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Matt's quarterback (QB) fantasy football start 'em, sit 'em picks for Week 2 of 2026. His QB lineups advice for Week 2 fantasy football start/sit decisions.
Week 2 is where fantasy football managers start separating the signal from the noise. The first week of the season gave us plenty of surprises, but one game doesn’t suddenly change everything we thought we knew about a player. Now, we have another week of matchups, usage and opportunity to help guide our decisions.
This is where things get interesting. Some players who disappointed in Week 1 have excellent opportunities to bounce back, while others who produced big numbers could be walking into much tougher situations. The challenge is knowing which performances to trust—and which ones to fade before it’s too late.
With Week 2 on the doorstep, let’s dive into the quarterbacks who could deliver a fantasy boom and the ones who could leave managers wishing they had looked elsewhere. These are the early starts and sits worth considering for Week 2.
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Week 2 - Potential Fantasy Football Booms
Dak Prescott - QB, Dallas Cowboys at Washington Commanders
For Dak Prescott, last week is one to forget. The New York Giants held Prescott and the Cowboys to 175 passing yards with a pair of touchdowns and an interception. It was not a great fantasy showing. Those who started Prescott saw their set-it-and-forget quarterback post a modest 15.4 fantasy points.
Looking at what’s not in the box score, Prescott had four defensive pass interference calls called in his favor in Week 1, which took away some of his fantasy production.
Dak Prescott hits CeeDee Lamb for a 1-yd TD, and they're tied at 7. pic.twitter.com/sHBMKIQ0eE
— Sanstin (@SanstinTX) September 14, 2026
Why is Prescott back in your starting lineup this week? It’s simple: if Jalen Hurts can throw three touchdown passes against the Commanders, then a quarterback whose offense finished top five in passing yards per game (266.3), completions (427), passing attempts (624), and passing touchdowns (31) last season should have no issue moving the ball through the air against a secondary that allowed the fifth-most passing yards in 2025.
Despite the modest fantasy finish, Prescott had a top-five EPA (0.42) before the start of the Monday Night Football contest. In two contests against the Commanders last season, Prescott threw for 571 passing yards along with five passing touchdowns.
C.J. Stroud - QB, Houston Texans vs. Cincinnati Bengals
C.J. Stroud had an uphill battle in Week 1 against a Bills defense that was tough against quarterbacks in fantasy. Last season, the Bills allowed just 13.8 fantasy points per contest, and in Week 1, Stroud posted a respectable 16.5 fantasy points.
NICO! TOUCHDOWN!!
📺: @nfloncbs | @paramountplus pic.twitter.com/Rgl6SSBpX5
— Houston Texans (@HoustonTexans) September 13, 2026
This week, Stroud and the Texans welcome the Cincinnati Bengals to town, a defense that allowed 19.5 fantasy points per game to opposing quarterbacks last season (sixth-most). To the Bengals' credit, they did limit Baker Mayfield to 11.6 fantasy points, so there is always some risk when looking at QB2-type options with promising matchups.
For Houston, the plan is simple: keep Stroud clean. Against the Bills, when Houston was able stay out of third and long situations, Stroud completed 20 of 27 passes for 226 yards, a pair of touchdowns, and a 0.45 EPA per drop back. If clean, that EPA was in line with Lamar Jackson's Week 1 form. The addition of Kayshon Boutte is paying off, as Stroud now has a legit deep threat that has opened up the entire passing game.
Matthew Stafford, QB, Los Angeles Rams vs. New York Giants
One game doesn’t make or break a season. One performance shouldn't make or break a fantasy asset and send them to bench duty, especially when the asset is the reigning league MVP.
Matthew Stafford was bad in Week 1. Stafford completed 15 of 25 passes for 155 passing yards and an interception. That’s the stat line, no passing touchdowns. The quarterback who threw 47 passing touchdowns a season ago. Before that game, he had gone through the entire previous regular season throwing at least one touchdown pass in every single game, last being held without one in Week 17 of the 2024 season.
As good as the Giants' showing was against the Cowboys last week, Stafford and the Rams have a huge chip on their shoulders entering Week 2. As good as the Giants played, Prescott still came out of that contest with a pair of passing touchdowns.
In 2025, New York allowed the 10th-most fantasy points per game to opposing quarterbacks (18.8). For fantasy managers, this could be a rebound week, and Sean McVay and Stafford could get this offense back on track after an international game in which they arrived 28 hours before kickoff.
Week 2 - Potential Fantasy Football Busts
Baker Mayfield - QB, Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs. Cleveland Browns
Look, Trevor Lawrence is at an entirely different level right now. Lawrence tossed four touchdown passes and had an EPA of 18.5 against one of the best defenses in the league in Week 1. That’s in the Josh Allen tier, which Lawrence has been playing at since Week 11 of the 2025 season.
Mayfield is good, just not that good. Mayfield and the Bucs started slow against a favorable Week 1 matchup against the Bengals. They mustered only 216 passing yards, with Emeka Egbuka leading the way with 63 receiving yards. In contrast, Bucky Irving led the team with seven receptions, so much for Kenny Gainwell taking away receiving work.
On the other side, Lawrence embarrassed the Browns defense, and this is one of those outlier performances against a premier defense. Last season, the Browns (with Myles Garrett) finished third in sacks (53), fourth in total yards allowed (283.6), and third in passing yards allowed (167.2). Don’t overthink this one, put the heart off to the side.
There are other options in the Mayfield fantasy tier with more favorable matchups this week.
Kirk Cousins - QB, Las Vegas Raiders at Los Angeles Chargers
After watching Jacoby Brissett throw for 277 passing yards and a touchdown, fantasy managers may get cute this week and put Kirk Cousins back in their lineup against the Chargers. I get it, Brissett completed 73% of his passes and finished the outing with a 103.1 passer rating.
However, Brissett only averaged 7.5 yards per attempt, which was 15th among quarterbacks last week. Yet, that was 2.3 yards per attempt more than Cousins against Miami. Fantasy managers shouldn’t overreact to one week.
The Los Angeles defense was among the top 12 last season in total yards allowed (5th-285.2), passing yards allowed (5th-179.8), rushing yards allowed (8th-105.4), points allowed (9th-20.0), interceptions (4th-19), takeaways (8th-24), and sacks (10th-45).
Rookie, Michael Taaffe, gets an interception at the start off the second half 👏
MIAvsLV on FOX/FOX One
Stream on @NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/uLf1BpMxSZ— NFL (@NFL) September 13, 2026
That type of defensive prowess doesn’t just disappear after one contest. Last week, Cousins completed 20-of-22 passes for 139 yards, with all three touchdowns coming on passes of 10 or fewer air yards. When asked to throw the ball downfield on passes longer than 10 yards, Cousins completed just one of seven attempts for 21 yards, with both interceptions coming as a result.
If I can identify the issue here, the Los Angeles Chargers should have no issue zeroing in on a game plan this week.
Joe Burrow - QB, Cincinnati Bengals at Houston Texans
That Bengals offensive line will have a tough time against Danielle Hunter and Will Anderson Jr. Joe Burrow will try his best to keep his head on a swivel in this one. Houston finished 2025 with 47 sacks (seventh-most), but only brought Allen down twice in Week 1.
Josh Allen did Allen-type things against this Texans defense in Week 1, things I don’t think the Texans defenders will forget anytime soon. As a result, the Texans enter this contest looking to prove that they are an elite defense in the NFL. In fantasy terms, Burrow isn’t too far off Allen, but the biggest question will be whether or not that offensive line can anchor down against this Texans pass rush.
I’ll give the Texans a pass last week because it was Allen, choosing to remember the defensive unit that allowed the fewest yards per game (277.2), the sixth-fewest passing yards per game (183.5), along with the third-most interceptions (19) last season.
While the Bengals put up 33 points last week against the Buccaneers, Burrow completed 25 of 35 passes for 254 passing yards, a touchdown, and an interception. Those are rather modest fantasy production in a much more favorable matchup.
Who Should I Start Tool
You can also see the Who Should I Start tool here.
Week 2 Player Decisions. Today's focus is on specific players - Joe Burrow, Dak Prescott, Kirk Cousins, Baker Mayfield, Matthew Stafford, C.J. Stroud. 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, players 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 to select the scoring format. There are three small radio buttons (small circle), 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 2 for Joe Burrow, Dak Prescott, Kirk Cousins, Baker Mayfield, Matthew Stafford, C.J. Stroud:
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