Fantasy football value after Week 2 of the preseason

Week 2 of the NFL preseason had a handful of very interesting storylines for fantasy football, and while many may believe the preseason doesn’t mean much, I clearly disagree. Here are some things that stood out to me over the weekend.

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Is Devin Singletary the RB1 in Buffalo?

I’ve said it countless times, but I guess I’ll have to say it again: Devin Singletary is better than you think he is. 

After a strong performance in Week 1 of the preseason, Singletary followed it up with another impressive showing against the Bears on Saturday. And this was with Zack Moss — who returned after a hamstring injury — active. Singletary started with the first team and played the first two Buffalo drives, playing the first 18 snaps of the game. He turned three touches into 26 yards, including an impressive 14-yard touchdown run where he got to the edge, broke a tackle and found the end zone. Moss did dominate the snaps the rest of the way, and it’s possible that Buffalo didn’t want to play him too much after the hamstring injury, though he did play 12 snaps to Singletary’s 21. Singletary has looked good this summer, showing more burst, while he’s quietly been a top-15 running back in elusiveness since entering the league. However, I wouldn’t leave this game thinking Singletary is solely atop the depth chart in Buffalo. This will be, and has been, a committee at running back. 

Antonio Gibson could be a star

Yes, I get it. Through a pair of preseason games, Antonio Gibson has logged one third-down snap. And while that seems to be a talking point, why aren’t we discussing the fact that Gibson has logged 24 snaps so far during the preseason and touched the football 16 times? He’s been targeted on first and second down, while it is blatantly obvious that Gibson is going to get the majority of the carries in this offense. Sure, you’d like to see him play more on third downs, as it limits his overall ceiling as a pass-catcher. However, if he is targeted and touching the football when he is on the field, so what? Not to mention his snaps will be way higher than they were during his rookie season, especially with Washington running the third-most plays in negative gamescript in the NFL last year. 

Corey Davis’ targets

I’ll admit it: I haven’t been too interested in Corey Davis during the offseason. But I might have to change my opinion going forward. In two preseason games, Davis has been targeted 10 times on 13 receiving snaps. Sure, rookie Elijah Moore hasn’t been playing for the Jets, but it is clear that quarterback Zach Wilson is very comfortable leaning on Davis, and I will need to move him up in my rankings going forward. And after struggling a bit during training camp, Wilson has looked pretty strong throughout the preseason, which certainly isn’t a bad sign. 

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Arizona Cardinals backfield

The Cardinals offense was brutal in the first half against the Chiefs. Sure, DeAndre Hopkins didn’t play, but either way, things weren’t pretty in Week 2. Of course, the backfield is something we are tracking very closely for fantasy. James Conner didn’t play in Week 1 but was active in Week 2. Chase Edmonds got the start and played most of the third down snaps, but it appeared that the Cardinals are going to go series-by-series, as Conner opened the second drive. It would have been helpful if Arizona actually moved the ball in this game, as they didn’t pick up a first down on any of their first three drives, so we also couldn’t see who the goal-line running back might be, though we expect it to be Conner.