How much does Ezekiel Elliott impact Rhamondre Stevenson’s fantasy value?

Here’s how you should address the situation in fantasy football drafts.

There had been plenty of rumblings of late as to whether the New England Patriots would add another back, and all doubts were put to rest with the signing of former Dallas Cowboys star rusher Ezekiel Elliott.

While Zeke isn’t quite the world-beater he was a few seasons ago, the veteran still has a nose for the end zone. But will he eat into Rhamondre Stevenson‘s workload to a degree that significantly dampens the third-year back’s fantasy football worth?

In a word, maybe.

Helpful, huh?

Stevenson’s versatility will keep him on the field all three downs as the coaching staff sees fit, but Elliott will give him a breather when needed. The fear here is that Stevenson will be pulled inside of the 5-yard line for Zeke, which could be damaging enough to make him a low-end RB2 rather than the fringe No. 1 back he was prior to the Elliott signing. It’s not like Stevenson was a big-time touchdown threat in the first place after scoring just five times on the ground in 2022.

As for Zeke himself, he’s a handcuff and roster depth but isn’t much better than a lottery ticket for a flex touchdown most weeks. He hasn’t rushed for more than 92 yards in any contest since Week 5 of the 2021 season, being overly reliant on finding the end zone since. Elliott logged a single game last year with more than 10 PPR points and no touchdowns scored. He did it five times the prior year, for context.

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The best-case scenario for Stevenson is that Elliott is merely an insurance policy and will be seldom utilized from week to week. It seems unlikely that is how this will play out, but expecting some kind of 50/50 split is far more unrealistic. Even more than 65/35 might be a stretch. Stevenson is the 1a, at a minimum, with Zeke being the change-up and spell. Don’t mistake Elliott’s lofty name value with a direct correlation to his new role; he wasn’t brought in to outright steal Stevenson’s job.

Drafting Stevenson as a No. 1 now just become a little tougher pill to swallow, and he’s best digested as an RB2. Handcuffing Elliott is wise, though the former Dallas workhorse is an RB4 on his own as a potential weekly TD flier. Reserves Ty Montgomery, Kevin Harris and Pierre Strong now can be ignored in all formats.

Fantasy Football Market Report: Week 5

The most important risers and fallers in fantasy football.

One of the aspects of fantasy football that never fails to amaze me is when fantasy owners don’t take into account bye weeks. Week 5 will be the last time in a long time that every player on most rosters will be available.

Injuries do their part to gut fantasy rosters, so players who had no draft-day intention of being in the starting lineup are there more weeks than not. Bye weeks are a meaningless gutting – those guys are healthy, just not playing.

There will be eight weeks in which at least two and as many as six teams will be on bye. If you’re a seasoned fantasy player, you probably paid attention to the bye weeks as you were assembling a draft/auction roster, but a lot has happened since then.

A week from now it will dawn on some casual players that the bye weeks have started. You can be ahead of that curve and prepare for it now. If you see a week that will be rough, make a trade to diversify your roster. There will be someone in your league who effectively forfeits a week because too many key players are on their bye. Don’t let that be you.

Here is the Week 5 Fantasy Football Market Report:

Fantasy football: 5 running back duos worth drafting in 2022

These 10 running backs are part of backfield committees, but they still offer standalone value in fantasy football.

Typically in fantasy football, drafting a workhorse is the best strategy at running back. But fewer and fewer teams are relying on one running back going into the 2022 NFL season.

Beyond the top options of backs, like Jonathan Taylor, Christian McCaffrey, Derrick Henry and Najee Harris, most RBs are part of some kind of backfield rotation. Fortunately, there are many backfield duos with each RB offering some standalone value in fantasy, even if both players stay healthy.

Here’s a look at five running back committees that feature a pair of RBs who are both worth drafting in your fantasy football league.

7 handcuff running backs to target in fantasy football drafts

Seven of the top running back tandems to handcuff in fantasy football drafts.

It’s common for fantasy football players to “double down” on running backs in whom they’ve made a significant investment by adding the backup late in drafts or auctions. The term for this practice is called “handcuffing” – having two running backs from the same team on your roster.

The key to executing a proper handcuff is in direct relation to the investment made in the first of the two running backs. The player almost certainly needs to be an RB1. There are exceptions to the rule – the first back can be an RB2 in the event there is a belief that two backs will share playing time.

The rationale is pretty simple – if the top guy gets injured, the “handcuff guy” can step in and closely replicate the production.

These are the top seven handcuff players you should consider.

Is Ezekiel Elliott still a No. 1 running back in fantasy football?

Just how much does Ezekiel Elliott have left in the tank?

The question of whether Dallas Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott is a RB1 in fantasy football may come down to how many owners you have in your league.

His decline in production as a runner has led many to question whether Tony Pollard will push Elliott out the door. On the eve of the 2019 opener, the Cowboys and Elliott agreed on a six-year, $90 million contract. As result, he has the highest salary ($12.4 million) and cap hit ($18.2 million) of any running back in the league. In the NFL, that has historically been a problem.

Elliott will have no more guaranteed money on his contract after this season. If he is released or traded before June 1, 2023, the Cowboys would take a cap hit of $11.86 million in dead money. If he was cut or traded after June 1, that number would be split over the remaining years of the deal.

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There is legitimate reason for concern because Elliott’s rushing yards per game during his career have dropped every season – 108.7, 98.3, 95.6, 84.8, 65.3, and 58.9. However, that has been tempered somewhat in that he has become much more of a receiving threat, catching 210 passes over the last four years to provide needed fantasy points.

It took Elliott all 17 games to hit 1,000 rushing yards last year, but it should be noted he suffered a partial right posterior cruciate ligament tear in Week 4. He played through the remainder of the season, including wearing a knee brace in December and January for stability. He was clearly hobbled, but his willingness to play through pain speaks volumes when it comes to organizational loyalty.

Elliott turns 27 in July, so there is still plenty left in the tank, and he will need to regain his former standing as a player who can go off for 100 yards at any time — and do it often. With the trade of wide receiver Amari Cooper, passing game took a backward step, which may get Mike McCarthy and his staff looking for a more balanced attack that gives plenty of touches to both Elliott and Pollard.

It’s not an exaggeration to say that Elliott is playing for his Cowboys life in 2022. Pollard is set to hit free agency at the end of the season, and Dallas will be facing a difficult choice. Potential or the past.

Has Elliott’s dominance come to an end? No.

He’s motivated. He has attacked his offseason program. He’s ready to reclaim his spot as one of the elite running backs in the league and not the guy who had 10 straight games with 52 or fewer rushing yards. He needs to stay healthy. In the first five games of the 2021 season, Elliott rushed for 452 yards – more than 90 yards a game. As he played through his PCL injury, in his final 12 appearances, he rushed for just 550 yards – just 46 yards a contest. However, in 17 games, Elliott had more carries than Pollard in all but one of them, even while clearly playing at less than 100 percent. He’s still the featured back.

Fantasy football takeaway

Elliott will likely be available at the back end of the top 10 running backs, if not beyond, but he is clearly still an RB1 option – just not for someone making an early investment in the position.

The old “what have you done for me lately” perception typically drives a player’s fantasy stock. Even through a down year by his lofty standards, Elliott finished RB7 in PPR scoring in 2021. For the first time his rookie season, Zeke is a value pick, with an ADP generally in Round 3. Selecting Pollard as a handcuff would be a wise decision, however.

Fantasy football team previews: NFC East

A fantasy football snapshot of each team in the NFC East.

The 2022 fantasy football draft season is starting to heat up now that we’ve gone through the height of free agency and all of the chosen rookies have been assigned to their professional home cities.

The landscape has changed a great deal for many franchises after a whirlwind offseason, and our divisional preview series will help you stay on top of all of the changes to date.

AFC divisional previews

East | North | South | West

NFC divisional previews

East | North | South | West

Fantasy Football Market Report: Week 18

Trending in the right and wrong directions to close out the 2021 season.

The 2021 season has been one of the most frustrating in the history of fantasy football. COVID-19 had an impact last season in terms of forcing games to be shifted from one week to another and messing with lineups, but the NFL made it clear prior to the start of this season that, while there could be flexibility within a week to switch games (Tuesday Night Football was a thing again this year), if you had an outbreak, it would be on the individual organizations to play. This time around, the show must go on.

The balance of power shifted completely as outbreaks hit teams. Quarterbacks who had never started before made starts. Entire position rooms went down – it’s hard to win you start your third left tackle or fifth defensive end or cornerback.

Hopefully, by the beginning of the 2022 season, this global nightmare will finally be behind us, but a lot of fantasy owners have seen their seasons come to an abrupt end due to COVID. For those who weren’t able to dodge the loss of key players at key time, just know you weren’t alone.

Here is the Week 18 Fantasy Market Report:

Fantasy Football Risers

RB Elijah Mitchell, San Francisco 49ers

Mitchell isn’t a surprise riser – he’s posted five 100-yard rushing games – but in his last four games has become a workhorse like no other back in the league. In those four games, he has 97 carries for 399 yards and has scored three touchdowns. If the 49ers get into the playoffs, which is a distinct possibility, if they’re able to control the ground game like they have with Mitchell, the 49ers will be a hard out in the postseason.

TE Mark Andrews, Baltimore Ravens

There is always discussion about who will fill out the Tight End Mount Rushmore along with Travis Kelce, George Kittle and Darren Waller – the accepted Big 3. Andrews has always been in consideration to be the fourth guy, but he has really stepped it up, especially in the last month. He has 99 catches for 1,276 yards and nine touchdowns, including five 100-yard games, but in the last month he may have cemented his spot. In his last four games, he has caught 35 passes for 465 yards and three touchdowns – planting his Mount Rushmore flag for next season.

WR Cyril Grayson, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

A guy who didn’t play college football, he only has 10 receptions, but has gained 212 yards, including a 62-yard catch and touchdown receptions of 33 and 50 yards. With Chris Godwin out due to injury and Antonio Brown gone altogether, somebody has to step up, and Grayson may well be that speed option by default. Tom Brady has a history of turning receivers into fantasy darlings, and Grayson could be the next in a long line of them.

RB Austin Ekeler, Los Angeles Chargers

Ekeler is a guy who is in fantasy lineups almost every week because he’s a poor man’s Alvin Kamara – or at least he was. He has just one 100-yard rushing game and hasn’t hit 70 receiving yards in a game, but it’s the body of work that matters here. He has scored 18 touchdowns (11 rushing, seven receiving), has a touchdown in each of his last six games and, over that six-game span, he has scored nine TDs. If you had Ekeler and didn’t win a fantasy championship, it wasn’t his fault. He gave you what you needed to be successful.

WR Brandin Cooks, Houston Texans

Cooks has become a very poor man’s Davante Adams. Everyone knows the ball is coming his way, but he didn’t have Aaron Rodgers throwing it to him. He has 130 targets (next highest on the Texans is 53). He has 87 receptions (next highest is 30). He has 1,011 yards (next highest is 379). He has six TD receptions (next highest is three). When most would give up on him, over his last three games, he has 22 receptions for 269 yards and three touchdowns – stepping up for those who showed faith.

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Fantasy Football Fallers

QB Matt Ryan, Atlanta Falcons

His fantasy contribution as a rusher is negligible. What you get from him is passing yards and garbage-time touchdowns. That hasn’t happened this year, and it has gotten worse as time has gone by. The Falcons didn’t get in the QB run at the start of the draft and were willing to ride it out with Ryan – known for 300-yard games is losses. In his last eight games, he not only doesn’t have a single 300-yard passing game, Ryan has been under 200 in five of them, hasn’t thrown more than one touchdown in any game, and has no touchdown passes in four contests. Those are the kind of stat lines you get from COVID replacements, not a guy who is a borderline Hall of Fame candidate.

RB Ezekiel Elliott, Dallas Cowboys

He has been on this list before, but it has been because the expectations of a player of Elliott’s stature are pronounced. Unlike other running back disappointments, he has played in every game and never got benched in fantasy lineups. Scoring 12 touchdowns is great, but it has come with a price for a top-five pick. He has caught 46 passes, but they have gone for just 284 yards. He has 25 or fewer receiving yards in 13 games. What makes it an issue is that, in his last 10 games, his high for rushing yards is 52. Still in the heavy-lifting portion of his contract, this hasn’t been acceptable for some time. His stock for next year has a floor for the first time.

QB Carson Wentz, Indianapolis Colts

Fantasy football doesn’t care if you win or lose. Guys like Matt Ryan and Matthew Stafford have become fantasy gods by having a brutal defense that provides fluffed numbers late in games (the Roethlisberger Effect). Wentz has a reputation for being capable of posting solid numbers. In his first nine games, he threw two or more touchdowns in seven of them and found his way into a lot of fantasy lineups. In his last seven games, he has one or no TDs and has thrown for 180 or fewer yards in five of them. Those who bought in during the first half of the season have been forced to rethink their position. While his team has been successful, he has stunk out loud from the fantasy perspective.

WR D.J. Moore, Carolina Panthers

When the season started, it seemed like a lot of the same with Moore. Through his first four games, Moore caught 30 passes for 398 yards and three touchdowns. That was when things were good. In 12 games, he has caught 56 passes for 672 yards and one touchdown. As bad as things have been, even those averages are above his last three games – 14 catches for 132 yards and no touchdowns. Moore was brought onto fantasy rosters with the knowledge that he was going to have issues at quarterback. But, he has had that before and thrived. This time around? Not so much.

QB Trevor Lawrence, Jacksonville Jaguars

Lawrence came in with the can’t-miss franchise tag of a “can’t miss” prospect – the best since Andrew Luck, many postulated. In his first game, he threw for 332 yards and three touchdowns and the expectations suddenly went off the hook. In the 15 games since, he has thrown just seven touchdowns (with 14 interceptions) and has thrown for fewer than 230 yards in 11 of them. In his last 11 games, he has accounted for just four touchdowns. It’s not his fault that the Jaguars are extremely limited talent-wise, but four touchdowns in 11 games is something you expect from a marginal tight end, not the No. 1 overall pick.

Fantasy Football Market Report: Week 15

Fantasy football risers and fallers entering the playoffs.

It’s arrived a week later than usual, but the 2021 fantasy football playoffs are beginning for leagues across the country this week, and the reality of the matter is that only one team in each league is going to win it all and the rest will be resigned to wait until next year.

If you have played fantasy football for any period of time, you are familiar with the concept of the “bad beat” – a particularly gruesome end to a season. It can be a huge game against you on a Monday night or the classic bad beat of Brian Westbrook breaking loose for a touchdown only to slide to a stop at the 5-yard line so his team could kill the clock.

Here’s hoping your season doesn’t end until you’re hoisting a league championship trophy, but for those who lose along the way, hopefully you won’t be stricken by the bad beat that you remember for years to come.

Here is the Week 15 Fantasy Football Market Report:

Fantasy Football Risers

WR Hunter Renfrow, Las Vegas Raiders

Renfrow has been a popular selection in PPR leagues because of his consistent production – he only has two games this season with fewer than five receptions. But, since Darren Waller got injured on Thanksgiving Day, Renfrow has taken his game to a new level – the kind of production that would make Wes Welker or Percy Harvin blush. Over the last three games, he has been targeted 33 times, catching 30 passes for 353 yards and one touchdown. Derek Carr has locked in on him and transformed him from being a fantasy receiver you have on your roster to a player who has become a must-start in almost any format.

TE Dawson Knox, Buffalo Bills

Most people likely don’t know that Knox leads all tight ends in scoring with eight touchdowns, including three in his last three games – when fantasy owners needed him most. For owners who don’t have guys like Travis Kelce, George Kittle or Darren Waller as a lineup rubber stamp every week (when healthy), the goal is to find somebody who consistently catches four passes or more passes and can be counted on to give you a handful of touchdowns. Knox has been exactly that – leading the Bills will eight TDs despite missing two-and-a-half games due to injury.

WR Jalen Guyton, Los Angeles Chargers

The Chargers have plenty of weapons, but Guyton has come on in the last two weeks as a deep-ball threat the Chargers haven’t consistently had this season. He came to the Chargers in the same draft class as Justin Herbert, and their rapport has been on display the last couple of weeks. After catching just 14 passes in the first 11 games of the season, over his last two games, Guyton has caught seven passes for 177 yards, including touchdowns of 44 and 59 yards. While more of a player to consider as a cheap option for daily fantasy play, he and Herbert have made a connection that looks to potentially have some big-play staying power.

WR K.J. Osborn, Minnesota Vikings

Osborn has been up and down with the Vikings this season as the No. 3 guy. He started extremely strong in his first two games (12 catches for 167 yards and a touchdown), but was hit-and-miss after that. He has made some big plays, including an overtime TD at Carolina and a touchdown Minnesota badly needed late in the Steelers game. With Adam Thielen injured, over the last two games, Osborn has caught seven passes for 130 yards and two touchdowns, showing he can do more than simply fill in for their starting wide receiver.

QB Taysom Hill, New Orleans Saints

Hill is still available on the waiver wire in a lot of leagues, but the Saints seem committed to him in the short-term as their QB and long-term as a Swiss Army knife type player fresh off signing an eight-figure-a-year contract extension. He can produce points in a lot of ways. In his two starts he has thrown for 439 yards and two touchdowns and rushed 22 times for 174 yards and two more TDs. When you look at his point production in each of the last two games, it’s better than a lot of quarterbacks viewed as “must-start” guys, and he has forced his way into the conversation for being a fantasy starter as the playoffs begin.

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Fantasy Football Fallers

RB Ezekiel Elliott, Dallas Cowboys

There are some players that fantasy owners feel obligated to live and die with in the playoffs because they dread the potential of benching him in the game he blows up. Elliott has become one of those guys. In the first five games of the season, Elliott looked his normal self, posting three games with 95 or more rushing yards and scoring six touchdowns. However, in the eight games since, he has scored just three touchdowns and, over the last seven, has weekly rushing totals of 50, 51, 41, 32, 25, 45 and 45. He hasn’t averaged four yards a carry in any of the last five. Given the investment fantasy owners made in Zeke, it’s hard to imagine them just walking away from him, but he’s on the worst five-game stretch of his career, and he’s hurting a lot of owners’ chances of winning a title with his lack of production.

QB Baker Mayfield, Cleveland Browns

In the era of the dual threat quarterback, Mayfield brings next to nothing as a runner, so his value to a fantasy owner is strictly as a passer, and therein lies the problem. Mayfield has hit the 250 passing yard mark just twice this season (none in the last seven games) and, over his last four games, he has been limited to 190 or fewer passing yards in three of them. Compounding the problem is that he has thrown just 13 touchdown passes in 12 games – two TDs in four games, one in five games, and none in three games. Are those the kind of numbers you want to let your season ride on?

WR DK Metcalf, Seattle Seahawks

Last year I was kicking myself all season in my most important league (bloodsport for 20 years) by having the option of drafting Cooper Kupp or Metcalf and made the wrong call and took Kupp. Fortunately, I wasn’t posed with that conundrum this season because, if I had Metcalf, I would be experiencing the same pain I did with Kupp last year. It seemed like situation normal for Metcalf the first half of the season – topping 95 yards in three games and scoring eight touchdowns. However, in his last five games, he has all but disappeared. At a time when Tyler Locket has put up three games with more than 95 yards, Metcalf has disappeared, catching just 17 passes for 216 yards and no touchdowns. If three catches for 44 yards and no scores – his average over the last five games – is what you’re looking for, stick with him. Otherwise, difficult decisions may need to be considered.

QB Ryan Tannehill, Tennessee Titans

Tannehill’s only saving grace is that he has six rushing touchdowns – almost all from the 1- or 2-yard line. As a passer, his numbers have been dismal, despite having a wealth of talent around him most of the season and the onus to win moving from Derrick Henry’s shoulders to his. In 13 games, he has thrown more than one touchdown just twice, over his last five games he has thrown for 191 yards or less three times and has just four TD passes. He’s never been a must-start player, but is nearing the point of being a must-bench after throwing for 191 yards and no TDs in a home win over Jacksonville.

RB Ronald Jones, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

There was a time when Jones was the starter and Leonard Fournette was the backup/change-of-pace guy. Those days are long since over. Fournette has almost three times as many carries as Jones, has 62 receptions and scored 10 touchdowns. In 13 games, Jones has 63 carries for just 274 yards, has caught only five passes and scored just three touchdowns. As Forunette thrives down the home stretch as a legitimate three-down back, Jones has been left on the Island of Misfit Toys, averaging less than five carries a game and being dropped from fantasy rosters looking to add depth at other positions from the waiver wire.

NFL Player Prop Bet Payday: Week 2

These Week 2 player prop bets are money in the bank!

As we get into Week 2, there is a paranoia among the 16 teams with a 0-1 record. Drop to 0-2 and you have a hole you’re digging out of for a month or more.

The prop bets for this week are based on the belief that the number adjustments on prop bets is being made a little too hastily.

Odds provided by Tipico Sportsbook (updated Friday, Sept. 17, at 10:50 p.m. ET) … If you’re in CO or NJ, place all of your legal, online sports wagers with Tipico Sportsbook

Ride the Ell Train

In Week 1, the Dallas Cowboys decided they were going to play Tampa Bay’s game and throw 100 times between them. How did that work out? They lost. A week later, the Cowboys are an underdog against the Los Angeles Chargers – a far lesser team. By his standards, Ezekiel Elliott has a shockingly low rushing yardage Over/Under (60.5 yards at -114 for both the Over and Under). Dallas won’t come into this game assuming it has to get into a track meet. The Cowboys will take their time and pick their shots. If Elliott gets more than a dozen carries, he should hit this number. If he gets 20? He blows it out of the water. Take the Over.

It’s the Story of a Man Named Brady

In the opener against the Cowboys, Tom Brady threw 50 times, while his team ran the ball just 13 times with its two-headed running back tandem of Leonard Fournette and Ronald Jones. Against the Atlanta Falcons, they should be able to take care of their business to the point that they take their foot off the gas and don’t feel obligated to get into the same kind of pass-happy mindset. Brady has an absurd passing yardage Over/Under (312.5 yards at -144 Over, -114 Under). The Bucs should run the ball 25 or more times in this game, which makes achieving that number very hard to hit, barring an assignment collapse. Take the Under.

Mister Christian (Oh, the time has come)

Christian McCaffrey returned healthy to the Carolina Panthers after an injury-marred 2020 season and did what he does – account for 180 total yards with nearly equal amounts rushing and receiving. Against the New Orleans Saints, he has a modest rushing yardage Over/Under (66.5 yards at -114 for both the Over and Under). Coming off their big win against Green Bay, then Saints are chest-thumping knowing that, historically, they have kept McCaffrey in check in the run game. One big run will get half of this total covered. It’s what he does with the other 15+ that will get the job done. Take the Over.

Ain’t Kissin’ Cousins

One thing Kirk Cousins isn’t adept at is being able to make up for a bogus offensive line and put an offense on his shoulders. His passing yardage Over/Under (268.5 yards at -114 for both the Over and Under) is significant. With an offensive line incapable of holding up in a 7-yard drop situation, his options are to try to Dalvin Cook as long as is practical or complete short slant passes before he gets hit. To hit this number, he either needs to complete 30 passes or be so far behind that the run game isn’t an option. The Vikings should hang around long enough that the panic button doesn’t get hit too early. Take the Under.

My Kupp Runneth Over

It’s always tough to predict yardage Over/Under numbers for Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Cooper Kupp. He’s going to get his, it’s only a matter of what he does when he gets the ball in his hands in traffic. However, his reception Over/Under (5.5 receptions at -144 Over, -114 Under) is far less of a gamble. The Indianapolis Colts secondary is weakened and, even if Kupp catches six passes for 40 yards, he still hits the number needed to head to the pay window. Take the Over.

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Fantasy Football Market Report: Week 2

Fantasy football risers and fallers entering Week 2.

I was involved in a football roundtable discussion leading up to the start of Week 1 and the moderator asked, “What preposterous statement can you make about the 2021 season?”

I offered to go first.

“All four teams from the NFC West will make the playoffs.”

The rest were in unanimous agreement that my idea was preposterous. Last year was the first time such a concept was possible, but these are four teams built to win now. Russell Wilson has never had a losing season. Many project Seattle to finish last in the division. San Francisco has the personnel on both sides of the ball to make a Super Bowl run – their betting odds to make it show that. The Los Angeles Rams like to go all-in for a short-term run and felt all that was missing was a QB and traded for Matt Stafford. Arizona won eight games last year and is viewed by many as the trendy team to make the next big jump to relevance and dominance.

The new playoff format has four division champions and three wild cards in each conference. It can logically be assumed that Tampa Bay and Green Bay will be the prohibitive favorites to win their divisions. Someone has to win the NFC East crown. Beyond two-and-a-half teams, what team would you take right now over any of the four teams in the NFC West to make the playoffs in a head-to-head bet?

In Week 1, none of them played each other and they went 4-0. Three were on the road. Three were against 2020 playoff teams. And they won them all.

Thanks to the expanded schedule, what you do in the division has less of an impact if you have four quality teams than it ever has. Only six of the 17 games are played against division rivals. The other 44 games they collectively play will be against teams from other divisions (4-0 to start that slate), including the NFC North and AFC South.

Injuries may derail one of them, but it can’t derail all of them. Pay attention to the non-division games the NFC West plays this year. The only reason we won’t see more 4-0 weeks is that they’re going to start playing each other. It’s too early to be flying the “Mission Accomplished” banner, but we may be witnessing history that will be hard to replicate.

Here is the Week 2 Fantasy Football Market Report.

Fantasy football risers

RB Elijah Mitchell, San Francisco 49ers

Injuries help make careers and the 49ers have made their share in recent years at running back because of injury. Mitchell, a sixth-round rookie, was supposed to be an afterthought on the practice squad. However, an injury to Jeff Wilson and a healthy scratch of third-round rookie Trey Sermon, left Mitchell as the next man up. He responded with 19 carries for 104 yards and a touchdown and made a case that he should be in the mix at a minimum and the lead dog at a maximum considering Raheem Mostert is out an expected eight weeks.

QB Jameis Winston,  New Orleans Saints

With so many weapons missing from the New Orleans offense, it’s insane that Winston threw just 20 passes in his debut as the front man for the Saints. He completed 14 of them and, of those, five went for touchdowns. While one game doesn’t a fantasy starter make, one thing seems certain: Putting the boots to Green Bay and Aaron Rodgers has earned Winston the designation as the unquestioned starter – something that wasn’t a guarantee heading into Week 1. Winston was on the field for 60 of the Saints 62 offensive plays. He’s the starter – for better or worse and can be had on the waiver wire.

WR Corey Davis, New York Jets

There were a couple other mid- to late-round fantasy receivers I considered here (Deebo Samuel and Ja’Marr Chase), but Davis was a player who, despite being handed the No. 1 receiver job with the Jets, was an extremely modest acquisition for a fantasy owner. In his debut, Zach Wilson spent most of the day running for his life. Most of his completions were of the short slant variety, but Davis caught five passes for 97 yards (a 19.4-yard average) and two touchdowns. The Jets didn’t win, and Wilson didn’t look great, but it was obvious Davis is the clear-cut No. 1 guy for Wilson. They’re only going to get more comfortable with each other as the year goes by.

RB Mark Ingram, Houston Texans

There are certain guys I seemed to end up with every year. One who comes to mind is Frank Gore of Indy vintage. He would be my third or even fourth running back because everyone else projected him to hit the wall. He didn’t … until about seven years after that chatter started. He was a draft-and-trade guy in late September. I’ve always loved Ingram. He was ready to bust out before Alvin Kamara showed up in the Big Easy, and they meshed nicely – although cutting into each other’s value. In Baltimore, he showed out before he was quietly shown the door. Any running back for Houston is a problem because they’re going to be behind a lot this year. But, in Week 1, he had 26 carries – 11 in the first half and 15 in the second half. Granted, he only had 85 yards (3.3 a carry), but scored a touchdown. When you’re looking for depth, he’s not going to maintain that workload, but it’s nice to know it’s there. At worse, he’s a 1-yard belly flop for a touchdown late. If Ingram played Jacksonville every week, he’d be a starter every week, but there is value here.

QB Jalen Hurts, Philadelphia Eagles

I will be the first to admit that I’m not a big fan of Hurts – he strikes me as a poor man’s combo of Kyler Murray and Baker Mayfield. However, the Eagles thought enough of him to cut bait on Carson Wentz and stick with cribbage buddies Joe Flacco and Gardner Minshew. A lot of quarterbacks fatten their stats against Atlanta, but Hurts had arguably the best game of his career, all things considered. He completed 27 of 35 passes for 264 yards and three touchdowns. He had an incredible target share for the seven players to whom he threw. He had three TD passes to three different guys and no interceptions. And he ran seven times for 62 yards. He hasn’t reached the point that you bench a pedigreed starter to put him in, but he’s getting closer.

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Fantasy football fallers

RB Ezekiel Elliott, Dallas Cowboys

What makes Week 1 so troubling for those who used a first-round pick on Elliott was that the Cowboys were never in deep hole. Yet the Cowboys dropped back to pass 63 times and Elliott had 11 carries. Whether that was a one-game anomaly or not against a dominant run defense, it sure looked like an offense fully prepared to pass 50 times like it did when Dak Prescott was lighting up the NFL in September 2020. The fact Elliott had 11 carries for 33 yards and two receptions for six speaks unseemly toward his consistent role. The one takeaway was that, although the Cowboys had a chance to win Thursday night, they lost. That may have changed the tempo had they given Zeke a chance to do what he does.

QB Aaron Rodgers, Green Bay Packers

The thing the separates great quarterbacks from good ones and good one from bad ones is the regularity with which they have an absolutely garbage game. Donning a man bun and looking almost disinterested, Aaron Rodgers had one of the worst games of his career against New Orleans. Considering it was his first game after his redemptive MVP award, he couldn’t have looked worse. He completed just 15 passes on 28 attempts for 133 yards, no touchdowns — throwing two picks — for a passer rating of 36.8. Nobody who has him is going to bench him, but it least it has to creep into consideration if anything close to this continues.

RB Dalvin Cook, Minnesota Vikings

Often when Minnesota struggles, it is because they don’t get the ball in Cook’s hands often enough. That wasn’t the case in Week 1. He had 26 touches, which, for Cook, should translate into 150 total yards and a couple of touchdowns. He had 20 carries for 61 yards (3.1 per carry) and had six catches for 43 yards (7.2 yards per). The problem isn’t Cook. He still managed 100 total yards and a touchdown. But, his offensive line is hideous – maybe the worst in the league. Things aren’t going to get appreciably better until they have a starting five they can live with – and the left tackle (when he plays) is a rookie. Injuries kill fantasy players and sub-standard starters don’t do much better.

WR Julio Jones, Tennessee Titans

In his debut with the Titans, of the 36 passes targeted to receivers, only six came Julio’s ways. Two that he caught each went for 10 yards. One went for nine. And he got called out by his new coach for a stupid penalty. There is no questioning that Jones is a first-ballot Hall of Famer, but he is out of his comfort zone for the first time in his career. The early returns are brutal, which could lend to making a low-ball offer of magic beans to a Jones owner because things will get better, but he is known for lapses in production that string together. He will be benched more this week than perhaps any time in his career.

RB Clyde Edwards-Helaire, Kansas City Chiefs

When CEH was drafted by the Chiefs, the dreams of huge things were running through Andy Reid’s head. Edwards-Helaire’s rookie season was supposed to be the making of legend. It wasn’t. In 13 games, he had three outings with 70 or more rushing yards and two games with more than 40 receiving yards. That was with Le’Veon Bell and Darrel Williams cutting into his time. He didn’t lack for opportunity in his second act. He had 14 of the 16 running back carries and had three receptions. They accounted for 72 yards – 43 rushing, 29 receiving. A trend becomes a trend when it continues.