Week 2 Wide Receiver Rankings - Standard Leagues

It wasn't as crazy of a first week like last year, but we still saw some surprising names have a top ten performance. Of the players who surprised us, there is only one that I wouldn't come close to trusting, and that was Mike Wallace. What he did was beat his defender deep for one play, but otherwise he wasn't much of a factor. Mohamed Sanu looked good, and has a great chance of trying to become what Roddy White was opposite of Julio Jones. The only thing holding him back is how much Matt Ryan will look his way going forward compared to all of the looks Jones gets. The other surprising performance was Will Fuller. I had mentioned before the season that we would see games where Fuller puts up those kinds of numbers, but then will follow it up with one catch 18 yard performances. If he can show consistency and Osweiler continues to target him as much as he did in week one, this could be someone that is worthy of being a FLEX with good matchups. The other players in the top 10 were players you would have more or less expected and started.

It's time though to move on whether you won or loss and get ready for week 2. With that let's take a look at my WR rankings for week 2 to try and keep you undefeated or get that first win of the year.

Kelvin Benjamin - Well so much for that snap count right? What was originally planned as 30-35 snaps all of a sudden turned into 52 on Thursday night. If on week one Rivera is willing to already throw the snap count out the window in close games, why wouldn't we expect Benjamin to keep playing more than anticipated? He didn't look like he was out of shape, but rather looked like the guy we saw back in 2014, which makes him a top 20 guy who is borderline top 15 depending on matchups, and this week against the 49ers that plants him firmly as my 16th ranked guy.

Sammy Watkins - This ranking is based on the assumption that he is playing on Thursday night. The foot injury does worry me a little bit, along with the chance of him getting hurt again during the game, which moves him out of my top 10. His upside and talent still places him in the top 20 though for this week. Just monitor his situation and see what the reports are on Thursday to see if he will be suiting up or not.

Jordan Matthews - Wentz looked good, granted it was against the Browns, but that isn't the biggest reason he sees a nice jump up in the rankings for this week. Last week we saw Matthews get targeted 14 times, and with Zach Ertz potentially sitting out this week, Matthews should easily see that kind of volume continue. A matchup against a weaker Bears opponent also has never hurt anyone, and should allow for a similar week to the one against the Browns here.

Tyrell Williams - This is the player I believe is the biggest beneficiary from the Keenan Allen injury. The upside and opportunity have now mixed and are perfect for him to get his extended look as a starter outside. While Benjamin is probably the safer of the two guys, Williams has the much higher upside. His ability to be a Vincent Jackson clone for Philip Rivers is going to be a welcomed sight for a team that has been lacking that vertical threat since his departure.

Victor Cruz - Biggest stat for Victor Cruz in week one was his snap count. Of the 56 offensive plays by the Giants, Cruz was on the field for 50 of them. That is insane to think that a guy who had been out for over a year comes in and almost plays every single snap in his first week back. That is great news for people who took a flier on him in drafts, but bad news for Sterling Shepard owners. While the snap count tells one story, the targets a similar one, as both Cruz and Shepard both had 4 targets. While I still believe Shepard is the guy who can make a bigger impact on a week to week basis, the overall upside in season long leagues may be lower for Shepard than originally anticipated.

John Brown - That concussion that Brown suffered in the preseason is in the past, but the effect it had was clear on Sunday night. Now I am not saying that in a sense of how he played, but rather in how Bruce Arians utilized him. Brown was only on the field for 57 percent of the offensive snaps, while last season he was on the field for 75 percent of the snaps. While the lower snap count exists for Brown, he can't be trusted as a starter. Hopefully this was just a gameplan or gameflow issue, but I do need to see it change first before raising him back up in my rankings.