Early season Fantasy Football is not just about wins and losses. Often, it's about learning. But one week is hardly a big enough sample size to say we learned anything. Sure, Clyde Edwards-Helaire is a featured back; Josh Jacobs and Jonathan Taylor have more receiving upside than we expected; and Austin Ekeler may have a lot less. But some of the more interesting backfields still have unanswered questions. We'll hope to have answers for one of them on Thursday night.

The Cleveland Browns told us they wanted to split things more evenly, but no one expected Kareem Hunt to out-touch Nick Chubb in Week 1. You can convince yourself that's because the Browns got blown out (Hunt and Chubb had the same number of first half touches), but Week 2 should give us more information. If it truly is a 50-50 split moving forward, Hunt is going to be the more valuable back because of his usage in the passing game.

In Indianapolis, Marlon Mack's injury cleared things up a little bit, but we still need more information about the deployment of Taylor and Nyheim Hines. Last week saw more targets than expected for Taylor and more carries than expected for Hines. Specifically, I'll be interested in seeing who sees a majority of the red zone work. Taylor is the better talent, but both of these backs have top-10 upside if they're used in the right ways.

I didn't really have a question about the Seahawks before Week 1, but I sure do now. Chris Carson caught six passes and two touchdowns, but we can't really celebrate that because Carlos Hyde saw more carries. Are the Seahawks really going to let Russ cook? Can Carson be the third option in the passing game? Is Hyde going to be that involved every week? Sunday Night Football should tell us more.

Week 2 RB Preview
Who's Out
Numbers to Know
Matchups That Matter
Waiver Wire Targets
DFS Plays
Projections
RB Preview
Who's Out

The following players are not being projected to play Week 2 at this time. Here's what it means:

Who's Out
Projections powered by Sportsline
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Marlon Mack RB
ARI Arizona • #37
Age: 28 • Experience: 7 yrs.
Mack is out for the year. Jonathan Taylor and Nyheim Hines are both starters in his absence.
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Le'Veon Bell RB
TB Tampa Bay • #6
Age: 32 • Experience: 8 yrs.
Bell was placed injured reserve Tuesday, but can return after three weeks. Frank Gore and Josh Adams will handle most of the touches, but they're no more more desperation flexes..
RB Preview
Numbers to know
  • 6 -- Josh Jacobs saw six targets in Week 1. He only had one game with more than three last year.
  • 1.0 -- Leonard Fournette averaged a yard per carry on his five Week 1 carries. That gives Ronald Jones an excellent shot at a big workload in Week 2 against Carolina.
  • 28 -- Chase Edmonds played 28 snaps in Week 1. He never played that many in a reserve role in 2019. This may be more of a committee than was projected.
  • 11% -- Christian McCaffrey's target share in Week 1 was approximately half of what it was in 2019.
  • 26% -- Antonio Gibson played just 26% of Washington's offensive plays. That needs to double before he'll be a reliable Fantasy contributor.
  • 3 -- Austin Ekeler had 3 yards receiving in Week 1. He only had two games below 20 yards in 2019.
RB Preview
Matchups that matter
Matchups that Matter
Projections powered by Sportsline
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Kareem Hunt RB
KC Kansas City • #29
Age: 29 • Experience: 8 yrs.
Weekly Breakdown
MATCHUP
vs CIN CLE -6 O/U 44
OPP VS RB
10th
PROJ PTS
13
RB RNK
12th
YTD Stats
RUYDS
72
REC
4
REYDS
9
TD
0
FPTS/G
11
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Ronald Jones RB
DAL Dallas • #32
Age: 27 • Experience: 6 yrs.
Weekly Breakdown
MATCHUP
vs CAR TB -9 O/U 49
OPP VS RB
NR
PROJ PTS
13.1
RB RNK
20th
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Devin Singletary RB
NYG N.Y. Giants • #26
Age: 27 • Experience: 6 yrs.
Weekly Breakdown
MATCHUP
@ MIA BUF -5.5 O/U 41.5
OPP VS RB
16th
PROJ PTS
11.1
RB RNK
25th
YTD Stats
RUYDS
30
REC
5
REYDS
23
TD
0
FPTS/G
10
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Melvin Gordon RB
BAL Baltimore • #33
Age: 31 • Experience: 9 yrs.
Weekly Breakdown
MATCHUP
vs TEN TEN -3 O/U 41.5
OPP VS RB
NR
PROJ PTS
8.8
RB RNK
26th
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James Robinson RB
NO New Orleans • #26
Age: 26 • Experience: 4 yrs.
Weekly Breakdown
MATCHUP
@ TEN TEN -10 O/U 43
OPP VS RB
NR
PROJ PTS
12.1
RB RNK
32nd
RB Preview
Waiver Wire Targets
Week 2 Adds
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Jerick McKinnon RB
KC Kansas City • #1
Age: 32 • Experience: 10 yrs.
Weekly Breakdown
MATCHUP
@ NYJ SF -7 O/U 42.5
OPP VS RB
14th
RB RNK
34th
ROSTERED
58%
We don't know how much of it was because of the air quality and Tevin Coleman's health, but McKinnon looked like the clear No. 2 running back in Week 2. For now he's a PPR flex, but there's more upside than that. If George Kittle can't go in Week 2 McKinnon's targets could explode.
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Frank Gore RB
NYJ N.Y. Jets • #21
Age: 41 • Experience: 17 yrs.
Weekly Breakdown
MATCHUP
vs SF SF -7 O/U 41.5
OPP VS RB
22nd
RB RNK
NR
ROSTERED
31%
I know no one actually wants to use Frank Gore, but if you waited this long he may just be your best bet in non-PPR. In full PPR I'd prefer J.D. McKissic or Josh Adams as a desperation play.
Stashes
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Devonta Freeman RB
BAL Baltimore • #34
Age: 32 • Experience: 9 yrs.
Weekly Breakdown
MATCHUP
@ DAL DAL -5 O/U 52.5
OPP VS RB
22nd
RB RNK
NR
OWNED
10%
With a variety of Week 1 running back injuries it wouldn't be surprising to see a team take a shot on Freeman. We don't know for sure what he has left, but if he could land somewhere with a pass-catching role he'd have PPR appeal.
RB Preview
DFS Plays
Top Play
Projections powered by Sportsline
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Ezekiel Elliott RB
DAL Dallas • #15
Age: 29 • Experience: 9 yrs.
Weekly Breakdown
MATCHUP
vs ATL DAL -5 O/U 52.5
OPP VS RB
25th
PROJ PTS
21.5
RB RNK
2nd
FANDUEL
$8,600
DRAFTKINGS
$8,200
Elliott's usage in the passing game was very encouraging and a Week 2 matchup against the Falcons could be the biggest shootout of the week. Elliott is significantly cheaper than Christian McCaffrey and has a much better matchup than Saquon Barkely. He'll be in both of my cash game lineups and I'll load up on him in tournaments as well.
Contrarian Play
Projections powered by Sportsline
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Ronald Jones RB
DAL Dallas • #32
Age: 27 • Experience: 6 yrs.
Weekly Breakdown
MATCHUP
vs CAR TB -9 O/U 49
OPP VS RB
NR
PROJ PTS
13.1
RB RNK
38th
FANDUEL
$5,900
DRAFTKINGS
$5,200
I understand if this makes you cringe, but I expect Jones to see 15-plus touches in a very good matchup against the Panthers. There's very little floor here but we don't care about floor in tournaments anyway.
RB Preview
Heath's Projections

So who should you start and sit this week? And which surprising quarterback could lead you to victory? Visit SportsLine now to get Week 2 rankings for every position, plus see which QB is going to come out of nowhere to crack the top 10, all from the model that out-performed experts big-time last season.