Keep an eye on the Dolphins RB room 🐬

Check out Faraz’s Top 20 fantasy takeaways from Week 1 on YouTube now! Is De’Von Achane a league winner after a huge Week 1? Can Kenneth Walker III scratch the top-5 this season? All those questions and more answered; WATCH NOW! ⬇️

• Dolphins RBs De’Von Achane (ankle), Raheem Mostert (chest) miss practice Tuesday ahead of Thursday night matchup vs Bills

  • With the Dolphins’ next game under 48 hours away, it’s not surprising that they’d be resting their starting running backs in practice this week on Tuesday – especially if they are, indeed, dealing with injuries despite finishing Sunday’s game against the Jaguars. Nonetheless, missing practice isn’t what you want to hear about your starting running back. Given the potential for one or both Dolphins backs to miss Week 2, rookie RB Jaylen Wright becomes a very intriguing prospective add as a handcuff to both Achane and Mostert. Veteran RB Jeff Wilson did handle a few of the short down and distance carries in Week 1, but he’s unlikely to challenge for a primary role unless both Achane and Mostert would be out – in which case he’d be splitting time in the backfield with Wright. It’s not a fantastic matchup for Miami’s RBs this week, but James Conner was able to get it done in Week 1 against the Bills. Achane is a must-start if he’s active given his usage in the receiving game, while expectations should be tempered for Raheem Mostert even if he’s able to go. Wright would be worth a look as a potential flex play should Mostert not be able to go, and especially if Achane would ultimately be ruled out – though that’s not the anticipation.

• The Athletic’s Joe Lombardi says that 49ers RB Christian McCaffrey could have played had Week 1 been a ‘playoff game’

  • Madden curse? 1.01 curse? Or maybe just bad injury reporting? Regardless of what’s going on with McCaffrey, it’s a bad look for CMC’s managers after he was taken at the very top of drafts this season. As if the drama surrounding him being a surprise inactive weren’t enough of a story, the details of him missing Week 1 are only further complicating it. Backup RB Jordan Mason said that he knew he would be starting this weekend on Friday, suggesting that the 49ers withheld information that could have saved fantasy managers from being forced to scramble for a replacement among limited options on the waiver on Monday evening. Similarly, Lombardi’s report that CMC could have played if it were a ‘playoff game’ on Monday adds layers of confusion, especially considering that every win counts – particularly in the early going. It’s since been reported that McCaffrey has Achilles tendinitis, and his status for Week 2 appears to be very much up in the air. Jordan Mason will be the obvious preferred start in any further time that CMC misses, but the hope is that the consensus 1.01 can get right sooner rather than later and avoid having his health be a headline for the entire season.

• Cowboys GM and owner Jerry Jones says he’s ‘optimistic’ about TE Jake Ferguson’s chances to play in Week 2

  • Rarely do situations involving knee injuries (especially any type of sprain, as Ferguson is said to be dealing with an MCL injury) drastically improve the way the Cowboys TE’s situation has, but it sounds like he does have a legitimate shot at taking the field against the Saints a week after exiting the game against the Browns and not returning. Of course, taking Jerry Jones’ word for it is a choice we can all make for ourselves, but given the original multi-week timetable for Ferguson’s return, the fact that the idea of him playing this week is even being thrown around is a win for fantasy managers who drafted him as their TE1. As great as it would be to see him take the field sooner rather than later, though, the Cowboys will in all likelihood give him all of the time he needs to recover fully. With 16 games to go in the regular season, there’s no need to rush him back into the lineup on an MCL sprain that could be re-aggravated. Fantasy managers should have a backup plan in place regardless of how positive the reports are surrounding Ferguson the rest of the week, but he would likely be worth a start if he ended up playing on Sunday.

BUY RB Derrick Henry, BAL

Derrick Henry scored just under 8 fantasy points within the first eight minutes of the game, and Ian Hartitz tweeted it out right after his first touchdown – turns out Henry was going to rush for 30 touchdowns this season, after all. After that, though, the Ravens went down in the game and were forced to play catch up all night long and Henry ended up with just ten points on the night.

The issue for Henry was the game script – the early down/short yardage running back isn’t going to get a whole lot of run in a game where you’re forced to pass the ball. There are only a handful of teams in the NFL capable of going up on the Ravens and staying there, and the Chiefs are one of them. Justice Hill out-snapped Henry 38-36 as a result, earned five more targets, and ran twice as many routes, but Henry handled 13 rush attempts to Hill’s one.

Much more often than not, the expectation should be that the Ravens will be grinding away games while playing with a lead, which lends itself to Henry seeing much more usage than what we saw in Week 1. Better days are ahead, starting with Baltimore’s Week 2 matchup against the Raiders – they’re fresh off being gashed for 135 yards on the ground by J.K. Dobbins, and the Ravens are 9.5-point favorites at home.

Throw some trade offers at the Henry manager in your league – they could be worried about the fact that Lamar ran it 14 times himself and looked really good doing it. But the ideal gameplan for the Ravens, I think is one that gets the ball to Derrick Henry in a feature role – something he didn’t have in Week 1. Capitalize on any panicking managers.