Week 2 Trade Targets
- Kareem Hunt
Along with Travis Kelce, Hunt was the odd man out of Kansas City’s touchdown orgy on Sunday. Owners that took Hunt early in drafts will be concerned with the output, but there are a lot of reasons to be encouraged in my opinion. The Chiefs had multiple goal-to-go situations that Hunt was uncharacteristically left out of, instead acting as the decoy to two beautifully executed touch passes.
Although frustrating for this week, those two touchdowns should lay a foundation that will help Hunt at the goal line in the long run. Defenses will now have the threat of the jet sweep in the forefront of their minds, allowing more room for Hunt to take advantage of the middle.
The Chiefs held the ball for 25:34 only due in part to two big plays by Tyreek Hill, and once teams focus their scheme on taking away Hill’s big play ability, the box, in theory, should be more empty for Hunt to exploit. I’m not worried about Hunt, and would be trying to buy low if I could.
2. Chris Thompson
Thompson is one of the most underrated backs in the NFL — a matchup nightmare that is married with the perfect quarterback to take advantage of his skillset. He has been dubbed as more of a PPR darling than your prototypical standard league RB2, but I would be more than comfortable rolling him out as an RB2 in either format. Dude can run some saucy routes:
Thompson showed no ill-effects returning from the broken leg that he suffered last season, totaling 128 yards while leading the team with seven targets. He also played 42% of the snaps in a game that the Redskins controlled from the very start. When the game script flips — and it will — Thompson will be featured heavily in garbage time/hurry-up situations. With a likely affordable trade price, he is a player that I would be trying really hard to get if his current owner doesn’t quite realize what they have.
3. Jack Doyle
Eric Ebron is garnering many of the headlines, but Doyle looked like the tight end of preference for Andrew Luck on Sunday. Doyle accumulated 10 targets to Ebron’s five, and was on the field for 94% of the snaps compared to Ebron’s 45%. Luck is always looking for Doyle, and should be safely in the top 10 tight end conversation on a weekly basis. Take away Ebron’s touchdown and it wouldn’t even be an argument.
4. Mike Williams
Tyrell Williams and Travis Benjamin (literally) dropped the ball on securing the secondary pass-catching role in the Chargers offense, leaving room for Williams to assert himself as more than a big-bodied red zone threat. Phillip Rivers turned to Williams more as the game went on, and he obliged by hanging a 5/81 line on six targets, including an end zone fade:
Coming into the season, the expectation was that Williams would be a low yardage option capable of scoring double digit touchdowns because of his frame and quarterback. If he is able to morph into as much of a threat between the 20s as he is inside the red zone, there is plenty of room for a breakout season. I was high on Williams before week 1, and I am even higher on him now.
5. Robert Woods
The final line, 3 catches for 37 yards, is disappointing for fantasy owners, but the substance that went into that line is exciting for the future prognosis of Woods in the Rams’ offense. Woods tied for the team-lead in targets with nine, downgrading the notion that Brandin Cooks’ arrival will have a negative impact on the amount of looks he receives. To my surprise, a few of those targets were deep and inches away from connecting.
If Woods, who has traditionally been viewed as more of a possession receiver, is supplementing his patented 15 yard gains over the middle with one or two deep targets a game, he is going to be set up for a solid WR2 season within the Rams’ elite offense. As I said, the results for week one left a lot to be desired, but the process behind the numbers points to better days ahead.
