Fantasy Football Players Who will Struggle in Week 2: Joe Burrow, Rachaad White, DK Metcalf and Evan Engram

Week 1 was a major success in the land of projecting fantasy stars who would struggle. If you’re new here, I like to go through the offensive fantasy positions each week and choose one star who will struggle given the matchup and/or circumstances around him.

The goal is to identify players you would usually never bench and give reason to at least consider sitting them, even if they’re ultimately in your lineup. It’s more about the process than the results: anyone can get lucky on any given week, but the most involved fantasy owners put work into their players’ opponents to determine who is most likely to succeed.

Here are the results from Week 1:

• Dak Prescott threw for just 179 yards with a touchdown and no interceptions. Dallas controlled most of the game, but Prescott only averaged 5.6 yards per attempt against the Browns.
• Kyren Williams had an OK day: 50 rushing yards and a touchdown, three receptions for four yards. He averaged just 2.8 yards per carry against the Lions, though, and had a useful fantasy day only because he found the end zone.
• Brandon Aiyuk essentially walked in off the street after sitting out the whole preseason waiting for a new contract and caught two passes for 28 yards against the Jets while dropping a would-be touchdown.
• Mark Andrews was completely overshadowed by fellow tight end Isaiah Likely, who caught nine passes for 111 yards and a touchdown (just missing out on a second TD). Andrews caught his only two targets for 14 total yards.

Since things went so well, let’s get back to it and identify guys likely to struggle in Week 2. The term “star” sometimes must be stretched depending on the weekly lineup, but we have a group of big names again this time, with a few who might waver toward the line but are usually weekly fantasy starters.

Quarterback

Joe Burrow, Cincinnati Bengals @ Kansas City Chiefs

Burrow has a history of starting the season slow. His opening game performances in his career:

• 2020: 23-36, 193 yards, 0 TD, 1 INT
• 2021: 20-27, 261 yards, 2 TD, 0 INT
• 2022: 33-53, 338 yards, 2 TD, 4 INT
• 2023: 14-31, 82 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT
• 2024: 21-29, 164 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT

His 2021 showing was strong, but that’s also the only game the team won out of these five. Whether it’s coincidence, offseason training, or something else, Burrow has played like a below-average quarterback in most Week 1s.

Circumstances were also against him this season, as Tee Higgins was out, Ja'Marr Chase didn’t practice all preseason, and they were facing a tough New England defense. Higgins is questionable again with a very uncertain status; Chase will have a week of practice under his belt; the matchup is even worse, though, as the Bengals travel to Kansas City to take on the Chiefs.

Kansas City had one of the best defenses in football last season, a unit that carried them to the Super Bowl at times when the offense was struggling and the receivers were letting the team down. Most of that group is back, and they harassed Lamar Jackson in Week 1, forcing him to scramble regularly and throw into tight windows.

Burrow had success against the Chiefs in the past, but this KC defense is a different animal. Kansas City was in the top four in passing yards, yards per attempt and passing touchdowns allowed last year and regularly shut down every passing game. It was a dominant season-long performance.

If they look anything like they did in Week 1, Cincinnati’s passing game will be ripped apart by the Chiefs. Burrow is a player to seriously consider benching in Week 1, as there are many better matchups.

Running Back

Rachaad White, Tampa Bay Buccaneers @ Detroit Lions

White’s downside is two-fold in this one. First, he’s facing a fantastic run defense. The Lions were in the top three in rushing yards, yards per carry and fantasy points allowed to running backs in 2023. I mentioned in the open that they held LA’s Williams to 2.8 yards per carry in Week 1.

It’s not fun to just always use the same team every week, but it’s necessary in this case because of how the matchups played out and because of the destructiveness of Detroit’s run D. With a lot of talent added to the secondary, this might end up as a top-five defense by the end of the season.

The other issue is Bucky Irving. (I always think of Bucky Dent when I read, type, or say Irving’s name; I wonder if he’ll end up with a similar nickname?) Irving was a fourth-round pick out of Oregon and entered the league with some buzz that he could steal work in Tampa.

Irving produced 62 yards on nine carries in Week 1 while White had 15 carries for just 31 yards. White did excel in the passing game (six receptions for 75 yards), but he was thoroughly outplayed by his rookie teammate on the ground.

There’s a good chance this is a timeshare for the next few weeks with White getting more of the third-down work. The Week 1 game against Washington was also a blowout, so maybe Irving was just working in as a backup in a lopsided victory. It will take several games to see how things will shake out, and that’s enough to hurt White’s fantasy value.

Wide Receiver

DK Metcalf, Seattle Seahawks @ New England Patriots

I talked in the Burrow section about what New England did to the Cincinnati passing game last week: 164 passing yards allowed. The Pats had a successful defense last season, even as the offense was falling apart.

New England was in the top 10 in passing yards allowed, yards per attempt and fantasy points allowed to wide receivers last season. First-round rookie cornerback Christian Gonzalez was hurt early in the season and missed most of the year, and he’s now back helping to lead a talented group.

The trade of Matthew Judon may have hurt the top talent level, but he was out most of last year as well, so his absence isn’t something new from 2023. This is a talented defense that now has a stable quarterback (Jacoby Brissett) who will probably put them in better field position than last year’s group of below-average QBs (led by Mac Jones).

Metcalf has had 900 yards or more in every season of his career and topped 1,000 yards in three of those five years. Week 1 was a quiet one, as Metcalf turned three receptions into just 29 yards, but there will be bigger days for the star receiver.

This just isn’t the week the bet on Metcalf going off. A good defense is likely to get after Geno Smith, who struggled at times against Denver in Week 1, throwing a bad pick while his team took two safeties in the same quarter.

Tight End

Evan Engram, Jacksonville Jaguars vs. Cleveland Browns

Engram was a PPR star last season, catching 114 passes for close to 1,000 yards. He caught 73 passes for 766 yards the year prior in Jacksonville, so this was a huge leap in production for the former first-round pick.

It was always likely Engram would come back down to Earth this season, finishing with numbers closer to 2022’s performance. He hit with a thud in Week 1, catching one pass for five yards. He will have better weeks, but there’s reason to think Engram will drop significantly from last season’s breakout.

The Jags let Calvin Ridley leave in free agency but signed Gabe Davis and drafted Brian Thomas Jr. in the first round, boosting their receiving corps. Christian Kirk is still around as well, so there will just be less targets for Engram to gobble up.

Engram might be more of a streamer this season than a fantasy regular, even in PPR. It’s not time to give up on him after last year’s bonanza, but it’s worth considering leaving him on the bench in certain matchups.

This is one of those matchups. The Browns allowed the second-least fantasy points to tight ends last season and were among the best pass defenses. That unit is strong again this year; allowing 33 points to the Cowboys in Week 1 was likely an aberration.

Even with Dallas scoring, tight end Jake Ferguson caught three passes for just 15 yards. He suffered an injury and left the game in the second half, but he still played over 60% of the snaps and couldn’t get anything going. Ferguson was a top-10 fantasy tight end last year.

This is a tough matchup for a guy who is probably losing volume. Engram is a player to bench in Week 2.