Fantasy Stock Market: Week 2

The waiver wire is a blast every week but nothing feels the same as pulling off a trade! Finding the right compensation can be tough and coming to an agreement is even harder. While we would all love to trade for JCM, these articles are based around players that with the right compensation, are attainable.

Week 1 is about to be in the rearview and as a result there are always a lot of overreactions. From the sky is falling on proven studs to thinking the next Randy Moss or Maurice Jones-Drew has been discovered, there are a lot of ways a savvy manager can take advantage of the fog of war and put themselves right in there for contention. Let's check out our stocks this week.

BUY

Tee Higgins, WR, Cincinnati Bengals

I think he's on this list every year after week 1. I think Burrow and Chase are firmly out of reach for most of us even though the Bengals are complete disasters for the first two weeks of football every year but Higgins could have some owners panicking. Especially in dynasty some managers could start to have a short leash. We all know what Higgins is at this point, a rock steady WR2 with a crazy points per game until his hammies hurt or another soft tissue injury pops up. As a former owner, he's frustrating to say the least yet valuable. I'd poke around and see if I could send JCM after his huge week 1 and though his points were abysmal week 2, try to capitalize on Ekeler's injury because he could be done with football entirely.

George Pickens, WR, Dallas Cowboys

THE SKY IS FALLING OH MY GOD SELL FOR ANYTHING SELL FOR NOTHING ARRRRGHHHH. Let's look at the data. Pickens didn't translate his opportunity into relevant fantasy points this weekend for a variety of reasons. The weather delay hampered the tempo of the game and he just missed with Dak on a beautiful pass that would have been a TD and changed our conversation. That's okay though because this presents an excellent buy low. Pickens isn't going to draw best coverage, that's reserved for Lamb. Pickens played 92% of snaps which is exactly what you want from a WR. He's also a willing blocker and this keeps him on the field longer.

Points Per Block League jokes aside, you want your offensive weapons on the field as much as possible. You want them to have all these opportunities that we want to translate to points. Just back in 2023 Dak Prescott threw for 4,516 passing yards and 36 touchdowns with an incredible 105.9 passer rating. He looks healthy and ready plus in his early 30's this is the physical and mental prime for a QB I feel. They don't decline as fast as the other positions. With Parsons gone to Green Bay, I think this team is going to do their best Great Value brand version of the Bengals. I think based on their offensive line being pretty good and their defense looking suspect now they could find themselves in shootouts and Lamb along with Pickens have the talent. Pickens is a great football player, his main concerns have been character related but he's no Rashee Rice. He just likes to get handsy but who doesn't? I think this is his year.

Dak Prescott, QB, Dallas Cowboys

For all the reasons above, I can't mention Pickens without Prescott. He played way better than his fantasy points suggest so if you need a QB I'm pursuing him heavily. He's been injured every other year so if that trend continues since he missed last season with injury he should be fully good to go this season. 2023 was an incredible year and now he's fully healthy with some of the best offensive weapons the team has had in years and those weapons seem healthy. Dak would have had a monster game had Lamb not struggled with uncharacteristic dropsies. He's a screaming buy to me.

Anybody on the Detroit Lions

The Lions were stifled by Green Bay. I think that defense, which was already number 4 for all defenses in fantasy last year, is going to be a huge problem with Parsons. He was the missing piece and the Cowboys just allowed the Packers to start a reign of terror over their rivals unfortunately. I get the concerns over Ben Johnson leaving and Frank Ragnow retiring but the line is still great and there is too much talent on this team and Dan Campbell is too good of a coach. Go after Gibbs, Jamo, Amon-Ra, Montgomery, La Porta. It was a tough game with a solid defense and an anomaly. I think this team will get better as the season goes on and they can still have a positive record. This is the lowest their value will be all year, you can't pass this up if you can get an elite talent on a humming offense for a huge bargain.

SELL

Bhayshul Tuten, RB, Jacksonville Jaguars

Not the Jacksonville RB you expected huh? That's exactly why I'm doing it. Meat on the table around here go to your regular, "popular" analysts for those soft, milquetoast takes. Tuten is still a great dynasty asset but the disrespect to ETN is astounding. He was hampered by injury all last season and now he's looking healthy again. He's also not that far removed from his overall RB3 finish in 2023. But, but, the YPC you say, yes he was a big beneficiary of a lot of volume that year but even in 2022 sharing with James Robinson for the majority of the season and having limited snaps he was incredibly efficient 1,125 yards of rushing at a 5.11 YPC and 316 receiving yards at 7.02 YPT and 9.03 YPC. Finished as the overall RB17 who didn't start to come on until roughly the middle of the season when Robinson was traded.

With Bigsby gone, all this has created is just more hype for Tuten. Everyone is still ignoring that ETN is the starter. Tuten is great for dynasty because ETN is on a contract year and I do see Tuten with his elite RAS and potential as a starting caliber RB for a team. I just think he's gotta get more well rounded and work on ball security before that happens. Sell him in redraft to take advantage of the Bigsby trade. All year I think people are going to poo poo ETN saying oh it's the Carolina defense until the season is over and he's racked up a top 15 finish again. If you're an ETN owner Tuten is a hold as a solid handcuff with potential upside should the unpredictable injury bug hit.

Quentin Johnston, WR, Los Angeles Chargers

I'm a QJ truther and if you got him off waivers that's huge but while I do truly believe this is his season, I think this is the highest his value will be all year. Two touchdowns is great but in this particular instance it's not going to be sustainable. This is a Greg Roman offense that is going to give Omarion and yes even Najee more opportunities and while some games will be high scoring and require a lot of passing like this Chiefs game, there are also going to be a lot of control the clock run situations coming for the Chargers. Herbert used 8 different pass catchers for this game and while it's encouraging QJ was trusted with high pressure catches and made them to seal the game this probably won't happen regularly with predictability. He will overall be too boom or bust.

Zay Flowers, WR, Baltimore Ravens

This is pretty much the same as QJ above. The Ravens will run the ball more, they won't be consistently in 80 plus real life point games that are scoring fests, and while the passing volume should be prolific again this year there are too many other pass catchers for Lamar to throw to. I also don't think Mark Andrews is going to be a dud. Even after a terrible first few games last year he finished TE5 in half ppr. We've seen this last year with Zay where he will get massive volume and points then be quiet for a week, another boom or bust guy. I'd try to package him up and sell for a definitive WR1 like a Lamb or whoever you like. He's a WR2 or 3 that will only occasionally return on your investment with number 1 numbers.

Jaylen Warren, Kenneth Gainwell, RBS, Pittsburgh Steelers

If people are excited about these two I'm more than happy to sell if I don't need RBS or I can upgrade at a position of need. I think with Smith calling plays this backfield is way too messy. This is the guy that didn't use Bijan to his full potential at first and gave us heavy doses of Allgier. Neither one of these guys is anywhere close to Bijan so I don't feel they are going to be able to pull away. Warren also made most of his impact as a receiver which isn't going to be the case every week. That Jets game was a nail biter with a lot of passing volume and tit for tat scoring. Kaleb Johnson is a screaming dynasty buy but should probably be left alone in redraft. Just too much uncertainty with this backfield and more often than not messing with murky backfields leaves you frustrated you picked the wrong guy. Or worse, they just cannibalize each other all season limiting upside and clogging your roster as you never know who to play.