Week 2 has officially passed us by in the NFL, and that means the third week of college football has gone also. It’s fantasy football time, and today we are going to be talking about weekly strategies, player insights, rankings, and projections. The main premise here is that you should be taking into account all of your player analysis and combining it with insights, rankings, and projections. You never want to leave out information in favor of another, just take it all in and make the best educated decisions you can make on each roster choice. Let’s get right into it by starting with something that many fantasy managers use these days, rankings, and not just generic rankings, but rankings for the season opener.
Weekly Rankings
Weekly rankings are awfully important to figure out the correct rosters to play each week in fantasy football, especially a Campus to Canton league.
College And NFL Rankings
College:
- Ashton Jeanty – Running Back
- Nick Nash– Wide Receiver
- John Mateer – Quarterback
- Oronde Gadsden – Tight End
NFL:
- Alvin Kamara – Running Back
- CeeDee Lamb – Wide Receiver
- George Kittle – Tight End
- Josh Allen – Quarterback
Strategic Insights
For yet another week, we’re going to stick with Ashton Jeanty at the top spot. He didn’t play over this past weekend but that doesn’t mean he should drop. He’s still the highest points scorer at running back in college football right now. He’s rushed for over 450 yards in two games, and scored nine touchdowns, what more can you want from a running back?
We got another big change at running back, with Alvin Kamara stepping into the spotlight. Most sources have Breece Hall or Bijan Robinson at number one, but statistically speaking so far, Kamara has been the best running back in the league. He’s taken 35 carries and turned them into 198 yards and four touchdowns, not to mention that he has seven receptions for 92 yards and another touchdown. He’s the hottest running back in the league, and it’s time to ride that wave until he cools off.
Next, we have Nick Nash. Nash had to get bumped up the rankings a little bit considering his consistency in 2024. He had 10 receptions on 16 targets for 170 yards and two touchdowns in the season opener. In Week 2, he had seven receptions on nine targets for 90 yards and a touchdown. Then, this weekend, he had a whopping 17 receptions on 20 targets for 225 yards and three touchdowns. The numbers do the talking for mee on this one.
Once again, we’re sticking with CeeDee Lamb here. Lamb once again had an interesting game, though he had a long touchdown that gave him a far better day than he would have without it. It doesn’t matter if the Dallas Cowboys get blown out, or blow another team out, Lamb is going to be targeted a ton in this offense. It’s almost impossible to bench in on any given week this season, regardless of situation or matchup.
It’s time to talk about John Mateer as well. Mateer is the definition of a dual-threat quarterback. In three games, he’s thrown for 712 yards, seven touchdowns, and only two interceptions. To make it better, he rushed for 314 yards and four more touchdowns as well. Mateer will continue to put up good passing numbers and he’ll compliment that with a dominant rushing attack.
As for the tight end spot, it’ll still be Oronde Gadsden. He’s another player who didn’t see action over the weekend, though he’s shown enough to stick at the top spot for at least one more week. He’s got 13 receptions on 20 targets for 201 yards and three touchdowns through two games. Syracuse is beginning to play some great football also, which is only good news for Gadsden.
For the NFL, the new tight end at the top is George Kittle. Why? Well, the tight-end position hasn’t been great this season, and Kittle is coming off a phenomenal game. On top of that, the majority of the weapons on this San Francisco 49ers offense are injured, including Deebo Samuel and Christian McCaffrey. This opens the door for Kittle to be one of the top options in the offense, which is a luxurious place to be.
Finally, we still have Josh Allen. Allen might not have had the greatest week over the weekend, but it’s hard to bump him down considering how poor the quarterback play has been across the NFL this season. Allen can still provide big plays with his arm and make something happen on the ground with his legs. There is no other quarterback besides Lamar Jackson who can create this on a play-to-play basis. Right now, Allen is at the top of the pecking order moving forward even on a down week.
Jersey And Bench (Start/Sit)
You all know the drill here, each week there will be players that you want to start, and players that you want to sit. Below are a couple of options and some background information on why you should do either of the following.
Jersey/Bench Picks
Jersey:
- Kyle McCord
- Brock Bowers
- Chris Olave
- Anthony Hankerson
- Devonte Ross
Bench:
- Corey Rucker
- Hunter Henry
- Matthew Stafford
- JC French
- Brandon Aiyuk
Strategic Insights:
Let’s start with the jersey picks and begin with Kyle McCord. He’s started in less than 50 percent of fantasy leagues and in the two games he’s played, he’s been excellent. We’ve seen him complete just under 70 percent of his passes for 735 yards, eight touchdowns, and just one interception. Now, he gets a very good matchup moving forward against Stanford. This should be another great week for the Syracuse quarterback.
Next is D’Andre Swift. The Chicago Bears offense and Swift haven’t looked good for two weeks. However, they play the Indianapolis Colts in Week 3, which is a fantastic matchup for him. In Week 1, the Colts gave up over 150 rushing yards to Joe Mixon, and in Week 2, Josh Jacobs replicated that success. Given that success, Swift and the Bears should heavily lean upon the ground game to give them an edge.
Brock Bowers deserves a mention on this list because he’s a rising star at the tight end position. He’s playing against a horrible Carolina Panthers defense after hauling in 15 receptions on 17 targets in the first two weeks of the season. He’s being involved early and often, and the Panthers haven’t had answers on the defensive side of the ball in 2024.
Next is Anthony Hankerson. Hankerson has put together a great combination of volume and production. He’s taken 55 carries in three games and turned them into 283 yards and five touchdowns. Handerson and this Oregon State squad are preparing for a matchup with Purdue this weekend, one of the worst teams in the nation against the run. Purdue averages 234 rushing yards given up per game, so Hankerson could be in line for a phenomenal week.
And the last of the jersey picks is Devonte Ross. Ross has been the primary weapon in the Troy passing attack. He scored all three of the team’s offensive touchdowns last weekend, and has 25 targets through three games, surpassing 100 receiving yards in two of them. It was a tough matchup against Iowa this weekend as well. Moving forward, he’ll have a much better-passing matchup against Florida A&M.
Flipping over to the bench picks now, the first is Corey Rucker. The wide receiver for the Arkansas State Red Wolves faces one of the stiffest passing defenses in the nation against Iowa State. He’s coming off a game in which he had just four receptions for 26 yards, the first game where he didn’t score a touchdown and surpass 60 receiving yards. Unfortunately, that trend might continue with this incredibly tough matchup.
Then we got to Hunter Henry. Henry just had an excellent weekend for the New England Patriots, but let’s face it, this won’t happen in back-to-back weeks. He’s still going to be an immediate option in this Patriots passing attack but gets a very difficult matchup with the New York Jets. On top of that, Jacoby Brissett and this passing attack don’t get much success in each week. This is a group that doesn’t throw the ball often. For Henry to be a big-time player, the team would have to ramp up their passing volume, which I don’t see happening.
Matthew Stafford might be better on your bench this weekend as well. He gets an incredibly tough matchup against the San Francisco 49ers defense and doesn’t have the weapons to back him up. Puka Nacua and Cooper Kupp will both be absent, severely limiting the options that Stafford has in the passing game, which reared its ugly head in Week 2 during a blowout loss to the Arizona Cardinals.
We also should talk about JC French. French has had a good season up to this point, though this is a very stout matchup moving forward against Ole Miss, the fifth-ranked team in the nation. He’s scored two touchdowns in each of the past three games, but this is a matchup that doesn’t bode well for him.
Lastly, we have to talk about Brandon Aiyuk. This is a bench pick that I make strictly because of the matchup. Aiyuk SHOULD have himself a good week given that Deebo Samuel won’t be available. However, he has historically struggled against the Los Angeles Rams, no matter who is defending him. He’s earned more than 12 fantasy points in just three of his last seven meetings with the Rams. Plus, he is still working off the rust after skipping all of training camp.
Projections
Projections are numbers that estimate how many fantasy points a specific player might get in a given week. They can vary depending on the situation or matchup and need to be monitored weekly to get a good understanding of what experts think of them.
Weekly Projections
College:
- QB – Jaxson Dart – 35.23 points
- RB – Ollie Gordon – 28.22 points
- WR – Luther Burden – 15.52 points
- TE – Caden Prieskorn – 10.37 points
NFL:
- QB – Josh Allen – 22.0 points
- RB – Breece Hall – 15.1 points
- WR – CeeDee Lamb – 12.6 points
- TE – George Kittle – 9.0 points
Strategic Insights
These are the players who are projected to garner the most fantasy points at their position in both college and the NFL. These numbers are calculated by basically estimating the stats that a player might have given their track record and upcoming matchup. If they have an easier matchup and are historically good against that specific team, the projections will be a little higher. If it might be a blowout, the projection might be even higher than that. The reason why it is important to understand these projections is that if you’re ever stuck wondering what to do, they could give you an idea of how a player might perform. Let’s say you can’t decide who to start between two wide receivers, but one is estimated to be 10 points more than the other. That number alone can indicate that the higher projected receiver could be in line for a significantly better day, and you can feel comfortable starting them over your other option. They aren’t guaranteed to be accurate every week, and they do change quite often, because, at the end of the day, they are simply projections, but it’s a good place to start making lineup decisions.
Conclusion
With all of that being said, it is critical to stay on top of your weekly strategies and pay close attention to rankings, and player insights. You never know when you might be caught up between two players and need to figure out how to break the tie in your mind. That is exactly where rankings and projected points play a factor, in helping lay all of the information out for you in an easy-to-read format. Each week is going to be an exciting time for everybody, so before we get ahead of ourselves, just remember to double-check your starting lineups and make sure that you’re happy with the players you have locked in at the moment. I heavily recommend you take some of our listed rankings into consideration, and also for you to check out other projections and rankings as well to get a clear vision of how each week might play out in both college and the NFL.