks a long one or catches a touchdown. In the same breathe, Kenny Stills ($3400) isn’t going to drop every wide open touchdown he’s thrown. He’s a tournament punt in the vein of Desean Jackson ($6300) who should also be mentioned here. Vincent Jackson ($4000) should be matched up with Brandon Williams a lot, and we saw how bad he looked against the Patriots, so I think Jackson may actually be my top tournament option. In the same breathe, Terrence Williams ($3300) should line up with Bashaud Breeland, who Antonio Brown took to school. Williams is no Brown, but Breeland did not look sharp. Finally, it is hard to ignore a guy who got 11 targets last week and looked pretty good in a high tempo offense that is minimum priced. That man is Jeremy Kerley ($3000).

 

HOW I’M USING THEM IN CASH GAMES: Beckham/Brown/Matthews/Edelman/Sharpe

 

HOW I’M USING THEM IN TOURNAMENTS: Jackson/Robinson/Beckham/Sharpe/Kerley

 

TIGHT ENDS

 

HIGH OWNERSHIP – If Rob Gronkowski ($6900) plays, he’ll be high owned. The same can be said of Jordan Reed ($6800) and Greg Olsen ($5600). Those are pretty easy calls, and I think we will see a ton of lineups with them. Beyond that, Jason Witten ($4300) likely will not be overlooked due to the attention that came his way last week. I’m curious to see how many flock to Dwayne Allen ($3600)and Jack Doyle ($2500). Both got a lot of looks from Andrew Luck last week and the Colts are likely to be playing from behind. I’m curious to see the usage on Eric Ebron ($3500). He had a big game for his price, and I could see Stafford looking that way moving forward.

 

LOW OWNERSHIP – The first guy I need to talk about here is Gary Barnidge ($4000). Yes, you know him. He’s the guy who gave you zero last week. I don’t think that happens this week. When McCown was on the field, Barnidge averaged 11 targets a game. That is an elite number. At his price, there is very little reason for me to look anywhere else. For those that do want to look elsewhere, I believe Kyle Rudolph ($3100) will be a focal point of this offense, and he is cheap and in a good matchup. Finally, I think any of Virgil Green ($2800), C.J. Uzomah ($2600) and Brent Celek ($2600) make decent tournament punts.

 

HOW I’M USING THEM IN CASH GAMES: Barnidge/Gronkowski/Olsen/Ebron/Reed

 

HOW I’M USING THEM IN TOURNAMENTS: Barnidge/Ebron/Celek/Green/Olsen

 

DEFENSES

 

HIGH OWNERSHIP – I expect, as usually, the Carolina Panthers ($3900), Seattle Seahawks ($3800) and Denver Broncos ($3600) to all be highly owned. All have good matchups I think and should be in line for big games. Outside of those defenses, the next defenses I would see being highly owned would be the Baltimore Ravens ($3000) and New England Patriots ($3000). I don’t mind either, as they are in plus situations.

 

LOW OWNERSHIP – While I do think Jameis Winston is going to improve this year, I think the Arizona Cardinals ($3500) could go overlooked a bit this week. Similarly, I think the Pittsburgh Steelers ($2900) present a nice savings against a Cincinnati offense that still has some things to work on outside of A.J. Green. Finally, it is going to be trendy again this week to pick on last year’s offense that gave up the most points to defenses, the Tennessee Titans, and roll with a decent Detroit Lions ($2800) defense.

 

HOW I’M USING THEM IN CASH GAMES: Denver/New England/Carolina

 

HOW I’M USING THEM IN TOURNAMENTS: Pittsburgh/New England/Lions

 

I hope you enjoyed this article, and I will be back next week. I hope to see you on the leaderboards!

 

Nicholas Volinchak is a correspondent at FF Nation. To read more from Nicholas, follow him @researchandwin. You can find more of Nicholas’ football work at Research Fantasy.