Fantasy football: 5 changes ahead of Week 3 you need to know about
Obviously, a lot of things happen every single week in football, but Week 2 almost feels like an outlier. The injuries (and benching's) of big name players highlight the major changes from Week 2, but much more went on. As we try not to overreact and underreact, here are five changes from Week 2 that you need to know about.
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There are a handful of new, starting quarterbacks
Ben Roethlisberger is out for the season. Trevor Siemian, in relief of Sam Darnold, is also out for the season. Drew Brees is going to miss some time, likely six weeks. Cam Newton's status is iffy. Eli Manning has been benched.Â
A new crew of quarterbacks debuted last week. Mason Rudolph is under center in Pittsburgh. The Jets are rolling with Luke Falk until Sam Darnold is cured from the kissing disease, which may be sooner than later. The Saints are going to attempt this whole quarterback committee thing with both Teddy Bridgewater and Taysom Hill. If Newton can't go, Kyle Allen will be helming the Carolina offense. Daniel Jones, a somewhat controversial first-round pick, has been given the keys to the Giants' castle just two weeks in.
Offenses are going to look different this week and for some, for the foreseeable future. We have to downgrade the starters a bit, but also take shots on some of those back up receivers, tight ends, and running backs. Those are the guys these quarterbacks have been working with during the summer and the first two weeks of this season.
Terry McLaurin is a stud?
A total of 24 receivers have at least 15 targets through two games and McLaurin is one of them. There isn't a receiver in this group with a higher yards per reception average (18.7). His 187 total yards are 11th best among wide receivers, and in PPR leagues he is a WR1 in terms of scoring (top 12).
McLaurin just might be a stud, and if you grabbed him off waivers last week then pat yourself on the back. If, for some reason, he is still available in your league, now is the time to pick him up.
If, or when, the Redskins turn things over to their first-round pick, Dwayne Haskins, McLaurin will be reunited with his college quarterback.
You will want him on your team before that happens.
Carlos Hyde is a problem (for Duke Johnson owners)
The Fantasy community rejoiced when the Browns freed the underutilized Duke Johnson and shipped him to the Texans. When Carlos Hyde was later acquired, no one really panicked because it is not like Hyde was a real threat to Johnson's role when they were teammates in Cleveland.
That is not really the case as of right now.
Although Johnson is incredibly efficient back between the tackles, he is being used in that same old passing game role again. Johnson has six targets to Hyde's lone look, but on the ground, Hyde has double that of Johnson's carries with 30 and nearly double that of Johnson's rushing yards with 173.Â
We were all drafting Johnson way ahead of Hyde, who may even be sitting on waivers in one of your leagues.Â
The usage is incredible frustrating, especially for all us couch coaches out there who know just how good Johnson is. Maybe these coaches are seeing something we aren't?
Malcom Brown is less of a problem than originally perceived, but needs to be owned in leagues
When we drafted Todd Gurley during the offseason there were a lot of questions. These questions knocked him out of the first round and into the second round. The reports about his knee were ominous, but then in Week 1 we saw him run and he looked good.
Malcom Brown is lingering. What is encouraging is we saw Gurley's carries increase from Week 1 (14) to Week 2 (16), while Brown's decreased from eleven to six. It is early, but the numbers suggest Gurley is being eased into a full workload while Brown is being phased out.
Still, given the nature of Gurley's knee issues and the fact that the Rams are in this for the long haul, Brown needs to be owned and would become an immediate RB1 were Gurley to miss any time.
 Le'Veon Bell is still Le'Veon Bell
Bell may have missed over 600 days of football, but he has not missed a beat. Bell looks fresh as ever, elite as ever, and is that bellcow running back that we all know and love. Bell has played on 95% of the Jets' snaps, accounts for 28.6% of their rushing, 14.3% of their targets, and 40.6% of their total touches. Only Sam Darnold and Luke Folk account for a higher percentage of the team's total touches.
He is coming off of a game where he had 31 total touches and that number is only going to increase with the more time Darnold misses and the more time Bell spends playing football. There is no easing Bell in here with this offense.
Did I mention he is also taking snaps out of the wild cat? He can truly do it all and if the Jets get on track here we could potentially be looking at Fantasy's RB1 in 2019.
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