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Slate Overview- Week 2 Thoughts

Injuries are the big story to the Week 2 season. This is going to aggregate roster percentage to very similar roster builds. Jordan Mason is projected to be over 50% rostered this week, which will be the highest rostered player in the history of this article. We’ve often written about thinking about fading players who are 30% or higher, but this is a different situation. This is a week where Jordan Mason is so cheap because of the injury to Christian McCaffrey that he is extremely likely to hit value. This is a scenario where you should either go with Mason in your lineup or have him in 0% of your lineups and just understand the risk that you’re taking on. With Mason, what this does is it will concentrate roster percentage up at the high-end salary players due to the value plays.

One strategy to differentiate yourself from the competition is to go with more of a balanced approach, ignoring some of the players who are going to be close to 30% rostered such as Rashee Rice, Deebo Samuel, or Breece Hall. One thing to be careful about this week is to not feel overconfident based on how easy lineups are to build this week. Stick to proper bankroll management, and don’t be afraid to take some chances by fading these guys who are propped up because of the values that exist due to the injuries.

Key Injuries for Week 2

• Christian McCaffrey has been placed on IR with an Achilles/Calf injury. Jordan Mason had 28 carries last week and is just $5,200 this week. Deebo Samuel and George Kittle are also tremendous values this week based on the available touches created by McCaffrey. While Mason had 28 carries last week, it was a positive game script, and if that game script changes, we could see more of a passing approach from the 49ers.
• Puka Nacua will miss this week as he’s been placed on IR. Cooper Kupp is going to be a near must-play this week after having 21 targets on Sunday Night. This is a position for Kupp where his price has not adjusted due to the timing related to the Sunday Night game finishing after the pricing for the following week already being complete. Therefore, he’s underpriced at $7,600. Kyren Williams, Demarcus Robinson, Tyler Johnson, and Colby Parkinson are all good value plays as well based on the pricing assuming that Nacua would play this week.
• Justin Fields looks like he will start for Pittsburgh this week. Fields is about as high-risk high-reward of any quarterback on this slate at $5,400. Last week, we saw Fields run the ball 14 times for 57 yards. At just 5% he’s an intriguing play in a favorable matchup.
• Kenneth Walker is doubtful this week. Zach Charbonnet is going to get the start, which at $5.8k is a decent value play this week. The only question for Charbonnet will be his popularity. More on Charbonnet in the running back section.
• Marquise Brown could miss the full season as he is dealing with a shoulder injury. For Kansas City, this we can expect their target share to be similar to last week which was to Rashee Rice, Xavier Worthy, and Travis Kelce.

Stacks

Top Stack

Kyler Murray, Marvin Harrison Jr, Cooper Kupp

Most people are not going to want to target Marvin Harrison after his dreadful season opener. He’s currently projected to be 2% rostered which to get a player as talented as Harrison at 2% rostered is just too low. Given the narrative of Arizona not getting Harrison the ball, they’re almost certainly going to script some plays early with Kyler Murray saying it is the offensive coordinators job to get him the football.