Week 2 is the one where the priors start to run into enough data that I have to start dropping them if they’re off. I can no longer support my bad preseason takes if they have drowned in for two weeks in a row. And lemme tell you, I had some pretty bad priors in some cases! That’s the majority of the column this week.
Stock Up
TreVeyon Henderson, New England Patriots — The Patriots had a thought: What if instead of letting Rhamondre Stevenson fumble without consequences, we simply turned to our now-healthy second-round running back? Henderson took some major playing time leaps in this one. He played on 16 passes and pass-block snaps to Stevenson’s 13. He also did this:
TreVeyon Henderson 39-yard TD 🏃
— NFL (@NFL) September 20, 2026
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My guess is that the Patriots will continue to feature Stevenson plenty, but the fact that Henderson was able to cut into passing game snaps is a big comfort hurdle passed. This will never be a 80 percent Henderson backfield without an injury to Stevenson. But for the first time in two years, I think we could actually see it be 50/50 or even tilted towards Henderson. The Patriots were able to stonewall the reality of the situation pretty handily against some bad teams last year; they don’t have that luxury this year and Drake Maye isn’t playing well enough (so far) for them to ignore Henderson’s big-play upside.
Bhayshul Tuten, Jacksonville Jaguars — I was one of the Tuten faders this offseason; I simply didn’t think he’d have a big enough role. But it was very clear from Week 1’s results that Liam Coen was fired up about what he saw. That translated to him out-snapping Chris Rodriguez Jr. 30-13 in Week 2 and out-touching him 15-6, with 65 rushing yards and Jacksonville’s only touchdown.
Bhayshul Tuten scores on the direct snap
— NFL (@NFL) September 20, 2026
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Through two weeks it’s been Tuten with 31 touches and Rodriguez with only 12. Tuten is still limited enough in his role that I think it’s a hard sell for him to be a RB1, but he’s definitely established himself as a set-it-stone RB2 through two weeks. We’ll see if Rodriguez has a comeback in him, and he still has some goal-line vulture potential even if that didn’t happen here. But Tuten has simply played too well for the Jaguars to ignore so far.
Denzel Boston, Cleveland Browns — Boston led the Browns in targets in Week 2, scoring one of the two touchdowns and adding a team-high 95 receiving yards. Boston led the Browns in receiving yards in Week 1, scoring their only receiving touchdown. Maybe Boston is just good.
Rookie Denzel Boston goes 55 yards for the TD!
— NFL (@NFL) September 20, 2026
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I had this game as a sneaky spot for the Browns to make some headway against a Bucs defense I don’t particularly love — I didn’t expect a win, but I’m not surprised by the offensive production. But I picked KC Concepcion‘s floor over Boston’s ceiling and Boston torched the Bucs secondary. I don’t quite know if every-week WR3 production is possible from this Browns offense; I’m still worried about their passing game floor. But Boston is at least someone you could credibly throw out there in bye weeks. Perhaps he’s much more than that. You could do much worse as you’re perusing the waiver wire this week.
Josh Downs, Indianapolis Colts — Alec Pierce‘s heel re-aggravation looked bad. It was non-contact. He was carted off.
That leaves the Colts with three non-Jonathan Taylor players who catch passes: Tyler Warren, Downs, and Keenan Allen. Allen has been almost unrosterable through the first two weeks of the season and as a bonus has the chance of a looming suspension for his preseason DUI. Warren is going to be married to the run game more than you’d like. Downs is the player who benefits the most from the lack of available competition. He finished with a team-high nine targets with seven catches for 72 yards.
I wasn’t much of a believer in the Downs WR3 juice coming into the season; I thought the slot was his home and he’s been stretched when used out wide. But at this point there’s simply not much left for the Colts to throw to. Laquon Treadwell was their second-leading wideout by yards in Week 2. Really.
Stock Down
Travis Etienne, New Orleans Saints — After addressing the pronunciation of his name this summer, Etienne has decided to make it irrelevant by being used so infrequently that nobody actually says his name. He managed just 37-of-68 snaps against the Ravens in Week 2, with the saving grace being his pass blocking. Even after a surprise scratch of Kendre Miller, Alvin Kamara and CJ Donaldson(?) both played 20 snaps. Etienne managed just eight carries for 25 yards on the ground and two for six through the air. The only reason he got “there” (to RB2 standards) in Week 1 was a comeback game script that gave him PPR scam potential.
Travis Etienne Jr. converts the 2-pt conversion to tie the game!
— NFL (@NFL) September 20, 2026
NOvsBAL on CBS/Paramount+
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I still think Etienne is an interesting buy-low with the stock down. If you follow the money, he got it this offseason. Kamara’s health at this age makes him a weekly dilemma. But the Saints didn’t exactly have a lead back last year under Kellen Moore and they may not have one again. That makes Etienne an uncomfortable low-end RB2/RB3, which uh, is probably not what you were hoping for when you likely spent a near top-50 pick on him.
Kenny Gainwell, Tampa Bay Buccaneers — After a training camp red carpet praise tour, Gainwell finishes Week 2 with seven carries for 25 yards and, more concerningly, isn’t even a locked-in lead receiving back as he has just four catches for nine yards. Those of us (I count myself among the duped) assuming that Gainwell would have a major role in this offense are instead looking at 36 Bucky Irving touches in two weeks.
I believe in the power of the money here in the long-term — I think Gainwell will play more than this at some point — but Gainwell is a rational drop in shallow leagues with this kind of workload. He’s not necessarily a must-drop, but obviously there’s no reason to start him or consider him as a FLEX play until we see better than this.
Bears and Commanders pass catchers as we await news on Caleb Williams and Jayden Daniels — I’m willing to throw out some of what happens against the Vikings because they are a weird defense to play against. So even though some may have advised starting all Bears and Vikings this week — not me, of course, I would never do that, please do not look at anything I have written in the past week — and it blew up in the face of “some,” I don’t leave a rain-swept game against the unique Brian Flores defense thinking that it is the only touchstone we should measure about going forward.
But with both quarterbacks sidelined and carted off after ugly-looking injuries, it is worth considering what life could look like in the long-term. Fantasy managers who went in on Colston Loveland and Luther Burden have grown up in the dark, been molded by it, so they know what I’m going to say here: This is going to be even more of a run-first offense if Williams is out. I don’t think it will be as bad as it has been for either of them — they will eventually score and Loveland will eventually have more than one catch — but it is time to lower expectations a bit. Burden is more of a WR3. Loveland is more of a mid-range TE1.
The Commanders have historically shown some fight with Marcus Mariota, but he’s sort of becoming the new Tyrod Taylor where we’re not sure he can make it through a week healthy. This is also a new offensive playcaller in David Blough, and not one who has been lighting the world on fire in his first two weeks. Terry McLaurin, nevertheless, remains in the WR3 range. Stefon Diggs probably has some FLEX energy. Nobody else can be trusted at this time. FOX has just run another replay of Jayden Daniels’ elbow in a position that elbows don’t belong in as you read this.
MarShawn Lloyd, Green Bay Packers — Lloyd had a costly fumble and lost a major snap share to Kaleb Johnson because of it. He managed just eight touches for 26 yards. And now that he’s done this against a non-Vikings defense, I’m more comfortable saying: Is this Packers offensive line going to be able to even support a running attack this year? The Packers look like they don’t have a real running back at this time — even Chris Brooks looks stretched as a passing downs back. Maybe they trade for someone, maybe Josh Jacobs eventually gets off the Commissioner’s Exempt list. And when you factor in the offensive line being banged up and ineffective, the whole environment feels poised for Matt LaFleur to just let Jordan Love let it rip and worry about the run game some other time.
Lloyd could sustain a bad run environment as the lone early-down committee member. He could sustain losing some carries if the Packers had a good running environment. But with both things going against him, it’s hard to imagine even trusting him beyond the realm of “bye week FLEX.”
