StatLogic Sports NFL Fantasy Football Week 2 Wire

This is our weekly Day After NFL fantasy football article. Each week, our StatLogic fantasy performance will be tracked at the bottom of the page. We have 10 teams in money and high-stakes leagues, one NFFC Cutline team and three teams in Guillotine leagues.

By Scott L. - SL Sports Staff

Week 1 of the National Football League season is great for evaluating our fantasy football drafts, but that's just where the work begins. We can't relax if the early returns were spectacular and shouldn't panic if it was a disaster.

Everything in moderation.

If our stud receivers, quarterback or running backs didn't perform, it doesn't mean we drafted poorly. That happens whenever there are competitive world-class athletes on both sides of the ball, and it is a scenario that plays out in all sports.

Likewise, if our top draft picks blew it out of the water and we rolled to nearly 200 points, that doesn't mean that we are the favorites to walk away with a league championship.

Depth is what wins fantasy championships, so in evaluating our drafts - and trying to predict potential future performance - that's what needs to be examined first. For those who drafted Ja'Marr Chase, Nico Collins, Amon-Ra St. Brown, Chase Brown, Kenneth Walker (we tried to tell you), AJ Brown or Brian Thomas, it doesn't matter if the team laid an egg this week. Those guys are going to be fine (except Walker); what's important is who was drafted in the later rounds.

How did the bench do?

Kudos to those who drafted Keenan Allen, Hollywood Brown, Javonte Williams, Quentin Johnston, Keon Coleman, Deebo Samuel, Michael Pittman, Kayshon Boutte, Emeka Egbuka, Juwan Johnson and any others who out-performed expectations in Week 1. While our teams had a stellar Week 1 in terms of points and wins - our money-league teams went 9 -1 - the one game we lost 100 percent was because we didn't have one or more of those bench guys in the lineup.

The fact is that they shouldn't have been in the lineup. Playing hunches or matchups in Week 1 defeats the purpose of all the time and energy that went into preparing for the draft.

But if those guys were on the bench, it's a great sign and should soften the blow of any losses resulting from bad showings by players who have proven to be top fantasy producers over a large sample size.

Anyone who lost a game because Chase stunk and Hollywood Brown played like a WR1 should be more excited than dejected. Brown has always had the tools and potential to be a top NFL receiver; for him, it's just a matter of staying healthy. But it's not easy to win the trust of Patrick Mahomes, and based on the targets and usage in Week 1, Brown has a chance to be a difference-maker if he can stay healthy.

None of these Week 1 breakouts means that those players are going to produce that way every week or that a team is destined to win a championship, but anyone who has them did a great job drafting and certainly has a chance to contend. And the odds of making a deep playoff run probably are better for teams with lineups good enough to have them on the bench, even if Week 1 didn't go well.

That said, there are no weeks off in fantasy football. This is not the time to take a deep breath or relax. It's time to hunker down and analyze the roster.

The first place to start is by looking at the overachievers. Why did they out-perform expectations? Was it because they caught a long touchdown or broke one long run for a score or had four carries for five yards and two touchdowns? Or was it because they were an integral part of the game plan, played a majority of the snaps and had a high volume of touches or targets?

Of course, we're not going to drop a player who put up big Week 1 numbers because they caught two balls for 90 yards and a TD, but we do need to flag that player and be prepared to see if the usage goes up or down in the next few weeks. Likewise, a player who scored well and clearly was a priority in his team's game plan is someone to flag as a potential future starter.

Are we moving Hollywood Brown into our WR1 or WR 2 slots over Chase or another proven longterm successful fantasy performer? No. But he probably deserves WR3 or flex consideration and may move into WR2 territory with a few more games resembling his Week 1 showing.

Next, managers absolutely must compare the other players on their benches to what is available on the waver wire. Whether a team scored 190 or 90 points doesn't matter; scouring waivers and free-agent lists must become a routine Tuesday-morning task for anyone who is serious about winning their league.

Discipline and patience are key early in the season, but it's still not a time to ignore a potential depth piece who appears to be a much larger part of his team's plans that anticipated - specially if he put up solid Week 1 numbers. That's not to say anyone should consider dropping a strong potential depth player such as Rashid Shaheed or Darnell Mooney for a Week 1-wonder such as Calvin Austin, Johnston or Keon Coleman, but it's imperative that managers go through the same evaluation process for available free agents that they did in analyzing the performance of their bench players.

If a bench player scored some points, but it was more touchdown or big-play driven, putting a bid in on a player such as Coleman, who came into the NFL with high expectations a year ago and was a go-to for Josh Allen whenever he was in trouble Sunday, our Boutte, who once was considered a first-round talent before a bad run of injuries, might make sense. Boutte saw a team-best eight targets for New England, caught a team-high six balls and posted better than 100 yards. Those numbers are hard to ignore, with the only potential red flag being his 17 yards-per-catch average.

Johnston looks to be a red-zone target for Justin Herbert in San Diego. Another player whose physical tools never have been doubted, the only concern about Johnston has been his hands. He's going to drop balls. That has been proven, but he scored two TDs in Week 1 while also getting seven targets. If you're completely touchdown dependent, that's a problem, but if you are a red-zone target and get looks all over the field, the upside is very good.

Saints tight end Juwan Johnson is a player who always has been TD dependent, but he ran more than 40 routes Sunday, played better than 70 snaps, was targeted 11 times and put up 20 fantasy points. Those numbers can't be ignored and actually could make him a flex option for a fantasy team that has a premium starting tight end. New Orleans will be playing from behind often with an inexperienced QB at the helm, so dumping the ball off to a reliable tight end is going to seem pretty enticing to Spencer Rattler. Johnson is worth free-agent consideration even for managers who have a solid TE starting option.

Cleveland's Raheim Sanders is at the top of the points list for available running backs in most leagues. Upon further review, however, he had three yards on three carries and one touchdown. That's one to avoid.

Some bench-player situations are going to scream at owners that it's already time to go in a different direction. If players such as Chris Rodriguez, Jerome Ford or Dameon Pierce were late-round depth selections, dropping one of them for the opportunity to grab a higher-upside, higher-usage player right away should be considered. It might be worth waiting a week to give up on Jaydon Blue since the Dallas offense wasn't great at Philadelphia, but it was clear that Javonte Williams and Miles Sanders are in front of him at the moment. Pittsburgh's Kaleb Johnson may be worth holding for another week or two because many managers drafted him way too early, but it doesn't look good for him in Pittsburgh.

Of course, injuries to key starters or depth players might force a managers's hand (sorry George Kittle owners), so some will have no choice but to try to grab someone off waivers. No matter what, though, go through the process to ensure that the player with the best odds being counted on each week is acquired.

Week 1 Free Agents to Consider

This list is geared more toward deeper and high-stakes leagues. Of course, if players such as Kareem Hunt, Keon Coleman, Keenan Allen or Hollywood Brown are available in a league, they should be seriously considered.

Juwan Johnson

Keyshon Boutte

Quentin Johnston

Dylan Sampson

Demario Douglas

Harold Fannin

Eric Ayomanor

Brenton Strange

Cedric Tillman

Olamide Zaccheus

Kenneth Gainwell

Daniel Jones

Aaron Rodgers

Wan'Dale Robinson

Michael Penix

Geno Smith

StatLogic Sports Week 1 Fantasy Wrap

Here is a quick look at how our teams are performing:

Guillotine Teams: 3 teams - all still alive, 1 barely

Full-season Money & High Stakes Teams:

Overall record: 9-1

1 team leads the league in scoring

6 teams rank second in the league in scoring

2 teams rank third in the league in scoring

NFFC Cutline Team: 177.1 points (third in league)