Love, Hate and An Extraordinary League of Ladies and Gentlemen

"I'm in."

"But," he said, laughing, "I haven't even asked the question yet."

"OK sure," I said. "Ask your question. But it doesn't matter what it is," I told him. "I'm in."

Because, you see, when Joe Russo asks me to do something, the answer is always yes.

I've written about Joe before. He, along with his brother Anthony, has produced and directed many movies and TV shows you have enjoyed over the years. But the Russo Brothers are best-known for a number of superhero movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe: "Captain America: The Winter Soldier," "Captain America: Civil War," "Avengers: Infinity War" and the highest-grossing movie of all time, "Avengers: Endgame."

Superheroes have been a huge part of Joe's life for a number of years. And, if you read my preseason Love/Hate or have caught any of Joe's appearances on Fantasy Football Now or the Fantasy Focus 06010 podcast, you know fantasy football has been as well. He has played for more than 20 years and is in four leagues this year.

And now he was on the phone with me, talking about a fifth. He had an idea.

Well, it wasn't exactly his idea. He was just adding on to Guillermo Lozano's idea. Guillermo has worked for years with Chris Evans, and he is also the commissioner of Bloodsport, the fantasy league that counts Evans, Joe Russo and a number of other celebrities among its ranks, including a lot of the actors from "Avengers: Endgame."

Since that league has started to get some publicity, Guillermo has been besieged by his famous friends wanting in that league. (I'm not famous, of course, but I've also been on the waitlist for two years now).

The challenge with the Bloodsport league, Guillermo has explained to me in the past, is that no one wants to leave it. So Guillermo, who never likes disappointing people, has to say no a lot more than he would like.

Luckily, Guillermo had a simple solution: What if there were another celebrity league?

But, he didn't want this to be "just another league." Even if it had insanely famous people in it.

There are a decent number of celebrity leagues out there (with, ahem, various levels of celebrity, but still; they are out there). Hell, we do one for the Fantasy Focus 06010 podcast with some really big names, and I love that league. Guillermo, knowing all this, wondered what else could be done with this new league.

Well, anytime you have an idea and are trying to figure out how to make it bigger, more entertaining, more interesting, more ... anything, you call Joe Russo. Which is what Guillermo did, and now Joe is telling me what the two of them came up with.

"It's a fantasy league, of course, but with a twist," Joe explains. To be in the league, you have to have appeared in a superhero movie. The theme of superheroes means a great deal to Joe, obviously. Not just because of the success his movies have had on his career but more because of what they represent. Fighting for those who can't. Sacrificing personal needs for the greater good. Representing the best in us, of what we aspire and hope to be. Showing that the impossible can, in fact, be possible.

In short, making the world a better, kinder, safer place.

And those aren't just words to Joe. He and his brother Anthony own AGBO Studios, a TV and film studio. Joe tells me that AGBO is putting up $100,000 for charity and that the celebrity "Superhero" actors in the league are playing for their favorite cause. Doing in real life what they do on the big screen -- using their powers to make the world a better place.

And doing it all while playing fantasy football. What could be better than that?

As we continued talking, Joe told me how fantasy football trash talk was rampant on the set of "Infinity War" and "Endgame." That those in the league Guillermo ran would constantly run their mouths, and that the ones who weren't included really wanted in on the fun.

The original idea for the league was a simple 10-team league. But as Joe started sending out feelers, there were so many "superheroes" who immediately said yes that we had to make it a 14-team league.

Amazing, right? I told you. It's not just me. Everyone agrees. When Joe Russo calls, you say yes.

We got hard-core players and those who had never tried it before but were excited to see what all the fun was about and raise money and awareness for some great causes.

Joe and Anthony announced the league on their Instagram page (@TheRussoBrothers), and Anthony (not in the league) drew the draft order out of a hat. And as anyone who watched that video already knows, the list of people in this league is just pure insanity.

So without further ado, here's who is in the league, the charity they play for and their first-round pick, in draft order. Because I know not everyone who reads this column is a superhero movie fan, I have included the role each plays.

1. Elizabeth Olsen (Scarlet Witch). Elizabeth is playing for The Rape Foundation, and she didn't overthink it, taking consensus No. 1 Saquon Barkley.

2. Karen Gillan (Nebula). Karen is playing for Mickey's Line in Inverness, Scotland. She went with Ezekiel Elliott.

3. Anthony Mackie (Falcon). Anthony is playing for Stem NOLA, but he didn't let his NOLA roots keep him from taking Christian McCaffrey.

4 Chris Pratt (Star-Lord). Chris is playing for The Brain Treatment Foundation. He took Alvin Kamara, whom Mackie passed on.

5. Ryan Reynolds (Deadpool). Ryan is playing for SickKids Foundation of Canada. He took David Johnson.

6. Michael B. Jordan (Killmonger). Michael is playing for My Brother's Keeper, and he took the first wide receiver off the board, DeAndre Hopkins.

7. Miles Teller (Mr. Fantastic). Miles is playing for NAMI. He also went wide receiver, taking Michael Thomas.

8. Chris Evans (Captain America). Chris is playing for Christopher's Haven in Boston, and he picked Le'Veon Bell.

9. Tom Holland (Spider-Man). Tom is playing for The Brothers Trust. He took James Conner.

10. Chris Hemsworth (Thor). Chris is playing for The Australian Childhood Foundation. He went with JuJu Smith-Schuster.

11. Paul Rudd (Ant-Man). Paul is playing for Big Slick, Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas City. His pick, appropriately, was Patrick Mahomes.

12. Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man). Robert is playing for Guy Aquino's Sacred Hearts intervention, counseling and treatment services for addiction. He picked Todd Gurley II.

Now I know what you are thinking. That's only 12 names. Where are the other two? Well, that's where Joe is very clever. You see, the rule isn't that you have to have played a superhero. No, you just have to have been in a superhero movie.

So, much like most of my career, I manage to sneak in under the wire, this time thanks to my "Endgame" cameo. I picked 13th, and I am playing for The Jimmy V Foundation for cancer research. I took Dalvin Cook.

And, of course, Joe Russo has to be in it. For those who have seen "Endgame," Joe plays the grieving man in the group therapy session that Steve Rogers (i.e., Captain America) is running, discussing a date he had and how he is coping with the events of Infinity War. If you didn't realize that was Joe, it's understandable. He was listed as Gozie Agbo, which is the alias he uses anytime he does a cameo. And, of course, that pseudonym is where Joe got the inspiration for the name AGBO Studios.

Joe picked 14th and is playing for The Arthritis Foundation. He picked Julio Jones.

So, it's all for a bunch of great causes and I hope you'll take some time, check them out and help if you can.

Being that this is a 14-team league that is entirely for fun and charity, and that we have a few new players, we wanted to level the playing field a bit. So PPR scoring but the starting lineups are a little funky: QB, RB, WR, 2 FLEX (RB/WR/TE), K, D/ST and 5 bench. So a hybrid between a super flex and a standard league where you're not going too deep.

You'll be able to check in on the league on ESPN.com to see how we are doing throughout the season. In addition, we will be providing updates from the league (along with lots of superhero trash talk videos) throughout the year on The Fantasy Show on ESPN+, Fantasy Football Now and various other platforms at ESPN, including our digital and social platforms. In fact, if you'd like to see the first video of the year featuring Chris Pratt, Chris Evans, Ryan Reynolds, Karen Gillan, Joe Russo and myself, head over to the ESPN YouTube channel to check it out.

Me? I got off to a tough start as Paul Rudd rode Patrick Mahomes, Mark Ingram II and Evan Engram to a win over my Carson Wentz, Dalvin Cook and Odell Beckham Jr. trio, no thanks to my Matt Bryant and the Philadelphia D who combined for one, count 'em, one point. Brandin Cooks did nothing for me either, while Rudd got 15 points from his D/ST and K and that was that. For the record, Rudd is a longtime, hard-core and very good fantasy player.

How did I feel about losing in Week 1? ... Whatever! I'm playing Paul Rudd! For charity! That's awesome in and of itself! The rest doesn't matter.

And that's what I would say to anyone who lost in Week 1. Anyone who drafted Lamar Miller, Hunter Henry, Tyreek Hill, Derrius Guice or anyone else who might miss a significant amount of time. What I would say to anyone who started the wrong player. Who is sweating their Todd Gurley selection. Who wants to criticize the league format or any moves made in this league.

Fantasy football is for fun. And more and more leagues support a charity. Try to use fantasy football to do some good in the world and have a blast doing it. That should be the goal with every league. Because it certainly is with this one.

Let's get to it.

As always, this is not a start-or-sit column. I don't "love" or "hate" players. I do, however, "love" or "hate" their ESPN projection for PPR leagues. So that's what this is. Players who are "loves" are players I believe will generally meet or exceed their ESPN projections. "Hates" are players I believe will fall short of their ESPN projections. That simple. For specific "this player or that player" questions, please consult my rankings, which are constantly updated all the way through Sunday at kickoff. You also can watch The Fantasy Show on ESPN+, which expanded to four episodes a week this year, and of course Fantasy Football Now, every Sunday morning on ESPN2. Thank you as always to "Thirsty" Kyle Soppe of the 06010 podcast and the Stat-a-pillar from The Fantasy Show on ESPN+, Damian Dabrowski, for their help at various points in this column. And an extra-special thank you to Guillermo Lozano and to Joe Russo (and everyone at AGBO, including Josh Williams and Sophia Russo) for all their help in setting this up in an incredibly short amount of time. So pumped for this league.

Excelsior!

Quarterbacks I love in Week 2

Tom Brady, New England Patriots, at Dolphins (ESPN projection: 19.9): He was on my preseason "Hate" list. But that was before he got Josh Gordon back. And now he's getting Antonio Brown. Last week was Brady's first game with four deep completions and multiple deep touchdowns since Week 3 of 2017. And he'll keep it going against a Dolphins defense that just allowed five TD passes on 20 attempts to a QB (Lamar Jackson) who threw five in 158 attempts as a starter in 2018. In Brady's past three trips to Miami he has averaged 20.5 PPG and he has posted a top-three finish at the position twice.

Lamar Jackson, Baltimore Ravens, vs. Cardinals (ESPN projection: 19.9): Off a monster week, he has another great matchup in facing Arizona. The Cardinals have a depleted secondary, which they try to mask by blitzing. (Last year, the Cards blitzed at the highest rate in the NFL, and last week they blitzed at a 47.9% rate, fourth highest in the NFL.) Well, when Miami blitzed Jackson last week, all he did was go 9-for-10 for 137 yards and four touchdowns. Jackson may not be this good all year long, but he'll certainly look like it again on Sunday.

Matt Ryan, Atlanta Falcons, vs. Eagles (ESPN projection: 19.3): I know, he looked brutal last week. But back at home where he has five straight games with multiple touchdown passes, I expect a big week for Ryan. The Eagles' secondary certainly looked beatable last week as (checks notes) Case Keenum threw for (checks notes again) 380 yards against them. You can't see it, but I just did a double take. In a game with one of Week 2's highest over/unders, I like Ryan, Julio Jones and Calvin Ridley to at least match what Keenum, Terry McLaurin and Paul Richardson did.

Others receiving votes: Back at home where he was the best QB in fantasy last season (200.5 points in eight home games), I was surprised to see Jared Goff ranked well outside the top 10 this week. In a game with an over/under of 53 (53!) against a Saints team that is 29th against the pass since the start of 2018, I like Goff to have a big game. ... We know Josh Allen can run (five rushing TDs in his past five games), but last week we saw some real growth. He completed 64.9% of throws (third best of his career) and had a career-high 254 passing yards. Now he gets a Giants defense that looked completely overmatched and can't generate a pass rush, allowing for plenty of time for Allen to find John Brown deep. ... You know who looked good last week? Derek Carr (ducks). No, seriously he did and certainly, for those in deeper leagues, you could do worse than Carr at home against a Chiefs defense that allowed Nick Foles and Gardner Minshew to move the ball easily. Given the potential that K.C. just pours it on (the over/under is 53 with the Chiefs a 9.5-point favorite as of this writing), I like Carr in a deep, 2-QB league sort of way.

Quarterbacks I hate in Week 2

Matthew Stafford, Detroit Lions, vs. Chargers (ESPN projection: 15.5): It's one thing to have a huge game when you're playing against a depleted secondary like Arizona's for five quarters. It's another against a Chargers unit that can get after the quarterback. They were above average in opponent completion percentage and seventh best in terms of touchdown percentage on throws of 10-plus air yards last season, and they held Jacoby Brissett below 200 yards passing in Week 1. Since the start of last season, the Bolts have allowed a league-low two 20-point performances by a QB.

Kirk Cousins, Minnesota Vikings, at Packers (ESPN projection: 16.1): Look, I'm not expecting only 10 attempts again, but with a good Vikings defense that limits the need for shootouts and a strong running game, Cousins has now been held to 215 or fewer passing yards in five of his past six games. On the road against an underrated Packers defense that held Mitchell Trubisky without a touchdown pass last week despite 45 attempts, I'm taking the under on 16.1 for Cousins.

Aaron Rodgers, Green Bay Packers, vs. Vikings (ESPN projection: 17.0): The Vikings are always a tough matchup for Rodgers. He has been held below 20 points in eight of his past nine games against the Vikings and has thrown for zero or one touchdown in four of his past five healthy games against them. After making Matt Ryan look like a lost rookie last Sunday, the Vikes come to Green Bay to play a Rodgers-led offense that looked very much like an out-of-sync work in progress against Chicago. An over/under of 44.5 (one of the lowest on Week 2's slate of games) makes me think this is more slugfest than shootout, so I'm taking the under on 17.

Running backs I love in Week 2

Todd Gurley II, Los Angeles Rams, vs. Saints (ESPN projection: 13.8): Arghh! What? (later) Arghh! Again?! After being assured there was no "pitch count" for Gurley, fantasy managers watched in horror as Malcolm Brown scored twice. But look closer. Gurley out-snapped Brown 51-19, and all of Brown's touches came on three drives (one of which started at the Carolina 10-yard line). My belief is that Brown was set to get a specific number of drives and that it was just good luck (or bad, depending on your point of view) that Brown was in when they scored. I have Brown on every team I have Gurley, but I'm not panicking. Give me the over here in what should be one of Week 2's highest-scoring games against a Saints team that gave up the third-most rushing yards in Week 1 and the second-highest yards per carry to Duke Johnson Jr. and the ghost of Carlos Hyde.

Chris Carson, Seattle Seahawks, at Steelers (ESPN projection: 15.2): If Josh Jacobs wasn't my ride or die, this guy would have been. He ranked significantly higher than the consensus all preseason for me, and the reasons were obvious in Week 1. He's a powerful runner in a run-heavy offense behind a good offensive line, and he was used much more in the passing game than folks thought. Out-snapping Rashaad Penny 39-12, Carson got all of Seattle's red zone rushing attempts, led the Seahawks in targets and receptions last week and now gets a Steelers team that allowed 10 RB receptions last week.

Josh Jacobs, Oakland Raiders, vs. Chiefs (ESPN projection: 17.0): My fantasy ride or die, Jacobs became the first player since LaDainian Tomlinson (2001) to total 100 scrimmage yards and run for multiple scores in an NFL debut, so yeah, so far it's working out just fine. The Chiefs allowed the second-most yards per carry last season (4.97) and by allowing the Jags to average 5.06 yards per carry in Week 1, I'd say it's still an area of concern for them. This should be a high-scoring game and Oakland needs to keep Patrick Mahomes off the field. Their best bet to do that is with Jacobs, who gained yardage on 87% of his Week 1 carries, the fifth-highest rate among backs with at least 15 carries.

Sony Michel, New England Patriots, at Dolphins (ESPN projection: 12.9): I'm in on Sony this week after a brutal Week 1, in which a lot of Patriots not named Sony looked awesome. He still got work (15 carries, more than James White and Rex Burkhead combined) and against a Dolphins team that just coughed up 265 rushing yards, I expect the Patriots to not only be up big here but get their ground game going again (remember, they were fifth in rushing percentage last season). And that means a lot of Sony Michel.

Others receiving votes: After being on the field for 74.6% of the Chargers' offensive plays last week, expect another heavy dose of Austin Ekeler in a game in which the Chargers won't have Hunter Henry and, as of this writing, are unlikely to have Mike Williams. That means the passes will go to Keenan Allen and Ekeler, who is averaging 19.6 fantasy points per game when he gets 10-plus touches. ... I thought Devin Singletary looked good last week. I thought the Giants looked awful last week. I was encouraged by Singletary's 43 snaps (compared to 20 for Frank Gore and T.J. Yeldon combined) and his surprising usage in the passing game. ... Death, taxes and you start pass-catching running backs against the Falcons. I know last week wasn't great, but you could do worse at your flex this week than Miles Sanders, whom I like to beat his projection of 9.5. ... Given what should be the high-scoring nature of Chiefs-Raiders, I'm back on Damien Williams this week, as he now has at least five catches in five of his past six games dating to last season (including playoffs). ... Digging a little deeper, the Redskins won't be using Adrian Peterson in the passing game, especially if they fall behind Dallas, and Chris Thompson led the team with seven catches and 10 targets last week. Since the beginning of last season, the Cowboys allow the second-highest completion percentage to opposing RBs. ... If you're desperate, I could see Raheem Mostert being useful in a good matchup against the Bengals, as I don't expect Matt Breida to handle the full workload. Mostert looked good in limited work last week, averaging 3.56 yards per carry after first contact.

Running backs I hate in Week 2

Philip Lindsay, Denver Broncos, vs. Bears (ESPN projection: 12.7): Can we just point out he's playing the Bears and call it a day? Last week, only the Ravens and the Bears allowed less than 1.1 yards before and after first contact and, unlike last year, this is a true RBBC (31 snaps for Lindsay in Week 1, 27 for Royce Freeman). If Chicago could shut down Aaron Jones with the threat of Aaron Rodgers, I'm pretty sure stopping Lindsay and Freeman with the threat of Joe Flacco should be no issue.