Welcome to the Week 2 Fantasy Football Playbook!
This will be your game-by-game guide to the week's slate of NFL games, featuring score projections, over/unders, win probabilities and, of course, easily digestible fantasy advice for both season-long and DFS leagues. This guide should help you with all sorts of decision-making, including sit/start decisions, last-minute waiver adds and lineup choices.
The advice is centered on 12-team PPR leagues with relatively standard scoring and lineup settings (1 QB, 2 RB, 3 WR, 1 Flex, 1 K, 1 D/ST), although I'll often mention "shallow" or "deep" leagues for borderline starters. The charts show all players who have been projected for at least 6.0 fantasy points this week, as well as all D/STs. "Matchup" is automatically determined using a proprietary metric that factors in both raw and volume-adjusted fantasy points allowed to each position by the opposing defense this season.
(Editor's note: Projections and rankings will align almost perfectly, but sometimes when a projection is close, a player might be ranked slightly higher or lower due to other factors, including upside or risk. This column is subject to possible updates during the weekend, though at the very minimum, rankings will updated on the site and projections will always be updated inside the game leading up to kickoff.)
Atlanta Falcons @ Tampa Bay Buccaneers
The Buccaneers are big favorites at home against a Falcons' team that was crushed by the Eagles in Week 1. Tom Brady was terrific against Dallas and should be locked into lineups in a very good Week 2 matchup.
Leonard Fournette is on the RB2 radar after leading the Tampa Bay backfield in Week 1, but coach Bruce Arians says Ronald Jones II will start, so expectations should be kept in check. Jones and Giovani Bernard are too risky to start after quiet Week 1 performances.
Chris Godwin and Mike Evans are weekly lineup locks and Antonio Brown is a viable flex. That opinion on Brown might seem low after an impressive Week 1, but he easily trailed both Evans and Godwin in routes and targets in that game and is averaging just 5.0 targets per game during his past eight outings in which Evans was also active.
Rob Gronkowski is back on the TE1 radar after scoring twice in Week 1, while O.J. Howard played on only six snaps.
Things aren't as appealing on the Atlanta side. Matt Ryan should be on benches after struggling against Philadelphia and Mike Davis is a flex option against an elite run defense, leaving Calvin Ridley and Kyle Pitts (8 targets each in Week 1) as the only lineup locks. In other words, the Buccaneers D/ST makes for a sharp Week 2 play.
Over/Under: 49.4 (5th-highest in Week 2)
Win Prob: Buccaneers 83% (3rd-highest)