Drake Maye enters Week 2 as a risky fantasy football option after a disappointing debut against the Las Vegas Raiders. The second-year quarterback showed flashes but made rookie mistakes that limited his upside. His favorable matchup against Miami’s struggling defense could unlock his potential and push him into weekly starter consideration.
Drake Maye, QB
Maye was QB18 in terms of fantasy production last week, falling well short of expectations in the loss.
We got the good, the bad, and the ugly from the second-year signal caller, something I expect to be the norm.
We saw some back-shoulder throws that looked like a veteran, and we saw mistakes that looked a lot like last season.
I think this profile will be fantasy-relevant, but we aren’t there yet. He averaged just 6.2 yards per pass on Sunday, and his longest rush was a mere four yards. There’s a real chance this favorable matchup unlocks him and opens the top-12 conversation back up.
For now, I’m taking the cautious approach, sort of.
Maye is my QB13. That felt high when doing it, but Miami is a target, and Maye has rare tools.
Rhamondre Stevenson, RB
This feels like a team being stubborn, and that’s annoying, but I don’t think it lasts.
It can’t. The Patriots think they have the QB of their future under center, and that makes every week during his rookie deal a valuable one. Rhamondre Stevenson got the first rush attempt of the season and nearly doubled TreVeyon Henderson in snaps (45-23), but is this team content with losing to the Raiders at home?
It’s the smallest of small samples, but Stevenson got two more carries than Henderson last week and gained 12 fewer yards. The rookie has rare big-play ability at the position, and I suspect that his first chunk play as a professional could result in a snap shift in this backfield.
This is as good a spot as any for one of these backs to work their way into the RB2 conversation moving forward, but entering the week with this being a full-blown committee, you’re going to have a tough time starting either of them.
As a reminder, the inefficient showing from Stevenson against the Raiders last week was not an aberration:
PFSN Elusive Rating by season:
- 2021: 38.3%
- 2022: 33.8%
- 2023: 28.2%
- 2024: 27.1%
5+ yard rush rate by season:
- 2021: 40.6%
- 2022: 37.6%
- 2023: 36.5%
- 2024: 32.4%
TreVeyon Henderson, RB
If I had told you a week ago that TreyVeon Henderson would lead the Patriots in rushing yards and receptions, you may have traded a kidney and an RB3 to acquire him before his price inevitably exploded.
Those things were true on Sunday against the Raiders, but his stock hasn’t budged because Stevenson held a 45-23 snap edge over him, and the offense was stuck in the mud (4.9 yards per play and 28.6% on third downs).
Henderson only got five carries, and they weren’t really an impressive five, with 70.4% of his yards coming before contact. Maybe as the sample grows, we learn that to be more of a vision stat than anything, but his six catches really are what saved you from a complete disaster.
Henderson’s average depth of target was -3.17 yards on those six targets. Would I love to see him used more as an actual route runner than a safety valve? Of course I would, but these bail-out catches count just as much as anything, and if this is how New England wants to get him into space, who am I to argue?
This plus matchup is a dual-edged sword, right? Henderson’s usage would seem to put him in a position to decimate a defense that can’t tackle (Miami has allowed the third-most yards after contact per carry since the beginning of last season), but that’s a strong spot for everyone. Stevenson doubled him up in touches over the weekend.
If this is truly Stevenson’s job to lose, I think he will, but asking that fall from grace to happen against the currently hapless Dolphins is … well … optimistic.
Henderson is an acceptable flex option this week, and I remain just as bullish on him for this season as I was all summer: He’s going to be a lineup lock, and I’m not sure it takes us until Halloween to have him ranked as such.
DeMario Douglas, WR
DeMario Douglas had a 7.3-PPR point catch in the first quarter, and his other six targets against the Raiders totaled 0.5 PPR points.
That’s not going to work.
Douglas’ career aDOT is under seven yards (Sunday: 5.4 yards), and that means that he needs to be incredibly efficient to make it worth your while.
Two catches for -2 yards isn’t exactly that.
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In fact, it’s the opposite. Being that bad in that role is difficult to comprehend. I think better times are ahead, but that’s not exactly saying much. It’s possible that Douglas turns into a low-level flex option (he did earn multiple end zone targets in a game for the first time in his career on Sunday) and/or bye-week replacement with time, but with zero teams on a bye and still relatively good health league-wide, that time is not now.
Judging by your Start/Sit Tool, you guys weren’t considering Douglas as a viable option last week, and that’s the correct mindset to take this weekend. I’m keeping him rostered because I do think the growth of Maye could give Douglas a Khalil Shakir-like trajectory with time, though that’s not something I’m betting on in the short-term.
Kyle Williams, WR
Kyle Williams ran just five routes in his NFL debut last weekend against the Raiders. He caught his only target (12 yards). In the loss to the Raiders, Williams and 10 of his friends saw a target, a level of distribution that will make it impossible for a very fringe guy in deeper formats to hold any value whatsoever.
I know it was his introduction to the NFL, but he wasn’t even close to being part of the plan, and that was in a game in which Douglas turned seven targets into negative-2 yards.
I understand the idea of rostering a player like Williams in dynasty formats; you’re hoping that Maye’s development can be a rising tide that lifts all youthful boats, but there’s no need to hold steady outside of that.
Stefon Diggs, WR
Stefon Diggs’ aDOT in 2022 was 11.9 yards, and that was suitable. He was able to run a wide range of routes and display a versatile skill set. It fell to 10.8 the following season, tanked to 8.3 with the Texans last season, and with an 8.1 mark on Sunday, it’s clear that his current employer is seeing what others have recently.
Father Time looms.
New England’s pass game is a work in progress and operates largely out of three-receiver sets. This team is rising, while Diggs’ career has clearly reached the back-9.
He’s not a receiver that I’m excited about rostering and checks in outside of my top-40 at the position this week.
Hunter Henry, TE
Hunter Henry caught four of eight targets for 66 yards in the season opener, and the fact that he ran 39 routes was encouraging for a team that is lacking receiver depth.
I still need to see more.
Maye didn’t show me much in the way of growth, and until that happens, counting on any pass catcher in this offense is taking on more risk than I’m willing to do. Henry reached triple figures in air yards over the weekend, the fourth such game of his career, and the further he gets from the line of scrimmage, the more variance is introduced into his scoring projection.
Long term, I’m out. But there were a bunch of tight end injuries in Week 1, and with the Dolphins on the schedule (7-76-0 line surrendered to Tyler Warren in his NFL debut over the weekend), Henry checks in as my TE15 and can be streamed in emergency situations.
