Weekly Hail Mary: Week 2

Each week of the football season, HMF will provide you with at least one “Hail Mary” at RB, WR, and TE - a guy who is not generally regarded as a starter for the week, but who has the potential to pay off big.  These are the guys you look to when you’re in dire straits and have nowhere else to turn. They are lottery tickets that are not likely to hit, but if they do, you’ll be thrilled, as you can likely grab them for free off your waiver wire.  We only focus on players who are available in at least one-third of Yahoo! leagues. 

Last week, our picks didn’t fare so hot - especially each “Start of the Week.”  Frank Gore led the Bills in rush attempts, but turned it into only 20 measly yards.  Albert Wilson was injured in the first quarter and did not contribute in the blowout loss to the Ravens.  And tight end Jack Doyle had only one reception for 20 yards. Such is life when you make your living on super-deep fliers.  Hopefully this week will be better; we are still focused on process over results. The Hail Marys for Week 2:

Running Backs

Start of the Week: Malcolm Brown, Rams (11% owned).  Brown handled 11 carries to Todd Gurley’s 14, and punched it in the end zone twice.  From the looks of it, this is going to be close to a 50-50 split in the Rams’ backfield.  In that offense, that carries serious value.  

Giovani Bernard, Bengals (13%).  Joe Mixon was banged up in the game against Seattle, and Bernard handled 7 carries, hauled in 2 catches, and totaled 63 yards.  Not a great stat line by any means, but certainly useful if your desperate. 

Mike Davis, Bears (12%).  As many expected, the Bears used a full-blown running-back-by-committee during their Thursday night opener.  Surprisingly, though, Davis led that committee with 11 touches, including six catches. Fair warning, though: David Montgomery looked significantly more elusive as a runner, and is likely to start stealing more work as the season goes along. 

Dontrell Hilliard, Browns (1%).  This is assuming he gets cleared from his concussion in time for Week 2, but any time a relatively-unknown running back scores a touchdown, you have to take notice.  He’s one of the reasons Cleveland was comfortable trading away Duke Johnson this offseason, so that tells you something. He was the lone bright spot on offense for Cleveland during their abysmal performance against the Titans on Sunday. 

Wide Receivers

Start of the Week: Marquise “Hollywood” Brown, Ravens (31%).  What the what?  When did Lamar Jackson become a competent NFL passer?  Al Davis would love this Ravens team, as it looks like they have the ability to run, run, run, and throw deep, and Brown is the primary reason they have the ability to chuck it down the field.  In his NFL debut, he came up with two long touchdowns, including a 47 yarder and an 83 yarder, finishing the game with 147 yards receiving. Any time you have a player that can change your week with a single catch, he’s worth deep-flier consideration.  Obviously, this guy has talent; he was the first receiver chosen in the NFL draft for a reason. 

D.J. Chark, Jaguars (2%).  Fair warning: Nick Foles is out, and the Jags’ quarterback is now late-round rookie Gardner Minshew.  But Minshew acquitted himself quite well on Sunday, especially given the circumstances. He was an accurate passer and found numerous wide receivers for scores.  Chark’s touchdown actually came from Nick Foles (on the play where Foles got hurt), but he linked up a few times with Minshew thereafter, and Chark finished the game with 146 yards receiving.  He’s only one year removed from being a second-round NFL draft pick, and he ran a 4.34 forty at the combine at 6’3” and nearly 200 pounds. He has the sort of traits that make scouts drool; maybe in his second year in the league he can put it all together. 

A.J. Brown, Titans (3%).  Brown had only three targets on Sunday, but hauled in all of them for 100 yards.  This is an offense to be wary of, but Brown is almost assuredly available in your league, and was a better college player than his more heralded teammate, DK Metcalf.  

Mecole Hardman, Chiefs (15%). This is more of a speculative add, as it appears that Tyreek Hill might be out for a few weeks due to an injury suffered on Sunday.  Hardman can help replace the speed component that Hill brings to the Chiefs offense.  

Terry McLaurin, Washington (3%).  McLaurin, a third-round rookie, led all Washington wide receivers in catches and targets on Sunday, which he turned into 125 yards and a long score.  This Washington offense was generally avoided by fantasy drafters this year, but it looks like they may have a useful piece in McLaurin. 

John Ross, Bengals (9%). Finally, a Bengals coaching staff that knows how to properly use John Ross.  When you have a guy with 4.2 speed, send him deep! Ross responded in a big way on Sunday, hauling in 7 of 12 targets (both team highs) for 158 yards and two long touchdowns. He had only 210 receiving for his CAREER headed into Sunday, so plainly there is some risk here, but I’m buying; I believe Zac Taylor knows how to use this guy, and he’s going to have ample opportunity as long as A.J. Green is out. 

Tight Ends

Start of the Week: Tyler Eifert, Bengals (9%).  Andy Dalton dropped back to throw 51 times on Sunday.  That’s kind of surprising, given the Bengals’ offensive line woes.  It appears that Zac Taylor is a pretty good play-caller, and that he knows exactly how to maximize his players’ strengths.  If he can find a way to make John Ross productive (see above), I see no reason why he can’t turn Eifert into the red zone monster he was in 2015, when he had 13 touchdowns.  The Bengals have the 49ers on tap in Week 2 in their home opener. 

Vernon Davis, Washington (2%).  The sixth overall pick in the 2006 NFL draft hasn’t been viewed as a fantasy starter since his 49ers days, but he’s one of the primary weapons for a better-than-expected Washington passing offense.  The dude ran a 4.38 at the NFL combine, and it doesn’t look like he’s lost much of that speed. He opened the 2019 NFL season with a reception in the flat where he hurdled a defender, shrugged off another, and dashed 48 yards to the end zone.  I doubt he provides much week-to-week consistency, but beyond the top 6-8 guys, tight end is pretty much a dumpster fire, so anyone seeing significant volume (he saw 7 targets on Sunday), they’re worth monitoring. 

Jack Doyle, Colts (29%).  Look, you either believe or you do not.  I believe. In 2017, when Indianapolis’ quarterback was Jacoby Brissett, Doyle had 80 catches on 107 targets.   That season, he did have some games like this past Sunday, where he posted only 20 yards receiving on a single catch.  But he also had only 2 games where he saw fewer than five targets, and that was BEFORE he was coached by Frank Reich. As you may have noticed, Reich has a penchant for throwing to tight ends, especially in the end zone.  I’m going to chalk up Week 1 as an aberration, and count on Doyle to be a low-end TE1 for the rest of this season. 

Mike Gesicki, Dolphins (3%).  The Dolphins were awful on Sunday, and Gesicki was no exception.  But he did see six targets, which was second only to Devante Parker among Dolphins pass-catchers.  Better days are ahead (I mean, they couldn’t get much worse), and if Gesicki manages to continue to see a 19% target share, it’s hard not to be intrigued. 

Jason Witten, Cowboys (11%).  Look, this is kind of like the Frank Gore call from last week. You’re going to hate yourself if you have to start this guy, but he IS getting opportunity.  He was able to shake off a year of retirement rust to come down with a touchdown on Sunday. Buyer beware, though: he saw only 4 targets, and hauled in three of them for a meager fifteen yards receiving.  This is a floor play.