Fantasy Football: Week two dudes, duds, and deceivers
Devonta Freeman, Running Back, Atlanta Falcons
Once again, Ito Smith led the Atlanta Falcons in rushing yards. He did so with just 32 yards. Devonta Freeman carried the ball 11 times and managed just 22 rushing yards. As a Freeman owner myself in one league, I’m very concerned.
Even in a close game, the Falcons just don’t seem to run the ball. Now, neither team ran the ball much in this game, so there is still a sliver of hope that a game scenario will pop up for the Falcons in the near future where they feature Freeman in the run game. But I’m not holding my breath.
Freeman did manage to catch three passes for 42 yards, salvaging his fantasy day to the slightest extent, but that is not going to cut it from a second or third-round fantasy pick.
It’s certainly not time to give up completely on Freeman and drop him, or even sell him very low. There is still a chance that the Falcons can grab an early lead in the coming weeks and actually rely a bit on the running back.
However, with Smith’s involvement and they way the offensive gameplan looks so far, I’d definitely be willing to move on from Freeman for the right price. At this point, at the very least I would take him out of your starting lineup, if you have a suitable replacement, until we see some production.
Mike Evans, Wide Receiver, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Now let me start with this. I am not, by any means, saying that Mike Evans is a bust or that you need to get rid of him for whatever you can get. I’m simply saying that not being in the top 70 receivers after two weeks is reasonable cause for concern.
I’m sure Evans will be fine. He’ll get back on track and have a huge game sometime soon to silence the “hate”. But for now, I’d be at least a little worried if I spent a second-round pick on Evans.
Chris Godwin has been the clear, far-and-away number one receiver in Tampa Bay for fantasy. While Evans has a total of six catches for 89 yards, Godwin has 11 catches, 174 yards, and one touchdown in each of his first two games.
So no need to go into complete panic mode just yet, but it is definitely a situation to keep an eye on. At the very least, I am not even necessarily buying low on Evans right now. Of course there is a price for everyone, but I would not be excited to add Mike Evans to my fantasy team right now, unless I was completely stacked at receiver and another position that I could afford to give up a valuable player at to wait and see on Evans.
Kenyan Drake/Kallen Ballage, Running Backs, Miami Dolphins
This situation goes to show the value of owning a team’s starting running back in fantasy football. There were tons of conversations about the Miami running back situation leading up to fantasy drafts, with many people having differing opinions about where the two backs should be drafted.
Right now, it looks like the correct answer is nowhere. They should not have been drafted at all. Neither of them. The Dolphins are playing so poorly right now, that they can hardly afford to run the ball. They get down so quickly that they are just trying to play catch up all game long. And when they do run, their offensive line doesn’t give these backs any room to move.
Kenyan Drake was dealing with an injury leading up to the start of the season, so there was a lot of hype around Ballage, and the fact that he may be the starter for the first few weeks of the season. As it turned out, Drake was healthy enough to play week one, but it really didn’t matter.
Drake and Ballage have combined to score a total of 18.9 fantasy points through two weeks. Drake has over triple the amount of points that Ballage does, but he was also swirled around in the everlasting Miami trade rumor mill. So right now, if you own either of these backs I’d say wait and see how it plays out, if you can afford to.
If you need to cut a guy to pick up an injury-replacement QB or any other position player with more upside, both are expendable to me at this point. Ballage more-so than Drake right now given the difference in fantasy production, but if Drake is traded, Ballage may be the recipient of a whopping 5-10 carries a game! Nothing to be excited about in terms of fantasy at all on the Dolphins this year, and I’d avoid this situation if at all possible.
Mitchell Trubisky, Quarterback, Chicago Bears
Mitchell Trubisky is the 29th ranked quarterback in fantasy after two weeks. He has thrown for 348 yards, one touchdown, and one interception in two games. He has looked bad. Very bad.
Some people had pretty high expectations for Trubisky this season. After a decent season a year ago, many expected Mitch to take another step in the Chicago Bears, Matt Nagy offense. But he has been nothing but disappointing for Bears fans and fantasy owners to this point in the season.
The Bears still managed to win their game this week against the Broncos, albeit due to a rather bogus roughing the passer call. But if the Bears want to live up to their playoff expectations, the former second overall pick needs to step up his game, and step it up fast.