2020 Fantasy Football Bold Week 2 Predictions: Drew Brees better off on your bench without Michael Thomas
Every week, our Yahoo fantasy football crew will reveal their boldest predictions for the action ahead. It’s time to get bold for Week 2!
Drew Brees not an automatic start
Scott Pianowski: Brees used to be the perfect marriage of volume and efficiency. He’s led the league in completions six times, in pass attempts four times, in quarterback rating twice. His statistical resume has black ink all over the page. Mix in Sean Payton and the Superdome, score well.
But Brees is now in an age-41 season, and he looked every bit that age in an ordinary win over Tampa Bay. Don’t let the final score fool you, Brees did not play well (5.3 YPA), though an underrated Bucs defense had something to do with that.
The Raiders defense is nothing special, but Brees will be without star receiver Michael Thomas. The Saints are not deep at receiver, and it’s probably a team better designed to win with its defense and running game. I have Brees outside the Top 20 this week (I’m surprised that isn’t a consensus opinion), and I suspect he’ll be outside the QB1 Circle of Trust for much of 2020.
Ronald Jones ready to run wild
Andy Behrens: I regret to inform any remaining Fournette truthers that Ronald Jones is about to feast. Jones has a clear path to a top-10 positional finish this week, with a user-friendly Carolina defense on deck. The Panthers offered little resistance to Josh Jacobs in the opener, predictably. Jones just handled 19 touches against a quality Saints defense and came away with a respectable 82 yards. If he sees the same workload against Carolina, it’s an easy 100-plus yards and a house call (or two).
Logan Thomas scores again
Liz Loza: It’s still Peach Season so I’m gonna get my TE takes in while I can. Logan Thomas is going to score in back-to-back weeks. In the season opener, he led the Washington pass-catchers with eight looks and was third in snaps with a share of 74 percent (behind Terry McLaurin and Steven Sims). The converted QB was also Dwayne Haskins’ only score. This Sunday he’ll take on a Cardinals defense that has historically struggled against the TE position. Managers who have rostered Blake Jarwin will want to prioritize the Virginia Tech product on Sunday.
[Week 2 Fantasy Rankings: QBs | RBs | WRs | TEs | FLEX | DST | Kickers]
Logan Thomas top-five TE
Dalton Del Don: Thomas received a bunch of hype by the team’s beat writers entering the year, and he answered by scoring in Week 1, when he also led Washington in target share and finished top-three among all tight ends in air yards and WOPR. Washington played at a much faster pace under its new coaching staff, and Thomas should remain busy as the team’s No. 2 target and gets an Arizona defense that was shredded for the most fantasy points against tight ends last season by a significant margin (and were helped by George Kittle getting injured last week). “LT3” was once Virginia Tech’s starting quarterback and is quite the athlete, so given his situation, talent and opponent, Thomas is a top-five fantasy tight end in Week 2.
Breshad Perriman has the combo you need
Matt Harmon: Well this feels ultra disgusting and it’s probably wrong. Breshad Perriman finishes as WR2 in Week 2. See, didn’t that feel bad to even read?
Here’s the deal though. Perriman is the only wide receiver in the league to play 100 percent of his team’s snaps. Now because that was on Adam Gase’s snail-paced Jets offense, it only amounted to 56 plays. Still, we know that when the Jets offense is on the field, Perriman is going to be out there running routes for a team that’s likely to be in negative game scripts all year while tethered to a hideous defense. On Sunday, he’ll be out there against a defense ravaged by injuries to their outside cornerback room. If you need a serious dart throw in DFS or your 20-team league, there’s something here.
