Surprise Fantasy Football Studs, Duds - Something or Nothing?

September 21, 2021

Week 2 of the 2021 NFL season brought unexpected fantasy football surprises and busts. Mike Riggall analyzes overreactions to Cordarrelle Patterson, Rondale Moore, Maxx Williams, and more.

Week 2 of the NFL season is now in the books and while we saw many familiar names register top-fantasy performances there were a few surprises. The quarterback position was fairly predictable for the most part with Kyler Murray, Tom Brady, Lamar Jackson, Daniel Jones and Aaron Rodgers all registering top-five performances. Derek Carr, Daniel Jones and Kirk Cousins were not considered QB1's in drafts this summer but they've done well in early action and each of them landed inside the top-10 in Week 2. Rob Gronkowski come through again in Week 2 off the heels of a two-touchdown performance, but Travis Kelce led all tight ends with seven catches, 109 yards and a touchdown.

At wide receiver, Cooper Kupp finished No. 1 on the week and has clearly established himself as Matthew Stafford's favorite target in the passing game with 21 targets through two games. Tyler Lockett popped off another long play this week, while Terry McLaurin, Courtland Sutton and Rondale Moore rounded out the top-five at the position. Wide receiver was a little frustrating in Week 2 because there were some unfamiliar faces like Henry Ruggs III, K.J. Osborn and Freddie Swain who finished inside the top-25 and a few stars such as Tyreek Hill underwhelmed.

Derrick Henry carried the ball 35 times for 182 yards and three touchdowns on his way to finishing as RB-1 on the week. Running back was fairly difficult to navigate in Week 2 as Joe Mixon, Miles Sanders, Jonathan Taylor and others really came up small, while Tony Pollard went over 100 yards to finish as RB-3 and J.D. McKissic scored to finish as RB-7. Now, let's take a look at some of the outliers from Week 2 and evaluate whether they're worth a spot on your roster or in your starting lineup.

Sam Darnold, Carolina Panthers

Week 2 Stats: 26-of-38 passing, 305 yards, 2 TD, 1 carry, 7 yards

Sam Darnold finished as QB-13 on the week and eclipsed 20-fantasy points for the second straight week. Darnold is now QB-15 on the season while playing in a very quarterback-friendly offensive system. The Panthers have some very winnable matchups coming up in the near future against the Texans, Cowboys, Eagles and Vikings which makes him a viable streaming option if you need help at quarterback.

Bottom Line: The Panthers face the Houston Texans in Week 3, who have surrendered 30.08 fantasy points to Trevor Lawrence and 20.52 fantasy points to Baker Mayfield through the first two weeks of the season. While this is certainly a good matchup for Darnold, the Panthers may not need to throw a lot in this contest given the fact that Davis Mills will be making his first career start at quarterback for the Texans and may struggle. Darnold is worth a roster spot as your QB2 but you should not play him over more proven options, at least not at this point.

Derek Carr, Las Vegas Raiders

Week 2 Stats: 28-of-37 passing, 382 yards, 2 TD, 4 carries, 9 yards

Derek Carr is now QB-9 on the season after torching the Steelers and Ravens in back-to-back weeks. Josh Jacobs is hurt and if he misses additional time the Raiders may continue to lean on the pass to generate offense. The Raiders have solid pass-catching weapons around Carr and he's been very good so far this season, acting almost like a point guard distributing the ball to the open receiver.

Bottom Line: The Raiders face the Dolphins in Week 3 who have given up the ninth-fewest fantasy points to quarterbacks so far this season, but the Raiders may be forced to throw the ball a lot in order to keep pace with the Dolphins offense which would bode well for Carr's fantasy outlook. While Carr is performing well you shouldn't roll him out there over quarterbacks he's outscored so far this season, such as Josh Allen, Justin Herbert or Dak Prescott.

Tim Patrick, Denver Broncos

Week 2 Stats: 4 targets, 3 catches, 37 yards, 1 TD

Tim Patrick played on 74% of the Broncos offensive snaps and came through with a touchdown. The Broncos controlled the game against the Jaguars and didn't really need to pass the ball a lot which worked against Patrick's output. Now that Jerry Jeudy is out of the lineup for the next few weeks, Patrick should continue to be the No. 3 option in the Broncos passing game behind Courtland Sutton and Noah Fant.

Bottom Line: Unless the Broncos get into a pass-heavy game where they are trailing, Patrick will likely be extremely touchdown-dependent. The Broncos face the Jets in Week 3 and should be favorites in that contest, which means Patrick likely won't see heavy target volume. Patrick is worth a roster spot, but he shouldn't be in your lineup unless you've encountered injuries or you're in a deeper league.

Henry Ruggs III, Las Vegas Raiders

Week 2 Stats: 7 targets, 5 catches, 113 yards, 1 TD

Henry Ruggs III was second in snaps played by Raiders wide receivers in Week 2 (44) behind only Bryan Edwards who logged 49. While Ruggs played a healthy number of snaps he had seven targets which tied him for the team-lead with Hunter Renfrow and Darren Waller. Ruggs is the Raiders deep threat in the passing game and was able to haul in a 61-yard pass from Derek Carr for a touchdown.

Bottom Line: The Raiders have played very well on offense through the first two weeks of the season but none of their wide receivers appear to be seeing a significant portion of the target-share due largely to the presence of Darren Waller. Ruggs is a viable option in deeper leagues but his production will be very dependent on the big play, similar to DeSean Jackson in his prime.

Brandin Cooks, Houston Texans

Week 2 Stats: 14 targets, 9 catches, 78 yards, 1 TD

Brandin Cooks finished as WR-10 in Week 2, marking his second straight week finishing inside the top-20 at scoring for wide receivers. In 2020 Cooks finished as WR-17 on the season in very unexciting fashion and it looks like he's on a similar pace this season.

Bottom Line: While Cooks isn't considered an elite option at wide receiver, he does play on a Texans team that will struggle throughout the entire season which will result in a lot of throwing and a high production floor for Cooks. Cooks needs to be in starting lineups if he hasn't been already.

Rondale Moore, Arizona Cardinals

Week 2 Stats: 8 targets, 7 catches, 114 yards, 1 TD

Last week Christian Kirk blew up for the Cardinals and in Week 2 Rondale Moore finished as WR-5 on the heels of a 77-yard touchdown catch. Four wide receivers played for the Cardinals in Week 2 and their snap counts are as follows: DeAndre Hopkins (59), A.J. Green (51), Christian Kirk (38) and Rondale Moore (28). Moore led the team with eight targets, Green had six while Hopkins and Kirk each had four. Kirk is the only Cardinals wide receiver that didn't find the endzone and crack 10 fantasy points this week.

Bottom Line: So far this season Kyler Murray has been distributing the ball evenly to his wide receivers with Rondale Moore leading the way with 13 targets, DeAndre Hopkins and A.J. Green both with 12 and Christian Kirk with nine. Through two weeks it seems like Hopkins will offer the most consistency out of the group while the trio of Moore, Kirk and Green will be a little touchdown-dependent. Rondale Moore will likely have some frustrating weeks in the future due to his lack of playing time, but he can be trusted as a WR2 or WR3 because he's extremely dangerous when he does get the ball.

Cordarrelle Patterson, Atlanta Falcons

Week 2 Stats: 7 carries, 11 yards, 1 TD, 6 targets, 5 catches, 58 yards, 1 TD

Cordarrelle Patterson is currently RB-10 on the season off of just 21 touches. Patterson played just 33% of the snaps in Week 2 compared to 64% by Mike Davis. While Patterson won't get enough carries to be viable, he will get work in the passing game, making him almost a James White-type back.

Bottom Line:  The Falcons aren't looking very good to start the season which means they will likely be playing from behind a lot this season. I think equating Cordarrelle Patterson to James White is a good way to look at this situation. If the Falcons are likely to lose in a given week, then Patterson will be a viable option because of his abilities in the passing game.

Zack Moss, Buffalo Bills

Week 2 Stats: 8 carries, 26 yards, 2 TD, 2 targets, 2 catches, 8 yards

Ahead of Week 2 the Bills announced that Zack Moss would be active against the Dolphins in part because the game was being played in Miami and it was going to be very hot outside. Devin Singletary played 66% of the Bills offensive snaps compared to 28% for Moss. Moss gained just 3.25 yards-per-carry compared to 6.31 for Singletary.

Bottom Line: Moss came through in Week 2 because he scored twice. Without those two touchdowns Moss would have scored a putrid 3.4 fantasy points. As advertised prior to the game, Moss played because of the heat in Miami. Moss is worth a roster spot, especially if you have Singletary on your team, but he will be very hard to trust absent an injury to Singletary.

Maxx Williams, Arizona Cardinals

Week 2 Stats: 7 targets, 7 catches, 94 yards

Maxx Williams played 74% of the Cardinals offensive snaps in Week 2 after playing 79.7% against the Titans in Week 1. The former second round pick out of Minnesota seemingly disappeared off the fantasy radar after flaming out in Baltimore, but he bounced back in a big way against the Vikings this week. In 2020, Williams played more than 70% of the Cardinals offensive snaps just once and never had more than two targets or two receptions in any game.

Bottom Line: Maxx Williams was TE-4 in Week 2 but he failed to haul in his lone target in Week 1 after playing a similar compliment of snaps. Kyler Murray distributes the ball to the open target and by no means will he force-feed Williams the ball. Williams is an athletic tight end playing in a very good offense, so if you missed the boat at the position in your draft and need help, he's worth a spot on your roster. However, his production will be very boom-or-bust and he will likely leave you frustrated more often than not. Do not play Williams over a more proven option.

Download Our Free News & Alerts Mobile App

Like what you see? Download our updated fantasy football app for iPhone and Android with 24x7 player news, injury alerts, rankings, starts/sits & more. All free!

More Fantasy Football Analysis