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So You Say There's a Chance?

So You Say There's a Chance?

Don't let injuries and early bad luck get you down

Sept. 21, 2024

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The morale is low for many 0-2 teams. The injuries to key players are piling up and offense has been down through the first two weeks of the NFL season.

Imagine drafting A.J. Brown, Cooper Kupp, and Kenneth Walker in the first four rounds of a high-stakes league. Depression, sadness, and hopelessness are the immediate responses, but have convenient amnesia and move on. Yes, that is my team by the way.

Adam Ronis

As bleak as it can look for your fantasy team, almost every other team is dealing with injuries and poor performance. This isn’t the time to give up. It’s time to work hard and use all the tools accessible to you here at Fantasy Life.

Work the waiver wire, make trades, and smart lineup decisions. No matter how many injuries have hit the roster, a turnaround can happen. Teams have started 0-4 and won championships.

Are Baker Mayfield and Derek Carr going to finish as Top-5 quarterbacks? Are Dalton Kincaid and Travis Kelce going to finish outside the top 20 at tight end? Only two weeks have been played and fluky things occur in a two-week span, especially since most starters didn’t play a snap in the preseason.

The goal is to get to the fantasy playoffs and while the injuries to significant players are high at the moment, it’s far from over. Too many people think this way. Don’t be that way. Get to work.

What else is in today’s newsletter?

Jess Bryant connects with our experts for a Week 3 roundtable discussion.
Watercooler: Fraud Check on some early-season studs …

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WEEK 3 ROUNDTABLE

Fantasy Roundtable: Top-5 Tight Ends, Chiefs RBs, and More

by Jess Bryant

For this week's roundtable, I invited Kendall Valenzuela, Matthew Freedman, and Dwain McFarland to help fantasy players sort out the Chiefs' backfield, the Top-5 tight ends, the must-start rookies, and more. Much, much more.

Let's jump in!

1. How does Isiah Pacheco’s injury impact the Chiefs’ fantasy outlook?

Which players are poised to step up, and how does this affect overall offensive production?

Kendall: First of all, can someone please turn off these injuries?? The backfield will become a full-blown committee in Kansas City, but I have Samaje Perine on more of my teams than Carson Steele or Kareem Hunt.

Perine is a better pass blocker and pass catcher than the others, so I hope that catapults him to more fantasy points. I'm really not excited about starting any of these running backs in this situation. We could see more Patrick Mahomes because of the Pacheco injury, and the Chiefs could turn to their receivers more. Ultimately, I'm starting Perine in some leagues where I have no better option and crossing my fingers that it works out.

Freedman: Injuries are terrible for real-life players and fantasy investors, but running backs don't matter much within an offense's overall scheme. The Chiefs might pass the ball a little more than they otherwise would have with Pacheco, but they'll probably be fine whenever they want to run the ball. I expect a split committee between rookie Carson Steele on early downs and veteran Samaje Perine on passing downs.

Dwain: With the injury to Pacheco, I expect a committee approach between Carson Steele and Samaje Perine. Steele handled most of the backup work on the ground while Perine took the passing downs. That probably leads to some early box \scores like Ezekiel Elliott and Rico Dowdle. However, if one back manages to wrestle away the majority of snaps, volume is king at RB, and we could quickly see one of these players boost up rankings sets. Of course, Kareem Hunt (practice squad) and Clyde Edwards-Helaire (IR) could further muddy the waters in the coming weeks.

Kansas City is already a pass-first operation, so expect Andy Reid to supplement the run game with more quick passes and designed stuff around the line of scrimmage, which could create an opportunity for more looks for Xavier Worthy.

Jess: The Chiefs' targets have been concentrated among Isiah Pacheco (8), Rashee Rice (15), Travis Kelce (7), and Xavier Worthy (7) through Week 2. With Pacheco out and the running back room now consisting of Kareem Hunt, Samaje Perine, and Carson Steele, it's difficult to predict who will emerge. I see Steele as the primary/short-yardage back, with Perine taking on receiving duties.

Kelce may benefit the most from Pacheco's absence, as Mahomes will need a reliable short-yardage target. While Kelce hasn't been a major fantasy producer so far, he did have a big play called back last week, and I expect a bounceback performance in Week 3.

I'm not concerned about the Chiefs' offensive production without Pacheco. Andy Reid has a track record of making any personnel combination work. I expect some creative adjustments in the backfield, and Week 3 should clarify Reid's strategy moving forward.

Curious about what our rankers think? Dwain McFarland has Carson Steele as his RB37 on the week with Samaje Perine slotted in at RB40. Freedman is a touch more optimistic (for once!), with Perine listed as his RB30 and Steele as his RB33.

Access the rest of Dwain and Freedman’s Week 3 rankings here!