The Tennessee Titans face a difficult defensive matchup in Week 2, as they face the New York Jets in their home opener.
That could make it tricky for fantasy football managers to decide whether to trust either Calvin Ridley or DeAndre Hopkins.
Which WR Should You Choose from Calvin Ridley and DeAndre Hopkins in Week 2?
In the Pro Football Network Start/Sit Optimizer, PFN’s Consensus Rankings say that Ridley is the player to start. His projected 10.0 points include four receptions for 42 yards. That outperforms the consensus projection for Hopkins (8.7 points).
With Hopkins still working his way back from a preseason MCL tear and seeing a very limited Week 1 snap count, my ranking for the Titans wide receivers aligns with this consensus.
Ridley’s Fantasy Outlook This Week
Ridley led the team in targets (7) and receiving yards (50) in his Titans debut. While he only caught three of those passes, Ridley also averaged an astronomical 22.9 air yards per target. That was the highest in any game of his career and the third-highest of any player in Week 1.
Ridley will need a less extreme version of that verticality to have sustainable success, but it does align with the play style of Will Levis. The Titans’ quarterback has led the NFL in average depth of target (10.1) since the start of last season, so it’s promising that he already views Ridley as a go-to downfield threat.
Additionally, Ridley had a promising 26% of Tennessee’s targets in Week 1, which is true WR1 volume. For perspective, only 11 players reached that total in 2023.
Against Chicago, Ridley aligned almost exclusively on the perimeter (83% of his routes), but he split his time fairly equally between the left side (43%) and right (57%). That means he won’t see All-Pro cornerback Sauce Gardner the entire game, as Gardner typically aligns at left cornerback.
Hopkins’ Fantasy Outlook This Week
While Hopkins has been one of the league’s most dependable wideouts for years, fantasy managers will need confirmation of a clean bill of health before trusting him.
Hopkins ran only nine routes on Sunday, his second-fewest in 163 career games. And it wasn’t as though the Titans made a concerted effort to target him when he did get on the field, with Hopkins catching his only target for nine yards.
Tennessee will likely hope to reintegrate Hopkins back into the lineup sooner than later. His replacement, Treylon Burks, ran the third-most routes on the team but was targeted just twice on 28 routes (7%).
KEEP READING: PFN’s Consensus Fantasy Football Rankings
However, that may not be possible until Hopkins is physically capable of handling his typical workload. When he first suffered the injury on July 31, Hopkins was estimated to need four to six weeks before returning. Sunday will be roughly six-and-a-half weeks since he suffered that injury, and unlike Week 1, Hopkins is not on the injury report.
But until fantasy managers see him receive a full share of starter snaps and exit a game healthy, the downside risk to starting Hopkins is too significant to stomach.
Kyle Soppe’s Week 2 Fantasy Outlook for Ridley and Hopkins
DeAndre Hopkins: The knee injury Hopkins suffered this summer was originally projected to result in missed time, but that got walked back as the regular season approached. He was active for Week 1, but you may not have been aware of it until he appeared in the box score late in the game.
The veteran ran just nine routes and, like Williams for the Jets, seems destined to be worked in slowly. Unlike Williams, however, I’m not confident in the quality of targets he’ll be earning when at full strength.
Hopkins is worthy of a roster spot because we know that this offense wants to open up and that, outside of Calvin Ridley, there isn’t much in the way of target competition. Hopkins’ profile doesn’t come preloaded with the upside that you assume when you read his name; be careful in assuming that he is a Flex option, even after we see his snaps extended.
Calvin Ridley: Week 1 was the Levis-iest Levis game that a Levis receiver ever did have for Ridley.
There’s the Puka Nacua path, before getting hurt, from Week 1 that can net 8-9 fantasy points (catch all four targets with 17 total air yards). And then there’s how a Levis target gets there.
- 7 targets
- 160 air yards
- 8.0 PPR points
There were only four instances last season in which a player reached 160 air yards on no more than seven looks, and it’s not exactly a list of options that fantasy managers go out of their way to play: Courtland Sutton, Christian Watson, Alec Pierce, and Jalin Hyatt.
With Hopkins at less than full strength, the target count could remain tempting, but you need to be aware that there is an incredibly wide range of outcomes, especially against a strong defense in what projects as a low-possession game.
Hopkins is only going to get healthier, and I think there’s a better chance that Ridley sees his target count dip in a significant way than his aDOT declines and gives him the ability to be a reliable option.
He’s not a top-35 receiver for me. I’d rather take a deep threat in an offense I trust more (Rashid Shaheed) or even a fill-in option like Demarcus Robinson.