The Game Plan For The Preseason Week 2 (#FantasyFootball)

Fine readers of the Going For 2 fanbase my name is @TheBLeagueSays and I am 100% ready for the preseason to be over; three more weeks though is three too many. This week’s new article I will present for @GoingFor_2 is called ‘The Gameplan of the Preseason. Each week I will give to you some plays to make in regards to your Fantasy teams weekly roster construction, DFS selections or Dynasty evaluations.

So before we get started, Thank you, and enjoy!

With a few weeks to go leading to your draft season, I am going to throw some advice to you, but whether or not you catch it is another thing. The @GoingFor_2 ‘Game Plan Of The Week’ is designed to bring you what’s good this week (being in the preseason it will be what’s good for the upcoming year), and right now I will give you exactly that and this weeks focus is on the AFC and NFC North. So let’s start with the…

Slant Route

Who is trending up: 

Tyler Boyd is legitimately the only Receiver in Cincinnati that you can trust right now. For all the ‘he is/isn’t’ crowds that pander to you about A.J. Green and his health or his age or his contract status – anything to do with him really – none of it can be said for Boyd who penned a new contract already and is bound to see the lions share of work before Green returns. Currently, we have him as the WR26 in our @GoingFor_2 Dynasty Rankings – but he is somehow behind guys like Corey Davis and Allen Robinson. Clearly, the ceiling hasn’t been shattered yet and this could be your last chance to get him at a discount if he keeps up his 2018 form moving forward.

Flat Route

The hate is cooling off:

On Jarvis Landry, poor guy! He was being whipped by the fantasy industry for not having the standout season that was proclaimed upon him once he moved from Miami to Cleveland. But, in all, fairness he had a change of Quarterback, albeit an upgrade, early in the season with a switch to Rookie Baker Mayfield, a change of Offensive Coordinator with not a lot of help outside of him. And now he gets Odell Beckham Jr – former college football soulmate from L.S.U. – and likely his simplified slot role back. Jarvis Landry is falling down draft boards into the 6th Round, despite having 149-81-974-4 TDS last year. As your potential WR3 who is likely to return WR2 numbers, that has a fired-up play-caller, and an elite Receiver next to him and a hell of a run game behind him, Landry could sneak a productive upcoming year and if he keeps falling more keep watching and feel comfortable picking him up.

Comeback Route

Who will recover after a poor performance in 2018:

Kirk Cousins was the talk of the town last season. He was the recipient of the first major guaranteed contract in the NFL which we now see as the standard in negotiations since. He brought promise to a team that lacked a solid Quarterback in some time. But 2018 fizzled out and the Vikings now look like a team that has a run-first philosophy with an improved O-Line and Kevin Stefanski returning as Offensive Coordinator and Gary Kubiak chiming in too as an ‘advisor’. The Vikings (via mybookie.ag) currently have a money line of $1.91 to make the Playoffs while are currently third favorites to take the NFC North at $3.00 behind the Bears and Packers; which I think looks like tasty props to parlay this preseason. For them to do that, Kirk Cousins will have to be better than the 8-7-1 record he achieved (for the second time in his career mind you) in 2018 and will need to attain more than 9 wins for the first time of his career in doing so, he last had a 9-win season in 2015. Ten wins will likely get them into the second phase of the season, and Cousins has the tools around him to do it, you can get him in redraft (a must in 2QB leagues or Superflex) as the current QB21 (what?!) this season.

Screen Route

The contrarian play of the year:

Hayden Hurst is the Baltimore Ravens 2018 1st round pick that no one remembers – go figure – as Mark Andrews also a Tight End in Baltimore (3rd round pick in 2018) has somewhat confirmed a relationship with Lamar Jackson (also a 1st round pick in 2018). Hurst is the forgotten Tight End in the Ravens set up, and as Mark Andrews starts climbing up the A.D.P. charts, Hurst is still going undrafted and currently the TE31 (on FantasyPros.com) – in a team which hasn’t got an established Receiver group – he could well see plenty of time out there in 12-personnel sets and prove his ‘draft capitals’ worth in 2019, hopefully, while fully healthy.

Out Route

Who am I completely off:

The Detroit Lions drafted T.J. Hockenson, a Tight End early in the 1st round in 2019 (again), and I’m meant to buy into it (again), and that things will be different? Nope, I won’t be fooled again. We already started to hear whispers that he isn’t on top of the depth chart and to be blunt – if he can’t beat out free agent recruit Jesse James – who no one is drafting, at all, ever – prior to Week One then I’m out for this season. Rookie Tight Ends aren’t great in redraft formats in general, I cant see a reason for picking him up unless it was in deeper league formats or a late-round flyer.

The 9 Route

The straight-ahead, chalk play for the year:

Davante Adams – don’t overthink this – it’s been a phenomenal couple of years for Aaron Rodgers’ favorite ‘go-to guy’ and while the few Receivers on the depth chart try to catch up, Adams further cements himself as possibly the best fantasy Receiver in the League – I know that is up for debate, and that’s fine but I don’t think anyone would deny that at worse he is in the Top 3 conversation. The Over/Under for yards in 2019 is set at 1300.5 – but it is worth noting that 2018 was the first time he had over 1000 yards in a season as he went off for 1386. But until someone else on that roster steps up I can’t imagine anyone protrudes Adams and his quest to be the best in the league.

Hail Mary Plays Of The Year

Jaylen Samuels has taken a drive through the ‘narrative street’ all offseason somewhat similar to the previously mentioned Tyler Boyd/A.J. Green conundrum but with his colleague James Conner. For all intents, I believe that James Conner will be a stud this year, and despite popular opinion, I also believe that Jaylen Samuels can also have a role at the same time and be successful too. The Fantasy Community has this idea that only one of these players can be effective and have success – I live in a world of make-believe and I choose to believe they both can crush it in 2019. There’s no Antonio Brown, no Jesse James, and no Le’Veon Bell. So you would have to believe that Samuels could carve a role to not only spell James Conner but figure into the passing game also. He’s going late enough and is probably one of, if not, the best backup Running Backs to own in Dynasty (ranked currently by the @GoingFor_2 staff as the RB58) and can be a point of difference in DFS and/or BestBall.

Everyone hates Mitchell Trubisky… Which means now is probably the opportune time to buy into him. But to calm the storm, while being drafted as the QB24 in 2018, from Weeks 1 to 8 Trubisky was the QB8 overall which was aided by an average of 38 yards rushing per game – not bad for a Quarterback! The problem is people only remember the muck and from Weeks 9 to 17 he was the QB21 while only playing 7 games and suffering from a shoulder injury in that timeframe.  He is currently going as the QB20 meaning in single Quarterback leagues he is currently not viable unless it is a Superflex or 2QB league, which if you believe that the first half of his 2018 season is what the norm should and could be – he could again be of value in all formats. 

I want to thank you for getting this far and taking in everything I have presented. You can as always follow and find me at @TheBLeagueSays and offer any view or conversation about this. Don’t forget to check out the #GF2 weekly rankings which you can find https://goingfor2.com/2019-fantasy-football-redraft-rankings-gf2-consensus/, and to subscribe, rate, review, and share and listen to The Armchair Fantasy Show podcast.

Let’s all get better together!

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