The best way to sum up Week 2 is that it was a humdinger, a word used only by grandmothers and Nuke LaLoosh in Bull Durham. We learned that a few things are for real, like every piece of the Ravens’ passing game. We learned that injuries to quarterbacks can drastically impact skill players’ values (see Steelers, Pittsburgh and Saints, New Orleans). And we learned that Patrick Mahomes is probably critically undervalued no matter what we do with him.

As with every week, there’s movement in the trade values as we continue to gain more and more information. Using our trade chart to weigh a proposed deal, you can easily evaluate the merits of any trade in any format. Just add the values on both sides of the deal to see which fantasy owner comes out ahead.

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Quarterbacks

 
First, the injuries to Ben Roethlisberger and Drew Brees (not to mention Cam Newton’s questionable status) mean there are simply fewer reliable options left, even in a one-quarterback league. That generally leads to an increase in quarterback values across the board.

Of course, that doesn’t entirely account for the big jumps in value for Mahomes and Lamar Jackson. There’s no playbook for someone with Mahomes’ arm playing in an Andy Reid offense. He could easily continue to climb with each passing week, despite the optimal strategy of keeping in check the values of quarterbacks in a one-quarterback league.

As for Jackson, fantasy owners should obviously keep in mind that he has faced the Dolphins and the Cardinals, two of the worst defenses in the league. It’s reasonable to expect his numbers to regress some. But the Ravens had all offseason to design their offense around his strengths, he’s shown a better passing ability than expected in the early going, and he has decent weapons around him. Like Mahomes, his value could easily continue to grow.

Running Backs

 
Where to begin, where to begin? Well, Alvin Kamara should still be valued as the fifth-best running back in all formats (in my opinion), but his value drops significantly without Brees for at least the next six weeks. He’ll surely still produce outstanding numbers, but with defenses likely to respect the pass far less with Teddy Bridgewater under center, Kamara is going to have fewer chances for big plays. He’s an elite talent and will be a rock-solid starter, but he’s obviously not where he was in value just a few days ago.

Neither are Dalvin Cook, Aaron Jones, or Derrick Henry, as all three move up heavily in value. Cook is an elite runner in an offensive system that wants to lean on the run and utilizes a blocking system perfectly designed to his talents. If he stays healthy (always the big “if” with Cook), he has a legitimate chance to finish as the top back in fantasy.

Matt LaFleur stated today that he wants even reps for Aaron Jones and Jamaal Williams. Despite the absurdity of that statement, even assuming that’s true, I’m sure there’s one thing LaFleur wants more — to win football games. His chances of doing that are obviously much greater the more work Jones gets, as anyone in their right mind could see on Sunday against the Vikings (or if they watched any Packers game in which both backs played last season).

If those comments create a buy-low window for you on Jones, I’d sneak right through. Jones is a powerful runner who is far more explosive than Williams and, more times than not, cream rises to the top. Value Jones as a low-end RB1 in trades and try not to let the Williams talk distract you.

As for Henry, there’s just no denying what’s going on here. He’s running well, he’s getting work, and he plays for a team that, because of their defense, will likely rarely have a negative game script. Ding him just a tad in PPR leagues, but other than that, there should be few questions.

As of this writing, there isn’t all that much information about Devin Singletary’s hamstring or the Chiefs’ running backs’ injuries. Deal for any of them with caution, but I’m assuming for now that none will miss more than perhaps a game or two.

And Carlos Hyde is the more valuable Texans running back at the moment. Running extremely well in Week 1 against the Saints was impressive, but 20 carries for 90 yards against the Jaguars speaks volumes about where he is in the pecking order with Duke Johnson. We’ve seen enough of Hyde to know he isn’t an elite running back at this point, and the Texans gave up significant draft capital for Johnson and none for Hyde. But fantasy owners derided Lamar Miller all the way to their playoffs for the past few seasons. They can do the same with Hyde now.

Wide Receivers

 
I don’t know how you should properly analyze the Patriots’ wide receivers. Last week, I left Antonio Brown off the trade chart entirely because it was unclear whether he’d even play on Sunday, let alone the rest of the season. But he did play, and played well. It’s unclear whether there will be any discipline at all or, if so, how many games Brown will miss. It’s an educated guess at this point, and whether you trade for Brown is mainly about your risk tolerance. But I’m assuming for now that he plays the majority (but not all) of the season, which slightly weakens both Julian Edelman’s and Josh Gordon’s value.

Both Michael Thomas and JuJu Smith-Schuster see downgrades in trade values with the loss of their quarterbacks, but Smith-Schuster takes a bit more of a hit. While Thomas saw (and will likely continue to see) an incredible target share with Bridgewater under center, early returns on Mason Rudolph suggest that he’ll spread the ball around a bit more than Ben Roethlisberger likely would have. Both are still WR1s, however, and to the extent their fantasy owners are overly concerned, don’t hesitate to swoop in and make a move.

Veterans Larry Fitzgerald, John Brown, and Emmanuel Sanders look like they’re for real, and all three have both looked impressive and appear to be in favorable situations. Buy the resurgence.

Marquise Brown, Terry McLaurin, and John Ross may all continue to move up in value, the former in particular. Opinions can’t be totally transformed in just two games, but all three appear likely to have long-term value.

Finally, nobody freak out about Mike Williams having been off the trade chart last week. At the time of the writing, concerns about his knee sounded serious. He not only played last week, but he also contributed significantly. He should be good to go from here on out, absent health concerns, and he no longer has Hunter Henry to steal his targets.

Tight Ends

 
Maybe the hype on T.J. Hockenson was a bit overblown, but that shouldn’t stop us from pushing all our chips in on Mark Andrews, right? 16 receptions and, perhaps more importantly, 17 targets through the first two weeks is simply not something that can be ignored, regardless of the matchup. For now, all signs point to you wanting any piece of this Ravens offense that you can get. With the severe lack of reliable tight ends, Andrews makes as good a target as any.

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Dan Harris is a featured writer for FantasyPros. For more from Dan, check out his archive or follow him on Twitter @danharris80.