Starts of the Week, Wk 2 Matchups, Boils + Beasles

began his insane run with 12 receptions, 159 yards, and two touchdowns. I feel like there's not a charger I'm not starting. People want to know, though, would you flex Austin Echler? Would you flex Tyrell Williams? Would you flex Mike Williams? Eckler, no. He got the touchdown. I get it on the big play, but he played about 26% of the snaps. I'm not trusting a fantasy asset who's getting...

on the field that little. Right. That's what I was going to say. I'm not flexing Echler. I am definitely flexing Mike Williams. And I'm okay with Tyrell. What about the fact that this game could become a blowout and Austin Echler may garbage time it up? That's fair. That's absolutely a fair assertation. If you're in a pinch, you'd play Lindsay this week over Austin Eccles. Yes, I would. Yeah. Okay. On the Bill's side, Josh Allen gets the start. Rookie quarterback. A new hope. A new hope.

A much better hope. And that's saying something. Because we've, you know, I know Mike and I've been pretty anti. Some hope. We've been, we've been anti Josh Allen. He's a very inaccurate college prospect, but he has an unfathomably powerful arm. Yes. And for fantasy purposes, the reason why I, you know, I'm anti Josh Allen as an NFL quarterback prospect, but not as a fantasy quarterback prospect because he.

has great rushing ability and will need to with that offensive line. This matchup isn't the best because they've got, you know, they've still got one of the best corners in the league. Thankfully, for his sake and the bills, Joey Bosa is out this coming week. So the pass rush should be only insane instead of murderous. It's not going to be as bad. This week is not going to be as bad for Buffalo in general. It's going to be a better week for Sean McCoy. It's going to be a better week for Kelvin Benjamin.

Josh Allen, if you're going to make your first start of the year, you'd get to do it at home. The Chargers got eviscerated by Pat Mahomes last week. I'm not expecting a fantasy start-worthy week from Josh Allen. I'm expecting competence. I'm expecting him to be able to... Look, he's looked better than advertised for the majority of his snaps in preseason and the regular season this year. He put one right on the numbers last week to Kelvin Benjamin, move the ball down the field. I'm not saying get excited for fantasy. I'm just saying that the...

The game flow and ability for the office to move the ball is going to benefit McCoy and Benjamin. Are you willing to take a shot and put Benjamin in your flex this week? I would play Calvin Benjamin in my flex this week over Dante Pettis, over, yeah, yeah, I would. I would not. I would not either. Okay. And the Dante Pettis thing, of course, is subjective to Markey's good one being out. That's how we're talking about Pettis. I want people to understand. But I think Calvin Benjamin puts up a double-digit fantasy week this week. I do.

And I'm willing to bet. Yeah, I'm pointing. Waterbed. I know that that's not a place that most people want to live. Even with a touchdown, he could struggle to get there. I think he, we'll see. We'll see. I think that the Chargers are going to score. And this is going to be Josh Allen slinging the ball around. I agree the Chargers will score. Good. But the Ravens scored a lot, too.

It didn't mean Buffalo did anything. No, but Josh Allen was playing for a part of the game. Sure. All right, the Vikings take on the Packers. I'm excited about this interdivisional matchup. We don't have the Vegas line. We don't have the Vegas overrunner because they don't know if Aaron Rogers is going to play yet. That is obviously all the fantasy implications for the Green Bay side of the ball. It's pretty heavily dependent on Aaron Rogers. 100%.

Reliance on Aaron Roger. Let's talk about what we saw from the Vikings offense last week. Kurt Cousins looked good. Stefan Diggs and Adam Thieln look great. Dalvin Cook was the surprise. Dalvin Cook coming out, and this was not a timeshare. This was not a underutilization of Dalvin Cook to protect him. I was wrong about that in week one. I thought that this was the Dalvin Cook you might see in week four, week five. And it was a game that they had.

You know, it was fairly close. So, you know, there's something to be said about that. But Dalvin Cook impressed me with his, you know, rushing and passing ability and Latavius Murray looked like a backup. Right. The receiving is what saved Dalvin Cook this past week for fantasy. You had six receptions for 55 yards. But the rushing, and while I agree, when you were watching him, the eye test said, okay, well, Dalvin Cook is at least back, but.

16 for 40. He looked like, it was similar to Kenyon Drake, though. It was where like Drake's numbers weren't amazing, but you got a picture of what they wanted to do with him. Yes, that's what I'm talking about, where if you can go out and make a trade offer right now for Dalvin Cook because he didn't blow up, but the usage was there, and that was what was important for week one on Dalvin Cook.

Yeah, yeah. I mean, but everybody is starting Dalvin Cook. They should be starting Delvin Cook. The person I'm most afraid of right now from the Minnesota Vikings side is Kyle Rudolph. Kyle Rudolph. Kyle Rudolph was not looked at much. And, you know, maybe it was because he wasn't really needed. And what we did see, it was, it's ironic because he was still like a top five tied in last week because he got the one touchdown.

So frustrating tight ends last week. But he'll be, I think that that is what he's going to be this season. He's going to be a Jimmy Graham type. Back to the old Kyle Rudolph. Back to the, yeah, the red nose. Red zone reindeer in Kyle Rudolph. And if he gets a touchdown, you'll be happy. If he doesn't, you won't. That being said,

you know, look, if the Packers have Rogers and they're scoring and the Vikings have to come down and score and they're going tip for tat, that's good news for Kyle Rudolph. I would still be willing to start him, but in general, like he is a guy if I had, I am absolutely trying to shop to see if on the back of a touchdown, a week one where he is one of the top tight ends. Can I swap him for someone else? Yeah, the trade you look for there is you look to package Kyle Rudolph.

with a wide receiver three to go get a tight in that you're more confident in somebody at the upper echelon that's right because then you fill the need for the other team you give them somebody that flashed last week like i don't know trade djacks plus kyle rudolph to go get evan ingram something like that exactly do you think you could trade robbie and kyle rudolph for jordan reed do you think that would that might work it might both had a touchdown last week so um

I should say this, by the way, since week 11 of last year, the Packers have given up the most touchdowns through the air in the NFL. Yeah. So you're starting up all your Vikings even on the road. I'm starting them up, but I was still say yet again, this is a different secondary playing for the Green Bay Packers. I want to talk real quick about the Vikings DST. Okay. Clearly if Deshaun Kaiser is the quarterback for the Packers, they're the number one ranked DST of the week, even on the road.

But are you nervous at all to play the Vikings against Aaron Rogers? I am not. I mean, it's a hobbled Aaron Rogers at best. And that's why. This is not, look, Aaron Rogers came back. He was on one leg last week, pumped up with adrenaline from the injury and the game. Probably a lot more than that. Adrenaline, wink, wink. Right. And had this unbelievable comeback. But the Minnesota defense.

is so good that if you're going to tell me Aaron Rogers is going to torch the Minnesota defense while hobbled, I'm skeptical. Enough to where I think that, you know, what other options are you going to put in? You know, that's the thing is that this week I don't feel like there are great waiver-wire defenses to play. So I'm willing to roll out Minnesota either way. One way I'm excited and...

one way I'm going to be nervous. I'll say since I'm looking at since 2014, Aaron Rogers against the Vikings. The Vikings can put up a fight. He, in fantasy football, this is not a don't start Aaron Rogers, but Rogers, on teams that are not the Vikings, averages nearly 27 PPR points a week. That drops down to 22. Now I don't, that doesn't seem substantial, but it really is. A four point drop per average is.

The Vikings, they can put up a fight. All right, let's talk about the Packer's side of the ball. Give me the with, Aaron, without Aaron, starts it. Devante Adams is going to be a with or without. Yes. To me, he proved last year that with and without Aaron Rogers, he's the number one, he's okay. It's not a great matchup for him. It's like you too. Yeah, it's not, it's not a great matchup for him. If Aaron Rogers is in.

I still like Randall Cobb. I think that Minnesota usually actually locks down the wide receiver one. Aaron Rogers will probably be in shotgun more. He'll have Jamal Williams in to protect more than run. And Randall Cobb will be the primary beneficiary. All right. Let's move on. Brown Saints in New Orleans. The Saints got torched last week by Ryan Fitzpatrick. It wasn't good. It wasn't pretty. It was bad. I love.

my Browns in this game. They're going on the road in the dome. Vegas does not. No rain. No, the Saints are nine-point favorites, but it is a 49 and a half point over under. Tyrod Taylor. Look, I was talking to Kyle Borgioni. Did I say that right? Brooks, you need to say his name. It doesn't matter. I know, though. I want to know, though. I want to know. Borgianione? I got it to admit. I call him Kyle Borg. Borg. Borgian. K. Borg. Listen.

He broke this down for us. In 2017, the Saints gave up the fourth most rushing yards to quarterbacks, including the highest yards per carry. Last week, Tyrod Taylor was a top 12 quarterback in the rain with under 200 passing yards. That's all you need to know. I had a really hard time deciding between my start of the week and Tyrod Taylor. I mean... I did, too. And I'm in a position where I'm starting Big Ben in my league of record over signing and playing Tyrod. But I love Tyrod this week.

You can start Jarvis Landry. We'll talk about Josh Gordon. I love Josh Gordon this week. So then let's talk about Carlos Hyde. While the Saints were a fantasy point factory for the wide receiver position for Tampa Bay. Peyton Barber, meanwhile, was held down. Maybe that was a product of the wide receivers.

going honey-baked ham everywhere. It's really hard to run the ball for yards when you already threw it to the end zone from the 35-yard line. Like the New Orleans Saints last year, even when they had a good defense, I brought this up last week. They weren't great against the run. That was actually where you beat them. Now, the script flipped. I think Carlos Seinf is a great play. Solid RB2. Yes. He had 23 touches last week.

You don't bench 23 touches. He is the clear cut, 100% starter. Nick Chubb. This is kind of what we talked about early in the offseason, that this could be a DeMarco Murray, Derek Henry's situation. The team goes out, spends a lot of money on Carlos Hyde. Then they spend a high draft pick on a highly touted running back. And you think, oh, the veteran is going to be washed. The veteran is going to be overtaken by the rookie. It's not happening.

This is the Carlos Hyde. Let me, let me ask you this really hypothetical out of nowhere question. Would you play? Asking for a friend? No, I mean, this, I'm just, I'm just spitballing off the top of my head. Okay. Would you play Carlos Hyde or would you, if he's cleared, would you play Rex Burkhead? I would play Carlos Hyde. I would as well. Oof, okay. Yeah. All right. Okay.

That answers that question. This is, this might be a season. The question from nowhere. Yeah, this might be a season long pump the brakes on Rex Burkhead the way things are trending right now. Even if he's cleared, it's like you just got concussed. Right. Don't feel good about that. On the same side of the ball, you're starting Breeze, Camara, and Thomas. Those are done deals. We don't need to talk about them. It's Ted Ginn that I want to talk about. It's Ben Watson. Those are the two kind of up in the air opportunities again last week.

looked integral to this offense. I think the Browns put up some points in this game. I think Ginn is somebody that you can look at in deeper leagues and in flex situations. I would have no problem flexing Ginn. I think he's a solid start again at home. Drew Brees is great in that dome. Ted Ginn is, yeah, I mean, there's no reason. There's no data. Cam Meredith could be active this week. Yes, but there's no data or film.

to suggest that Ted Ginn has lost anything from either talent or opportunity. So Ted Ginn is a great start here. If you're telling me there's an almost 50 point over under from Vegas. Ginn or Pettis? Ginn. The career of Ted Ginn is so fascinating. Yeah. From first round busts to mid-career breakout. You realize that he gives Philip Dorset hope. He was drafted in 2007.