Cracking DraftKings Week 2

Sunday Morning Update:

Check back each Sunday Morning around 9:30 AM EST for any final thoughts or updates to the article.

Week 1 Results- 0-1 

Well that went about as poorly as possible. When six of your nine roster spots get the dreaded snowflake icon next to them, you might as well close shop and move on to the next week. It’s easy to point and say that Kyler Murray’s injury was the reason this lineup lost, but it was over far before that. It’s a long season, but never a great way to start 0-1. However, if there is some upside, it is that injuries to key positions are going to happen throughout the year on a somewhat random basis. So if I’m going to hit an injury landmine such as Kyler Murray in Week 1, at least the rest of the lineup performed poorly as well, as you have a next to zero chance of cashing anything when your quarterback scores less than one point.

The Good:

• Absolutely nothing.

The Bad:

• Not playing Devaughn Vele was a mistake.
• Saquon Barkley was the most disappointing player of the day. He started off very strong, but finished the day with just 83 rushing yards. There was some hope that under new offensive coordinator Sean Mannion they may turn to Barkley on more receiving routes, but that did not occur as he caught just one pass for -3 yards. Until we start to see them get Barkley involved in the passing game, he’s an avoid for future weeks.
• Despite scoring 27 points, both Michael Mayer and Tre Tucker somehow both disappointed, as the only player worthwhile in Las Vegas was Ashton Jeanty.
• De’Von Achane was also disappointing. Trailing most of the game, the Dolphins just did not throw the ball to him enough to get the value as he’s a player that you’re going to really need 6-7 catches for him to reach value. He’s big play dependent, and the Raiders defense was one of the more impressive units in Week 1.

Week 2 Strategy:

Week 2 is always one of the most difficult weeks of the season. The trick is finding the balance of off-season compared to Week 1. We spend all offseason thinking we know what is going to happen during the regular season, but once Week 1 kicks off, we seemingly throw all of that out the window and overreact to Week 1. This is not to say that Week 1 should be completely ignored but instead balanced with what we thought would occur in the offseason.

Players getting Overhyped:

This is not saying that they will not have great years, but instead it is saying just be careful on auto-plugging these guys into your roster. Take a wait and see approach on at least some of them, as there will be people plugging all four of them into the same lineup.

• David Montgomery- He was propped up because of finding the end-zone three times last week, but averaged just 3.0 yards per carry. The volume was encouraging with 20 carries, but needs to do more behind a bad offensive line.
• Christian Watson- He had 6 receptions for 147 yards and 2 touchdowns. Obviously a tremendous game, but he was out targeted by Matthew Golden. Watson has one or two of these types of games per season as he’s a big play deep threat, but on a week-to-week basis he’s not consistent enough to be considered in cash games. That could all change based on the Packers removing some of the competition in Romeo Doubs and Dontayvion Wicks, but for now I’m not overreacting.
• Jalen Coker- Look, I may be the president of the Jalen Coker fan club, so this one is a bit painful to write. However, taking a wait-and-see approach with Coker is likely the right move. Coker was awesome in Week 1, catching 8 passes for 138 yards and 2 touchdowns. However, he did catch eight of his nine targets in a game that Bryce Young threw for 361 yards. Tet McMillan is still going to have a significant role and likely be their number one receiver, but Coker is going to be fun this season as a potential third-year breakout performer. In an ideal world, he has nine targets once again this week, but not nearly the yards or touchdowns, and then he remains undervalued in Week 3.
• Ashton Jeanty- What we don’t know yet is whether Ashton Jeanty has emerged as an elite running back now that Las Vegas has built an offensive line around center Tyler Lindenbaum, or if Miami is a historically bad defense given their cap issues due to the release of Tua Tagovailoa, Tyreek Hill, and the trade of Jaylen Waddle. What is most encouraging about Jeanty was the 29 touches which was a career-high, but it’s hard to completely dismiss the 3.7 yards per carry last season. This is a scenario where last year we were expecting Breece Hall to have a massive breakout season based on his 107-yard performance in Week 1 last season. The reality is that he regressed back to his normal self the remainder of the season.

Players being dismissed because of a bad Week 1:

• Jayden Daniels- Struggled in a tough matchup against Philadelphia, offseason issues have fans turning against him.
• Drake Maye- Has faced nothing but the game’s best defenses in his last five games dating back to the playoffs last year. More than capable at a deflated price.
• Ja’Marr Chase- Starts slow every season. Still has led the NFL in targets the past two seasons.

While Week 1 was a losing week, the strategy was not a bad one and it’s a lineup that was close. Prioritizing elite running backs in premier matchups and, if you can find a way to pay up for one of the truly elite wide receivers, has been the move since 2024, since the elite days of Rob Gronkowski, Travis Kelce, Jimmy Graham, and Zach Ertz ended. Now, Josh Allen may test that theory for future weeks, but he’s not on this slate. If we just look at last week, Derrick Henry, Jahmyr Gibbs, and Ashton Jeanty all scored over 30 points, while the mid-range players of Bucky Irving, Chase Brown, De’Von Achane, James Cook III, Omarion Hampton, and Quinshon Judkins all struggled.

Injury Creates Opportunity

There are a lot of injuries that we’re monitoring, but not as many that are obvious. This could be a very important Sunday Morning Update with all of the wide receivers that are questionable.