Fantasy Football Week 2 Usage Report

Nervous about the usage of the key players in your lineup? We got you covered.

Are you upset that the stud you drafted to be just that, a stud, is not getting the looks or touches he needs to succeed? Or on the flip side, are you wondering why some schmuck or washed up old guy is still getting all the action? In the Usage Report, we take a look at the trends as they turn into realities, and determine whether or not we expect this to end or continue to drive you nuts! Carefully color coordinated to resemble our beloved stop light system: Green means go, Yellow means proceed with caution, and Red means don’t you dare.

Week 2 was a much more exciting week in terms of scoring. Fun fact: Last year, half the Week 1 contests saw both teams score 20-plus points, this year – there were only three. With that being said, more scoring was inevitable for the week that followed, and we are starting to paint a picture of what may be to come for the season in a lot of situations.

WIDE RECEIVERS

Dez Bryant

16 targets, 7 receptions, 59 yards, 1 touchdown

A week in which many believed it was not safe to start Dez against arguably the best secondary in the league in the Broncos, he turned in a solid performance. He is moving like his old self, and  is the obvious favourite target for Dak Prescott with the amount of looks he has gotten through the first two weeks. He does however have a tough matchup yet again (get used to people saying this, the schedule is awful on paper) going up against Patrick Peterson and the Cardinals, but gets the Rams and Packers in the weeks that follow. As long as he continues to get looks in the red zone (leads league with 5 red zone targets), he remains one of the best bets to have a chance at a touchdown a week at the wide receiver position.

DeAndre Hopkins

13 targets, 7 receptions, 73 yards

Not a great outing for Hopkins considering where you drafted him, but one of the most talented receivers in the league deserves some credit given the QB situation and a terrible Thursday nighter everyone had to suffer through. The fact that Hopkins was still able to turn in a respectable game gives hope. Through 2 weeks, he leads the league in targets and will likely be fed again in Week 3 when the Texans inevitably get down early against the Patriots.

Jarvis Landry

15 targets, 13 receptions, 78 yards

Everyone expected to see Jay Cutler favor Devante Parker based on his strong preseason and the likeness to past Cutler targets that succeeded, but it was Landry that received the majority of Cutler’s attempts in Week 2. Although Parker may offer up more big play ability, the floor of Jarvis may have even been improved with the move from Ryan Tannehill to Cutler. Cutler was no stranger to dumping off to Matt Forte with the Bears, so maybe instead of Jay Ajayi bursting into the receiving scene, Landry will claim these short dump-offs and do what he does best with his superior YAC ability.

Emmanuel Sanders

8 targets, 6 receptions, 62 yards, 2 touchdowns

All the so-called signs are pointing to Trevor Siemien finding his guy, and it’s not who we all thought. How quickly we forget the past. Demaryius Thomas is still the better receiver and bigger threat. One of Sanders’ touchdowns came off a confusing fake draw play, which saw CJ Anderson run up the right middle while Siemien turned left. When he snapped around to find something else, it turns out when he tricked himself he also tricked the defence, and Sanders was wide open behind the linebackers. Thomas hasn’t scored yet and Sanders has twice, but in back to back weeks, Thomas has out-targeted and out-received Sanders.

Alshon Jeffery

13 targets, 7 receptions, 92 yards, 1 touchdown

Alshon believers rejoice! Finally, Alshon looks to be healthy (knock on wood, over and over until next week), and Wentz is looking like a franchise quarterback. However, you’d be wise to temper your expectations. Where was this in the first game? The targets should be consistent however, as Wentz loves to air it out.

Michael Crabtree

6 targets, 6 receptions, 3 touchdowns

No, the color is correct. Don’t believe everything you see on TV kids. Although this is not a sell high article, you’d be wise to do so. Do you really think 50% of his catches will go for touchdowns each week? Likely trying to keep him rested for when needed, the Raiders opted to sit Marshawn Lynch (even though he’d much rather dance) rather than have him in to pound home a couple touchdowns. Yes, Crabtree had a great 26 yard touchdown, but the other two were from 2 yards out and 1 yard out. This will be his best game of the year, hands down.

Brandon Marshall

5 targets, 1 reception, 17 yards

Just bad. Don’t believe anything positive you hear about Marshall. The situation is horrible and he had a chance to be the number one target back to back weeks. He had a massive drop as well in one of his few chances. Eli looks like he wants to star in commercials like his big bro instead of throw a football around.

Stefon Diggs

6 targets, 2 receptions, 27 yards

Why were we shocked when we saw the news that Bradford could miss extended time? If you are going to own any Viking receiver moving forward, it needs to be Thielen. He still scraped together some receptions and yardage, while Diggs struggled mightily without Bradford at the helm. Keenum throwing is not good for anyone but the defence. His 2 touchdowns from Week 1 seems so long ago.

Sammy Watkins

2 targets, 2 receptions, 30 yards

It’s worrisome that Cooper Kupp has been Goff’s favorite target in back to back weeks now. Maybe you weren’t expecting the yardage to be consistent, but even targets aren’t coming his way. Soon you may not be able to sell him by name alone, and the Rams offence doesn’t look bad, even without him involved.

 

TIGHT ENDS

Zach Ertz

10 targets, 5 receptions, 95 yards

Ertz is never going to make you jump for joy, but he just may lead all tight ends in receptions and yardage come the end of the year. That’s all you can ask of your tight end, since consistency is not something that tends to be a characteristic for the position. With all the tight end injuries that have already occurred, come out smiling if you have Ertz… and stay smiling because Wentz loves him.

Travis Kelce

10 targets, 8 receptions, 103 yards, 1 touchdown

As the only stud tight end left standing (as of now), be glad he is such a focal point of the offence. Also, the fact that defenders will continue to have to focus on Kareem Hunt in the backfield and Tyreek Hill downfield (whether you believe his skill or not, the speed is there) will allow Kelce to utilize his favorite part of the field.

Eric Ebron

5 targets, 5 receptions, 42 yards, 1 touchdown

Finally, a decent game by Ebron. Catching all his targets (including a much welcomed red zone look), maybe some of those Boldin looks will come his way. With the hype around Kenny Golloday taking the attention of both defences and the fantasy world alike, Ebron could be looking at a large target share inside the red zone with running backs that aren’t the bruising type on the goal line.

Hunter Henry/Antonio Gates

7 targets, 7 receptions, 80 yards vs. 4 targets, 2 receptions, 11 yards, 1 touchdown

“Ok, you have the record, now go away.” – HH… expect this to be less a theory and more a reality. 

Austin Hooper

In a deep league, sure, take the upside of a big gain as seen in Week 1, but Week 2 proved everyone wasted there money/priority to grab a guy who has a total of four targets through two games on a pass heavy offence.

RUNNING BACKS

Ty Montgomery

10 carries, 35 yards, 1 touchdown & 7 targets, 6 receptions, 75 yards, 1 touchdown

If you need someone to tell you that Jamal Williams is NOTHING in this backfield… Snap Count for Week 1: Montgomery – 74, Williams – 6. Week 2: Montgomery – 65, Williams – 11. Although this is somewhat of a significant trend and difference, the makeup of the offence isn’t taken into account. Ty Montgomery is a receiver, not a running back, being used as a running back. The Green Bay offence has been pass first (and will be pass first) forever with Rodgers under centre. That seems as simple as 2+2=4. A successful between the tackles back, who thrives as a receiver, in a pass happy system. Just wait until the Packers start to really figure out their offence.

C.J. Anderson

25 carries, 118 yards, 1 touchdown & 3 targets, 3 receptions, 36 yards, 1 touchdown

The Broncos offence as a whole looked great. Losing Bolles for a few games will hurt, as they made efforts to improve the line in the offseason, but if Anderson can stay healthy, you’d be silly to doubt his skill. His workload is one of the most secure in the entire league at the position. Catching the ball is a nice new development as well.

Todd Gurley

16 carries, 88 yards, 1 touchdown & 4 targets, 3 receptions, 48 yards, 1 touchdown

He’s aliiiiiiiveeeeeee. Hurley hurled on two guys on the weekend.  Correction, we are now seeing that he apparently “hurdled” the two sorry souls. Our fault. WOW. Prior to this weekend, the first interpretation seemed more believable. Now we are seeing what we remembered to be true of Gurley, and the receptions are where a lot of the damage is coming from in the first two weeks. Last year, if he wasn’t having success rushing the ball, which was often, he was eliminated from the game plan. The receiving game production looks like his floor is a lot safer than even those taking the risk on drafting him would’ve expected.

Melvin Gordon

9 carries, 13 yards, 1 touchdown & 8 targets, 7 receptions, 65 yards

For whatever reason, Gordon couldn’t get it going on the ground. What he could do was get it going through the air. It was an odd game, in which defence took centre stage, but you’ve got to love the usage in the receiving department. This was Gordon’s career best outing in the receiving department in terms of opportunity with highs in targets and receptions, as well as total receiving yardage. This is a trend that should give hope to owners. You drafted him to score touchdowns, but it looks like he’s added to his game in the offseason.

Rob Kelley/Samaje Perine

12 carries, 78 yards/21 carries, 67 yards, 1 target, 1 reception, 0 yards

We should respect both the work that was done, and the opportunity that presents itself in this scenario. It shouldn’t be looked at as a complete loss for Kelley owners. However, because the injury clouds both players, we can’t be too sure what to make of it. If Kelley is to miss time, the opportunity is too large on a solid offence to ignore Perine. If Kelley is just banged up and ready to go sooner than later, he should be able too build off of this game. He looked great. This may be one of the few situations in which having both the starter and the backup will pay major dividends.

Bilal Powell

6 carries, 13 yards & 2 targets

The intrigue with Powell coming into the year was the fact that he would always be a part of the game script, mostly due to the fact the Jets are likely going to find themselves down more often than not. It looks like the Jets just legitimately don’t want to win. Forte actually looked… good? Nearing 100 total yards, this is how we imagined Powell providing value. This is not a good scene. The total count of Jets to own in fantasy has bottomed out at zero.

Derrick Henry/DeMarco Murray

14 carries, 92 yards, 1 touchdown/9 carries, 25 yards & 2 targets, 1 reception, 3 yards

Henry got his opportunity, and he ran with it (pun fully intended). Going forward, this could be a messy situation, but you’d much rather have the piece that cost you much less draft capital. Henry is the most important backup in the league, and he doesn’t even look like a backup anymore. It will be interesting to see more red zone work in the coming weeks, to see if the Titans will consistently use him as the hammer. However, the saving grace with DeMarco is his presence and history in the passing game. Game script may be what to monitor going forward, so perhaps judge it based on when they may be playing from behind to play Murray.

Kerwyn Williams

This project failed, move on.

 

Happy Week 3!

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