Fantasy Football Week 2 Running Back Preview: Waiver adds, deep stashes, starts, sits, and more

Excitement about the Week 1 waiver wire is going to be highly dependent on whether yours is one of the 33% of leagues that Jordan Mason is still available. If he is, you should get excited, and you should make every effort to add Mason after his 152-yard outburst in Week 1. We don't expect Christian McCaffrey's absence to be a long one, but we also didn't expect him to miss Week 1.

Mason isn't the only running back add, but he's certainly the most exciting. That could change if we find out Kenneth Walker's injury is more serious than we've been told, but for now we are expecting Walker to play in Week 2. If we're right, and Mason is already rostered in your league, it may be more important to talk about who we drop, or don't drop.

Trey Benson, Jaylen Wright, Ray Davis, and Braelon Allen were all drafted, or added, with the same idea as Mason. They could be league winners if something happens to the starter. They didn't do much of anything in Week 1, but we didn't expect them to. Because the starters aren't injured. So while they are certainly guys I would drop for Mason, or Zach Charbonnet, I am doing my best to hold on to them if I can. One of the worst things you can do is draft a guy late because of his potential upside, drop him after one week for a middling Fantasy backup, and then see that upside realized later in the year on someone else's roster. Don't let that happen to you in 2024.

As always, you can find my full projections -- position by position -- over at Sportsline. 

Now let's get to the rest of the Week 2 RB Preview:

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Week 2 RB Preview

The following players are not being projected to play Week 2 at this time. Here's what it means:

Christian McCaffrey RB SF San Francisco • #23 Age: 28 • Experience: 8 yrs. Jordan Mason is a must-start running back.

Ty Johnson RB BUF Buffalo • #26 Age: 27 • Experience: 6 yrs. Ray Davis should have a bigger role behind James Cook.

• 6.9 -- Bucky Irving averaged 6.9 yards per rush in Week 1. Rachaad White averaged 2.1. Don't be surprised if Irving's role increases if this keeps up.
• 32% -- Tank Bigsby played 32% of the offensive snaps in Week 1. His season-high in 2023 was 27%. Like Irving, Bigsby could be coming for more playing time.
• 0 -- Jonathan Taylor did not have a target in Week 1. Anthony Richardson only threw 19 passes, so we don't want to make too much of it, but Taylor's PPR upside could be limited.
• 79% -- Jerome Ford handled 79% of the Browns' running back opportunities. He looks like a feature back until Nick Chubb returns.
• 7.8 -- J.K. Dobbins averaged 7.8 yards after contact per rush in his first game back. He has been the most efficient rusher in the NFL since he joined the league, if he stays healthy he may be a league-winner.
• 21.7% -- Bijan Robinson led all running backs with a 21.7% target share. He's the only Falcon I came away feeling good about.

Matchups that Matter

Projections powered by Sportsline

Zamir White RB LV Las Vegas • #3 Age: 25 • Experience: 3 yrs. Weekly Breakdown MATCHUP @ BAL BAL -9.5 O/U 41.5 OPP VS RB 15th PROJ PTS 8.8 RB RNK 32nd YTD Stats RUYDS 44 REC 2 REYDS 2 TD 0 FPTS/G 4.6

Derrick Henry RB BAL Baltimore • #22 Age: 30 • Experience: 9 yrs. Weekly Breakdown MATCHUP vs LV BAL -9.5 O/U 41.5 OPP VS RB 3rd PROJ PTS 14.9 RB RNK 18th YTD Stats RUYDS 46 REC 0 REYDS 0 TD 1 FPTS/G 10.6

J.K. Dobbins RB LAC L.A. Chargers • #27 Age: 25 • Experience: 5 yrs. Weekly Breakdown MATCHUP @ CAR LAC -6.5 O/U 39.5 OPP VS RB 17th PROJ PTS 17.4 RB RNK 21st YTD Stats RUYDS 135 REC 3 REYDS 4 TD 1 FPTS/G 22.9

Aaron Jones RB MIN Minnesota • #33 Age: 29 • Experience: 8 yrs. Weekly Breakdown MATCHUP vs SF SF -6 O/U 45.5 OPP VS RB 6th PROJ PTS 11.5 RB RNK 24th YTD Stats RUYDS 94 REC 2 REYDS 15 TD 1 FPTS/G 18.9

Brian Robinson Jr. RB WAS Washington • #8 Age: 25 • Experience: 3 yrs. Weekly Breakdown MATCHUP vs NYG WAS -2.5 O/U 43.5 OPP VS RB 2nd PROJ PTS 11.3 RB RNK 19th YTD Stats RUYDS 40 REC 3 REYDS 49 TD 1 FPTS/G 17.9

Week 2 Adds (RB Preview)

Zach Charbonnet RB SEA Seattle • #26 Age: 23 • Experience: 2 yrs. Weekly Breakdown MATCHUP @ NE SEA -3.5 O/U 38 OPP VS RB 27th RB RNK 45th ROSTERED 56% YTD Stats RUYDS 12 REC 2 REYDS 29 TD 1 FPTS/G 12.1 As of Tuesday morning, we expect Kenneth Walker to play in Week 2. But the fact that he's already somewhat questionable highlights both his past injury history and the upside Charbonnet has behind him. Charbonnet was great as a pass catcher in Week 1, turning three targets into 29 yards and a touchdown. If Walker missed time, we'll view Charbonnet as a top-20 running back.

Bucky Irving RB TB Tampa Bay • #7 Age: 22 • Experience: Rookie Weekly Breakdown MATCHUP @ DET DET -7 O/U 51 OPP VS RB 3rd RB RNK 46th ROSTERED 60% YTD Stats RUYDS 62 REC 2 REYDS 14 TD 0 FPTS/G 9.6 Anyone who thought Irving was going to be a problem for White got some confirmation in Week 1 when the rookie was clearly the more effective rusher. Five of his nine carries went for seven yards or more. I still have questions about whether Irving can handle a full load and I don't think he has much chance of taking passing downs away from White, but with this kind of efficiency, the rookie could become a flex in a committee, and a league winner if White misses time.

Alexander Mattison RB LV Las Vegas • #22 Age: 26 • Experience: 6 yrs. Weekly Breakdown MATCHUP @ BAL BAL -9.5 O/U 41.5 OPP VS RB 16th RB RNK 39th ROSTERED 18% YTD Stats RUYDS 19 REC 4 REYDS 43 TD 1 FPTS/G 16.2 Oh, how the turntables. Remember when Mattison was the presumed starter in Minnesota, got drafted way too high in Fantasy Football, and then lost his job by midseason? In Week 1 it was Mattison outplaying Zamir White, scoring a touchdown, and looking like the best back in Las Vegas. Mattison is the clear passing downs back and I would bet on the Raiders playing from behind in Week 2. Mattison could be a PPR flex this week and could be the best back for the Raiders for the rest of the season.

Stashes (RB Preview)

Tank Bigsby RB JAC Jacksonville • #4 Age: 22 • Experience: 2 yrs. Weekly Breakdown MATCHUP @ MIA MIA -3 O/U 49.5 OPP VS RB 3rd RB RNK NR ROSTERED 21% 2023 Stats RUYDS 132 REC 1 REYDS 6 TD 2 FPTS/G 1.4 The top two guys on this list last week were Mason and Irving, Bigsby was third. By the time we get to Week 2, they may all be rostered in too many leagues. Bigsby remains in the stash category because I still think he needs an injury to be a flex. Of course, if Travis Etienne fumbles another game away that could change.

Top DFS Play

Projections powered by Sportsline

Jerome Ford RB CLE Cleveland • #34 Age: 25 • Experience: 3 yrs. Weekly Breakdown MATCHUP @ JAC JAC -3.5 O/U 42 OPP VS RB 12th PROJ PTS 13.7 RB RNK 20th YTD Stats RUYDS 44 REC 6 REYDS 25 TD 1 FPTS/G 18.9 Ford saw 18 touches in a game the Browns were playing from behind. I expect they'll be more competitive against Jacksonville and I expect Ford will top 20 touches. He's a top-12 back for me this week and he's priced like a number three. Don't be surprised if David Njoku's absence means more targets for Ford, who caught six of seven targets in Week 1.

Contrarian DFS Play

Projections powered by Sportsline

Rachaad White RB TB Tampa Bay • #1 Age: 25 • Experience: 3 yrs. Weekly Breakdown MATCHUP @ DET DET -7 O/U 51 OPP VS RB 25th PROJ PTS 13.6 RB RNK 13th 2023 Stats RUYDS 990 REC 64 REYDS 549 TD 9 FPTS/G 15.8 While I won't deny that Irving looked much better than White running the ball, this is a game that should have a completely different game script. Tampa will do their best to keep up with the Lions in Week 2, and that could mean 40-plus pass attempts from Baker Mayfield. That's what happened when they played in Detroit in the playoffs, and White produced 19.1 PPR Fantasy points. Best of all, no one is going to want to play White this week after what they saw last week.

My full set of Week 2 Fantasy football projections for every position are now available on SportsLine. You'll find them here. Find out which of my favorite plays are projected to score higher than consensus rankings and which don't live up to their draft hype, at least in Week 2. Projected stats for all starting running backs are available, so be sure to check out the full set of projections at SportsLine.

Who should you start and sit this week? And which surprising running back could lead you to victory? Visit SportsLine now to get Week 2 Fantasy rankings for every position, plus see which RB comes out of nowhere to crack the top five, all from the model that has outperformed experts big-time.