Fantasy Football Player Notes

Remember all of the reports saying how George Pickens is this team's true "WR1"? Two weeks in, and it looks like CeeDee Lamb took that personally. Leading this team in receiving yards in each of their first two games, Lamb is back on the high-end WR1 radar. Last week, Prescott and Lamb exploded for 153 yards and two scores. They are going to need some of that magic as this week they face a tough Jesse Minter defense. Coming off a shocking loss to the Saints, the Ravens look to bounce back against the Cowboys. Despite predicting the Cowboys' defense to be better, they are still allowing the fourth most yards per game. With Lamar Jackson on the other side, Lamb may need to help this team play catch-up in what could become a shootout.

Javonte Williams finds himself on the fringe of fantasy RB1's once again this week. Once again, we have a situation with a solid NFL RB who finds himself as the top ball carrier on one of the league's best offenses. Unfortunately, that means that when he doesn't find the endzone, his fantasy weeks may be underwhelming. After scoring twice in the season opener, he failed to find pay dirt in Week 2, finishing with 50 total yards. It was good to see him be more involved as a receiver, but last week was the Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb show. This week, they face a tough Jesse Minter defense that held the Saints' RBs to 11 total Half PPR fantasy points last week. It will be tough sledding again for Williams; however, he is always a threat to find the end zone. In a tough matchup, I view him as an RB2 with touchdown upside.

After entering the season projected as this team's top target, CeeDee Lamb has stolen the show. Pickens has not been bad, but he has been far from the fringe WR1 fantasy managers drafted him to be. This season, Pickens has nine receptions for 68 yards and no touchdowns. That's not great. Thankfully, we have seen this Cowboys offense explode, and it's only a matter of time before Pickens gets his. This week, the Cowboys face an experienced Jesse Minter defense that may be focused on Lamb. Although Minter is an elite defensive coordinator, we could see this open up some room for Pickens. It's a tough matchup, but with Lamar Jackson on the other side, the Cowboys will need to score points. Keep playing Pickens and know that things should turn around, and when they do, it will be a huge fantasy week.

What a massive bounceback week for Jake Ferguson in Week 2. He opened the season as the TE44 in weekly scoring, only to finish as TE4 last week. The concerning thing in his usage, though, is the fact that his route share fell from 69.4% to 55.6%, but it's only a one-game sample, so I'm not going to freak out. Last week, he did see a 12.9% target share with two of his four targets coming in the red zone. His touchdown equity in this offense remains substantial, but his market share of the passing offense isn't wonderful. Last week, Ferguson did finish with 43 receiving yards (2.15 YPRR), but he had only a 13.6% first-read share. He is a serviceable touchdown-dependent streamer, though. Baltimore ranks 15th in yards per target against tight ends while giving up the 11th-most fantasy points per opportunity to the position. If Ferguson scores this week, you'll likely be happy that you streamed him, but if he is held out of the endzone expect frustration and tears.