Fantasy football is as much about weekly pickups as it is about your original draft, sometimes even more important. You likely won’t see to many teams that don’t make adjustments during the year, win a fantasy football championship. Every week, I’ll be listing the top players at each position to pickup each week if you want success for not only this week but long term. So without any more delay, let’s get right into the NFL Week 2 pickups.
QBs
Jake Locker – The Titans have the pieces to be an explosive offense, but it all depends on the triggerman. Locker has had an injury filled career thus far, but he’s athletic, has a good arm, and as I said before, has good weapons. His only question will be if he can stay healthy for once.
Brian Hoyer – As much as people would like to see “Johnny Football”, Hoyer actually hasn’t done a bad job since he has been the starter. He hasn’t won too many games, but that’s more of a reflection of the team, not him. He should stay as the starter and put up above average numbers for half the season.
Austin Davis – I’m throwing Davis in there because I may be the only person that sees something in him. When Bradford got hurt in preseason game #3, Davis came on and threw for 198 yards and 2 TDs on 14-22. Last week, Davis threw for 192 yards on 16-23. I think he has something in him, but that’s just me.
RBs
Justin Forsett – Ray Rice is now practically banished by the NFL and Bernard Pierce seems to be deep in the doghouse, so the starting RB spot for the Baltimore Ravens seems to be wide open. Forsett may not get too many goalline chances, but he is shifty and can rack up some good yardage totals.
Ahmad Bradshaw – Here we go again with Trent Richardson. Bradshaw came off the bench to outplay the overrated starter. Richardson only totaled 6 carries for 20 yards. Bradshaw had 85 total yards with 70 coming via the air. Indy is a throwing team and Bradshaw is just simply the better overall RB.
Shonn Greene – On Sunday, Greene rushed for 71 yards in the surprising Titans win. He may be the quietest starting QB in fantasy football. He goes against a reeling Dallas defense and he is only owned in 33% of leagues because people are still waiting on Bishop Sankey to take over. He’s a sneaky play.
WRs
Andrew Hawkins – While everyone, including me, thought that if there was going to be a productive WR in Cleveland, it would be Miles Austin, in steps Hawkins. After being targeted 10 times and getting 8 catches for 87 yards, not only is he a great PPR pick, he also has good value in normal scoring leagues.
Brian Quick – Right at the end of the preseason, Quick received a good amount of hype, however, it may have been too late for you to consider drafting him. Britt has gotten the attention in St. Louis, but Quick stood out with 7 catches for 99 yards last week. He’s big, young, and developing fast. Get him “Quick”ly.
Allen Hurns – I normally don’t recommend players like Hurns, however, his long ball capability resembles heavily to what Josh Gordon had coming into the league. He’ll have some boom/bust weeks, but if you’re willing to take the hit, he’s your guy. He’s a better pick for keeper and dynasty leagues.
TEs
Dwayne Allen – Most people in the preseason were split on who would be the Colts top TE, Allen or Andrew Luck’s college TE teammate Coby Fleener. Allen stood out in game one, not only starting over Fleener, but hauling in 4 catches for yards and a TD, while Fleener only had 3 catches for 21 yards.
Jared Cook – I had Cook as one of my high end #2 TEs. Right there in the 12th to 15th range. For some reason, he was still heavily under-drafted, only being owned in 14% of leagues. Cook had 4 catches for 56 yards and QBs that are inexperienced lean on their TEs. He can be a difference maker.
Larry Donnell – So after 4 weeks of the preseason was completed, no one could still absolutely name the Giants starting TE. After week one, he can now be named, Larry Donnell. Not only did Donnell play in 52 of the 60 offensive snaps, but he also got two red zone targets and cashed in one for the TD.
Defenses
Arizona Cardinals – I love the Cardinals secondary. Don’t let it fool you that Rivers had some room last week, Peterson practically shut down the Chargers top WR Keenan Allen, and their ball-hawk safety Tyrann Mathieu was out with an injury. This team will have some big scoring Def/ST weeks.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers – I’m still not sure how I feel about this defense as a streamer for this week. The Rams maybe a tasty matchup for them, but you never know because they let a Panthers defense that was without their starting QB, Cam Newton, put up 20 point on them. It’s probably a worthy risk to take.
Houston Texans – Even though the Texans lost their star #1 draft pick for 4-6 weeks, this defense is still top 10 worthy as long as JJ Watt can get on that field. Texans defense was better last year than the scoring numbers entail. This team just needs to stop being put in bad positions by their offense.
Those are your pickups for week 2 in the NFL, enjoy the games.
