So we had a decent first week. We cashed in our pools and four of our six recommended plays from last week made 3x value, so week 1 was good. Onward to week 2. Remember I may list a bunch of names, the ones in bold are my recommendations for the week to consider and remember these are value offerings, they are designed to save you money to use on your studs.
Quarterbacks: Last week when I ran my predictions, I learned that the QBs all had extremely high expectations going into week 1, that didnt change this week. My composite projections still have over 20 QBs making value. My top four are Ryan, Bortles, Fitzpatrick and Roethlisberger. I’m still not sold that this limited system in Atlanta will make Ryan relevant, so I’m not using him unless I really want to stack. Bortles is playing New England and is likely playing without (or an extremely limited) Fournette. His value comes in volume as he is likely going to have to make 40+ attempts to give them a game, so I’m cautious there. Ryan Fitzpatrick is Ryan Fitzpatrick which means he can be amazing one week and underwhelming the next and the Eagles D is gonna be better than the Saints D (maybe not much, but enough). So I’m looking at Ben Roethlisberger, as long as his elbow his healthy he is a good use and as I look down the line we will find that two of his key associates are also recommended play making the possibility of a Pittsburgh stack very attractive to me.
Running Backs: In the RB ranks we have four guys who are in the value range. Dion Lewis, James Conner, Royce Freeman and Kenyon Drake. I love using Dion Lewis and/or James Conner this week. I’m not sure what to make of Royce Freeman, I think he would be more of a tournament play as that situation seems to be a little in flux. I’m still not sure on Kenyon Drake either, the Jets seemed to do ok against the limited run capability of the Lions, so I’m not big on him even at the low price tag. That being said the price tag is right for both Lewis and Conner and if I’m using Roethlisberger, that stack is starting to take shape.
Wide Reciever: There is one, thats correct, ONE WR in the value bracket and its not a name you’d expect. Its Antonio Brown. Thats pretty unusual that one of the studs are expected to return value, but in this case with the weak Chiefs defense at home, people love Brown. You could make the argument that the Chiefs will work like crazy to isolate him, but they played twice in 2017. Once in the 2016 playoffs (Game was in January 2017), where Brown posted 6 for 108 yards and then last October where he posted 8/155/1. And this defense has gotten WORSE! If you think the Chiefs have any chance of stopping him or you’re worried about ownership, look at Juju Smith-Shuster. Someone there is going to catch the ball, you just gotta figure out who, I’m going with Brown.
Tight End: Theres a bunch of guys this week at the value line, mainly because the TE values appear to be down. After you get outside the top three guys, everyone is 5k or less, making it a great place to grab value, but who do you grab? I’m sticking with David Njoku with an eye on getting Jared Cook into a lineup or two. Njoku was on the field a ton on Sunday despite going out with an undisclosed injury. Thats worries me just because no one is talking about why he missed some snaps, but even with that he was on the field for nearly 90% of the snaps and thats gonna matter. Cook had a great week 1 and thats usually scary for me, but I think the Raiders can pass on the Broncos and Gruden loves utilizing the TE. So I’l plug him in.
So here’s my summary. You’re gonna use studs at WR this week because the value plays simply are not there. You should focus on value plays at RB and TE to save some money and pay up for either an elite WR core or a stack that you like. I really like the Steelers stack this week, but who knows, maybe Ben’s elbow is worse than we discussed. I predict a big week for the Steelers though (it hurts! It hurts!) and if my team is gonna lose, I’m winning money on it. Good luck in Week 2 everyone.
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