Fantasy Football Preview: Week 2

Week 1 of Fantasy Football gave fantasy players a full course meal of what is to be expected for the rest of the season.

There were plenty of great performances, goose eggs, injuries and somehow the Dallas Cowboys defense was the second highest-scoring “player” of the entire week.

The Tyreek Hill and Tua Tagovailoa stack went off with Hill scoring a week-leading 44.5 fantasy points and Tagovailoa leading all quarterbacks with 28.1 points.

Brandon Aiyuk and Jakobi Meyers finished third and fourth in scoring with 32.9 and 29.1 points. However, not all fantasy managers started these two, especially Meyers.

Calvin Ridley also lived up to his draft hype and scored 24.1 points, displaying his talent and chemistry with Trevor Lawrence.

However, not all players were on the same page in Week 1, just ask the Bengals.

Joe Burrow finished as the quarterback 31, Ja’marr Chase as wide receiver 44, Joe Mixon as the running back 28 and Tee Higgins didn’t score a single point on eight targets.

Other notable players who underperformed in Week 1 are Drake London, Dallas Goedert, Cam Akers, Christian Kirk and Dameon Pierce.

Fantasy Football is all about bouncing back and a great way to do that is through the waiver wire.

For the most part, the earlier in the season, the more prosperous the waiver wire is. This is because there is a lot of smoke in the preseason about players' usage and roles in the offense, and once the regular season starts, the smoke clears.

A great example of that is Kyren Williams, running back for the Rams. Coming into the season, all the hype was about Cam Akers being the workhorse.

However, Williams out-snapped Akers, receiving 65 percent of the snaps and the goal-line work. Williams made the most of his opportunities, scoring two touchdowns and finishing as the running back nine with 17.4 points.

Another great waiver wire add comes from the same team, and his name is Puka Nacua.

Not many have heard of Nacua before the first week, but they know him now.

Nacua was drafted in the fifth round of this year's draft as a wide receiver out of BYU.

The rookie had one heck of a coming-out party as he proved himself to be Matt Stafford’s favorite target in just his first year in the offense.

Nacua caught ten of his league-leading 15 targets for 119 yards, finishing as the wide receiver nine with 21.9 points.

Although this production came in the absence of Cooper Kupp, the arrow is still pointing up for Nacua as Kupp’s health is no sure thing.

The last running back to add is Justice Hill from the Ravens.

Hill is a hot add because starting running back J.K. Dobbins has suffered a season-ending injury, and Hill turned those added touches into two touchdowns.

Kendrick Bourne of the Patriots is the other receiver to target.

Bourne turned 11 targets into 24.4 points, scoring two touchdowns on six catches.

Bourne is encouraging because he played 91 percent of snaps and the Patriots finally have a capable play caller in Bill O’Brien.

Enough about last week, here are some predictions for Week 2.

The Bengals have a bounce-back game against the Ravens and Chase scores 30 or more fantasy points.

Rhamondre Stevenson and Ezekiel Elliott both scored 15 or more points against the Dolphins.

Brandin Cooks outscores Ceedee Lamb against the Jets, making Lamb a great buy-low candidate.

D'Andre Swift gets a significant boost of involvement in the offense and outscores Kenneth Gainwell against the Vikings.

Jake Hernick is a third-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email jrh6589@psu.edu