Each week we’ll be posting a fantasy football preview. It’ll focus on the Panthers’ matchup and provide insights for both weekly and traditional leagues.
Doing the honors is Jared Strichek. Who’s he? Here’s a quick intro:
An avid footballer, both fantasy and on the actual gridiron. After playing collegiately and for various minor league teams, Jared combined his passions for football and writing with his analytical acumen and began writing about fantasy football for a number of different online publications.
And like me, he’s been doomed with the NFL fan’s version of The Scarlet Letter. Yeah, the poor guy is a Browns fan.
All right, so here’s Jared’s outlook on Week 2. Enjoy and good luck!
—BV
SuperCam is Super Priced
Panthers QB Cam Newton finished 19th in scoring among all QB’s last week, yet is still the 9th most expensive QB on the daily fantasy football site FantasyDraft. That’s certainly due to Chiefs QB Alex Smith gutting the Texans’ defense last week for 243 yards and three touchdowns (good for 5th among all QB’s).
Expectations are high for Newton this week, but it’s important to remember that Houston finished the 2014 season tied for 3rd in interceptions and held opposing QB’s to an average passer rating of 80.4. Plus, most of Smith’s production against Houston came in the first half. Once the Houston defense shook the rust off, Smith had a harder time.
Part of Kansas City’s game plan was to counteract the prominent Houston pass rush with screens and quick passes. Newton’s success may hinge on whether they can emulate Kansas City’s philosophy — which could also add value to WR Tedd Ginn in a flex position.
Newton’s upside is that of a top-5 QB, but fantasy owners should temper their expectations. Depending on how you structure your roster, Newton offers top-5 potential at a top-10 price.
Salary Alert
Out of all the daily fantasy football sites, FanDuel has Newton’s salary ranked the lowest. On FanDuel, he’s the 16th most expensive QB, which allows you to pick up more expensive players at other positions.
Buy Low
Chiefs TE Travis Kelce had a monster week against the Houston defense, hauling in six catches for 106 yards and two touchdowns. This bodes well for Panthers TE Greg Olsen, who was a complete non-factor against the Jags. Olsen saw very little action throughout the game, only managing one catch for a paltry 11 yards.
Against the Houston defense, we’re confident that Olsen will have a bounce-back performance. At $9,800, Olsen is currently the fourth most expensive TE on FantasyDraft, but is a cheaper flex option than players like Packers WR James Jones and Jets WR Eric Decker.
Conversely, another buy low could be the Houston defense. As we mentioned, they were torn apart in the first half, and only ended up with two sacks — both coming from DE J.J. Watt. There’s no doubt they are looking to get their swagger back against a Panthers offense missing Kelvin Benjamin.
Defense
Carolina DST finished first in scoring on FantasyDraft last week and face an equally strong matchup this week against Houston. The Texans are still without star running back Arian Foster for the next few weeks. Starting quarterback Brian Hoyer was benched in the fourth quarter in favor of Ryan Mallett. In mop-up time, Mallett nearly matched Hoyer’s output, largely by targeting star WR DeAndre Hopkins. But Mallett is a question mark as Houston’s newly appointed starter, throwing a slight monkey wrench into Carolina DST owners.
Stat of the Week
Houston gave up five sacks and two turnovers against the Chiefs DST in week one. Similarly, Carolina DST had five sacks last week.
One Thing to Remember
LB Luke Kuechly is going through the NFL’s concussion protocol and may be unavailable.
Sit or Start
- Cam Newton, QB: He has the potential to be a top-10 QB this week. For 10-team leagues, Newton should get the start. For 12+ team leagues, he’s a riskier play.
- Greg Olsen, TE: He is a must-start in all leagues.
- Carolina DST: Carolina DST has the potential to be a top-3 scoring defense in week 2.
- Jonathan Stewart, RB: Stewart had a rough week one, barely ranking in the top 32 for RB scoring. However, this can be attributed to a poor all-around performance. Stewart is still likely to get a vast majority of the action in the backfield — making him a viable RB2 in 12+ team leagues.
- Ted Ginn, WR: For deeper leagues, consider Ginn, a smart waiver wire target. Ginn’s big-play ability, coupled with the thin Carolina WR corps, makes him a boom-or-bust FLEX option.
- Houston DST: Houston DST could be a top 5 defense as well. Vegas has the under/over set at 40 which is the lowest out of all week 2 games. We expect a great defensive battle this weekend.
- Ryan Mallett, QB: Mallett finished as a top-25 QB with only one quarter of work, outscoring the likes of Peyton Manning, Joe Flacco and Eli Manning. It remains to be seen what he’ll do now that he’s been given the starting job, but he should be worth waiver wire consideration.
- Alfred Blue, RB: Blue will receive about half of the carries in Foster’s absence. Unfortunately, the Texans were forced to abandon the run early. Even still, Blue should, at the absolute best, be thought of as a FLEX play in most leagues and only warrant RB2 consideration in deeper leagues.
- DeAndre Hopkins, WR: Hopkins’ catches were pretty much evenly distributed between the two QB’s — Mallett completed five passes to Hopkins (on six targets) while Hoyer completed four. Hopkins tallied 59 yards and 1 TD from Mallett, 39 yards and 1 TD from Hoyer. Hopkins finished second only to Atlanta WR Julio Jones last week in most leagues.