Quarterback

Jared Goff, LA Rams, $5,900

The Rams square off against the Saints this week in a game that features a 52-point total and The Ghost of Todd Gurley. Against the Panthers, Goff attempted 39 passes and Gurley carried the ball just 14 times. The Rams may be transitioning to running their offense through Goff and there’s no better game to capitalize on this than when the Saints come to town. In Goff’s four career meetings with the Saints, he’s averaged incredible numbers:

• 38.9 attempts
• 314 yards
• 2.3 touchdowns

In a game with shootout potential written on the walls, Goff is the tournament quarterback of the slate. 

Be sure to stack him with either Robert Woods or Cooper Kupp, both of whom saw double-digit targets last week.

Ben Roethlisberger, Pittsburgh, $5,800

Pittsburgh got whooped on by the Patriots and in doing so likely fueled an absurd narrative that they would struggle without Antonio Brown. Now, hosting the Seattle Seahawks, who let Andy Dalton set career-high in passing yards, Ben Roethlisberger and the Steelers are four-point favorites. 

Last year Pittsburgh lead the league in pass to run ratio. The threw the ball 67.4% of the time. Ben will go overlooked but he should be able to shred the Seahawks defense in a rebound game.

Running Back

Saquon Barkley, New York Giants, $9,200

Alvin Kamara is soaking up all of the ownership at the top of running back pricing. This makes Barkley an interesting pivot in tournaments given his similar, sky-high ceiling. The Giants may be rolling out two starter-level offensive players plus a cavalcade of scrubs this week:

• Sterling Shepard - Concussion (questionable)
• Cody Latimer - Calf (questionable)
• Golden Tate - Suspension (out)

Barkley projects to lead the slate in touches by a considerably wide margin but Kamara is getting all of the love. Moving to Barkley is a way to pay up at running back without the chalky ownership this week.

Chris Thompson, Washington, $3,900

Paying down at running back is going to be a common strategy with Matt Breida sitting pretty at $5,200 and Josh Jacobs exploding on Monday night but missing out on any form of price correction. Chris Thompson is a great way to still pay down at running back without following the crowd. Last week, Thompson led all Washington players with 10 targets and he was the only back to get carries on Washington not named Derrius Guice.

With Guice out of the picture for at least a few weeks, Washington is making Adrian Peterson their starter. However, they clearly don’t have much interest in using Peterson like they did last season: In Week 1, Peterson was a healthy scratch.

Washington are 5.5-point dogs this week to the Cowboys. That will lead them to pass even more as they play catchup. Running Thompson back with Dak Prescott and Michael Gallup or Amari Cooper is a sneaky play this week.

Wide Receiver

Christian Kirk ($4,700) & James Washington ($3,600), Arizona & Pittsburgh

The arguments for these two players are identical so let’s just lump them together. James Washington earned 169 air yards on six targets and Christian Kirk was targeted 12 times for 139 air yards.

Despite the volume, both scored seven fantasy points and are remembered as busts from Week 1. They weren’t getting solid volume. They two were both top-12 in the league in air yards. Players with these amounts of volume bounce back in major ways. Buy low on both of these players while you still can.

Deandre Hopkins, Houston, $8,100

Deandre Hopkins proved to be on another level in Week 1 yet again. Hopkins led the league with 216 air yards and the next closest player trailed him by over 40. His 13 targets fell behind only Jamison Crowder and Evan Engram.

Hopkins gets the dreaded Jaguars matchup this week but that will affect his ownership more than it will affect hs actual fantasy output. Hopkins has gone over 100 yards or scored a touchdown in each of his past four meetings with the Jags. This might be the lowest ownership you can get Hopkins for the rest of the year.

Tight End

Mark Andrews, Baltimore, $3,800

Marquise Brown stole the spotlight for the Ravens in Week 1 but Mark Andrews quietly assumed the role of No. 1 receiving option in Baltimore. While Brown played a few snaps and only received five targets, Andrews was going to work on eight targets and the 100-yard bonus. 

This week he and the Ravens get to face the Arizona Cardinals and their up-tempo, air raid offense. Last week, with some help from overtime, the Cardinals ran 77 plays. This pace helps the Cardinals fantasy players but it also extends to their opponents. The Lions, who were expected to be a much slower offense, also ran 77 plays.

Point-chasers will be on Brown but sharp people will buy Andrews and the superior volume.

Defense

Houston Texans, $2,800

The Texans are 9.5-point favorites at home. That’s already a successful recipe for a fantasy defense but there’s more even more appeal to this matchup. The Jaguars will be starting 6th-round rookie Gardner Minshew for the first time in lieu of Nick Foles' shoulder injury. 

The Texans defense will probably be the chalk of the slate and in this case, they’re good chalk. Houston projects to be the highest-scoring defense and they don’t even crack the top-10 in salary.