RADIO
The NFL season has begun essentially without a hitch. It was a large undertaking of which many were dubious. We have a long way to go, but so far, things have been smooth. The general scope and overall execution of the league, though, is different than specific action on the field. And Week 2 on the field was brutal; literally. Bill Barnwell counted 21 impact-generating injuries that occurred on a single Sunday. He also added a few more at the end of his article, essentially bringing us to a top 25ish.
From a fantasy perspective, there are loads of big names who will either be out for a while or will need to have their availability reevaluated before next weekend. The quick reaction is to blame the lack of a normal preseason. Torn ACLs (Saquon Barkley, Nick Bosa) or sprained joints (Drew Lock, Jimmy Garoppolo, Raheem Mostert) aren't really symptoms of a lack of preparation though. They are just injuries that happen.
Thanks to the randomness of football, fantasy is always unpredictable, especially at the very beginning of a new season. Injuries notwithstanding, even the best of players put up dud performances. Not all duds are created equal though. Some disastrous performances are signs of more to come. Here are Week 2's studs turned duds.
Clyde Edwards-Helaire
The only way a manager salvaged Edwards-Helaire's week was if they play in a PPR league. CEH had 10 carries for just 38 yards to go along with six catches for 32 yards. His 7.0 non-PPR fantasy points were quite the shock after such an electrifying debut. Week 2 was actually positive, though, for his long-term outlook. His production was just a case of the game not playing out the way Kansas City would have planned.
The Chiefs trailed early and ended up throwing the ball 47 times, compared to just 16 non-quarterback carries on the ground. Because of that, CEH didn't get much run on the ground but did see his targets in the passing game rise from two in Week 1 to eight in Week 2: the third-most on the team. His Week 1 was outstanding despite doing nothing in the passing game. Week 2 proved he should be a threat in both aspects most games.
Julio Jones
Battling a hamstring injury all week, Jones gutted out a full performance, though one that lacked fantasy production. He finished with two catches for 24 yards on just four targets. It is odd to see such little production from Jones, even with an injury nagging him. It was his lowest receiving output since 2018. As for involvement in the offense, for the entirety of 2019, he never even had a game with fewer than seven targets, let alone four. In other words, if the injury doesn't keep him out, this should be nothing more than a fluky bad week.
Adam Thielen
After a huge Week 1, Thielen plummeted back in Week 2 as the entire Minnesota offense scuffled. Thielen's line was three catches for 31 yards. His performance was disappointing, but his future outlook isn't so bleak. First, Kirk Cousins won't be this bad again. He is getting the third-most time to throw in the league through two weeks. Also, his intended targets down the field reflect this time; Minny is going for big plays. Cousins is second in completed air yards and fourth in Next Gen Stat's aggressiveness metric.
Second, Thielen is still dominating the Viking pass attack. He had another eight targets in Week 2. For the season, he now has 53.44 percent of the Minnesota air yards, the highest mark in the NFL. In an offense with a normally competent quarterback, getting time to throw, and going for big plays, Thielen is the main weapon. Those are all good things for Thielen's next outing.
Mark Andrews and the Buffalo DEF
What qualifies as a stud? Andrews was the number three tight end in drafts entering the season, ahead of Zach Ertz and Darren Waller. Buffalo was a top two defense. After about a month, the draft results no longer mean squat, but this early, those things mean something. People had super-high hopes for both Andrews and the Buffalo defense. As the Ravens rolled for the second consecutive week, Andrews was invisible. We all knew Baltimore didn't need Andrews on a weekly basis to succeed, which is why he was a considerable tier below the top two at TE. But this really sharpens that opinion. Andrews is just a piece in a cog; he can't be counted on every week to be a top tight end.
For Buffalo, this was supposed to be another good opponent for fantasy production. Instead, the Bills scored a -1.0 (depending on league settings). It is the latest proof that drafting defenses is a crapshoot year to year. We won't often (or perhaps ever again) highlight a defense as a stud turned dud, but it's worth mentioning how finicky the position remains.
