- Be cautious with Jackson in Week 2: Baltimore Ravens QB Lamar Jackson has a tough Week 2 test against a blitz-happy Dolphins defense that gave him all sorts of problems last season.
- Don't count out Lance just yet: Lost in San Francisco 49ers QB Trey Lance’s losing performance was the fact that he continues to profile as an upside fantasy football quarterback thanks to his immense rushing usage.
- Allen ranks No. 1: Buffalo Bills QB Josh Allen once again stands atop Ian’s Week 2 fantasy football rankings
Estimated reading time: 12 minutes
Week 2 is here, so it’s truly a great day to be great. Today’s goal is to break down the week’s key fantasy football questions facing the quarterback position before producing the group’s specific rankings. Updated weekly rankings from myself and the rest of the PFF Fantasy crew can be accessed with PFF+.
Matchup to take advantage of: Washington Commanders QB Carson Wentz at Detroit Lions
After one week of action, the Lions rank 31st in EPA allowed per play. Of course, plenty of this can be attributed to Jalen Hurts and the Eagles’ stellar Week 1 performance, but that also wasn’t exactly a surprise. Overall, the Lions entered the season with PFF’s 25th-ranked secondary and 26th-ranked defensive line.
Enter Wentz, who was rather awesome in Week 1 on his way to throwing for four touchdowns for the first time since originally injuring his knee back in 2017. There are talented wide receivers all over the field in Washington at the moment, and his six rush attempts demonstrated there might still be a bit of a rushing floor here.
Wentz is the top waiver wire add of the week at the position. Check out the Tuesday edition of The PFF Fantasy Football Podcast for more thoughts on Wentz and the rest of the week’s top waiver options.
Matchup to be cautious of: Baltimore Ravens QB Lamar Jackson vs. Miami Dolphins
It’s going to be borderline impossible even to consider benching Jackson during the course of any given week. This holds true here, but at a minimum, expectations should be reigned in against a Dolphins defense that cover-zeroed their way into all sorts of success against Jackson last season.
On the surface, Jackson’s 238-1-1 passing and 9-39-0 rushing lines against the Dolphins in Week 10 last season doesn’t stand out as the worst performance of his career, but the game demonstrated how things could go south when the 2019 MVP is unable to quickly find an open target against the blitz.
Jackson when blitzed 2021-2022
- PFF passing grade: 53.0 (34th among 39 qualified quarterbacks)
- Big-time throw rate: 2.7% (No. 29)
- Turnover-worthy play rate: 2.7% (No. 18)
- Yards per attempt: 6.8 (No. 25)
- Adjusted completion rate: 72% (No. 21)
- QB rating: 77.8 (No. 30)
Nobody has blitzed more than the Dolphins (44%) since Week 1 of last season. Their 48.5% rate in Week 1 (No. 6) reinforces the idea that they’ll utilize a similar strategy against Jackson and company come Sunday afternoon.
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