Fantasy Football Landmines to Avoid for Week 2 - Chase Brown, Tyler Shough, Chris Godwin Jr., more

September 19, 2026

Aidin looks at fantasy football landmines, busts, and avoids for Week 2 of 2026. Given these Week 2 fantasy situations, consider benching these players.

Week 1 was a great week of football. The Bengals finally have a good defense; Caleb Williams and Trevor Lawrence look like they've reached their generational potential coming out of college, and Patrick Mahomes II returned and now has a functional running game to support him.

In this weekly series, I'll highlight five players who could disappoint due to several factors, such as their matchup, team situation, or whether their current run of form is unsustainable. Benching these star names will be tough, but you have to take risks to win. Last week, four out of my five picks failed to record more than 13.0 PPR points per game. Jordan Love was the outlier, as he was the QB11. Jeremiyah Love and Tyler Warren were slightly below average, while Rashee Rice and Drake London had poor fantasy performances. A fine start to this series, all things considered.

Without further ado, let's look at five fantasy football landmines you should bench ahead of Week 2 of the 2026 NFL season.

Chase Brown, RB, at Houston Texans

Week 1 was the perfect opportunity for Chase Brown to rack up plenty of fantasy points against a porous Buccaneers defense. The Bucs allowed the likes of Devin Neal and Jaylen Wright to run all over them in the second half of last season, so they looked like a prime matchup for Brown.

However, Brown had a good, not great, game. His 18.8 PPR points were good, but nowhere near the elite RBs such as Derrick Henry and Kenneth Walker III.

Brown only averaged 3.7 yards per touch on 21 touches in Week 1, and if this is how he'll perform in a favorable matchup, his outlook won't be too positive against a scary Texans defense.

Last season, Brown had three games with over 20.0 PPR points, against the Jets, Dolphins, and Cardinals; hardly the cream of the crop. The Texans got off to a poor start against the Bills in Week 1, but they still managed to show their dominance against the run.

They held the 2025 NFL rushing leader, James Cook III, to 57 yards on 4.4 yards per carry. Cook exploded for 135 yards on 6.4 yards per carry on TNF against the Lions, which goes to show the remarkable job the Texans' defense did to hold him in check.

I've never bought the Brown RB1 hype, and he usually shrinks against dominant defenses. Just look at his performances against the top two run defenses last year, which were the Jaguars and Broncos, respectively.

Brown averaged 9.3 PPR points in those games, and it wouldn't be too far-fetched to expect a similar performance against the Texans.

Tyler Shough, QB, at Baltimore Ravens

Week 1 was a bittersweet coming-out party for Tyler Shough. He proved that his impressive run at the end of his rookie season wasn't a fluke, as he threw for a league-leading 410 yards and almost completed the biggest comeback in Saints history, coming up just short on a two-point conversion in overtime against the Lions.

While Shough is on track to have a breakout season as the best quarterback in the woeful NFC South, he'll face one of his toughest tests of the year against the Ravens on Sunday.

Jesse Minter's defense had a strong showing in Week 1, forcing two turnovers and allowing just 149 net passing yards against the Colts. Additionally, Shough's main weapon, Chris Olave, is listed as questionable for Week 2.

Shough and the Saints have plenty of easier games on their schedule, most notably Weeks 3 and 4 against the Raiders and Falcons, and this matchup against the Ravens might be too much for them to handle.

Chris Godwin Jr., WR, vs. Cleveland Browns

Chris Godwin showed that he still had some juice left against the Bengals in Week 1. While it was a week to forget for the Buccaneers' offense as a whole, as they lost four fumbles, Godwin looked physically strong with a couple of impressive stiff arms.

The former All-Pro wideout caught four passes for 40 yards, including a 30-yard catch to convert a third down on an eventual touchdown drive. Despite the positives, there were still many concerning signs.

For starters, he had fewer targets (four) than Bucky Irving (seven), Emeka Egbuka (six), and Cade Otton (five), and only had one more target than rookie Ted Hurst III (three). With Jalen McMillan set to return this week, Godwin's target share likely won't go up.

His average depth of target was just 0.3, meaning that almost all of his yards came after the catch, and 65% of his yards came after contact.

He's almost entirely relying on his physicality at this stage, which might be unsustainable for a player coming off consecutive injury-plagued seasons.

The Browns allowed the fifth-fewest PPR points to wide receivers last season, while allowing the fewest net yards per drive. They looked really poor in Week 1, but have a chance to bounce back against a Bucs offense that hasn't scored over 28 points since November 2025.

TreVeyon Henderson, RB, vs. Pittsburgh Steelers

After missing Week 1, TreVeyon Henderson is ready to return to the field against the Steelers. "I'm ready to go. Thank God I'm healed up now," Henderson said Thursday, per ESPN's Mike Reiss. "I'm excited to be back out here with my teammates."

Unfortunately for Henderson, the Patriots showed no signs of slowing their quest to give Rhamondre Stevenson as many touches as possible. Stevenson had 23 touches for 95 yards in Week 1, and while he only averaged 2.8 yards per rush, he looks set to continue lead back duties.

The Steelers defense is no pushover either. They finally look like their real selves under new defensive coordinator Patrick Graham, only allowing 13 points and one touchdown against the Atlanta Falcons.

Henderson needs some time to adjust after returning from injury, isn't the team's favored RB, and will play against a feisty defense, making him easy to bench in Week 2.

He put up 7.7 PPR points in his previous matchup against the Steelers last season.

Michael Mayer, TE, at Los Angeles Chargers

Despite Brock Bowers' return to practice on Friday, he's officially listed as doubtful to play on Sunday. This means Michael Mayer, who recently signed a three-year, $45 million contract extension with the Raiders, is in line to be the team's TE1 for the second week in a row.

Brock Bowers Doubtful to Play in Week 2 https://t.co/UgQxwbPlGW

— RotoBaller NFL (@RotoBallerNFL) September 18, 2026

Mayer led the Raiders in targets (seven) and receptions (six) against the Dolphins in Week 1, which helped him put up a respectable 9.2 PPR points.

However, the Chargers are a completely different type of opponent, and while they struggled against the world-class Trey McBride, they don't usually allow TEs to have big games.

The Dolphins allowed the third-most PPR points (16.8) to tight ends last year, while the Chargers allowed the fifth-fewest (10.5).

Jim Harbaugh's men are looking to bounce back following an embarrassing loss to the lowly Cardinals, and it'd be a real cause for concern if they struggle against Mayer and the rest of the Raiders' offense.

Mayer has only averaged 14.4 yards per game in five career games against the Chargers.

You can also see the Who Should I Start tool here.

Week 2 Player Decisions. Today's focus is on specific players - Chase Brown, Tyler Shough, Chris Godwin Jr., TreVeyon Henderson, and Michael Mayer. These are some of the most common searches for fantasy football lineups in Week 2.

Using The Tool. This is a simple tool but very powerful. The first step is to enter the player names that you want to compare. In the first box, search for the first player name. In the second box, search for the second player name. Compare up to four NFL players at once, and then click the Who To Start? button to see who the recommended starts are based on weekly fantasy football matchups.

Improvements For Who Should I Start? You may have noticed that our 'Who Should I Start?' tool has gotten an overhaul. We've added lots of great features for you to give you as much information as possible to win your fantasy football matchups each week. You'll see NFL player tiles with headshots and bye weeks, stats, projections, strength of schedule, player news, and enhanced search results with data to compare with a slick new interface. We hope you enjoy!

How It Works. Each week, our RotoBaller staff puts together their weekly fantasy football rankings and projections based on their research. That information is the core data that is powering the decision-making in this tool. When you search for player names, you will only see those players who are ranked. If someone is out for the week, they will not appear in the search results.

Scoring Formats. Fantasy football managers play in various types of leagues, and this tool allows you to choose whether it's PPR scoring, Half-PPR scoring, or Standard (Non-PPR) scoring. The second thing you want to do is select the scoring format. There are three small radio buttons (small circles), so click on the scoring format you prefer. The results may vary based on the scoring format you select.

Popular Week 2 Searches. Curious to see some tough lineup decisions for Week 2 (2026)? Below you will find a list of some popular Who Should I Start? searches that RotoBaller readers are looking at this week. Click any of the links to see the result and recommendation.

Popular Week 2 Searches - Start/Sit Player Comparisons

Below are some popular searches and comparisons from our Who To Start tool for Week 1 for Chase Brown, Tyler Shough, Chris Godwin Jr., TreVeyon Henderson, and Michael Mayer: