WHO TO TURN TO NOW THE INJURIES ARE HITTING

By Martin Richardson

Week two is in the books and for some it was exciting, for others devastating. Browns fans are in total despair at the news of Nick Chubb being on the wrong end of a terrible looking injury; Giants fans are happy that their team finally showed up after six pointless quarters, but are equally frustrated with their own running back injury. One thing this week did show us is that there are still some diamonds in the rough out there for your fantasy teams and I am not talking about making a move for the evergreen Latavius Murray and Nelson Agholor. Seriously though, they seem to be ageless.

I’m quite excited to delve into the fantasy waiver wire this week, as I think there are some good options for you to sneak into your teams. Two names won’t be a shock, one I think might be a surprise. And to end with, I’ll dish out my ‘Mulligan of the week’ to a team who gets another chance to impress; as well as look at one team who I think needs to get sorted quickly, or the players on their roster are ones to avoid in fantasy terms.

Kyren Williams and Puka Nacua

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Kyren Williams

Rostered by 60%
1 Rushing Touchdown
1 Receiving Touchdown
52 rushing yards
48 receiving yards

Be honest, how many people put a claim in for either or both of these Rams players last week? I wish I had looked to see how many people had them both rostered at the start of the season. I doubt it would be anywhere near the numbers we see now.

I managed to snag Williams and I could not be happier, but that’s mainly because I lost Nick Chubb for the season, so to have Williams come in for me softens the blow considerably.

The Rams will be delighted with how Williams has settled into the starting role in week two, turning in over 50 yards rushing and over 40 yards receiving and two touchdowns. Add that to the 52 yards rushing in week one, and it is clear that Williams is the favoured back. He was on the field for 76 snaps (95%) compared to the 4 snaps (5%) that now back up Ronnie Rivers was on the field.

Williams’ success seems to hide the fact that less than 20 minutes before the game, the Rams decided to deactivate Cam Akers and subsequently allow Williams inherit the RB1 role. This has now lead to Akers being traded to the Vikings for a really low conditional pick in 2026, but who knows if that’s a good deal at this point? All this means that Williams could be an RB2 in fantasy leagues, and if he carries on the form he is in now, he could well be someone with RB1 potential.

With that in mind, if there’s still time get a claim in for Williams as a matter of urgency as the Rams, even though they lost to the 49ers (to which there is no shame), certainly appear frisky this season and have the ability to score some serious fantasy points for you.

Puka Nacua

Rostered by 73%
147 receiving yards
0 touchdowns 

Nacua is no different to Williams- you have to get him now. With two games under his belt that have 119 and 147 yards receiving, Nacua isn’t necessarily that red zone threat, but he will rack up the points as the Rams move the ball down the field. With Kupp still sidelined you have at least two more weeks of him being that WR1, and with games against the Bengals, who have yet to hit top gear, and the Colts, Nacua, like Williams could be a real weapon for you going forward. 

As I mentioned, you have two weeks before Cooper Kupp is off IR. With trips to see specialists, there is no guarantee that Kupp is up to speed for week 5 against the Eagles, and if I was the Rams, I wouldn’t rush him back for that and I’d aim for the following week versus the Cardinals. When he does come back, Kupp is certainly WR1, however, as we see all the time with those top WR pairs, you can’t cover all of them all the time: Jefferson covered- Addison touchdowns; Metcalf covered- Lockett touchdown this week. Nacua could well continue to be a big player on offence regardless of Kupp, and it’s a risk that’s worth keeping an eye on as the weeks go by.

Josh Reynolds

Rostered by 4.7%
66 receiving yards
2 touchdowns 

I had to double check that percentage because that is ridiculously low. It is without doubt that Josh Reynolds is now the WR2 for the Lions. Goff said after that two-touchdown performance, “Yeah, I trust him a hell of a lot. I trust him… He’s been playing at a high level. He started to catch himself in a little bit of a rhythm now, which is good, and get himself open. I think at the end of the day, I trust him and know he’s going to be competitive at the catch point, and he’s proved to be that.”

Sounds like that chemistry is there and when you can lean on that as a QB, there will be benefits for your fantasy lineups. Even with Marvin Jones and Kalif Raymond in the mix, as well as the suspended Jameson Williams, I don’t think any of those will impact on how important Reynolds has been for the Lions offence. He has taken a step forward and those two touchdowns this week have shown that he can be in the mix as a solid WR2 on any roster in the league. 

In terms of fantasy football, I’d like to see one more game from him with solid receiving numbers and a touchdown to the mix, but I think the first two weeks have really shown that Goff can lean on him to help push the Lions to a solid season. I sense a sneaky waiver claim coming in this week. I would put a claim in for him and stash him on your bench, to see how he does against the Falcons; should he continue on that upward trend, he could do well against the Packers and Panthers in week four and five respectively.

Mulligan of the Week- Jacksonville Jaguars

There was no way the Chiefs were ever going to lose this game, was there? The Arrowhead crowd rallying behind Mahomes to see him bounce back on his birthday to get their season back on track after the shock loss to the Lions, which some may have seen as a red flag for the season ahead. Add to the mix a returning Travis Kelce, who seems to have some kind of invisible string connecting him to Mahomes and the End Zone, it seemed inevitable that the pair would terrorize the very large blank space that was the Jags defensive set up.

So, it’s the Jaguars who I want to give my ‘Mulligan of the Week’ to. They seemed to take one step forward and three steps back in this game: with Trevor Lawrence not converting any of his seven passing attempts during his trips to the redzone, Calvin Ridley stuttering to 32 yards receiving and Travis Etienne struggling to be the one in the backfield with only 40 yards rushing. Christian Kirk was the Christian Kirk we knew all too well last season, with over 100 yards in the air, but no touchdown to his name. I’m not sure that the Jags need to change anything in order to hit winning ways again (games against Houston and the Falcons will help), they just came up against a team looking to get back on the Super Bowl trail sooner rather than later. So, before you all panic and think that Trevor Lawrence isn’t a top quarterback, he has the chance to shake it off when they play the Houston Texans next week. 

And yes, there are far too many Taylor Swift references in that summary for my liking, so we’ll swiftly (I’m sorry) move to who may well be an issue for fantasy lineups.

Who should you keep an eye on this weekend?

How about them Bears?!

I said last week that I wanted to see more of the Fields to Moore connection and I don’t know if I know any more after that showing at Raymond James Stadium in the loss to the Bucs.

In general, I have no idea what to make of the Bears after two weeks. Not throwing to DJ Moore on week 1 seemed like game management suicide after making him such a big part of the trade with the Panthers.

Then against the Bucs, Fields was launching it to him and Moore was cooking. As a Bucs fan, I was beginning to worry. But then it all fizzled out. Just like week 1. A Chase Claypool (remember him?) touchdown seemed to hide the issues that are beginning to form at the Bears again. 

And on Wednesday, Fields braved the media and when asked about his ‘robotic’ play and he gave the reply, ‘coaching’. All is not well in Chicago. 

Putting this into fantasy perspectives, the problems are not just with the wide receivers; the Bears running backs have some serious issues. The front office might think that Khalil Herbert and Roschon Johnson are the pair to lead them, but they aren’t. Herbert has yet to break over 40 yards in either rushing or receiving yards; so he just can’t be trusted to be your FLEX guy, let alone sit in one of your RB slots. Ok, Johnson got a touchdown week one, but he’s just too much of a gamble to even think of risking him on your starting lineup.

And where is the leap forward that we thought Cole Kmet would make? I worry that the new deal may have forced a few people to think he would be involved a lot more but with less than 15 receptions in the opening two games, I’m not sure he will be. 

And with a match up against the Chiefs on the horizon, I don’t know if the fortunes of the Bears will change anytime soon.

MARTIN RICHARDSON

NFL/FANTASY FOOTBALL ANALYST

A Yorkshireman living in Lancashire, Martin is a massive NFL fan but his heart belongs to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Also a huge Fantasy Football enthusiast and spends far too long crunching the numbers! Follow him at @MRBucsFan31

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