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Garrett Wilson and Drake London will build off Week 2 performances

Drake London

Drake London

Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

Week 2 had a wild mixture of shootouts, comeback victories (or blown leads), spiked games and complete duds. Not many people had Joe Flacco and Jared Goff finishing as Week 2’s QB6 and QB7 respectively. Tough outings for star running backs Saquon Barkley, Derrick Henry and Dalvin Cook left our fantasy teams reeling. It’s still just only the beginning, but with so many injuries already (especially at the wide receiver position), we will have to dig deep to find those diamonds or at least a cubic zirconia in the rough to help boost our fantasy squads. Players who were in this column last week like Jahan Dotson and Curtis Samuel continued to thrive while Josh Palmer and Jerick McKinnon‘s touchdowns kept their games from being utter disappointments. This week will be tough in the flex spot, but we have to get it done, let’s go!

Garrett Wilson - WR, Jets vs. Bengals
Call me a point chaser all you want, I don’t care because Wilson is already that guy for the Jets. Elijah Moore SZN was cool and all, but Wilson is a bona fide (team’s) WR1. Early in the season he ranks as WR13 already after a performance in which he caught 8-of-14 targets for 102 yards and two touchdowns against the Browns in Week 2. This comes on the heels of Week 1 in which Wilson caught four of his eight targets for 52 yards. In Week 1, Joe Flacco missed Wilson a couple of times and one was a would-be touchdown against the Ravens. Those issues were corrected in Week 2 where Wilson shined. In Week 3, Wilson will face a Bengals team fighting for their lives as the defending AFC champions can ill afford to fall to 0-3. The Bengals secondary let up 12 receptions, 166 yards and a touchdown to CeeDee Lamb and Noah Brown while Cooper Rush was at quarterback. Looking like “Playoff Joe” from 2013, Flacco has a chance to keep the good times rolling - - Wilson will be the reason he does.

Drake London - WR, Falcons @ Seahawks
The first receiver taken in the 2022 NFL Draft has hit the ground running and fantasy managers should take notice. At this point, he should be a weekly flex starter unless you went receiver-heavy early in your drafts and landed players like Davante Adams, Tyreek Hill and Tee Higgins all on one roster. In Week 1, London caught 5-of-7 targets for 74 yards. He outdid that performance in Week 2 against the Super Bowl champion Rams hauling in eight of a whopping 12 targets, 86 yards and his first career touchdown. Kyle Pitts had the second most targets with three (why is beyond me). London should feast against a Seahawks defense that has let up 100 or more yards to receivers in consecutive weeks. With the Seahawks secondary already down Jamal Adams, they will struggle to contain London (and hopefully Pitts) with that young secondary.

Treylon Burks - WR, Titans vs. Raiders
Do you see the theme here? Rookie receivers are or, at least in Burks’ case, should be taking over. Burks’ start to the season has been lukewarm, but he is indeed the Titans’ leading receiver on limited opportunities. So far in the young season he’s caught 7-of-11 targets for 107, but we want more. The Titans traded away A.J. Brown and drafted Burks on the same day. It’s time for the Titans offense to truly let Burks work as the team’s WR1 if they want a shot at turning their offense around. Burks’ Week 3 opponent, the Raiders, hasn’t let a wide receiver gain more than 70 yards yet in a game, but Burks simply needs the volume and opportunities to be effective after the catch. The Raiders defense has, however, given up at least 275 passing yards in each of the first two weeks. Of all the star rookie wideouts, Burks may be the easiest to buy low on as well.

Dameon Pierce - RB, Texans @ Bears
You’ve been waiting, or maybe you haven’t and have been rolling with Pierce and his below-average fantasy outings. Nonetheless, he at least looks like he’s taken over the early down role after carrying the ball 15 times for 69 yards in Week 2. Not a lot of points are expected in this game (over/under 40.5) so at the very least you can rely on the running game and both teams trying to make that work. Despite Davis Mills throwing 38 times, Pierce only saw one target which he caught for eight yards. It’s safe to say Rex Burkhead will at least get some work in the passing game (three targets, two receptions and nine yards in Week 2), but he did not receive a carry after having 14 in Week 1. Starting Pierce isn’t a pick I’m saying will be a home run, but if you’re in need, he should be a solid start in a low-scoring game that could feature the run on both sides.

Nyheim Hines - RB, Colts vs. Chiefs
Based on how the Colts have looked so far, this one could get ugly. While the over/under for this game is currently at 49.5, I’m not sure how many of those points the Colts will actually score. If this game is anything like the spanking that they received from the Jaguars, Hines could be in for some overtime at the office. Despite having prized rookie receiver Alec Pierce and fake breakout candidate Parris Campbell, Hines is the team’s third-leading receiver behind Michael Pittman and Ashton Dulin. After hauling in four and five catches in Week 1 and 2 respectively, That should be considered the floor for Hines as the Colts are likely in a negative game script against the Chiefs. Possibly getting Pittman back will help, but the Colts will also need back Shaquille Leonard and all hands on deck to compete with the Chiefs. Hines should be the beneficiary.