Cody Carpentier’s Six Sunday Matchups II
Welcome to Week 2 in the NFL,
This season, our RosterWatch PRO community will have personal and exclusive access to Cody’s Six Favorite Matchups for the Sunday Slate. Cody breaks down every aspect of the game for fantasy and DFS, predicts a winner and gives you an angle to attack in whatever type of League you participate in. Please refer to the Rankings tab for our full staff positional rankings (these are updated throughout the day Thursday and through the weekend).
Cleveland Browns (0-1) @ Baltimore Ravens (0-1)
FanDuel Projected Game Total: 45.5
Cody’s Prediction: Ravens 27 Browns 16 (+11.5)
Browns
The Browns’ offense was mostly a fade for RosterWatch Nation during the 2025 draft season, because of expected cohesion, lack in overall passing and ability to stay in games all season long and support Receivers. Our most drafted Browns were Quinshon Judkins, David Njoku and Dylan Sampson. With Judkins signing his contract this week, he is currently listed “day-to-day” with a chance to play on Sunday against the Ravens. We think it’s most likely that Judkins begins practicing full-time early next week and gets ramped up for a home game against Green Bay in Week 3.
In Week 1, Rookie Dylan Sampson saw 45% of the backfield snaps while Jerome Ford played 52% and Raheim Sanders 4%. The Rush attempt split was vastly in Sampson’s favor 52% to 26% for Ford. Most notable was Sampson and his 20% target share, allowing him to finish as the RB9 in. We currently have Sampson ranked as the RB27 this week and view him as a dependable FLEX option while Judkins works his way onto the field. The Ravens are a Bottom 10 match-up on the RW Matchup tool.
The Receiver room includes Harold Fannin for the foreseeable future. His alignment according to PFF was 29 snaps Inline at TE, 16 snaps in the slot and 6 snaps at outside WR. David Njoku saw 44 snaps Inline, 11 in the slot and 9 snaps outside at WR. Fannin was 4th on the team in routes run behind Tillman (46), Jeudy (46) and Njoku (41). Both Fannin and Njoku project at Top 15 plays at Tight End this week against the Baltimore Ravens defense that allowed 15.7 fantasy points to the Bills Tight Ends in Week 1.
Cedric Tillman is the superior talent in Cleveland when it comes to labeled receivers, but sits as a middling WR3 in Week 2, while his counterpart Jerry Jeudy is just outside the Top 40 receivers this week, but in Quarterback Joe Flacco’s return to Baltimore, it wouldn’t suprise us to see either guy targeted 10+ times and pay off. Keep an eye on Isaiah Bond in Week 2, but do not play him in any format quite yet. Bond saw 11 routes in Week 1 and was targeted once.
- Start Dylan Sampson, Fade Harold Fannin, Stash Isaiah Bond in 20+ Size Rosters
Ravens
On the Ravens’ side of the conversation, they are coming off of a brutal loss against the Buffalo Bills on Sunday Night Football 41-40. Lamar Jackson dropped to 4-3 in Week 1 games as a starter, he is 4-2 in his career in Week 2 games. He is also 5-2 against Cleveland at home.
Lamar Jackson finished Week 1 as QB4 in Fantasy, while Derrick Henry was the RB1 on just a 56% snap share and Zay Flowers finished as the WR1 on a 50% target share, while running 100% of the team routes. This was Flowers’ first career WR1 overall game in a given week, his previous best was WR3 overall against Denver in 2024. In Week 2, Flowers and the Ravens receivers have a bottom 5 match-up on the RW Match-up tool, placing Flowers just outside the Top 30.
Despite an abysmal Week 1 for Mark Andrews, that has fantasy gamers on Tilt and ready to launch the former TE1 (2021) and Six-time Top-7 overall TE finisher into Lake Erie. There is positives to be taken away, the Bills came in with a plan to eliminate Andrews with a trio of athletic defenders in coverage, on any given play it felt like two of Terrell Bernard, Taylor Rapp or Taron Johnson were consistently a blanket of heat around number 89. Why are people shocked? Historically, in 5 games against Buffalo, Andrews has 65 total receiving yards on 14 targets. That is not the case against Cleveland, I am laying them on the table in Week 2 and ranking Andrews as the TE6. Andrews has played the Browns 14 times in his career with an average of 4.2 receptions, 53.9 yards and .78 touchdowns per game in his career.
Keaton Mitchell was a healthy scratch in Week 1, he is looked at as the Justice Hill back-up and is droppable in all formats of season-long and in Dynasty League of less than 20 roster spots. Rasheen Ali had a great pre-season and earned the RB3 role with special teams acumen.
- Start Mark Andrews and Derrick Henry, Fade Zay Flowers, Stash Rasheen Ali in Dynasty
Jacksonville Jaguars (1-0) @ Cincinnati Bengals (1-0)
FanDuel Projected Game Total: 49.5 (Highest Total on Sunday)
Cody’s Prediction: Bengals 31 Jaguars 30 (+3.5)
Jaguars
As much as people want to write off the Jaguars’ week 1 performance against Carolina to the Panthers just being “bad”, they will be surprised in Week 2 when the Jaguars travel north to Cincinnati as 3.5 point underdogs, for Lawrence v. Burrow II.
The biggest question heading into the season was the Running Back room, but now with Travis Etienne’s breakout game, taking 62% of the snaps with an 11% target share, he finished as the RB6 on the week. Just a day later, the Jags shipped Tank Bigsby to Philadelphia for draft compensation. The opposite of “worry” was the Brian Thomas role in Duval, where we heard new Head Coach Liam Coen say at the Combine this spring that “The offense will run through him (Thomas).” Who just finished the 2024 season as the WR11 in Fantasy Points per game with 133 targets and over 1,500 air yards.
Thomas ran 100% of the routes in Week 1 with a 25% target share, finishing with just 9 fantasy points.
In Week 2, Thomas bounces back and is ranked inside the Top 8 WRs for RosterWatch; the Bengals are a Top 10 matchup. We heard the glowing annoyance from Liam Coen after the Panthers game regarding the lack of ability to get the ball in his hands. Look for Trevor Lawrence to re-establish Thomas as the Alpha on the team, while Travis Hunter reportedly will play more defense after running 82% of routes and earning a 29% target share.
A promising opening weekend for Brenton Strange, who took over for Evan Engram this season. Strange ran 70% of the teams routes while garnering a 14% target share. Each of the 4 games in 2024 which Strange played 70%+ of snaps and was targeted 10% of the time, he scored 9.5 PPR points or more. Strange profiles as a fringe TE1 against the Bengals, who gave up the most targets to tight ends (15) in Week 1, against Cleveland.
- Start Brian Thomas Jr., Fade Travis Hunter, Stash B.Tuten in Seasonal, L.Allen in Dynasty
Bengals
Unlike his divisional foe Lamar Jackson, Joe Burrow is 0-5 in Week 2, while starting the season 2-4 in Week 1 in his six year career.
In 2024, the Jaguars pass defense graded as the 7th-worst unit in the NFL, allowing the 3rd-most Fantasy points to Wide Receivers. In the first game against Carolina, the Jaguars held Panther’s pass catchers in check with 10 receptions and 89 yards, good for the 4th-fewest fantasy points to WRs in Week 1. However, Travis Hunter only played 5 snaps at Cornerback. That is expected to change in Week 2, probably due to the Bengals having two stud wide receivers, unlike the Carolina Panthers.
I expect Tyson Campbell (67.2 PFF Coverage Grade) to predominantly cover Tee Higgins, due to his height, length and historic matchup history against Higgins, Nico Collins, Christian Watson and Alec Pierce. Four players have finished with more than 60 yards in a game against Campbell over the last 2 seasons. Garrett Wilson (97 yards), Michael Pittman (94), Mike Evans(81) and Higgins (126). In one of his three cover snaps against Carolina, Travis Hunter allowed 1 catch for 13 yards against Tetairoa McMillan.
Shocking to nobody, the game with the highest point total of the week looks to be one of the most owned Stacks in DFS, I’m not as big of a Joe Burrow fan this week as Alex and Trashman are (Top 5) but I do have Burrow as a QB1. This bigger note in the weekly rankings is Ja’Marr Chase (WR5) and Tee Higgins (WR12) both being Top 12 or WR1s on the week.
Nine of 12 games in 2024, that Higgins and Chase played together, featured them both finishing as Top 12 receivers. NINE!
Notes: Rookie Tahj Brooks didn’t register a snap in Week 1 behind Chase Brown and his 100% rush share. Samaje Perine played on 27% of snaps and earned a 9% target share but is nothing more than a pure handcuff to Brown, who we have as the consensus RB6 in Week 2. The Bengals had three Tight Ends play 35%+ of snaps, Drew Sample had a 0% target share on 41% of routes, Mike Gesicki earned a 14% target share on 38% of routes and new Bengal Noah Fant ran a room-leading 48% of routes, while registering a 23% target share (7th-highest) and 12.6 PPR points.
- Start Tee Higgins and Ja’Marr Chase, Fade Noah Fant and Mike Gesicki, Stash Samaje Perine in Deep Seasonal Leagues
Chicago Bears (0-1) @ Detroit Lions (0-1)
FanDuel Projected Game Total: 47.5 (2nd Highest Total on Sunday)
Cody’s Prediction: Bears 27 (+6.5) Lions 24
Bears
Ben Johnson returns to Detroit, in his second career Head Coaching start. The first one, a Monday Night Football extravaganza of sorts, in the first half, ended up a forgettable one, thanks to a collapsing defense and ineffective passing game in the 4th quarter.
Other than Rome Odunze establishing himself as a dependalbe piece in Fantasy in Week 1, with a 93% route share and 25% target share, he and D.J. Moore moved in and out of the Slot simultaneously, Moore saw 36% of snaps in the slow, while Odunze saw 32%. The bigger takeaway is the lack of work for Luther Burden. Not a good sign for the time being, but I do think they will continue working him around the LOS like the Packers did with Rookie-year Jayden Reed and out of the backfield like the 49ers did with Deebo Samuel.
On the rushing front, few things were as impressive on Monday night as the unearthing of turf from Caleb Williams and D’Andre Swift. Swift saw 81% of snaps and 89% of rush attempts, with Roschon Johnson inactive. Swift also saw a 16% target share on his way to a RB27 finish, coincidently enough, that is exactly where he is slotted in this week’s rankings as he heads north to take on his former team. Williams on the other hand, rushed for 58 yards and his first career rushing touchdown. Scoring 11.8 fantasy points on the ground alone. Caleb is still in search of that first career 30-point fantasy game, but with a new and improved rushing acumine, I don’t think it’s far from happening.
Rookie Colston Loveland saw 48% of routes in Week 1, while Cole Kmet ran 68% and was targeted 4 times to Loveland’s 2. Kmet scored just 0.9 points. Loveland played 20% of his snaps in the slot, good for 32nd among Tight Ends and 19% fewer than rookie counterpart Tyler Warren.
- Start Caleb Williams, Fade Tight Ends, Buy Rome Odunze
Lions
Jared Goff has had 5 different play callers in his career, under the three not named Sean McVay & Ben Johnson, he is 0-19-1. Over the last 3 seaosns against Chicago, Goff has finished with 16.9, 25.3, 16.7, 8.4, 14.8 and 22.4 fantasy points.
While Goff completed 79% of his passes in Week 1, 10 of those completions went in Jahmyr Gibbs’ direction, a new career-high for Gibbs, who saw a 65% snap share alongside David Montgomery, who saw 38% of snaps. Montgomery out-carried Gibbs 11-9, but was outscored in PPR by 6.7. In Week 2, Montgomery plays his former employer in the Chicago Bears, a team he has played three times. In those games, Montgomery has rushed for 66, 76, and 86 yards, while averaging just under 3 receptions. Gibbs on the other hand has scored in 3 of 4 meetings with Chicago. Montgomery is a fringe RB2 this week while Gibbs is a Must-Start.
Jameson Williams was the only player on the Lions to participate in 100% of the routes, something he did just once in 2024. All those routes and Williams was targeted just 5 times for a total of 6.6 fantasy points. He wasn’t the only Lion to struggle though, Amon-Ra St. Brown was targeted just 5 times while participating in 98% of routes and scoring 8.5 points. Both project to bounceback in Week 2, while Williams is the better option in DFS, being $1300 cheaper on DK and $1900 cheaper on FD.
After Williams, Gibbs, Montgomery and St. Brown. Sam LaPorta participated in 91% of snaps, 88% of routes and was targeted more than everyone except Gibbs (10 v. 9). LaPorta quietly put up a TE5 overall week, a threshold he didn’t hit until Week 10 in 2024 against Houston. Despite LaPorta’s bottom 10 match-up this week against Chicago, he is a Top 5 option and must-play if you roster him in all formats.
- Start David Montgomery, Fade Jared Goff, Stash/Buy Isaac TeSlaa
Buffalo Bills (1-0) @ New York Jets (0-1)
FanDuel Projected Game Total: 46.5 (T-3rd Highest Total on Sunday)
Cody’s Prediction: Bills 26 (-6.5) Jets 17
Bills
Coming off of the clear Game of the Week on Sunday Night Football, where the Bills allowed 238 rushing yards, but came out the victor 41-40 at home against Baltimore. The Bills have scored 40+ points on 13 occasions. One playoff game they lost but of the remaining 12 games, the Bills scored 36 or more 5 times, 4 of those were road games. Eliminating the risk of the Bills having a major let down in this spot.
The biggest note came byway of Keon Coleman at the Wide Receiver position, the second-year 2nd round superstud from Florida State. In 2024, Coleman averaged 19.2 yards per reception on 29 receptions. Coleman had just one game in 2024 with 5+ recepitons, a (5-70-1) performance against the Seahawks in Week 8. Coleman ran more routes (50) than anyone else in the NFL last week. This week, he enters the rankings sheet at WR31 with a match-up with Sauce Gardner pending. His primary counterpart is Khalil Shakir who ran 43 of 46 routes in the slot and showed an elite connection with Josh Allen. Josh Palmer also commanded 40 routes and 9 targets. Shakir is a fringe WR2 in Fantasy this week, while Palmer is just outside the Top 50.
After finally getting a contract extension this fall, James Cook picked up where he left off with a 21 point PPR performance and finishing as the RB4, he finished RB5 or better six different times in 2024. Cook saw 59% of snaps alongside Ty Johnsons 32% and Ray Davis’ 10%, the biggest change year over year is the 2 targets from Johnson and Davis vs. 5 targets to James Cook…. even though it was just 5 targets, Cook only had 5+ targets on three occurrences in 2025. Johnson/Davis out-targeted Cook 44-38 in 2024. Cook is RB10 for Week 2, while he nurses a hamstring strain heading into the match-up with the Jets.
Josh Allen is Josh Allen, QB1. It’s time to start discussing the Fantasy Hall of Fame with this guy.
At Tight End, Dalton Kincaid led the way with 60% of routes and a 9% target share, Kincaid scored nearly 15 PPR points on a sub-10% target share is an incredibly enlightening for a year 3 breakout. Dalton Knox followed up with 43% of routes and a 5% target share. Kincaid finds himself as a Top 10 option at Tight End this week while facing the 8th easiest match-up on the RosterWatch Match-up tool.
- Play Khalil Shakir, Fade Keon Coleman, Buy James Cook in Dynasty, Stash Ty Johnson
Jets
My biggest question in Week 2, “Is the Justin Fields Week 1 a Mirage?”. I’m pretty sure Garrett Wilson can sustain around a 40% Target Share all season-long, Mostly because the rest of the Jets passing game is if not the most, the second most underwhelming room outside of maybe the Atlanta Falcons wide receiver room. I am the most bullish of the RosterWatch staff on Fields this week with him at QB3, just a tick down from last week’s QB2 performance! That makes him the most valuable QB in Sunday DFS, given his $5700 price on DK (QB15).
Impressively, Breece Hall bursted onto the scene in Week 1 with 58% of the teams snaps and 51% of the teams rush share. Finishing as the RB11 on the week, while splitting reps with Braelon Allen (31% snaps) and Isaiah Davis (13% snaps), I do expect Hall’s number to increase incrementally after being the ONLY Running Back in Week 1 to rush for more than 4.0 yards per carry with more than 20% of his snaps coming with 8+ defenders in the box. We have Breece Hall as a fringe RB1 this week against Buffalo, who only filled the box against Derrick Henry on 16.6% of snaps last week. Braelon Allen is a FLEX RB3 with upside in seasonal leagues.
The Wide Receiver room that I mentioned at the top is dominated by two players, Garrett Wilson (100% routes, 44% target share and 22.5 PPR points) and Josh Reynolds (100% routes, 17% target share and 3.8 PPR points). The Jets played 12 personnel on 32% (10th) of snaps in Week 1 (1 RB, 2 TE, 2WR). And 11 personnel on 58% (20th) of snaps (1 RB, 1 TE, 3 WR). Which is interesting, given the lack of talent at WR, Tyler Johnson is the No. 3 and at Tight End we saw Mason Taylor run 84% of routes and Jeremy Ruckert run 24% of routes, two dependable and talented pass catchers. Reynolds profiles as a Bottom-end WR4 this week, while Mason Taylor and Jeremy Ruckert are unplayable in Week 2.
- Start Justin Fields, Fade Tight Ends, Stash Mason Taylor
Seattle Seahawks (0-1) @ Pittsburgh Steelers (1-0)
FanDuel Projected Game Total: 39.5 (Lowest Total on Sunday)
Cody’s Prediction: Steelers 24 (-3) Seahawks 16
Seahawks
The Real split backfield was the one I warned about, the Seahawks backfield of Zach Charbonnet and Kenneth Walker, not Los Angeles (Hampton and Harris) or New York (Hall and Allen).
Kenneth Walker saw 41% of snaps, 42% of carries and a 14% target share, while Zach Charbonnet saw a 59% snap share with 46% of the carries and 0 targets. Most notably was the fact that the Seahawks literally subbed Walker/Charbonnet out for each other to start every other drive during the game in Week 1. It’s a true 50/50 split and the only reason Charbonnet played more snaps was due to those drives just being more succesful. Coincidence?
Maybe the craziest stat of the Week was everything centered around Jaxon Smith-Njigba and nobody is talking about it. He led the NFL with a 56.5% Target Share and a 91% Air Yards Share, while finishing as WR11. This week, the model loves JSN, but the RW Staff each has him just outside of the Top 12.
Ironically, Smith-Njigba only ran 88% of routes. Second to only Cooper Kupp (96%), who saw 3 targets and scored just 3.5 PPR points in his Seahawks debut. Sam Darnold just continually can’t digest and process with defenders in his face and that will only continue to benefit JSN in matchups like SF. Unfortunately for Kupp, the Pass Rush won’t be slowing down in Week 2 with Pittsburgh, so he stays in WR4 territory. I’m ranking Charbonnet (RB29) just a touch ahead of Walker (RB31) this week against the Steelers, who gave up the 9th fewest rushing yards to RBs in 2024, but the 3rd most in Week 1.
- Start Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Fade Sam Darnold, Buy Cooper Kupp in Seasonal, Stash Tory Horton
Steelers
Guess whose back, guess whose back, back again, DK’s back, tell a friend, guess whose back, guess whose back, DK’s back. After a week 1 with Aaron Rodgers playing his former team (Jets), the Seahawks travel to Pittsburgh to take on their former Alpha receiver, DK Metcalf. Metcalf led with 97% of the teams routes, after Metcalf, Calvin Austin ran 85% of routes and pulled in his first 20%+ target share game of the season, something he did three times in 2024. Austin and first-year Steeler Ben Skowronek caught the receiving rooms only two touchdowns in Week 1, Skowronek ran only 5 routes but made the most of it with 1 target and taking it to the house for a 22-yard touchdown. Metcalf projects as a low-end WR2 this week, while Calvin Austin has played his way into an WR4/Deep FLEX option.
Kenny Gainwell started for the Steelers and saw 28 snaps, Jaylen Warren saw 24 snaps and rookie Kaleb Johnson saw just 2 snaps, including 1 rush attempt for -2 yards. Warren received 100% of the backfield attempts inside the 5 yard line and 67% of the short down and distance snaps, while Gainwell took on 100% of the two-minute snaps and long down distance snaps. Essentially, putting Gainwell in the old Jaylen Warren role and Jaylen Warren in the old Najee Harris role. What that means for Kaleb Johnson is unknown at the moment. With a Top 12 match-up against Seattle, Warren is a Top 20 play this week, while Gainwell is a fringe RB3 with deep-league FLEX appeal.
In Week 1, nobody ran more 12 personnel than the Pittsburgh Steelers (53.7%), according to SumerSports. Only the Steelers and Browns hit the 50% threshold. During the 2024 season, no team played more than 35% of snaps in 12 personnel; the Steelers were at 25.4% and Aaron Rodgers’ old team, the Jets were 20.9%.
Jonnu Smith debuted for the Steelers with 53% of routes run and a 21% target share, his counterpart Pat Freiermuth, ran a route on 53% of opportunities, pulling an 11% target share. Smith finished as the TE10 and Freiermuth the TE27. Freiermuth finished as a Top 12 TE on seven occasions in 2024, he only finished outside the Top 30 on three occasions. This is Jonnu Smith’s 8th time in the last 9 games finishing as a Top 12 TE. He lands at TE5 for me in Week 2, considerably ahead of consensus.
Aaron Rodgers burst onto the scene during his Steelers debut with 25.7 fantasy points, his third such time surpassing 25 fantasy points in the last 5 games played dating back to Week 15 against Jacksonville. Before that, Rodgers hadn’t scored 25 fantasy points in a game since December 12th, 2021. He threw for 4 touchdowns that day against the Bears, to Allen Lazard, Aaron Jones, and Davante Adams twice. Yes, that was 1,099 days between 25-point games.
- Start Jaylen Warren and Jonnu Smith, Fade Pat Freiermuth and Stash Calvin Austin in deep leagues
Philadelphia Eagles (1-0) @ Kansas City Chiefs (0-1)
FanDuel Projected Game Total: 46.5 (T-3rd Highest Total on Sunday)
Cody’s Prediction: Chiefs 34 (+1.5) Eagles 32
Eagles
Perceived as one of the best handcuffs in the NFL, Will Shipley suffered an oblique injury that is rumored to be a broken rib. After the weekend, the Eagles made a move for Tank Bigsby from the Jacksonville Jaguars for draft compensation, it tells me the team lacks complete confidence in Shipleys’ health and AJ Dillon’s talent. Shipley played 5 snaps, carrying the ball twice. AJ Dillon played 8 snaps and carried the ball three times. Saquon Barkley continues to be the lead horse with 79% of snaps and a league leading 66% of rush attempts coming against stacked boxes (8+ defenders). Barkley finished as RB7 after carrying the ball 18 times and earning a 25% target share. With the 3rd toughest match-up for opposing Running Backs on the RW Match-up tool, I have Barkley as the RB9 on the week.
One of the most disappointing players from Week 1 was AJ Brown, who tied DeVonta Smith with 97% of routes run. Brown scored just 1.8 Fantasy points on a 5% target share, but Smith wasn’t too far behind with 4.6 points. The one positive takeaway from the Eagles week 1 win, they may have found their WR3 in Jahan Dotson, who compiled 3 targets on 68% of routes and 9 fantasy points. Good news for the Eagles in Week 2, the Chiefs are the Easiest match-up on the RW Match-up tool, so I am going full-bounce back with AJ Brown. Hot and heavy at $6,600 on DraftKings, I have AJ Brown as the Overall WR3 in Week 2. Smith isn’t that far behind, he is in WR2 territory however, with the involvement of Dotson and Dallas Goedert this season.
As we head to press with this column, Dallas Goedert is currently a DNP for a second consecutive day, after leading the team with a 35% target share on 85% of the routes. He was TE14 in Week 1. If Goedert is down, expect the WRs (Smith/Dotson) to experience a bump, while Grant Calcaterra and Kylen Granson experience increased roles at TE. Granson in the predominant pass-catching role, however, unplayable in normal fantasy football leagues.
- Start AJ Brown, Fade Saquon Barkley, Stash Nobody
Chiefs
The Chiefs haven’t scored more than 30 points in a regular season game since November 26, 2023 against the Las Vegas Raiders (31), thats 23 consecutive games. Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs were 6-1 in opening Week games prior to their Chargers loss in Week 1. They are 6-1 in Week 2 as well, with a 1-point loss to Baltimore in 2021. The last time KC started a season 0-2 was 2014, they missed the playoffs.
Exiting Week 1, the first question that needed to be answered was whether Xavier Worthy would be on Season Ending IR or if he would be on short term IR recovering from a serious shoulder injury after colliding with Travis Kelce on a crossing route early in the game. Good news for Kansas City, Worthy was on the practice field on Thursday afternoon running around in a jersey, helmet and sweatpants. As this goes to print on Thursday evening, based on the following footage, I have added Xavier Worthy to the weekly rankings and moved him up to WR43 for now, but if we get conclusive evidence that Worthy is starting on Sunday, he will get a boost.
During the loss, Patrick Mahomes finished with the No. 17 NFL Passer Rating (89.5) with 258 passing yards on 47 drop-backs. Mahomes was QB6 in Fantasy, he only finished with Six Top-12 games in the entire 2024 season. Down from 7 in 2023 and 15 in 2022. We have him as a fringe QB1 this weekend, ahead of Drake Maye, Caleb Williams and Dak Prescott.
After Xavier Worthy went down on his first route ran of the year to injury, Hollywood Brown led the team in Routes Run (46). After Brown and his team leading 16 targets, Travis Kelce, Tyquan Thornton and Juju Smith-Schuster each ran 38 routes. Kelce and Juju surpassed the 10-point PPR threshold, while Thornton led the team with 104 air yards (12th in NFL) and just 6.1 fantasy points. The Matchup against Philadelphia is the 3rd-toughest against opposing Wide Receivers, nabbing Hollywood Brown as a back-end WR2 and both Thornton and Smith-Schuster outside the Top 50.
I’d be remiss not to mention this despicable backfield that was split in three directions. Isiah Pacheco with 28 snaps, 5 carries and 3 targets. Kareem Hunt with 23 snaps, 5 carries and 3 targets. Rookie Brashard Smith saw 8 snaps, but did not carry the football nor was he targeted. Week 1 was negative game script for the Chiefs that saw complete inefficiencies in the running game. According to PFF, the Chiefs Offensive Line graded out as the 28th-best Run-Blocking unit, down from 8th during the 2024 season.
- Start Hollywood Brown, Fade Isiah Pacheco, Buy Rashee Rice, Stash Brashard Smith in Dynasty
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Good Morning
I see George Pickens as a great start this week. I also have Devonta Adam’s.
I seem to be the only one who sees Pickens as a clear winner here.
I still might go with my gut here, but what am I missing to see?
Thanks
Ed
I’m not bullish on either Pickens or Adams this week, however, we have Adams as a consensus higher.
Best of Luck, brother!
Should have added…ppr
Too many same names.
Sorry I meant D Smith against Pickens
Love Smith this week in the Top 24. #1 Match-up this week against KC! Ride with Smith
Impressive new article…! Well done. Having a RB/Flex challenge…need 2 rbs and a flex in PPR…..J Williams, TreV Henderson, Jordan Mason, Tracy Jr, and/or George Pickens. Thanks.
Johnson or Pitts .5 PPR
Rankings suggest Pitts, but seems like Mooney is gonna play to take target share away from Pitts.
Full PPR – Flex spot – HollyWood Brown, D Montgomery, Courtland Sutton, or Javonte Williams
I’m playing RB: Jeanty/Bijan Robinson, WR: Evans/London and TE is tossup between Njoku and Fannin with Pitts, Chig and Strange on the waiver wires
Hollywood, brother!
I trust Njoku, btw! Great matchup this week
Best of Luck!