Fantasy Football Week 2 Cheat Sheet: Waiver, Rankings, Projections and More

You didn't know before the start of Week 1, and here's the hard truth in fantasy football heading into Week 2: You still don't know.

It is often a mistake to look at the results from the first week of the season and come to any conclusions about teams or players. Yet that's the natural inclination in a 16-game season based on some of the results that fantasy players have seen.

It may be safe to believe that Indianapolis Colts quarterback Andrew Luck is back following his four-touchdown performance against the Detroit Lions in Week 1, but that is not necessarily the case. Luck may have taken advantage of a poor defense after the Colts found themselves trailing, getting hot at the right time. 

It will be a different story this week, as the Colts will play perhaps the most aggressive defense in the league when they go to Denver to take on the Broncos. At the same time, we are not going to write off Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson despite the Tennessee Titans holding him to 31 rushing yards in the opener.

Opponents are going to load up against Peterson until the Vikings prove they have a legitimate passing game with Shaun Hill or Sam Bradford (more likely), and it may take another game or two before Peterson starts running with consistency.

To help you get ready for Week 2, we present our cheat sheet with the top 10 players at each position, top sleepers and sharp waiver-wire pickups.

Here are the projections for all 16 games on the schedule this week.

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Positional Rankings

Rank	QB	RB	WR	TE
1	Carson Palmer	C.J. Anderson	Odell Beckham Jr.	Jordan Reed
2	Eli Manning	David Johnson	Antonio Brown	Greg Olsen
3	Drew Brees	LeSean McCoy	Julio Jones	Rob Gronkowski
4	Cam Newton	Adrian Peterson	A.J. Green	Julius Thomas
5	Matthew Stafford	Matt Forte	DeAndre Hopkins	Delanie Walker
6	Aaron Rodgers	DeMarco Murray	Jordy Nelson	Travis Kelce
7	Philip Rivers	DeAngelo Williams	Dez Bryant	Gary Barnidge
8	Blake Bortles	Lamar Miller	Brandon Marshall	Coby Fleener
9	Kirk Cousins	Mark Ingram	Allen Robinson	Antonio Gates
10	Andy Dalton	Jonathan Stewart	Mike Evans	Jason Witten

Take a good, long look at Denver running back C.J. Anderson this week as he prepares for his matchup with the Colts.

When you get done wiping the drool off your chin, you know what you have to do. Anderson is a must-play this week, as he is likely to rip up the vulnerable Colts defense.

We are not making the decision based on how the Colts defense performed in Week 1 against the Lions, which was not overly impressive. The Colts did not do well against the run, as Ameer Abdullah and Theo Riddick combined for 108 yards and one touchdown on 19 carries.

The main reason we like Anderson is that the Broncos have to feature their running game in the early part of the season because Trevor Siemian is learning on the job at quarterback, and he is not trying to win the game for head coach Gary Kubiak. Instead, he is managing the game, and his job is to hold onto the football, avoid turnovers and keep the chains moving.

Anderson gained 92 yards and scored a touchdown on the ground against the powerful Carolina Panthers defense in Week 1, and he should be able to build off that total based on his own speed and conditioning and the Colts' vulnerability on defense.

If there was one game that defined the New York Giants' 2015 season, it was their 52-49 loss at the New Orleans Saints in Week 8 last season. Neither the Giants nor the Saints could play defense last season, and the two teams put on a 1960s-style, American Football League shootout.

While the fans who watched the game at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome or on television were entertained, the game was an affront to those who believe that defense is still an important part of the game.

Both teams made major attempts to improve on that side of the ball in the offseason. The Saints added Nick Fairley and James Laurinaitis, while the Giants signed Olivier Vernon, Janoris Jenkins and Damon Harrison.

While those moves should eventually help both teams, it's not likely to help right away. The Saints gave up 35 points in their Week 1 loss to the Oakland Raiders, and the Giants should be prepared and chomping at the bit to get back at the Saints defense.

Nobody should be in a better position to succeed than Odell Beckham Jr., who comes into the game as one of the top three receivers in the game. He may not be as good as the Pittsburgh Steelers' Antonio Brown or the Atlanta Falcons' Julio Jones, but he doesn't have to take a back seat to anyone else. 

Beckham just needs to get a fingertip on the ball to make the catch, and he will be a reception machine against the vulnerable Saints.

Look for Carson Palmer to come through with a winning performance at the quarterback position as the Arizona Cardinals host the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 2. Palmer appeared to get off to a slow start against the New England Patriots, and that may have had something to do with the outcome of the game.

The Cardinals would have won if Chandler Catanzaro had connected on a 47-yard field-goal attempt at the end of the game, but if Palmer and the offense had started well, they might not have needed a field goal at the end to secure the victory.

Palmer threw for 271 yards and two touchdowns against New England, and he should be prepared for a 300-plus-yard effort with three touchdowns or more against a vulnerable Tampa Bay defense.

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Sleepers

Pos.	Player	Team	Opp.	Projection
QB	Jimmy Garoppolo	NE	MIA	288 passing yards, 2 TD
RB	Jeremy Langford	CHI	PHI	93 yards, 1 TD
WR	Eric Decker	NYJ	BUF	99 yards, 1 TD
TE	Kyle Rudolph	MIN	GB	80 yards, 1 TD
D/ST	Kansas City Chiefs	KC	HOU	3 sacks, 3 takeaways

Jimmy Garoppolo may have seemed rather humble after the New England Patriots came away with their upset victory over the Cardinals in Week 1, but he has to feel good about himself as he prepares for the second game of his four-game run in the starting lineup during Tom Brady's Deflategate-based suspension.

Garoppolo now has three home games on the schedule after performing well at Arizona with 264 passing yards, a touchdown and no interceptions. He gets to face the Miami Dolphins at Gillette Stadium, and the environment should be both raucous and welcoming for him.

The Dolphins appear to have an impressive defense, as they held the Seattle Seahawks to 12 points, but giving up the game-winning points and traveling cross-country from Seattle will impact this team's execution. Look for the Patriots to get off to a fast start, and watch for Garoppolo to throw at least two touchdown passes in this game.

Running back Jeremy Langford of the Chicago Bears impressed management enough in 2015 that the team allowed versatile star Matt Forte to move onto the New York Jets in the offseason.

Langford is a solid running back with power, balance and burst, and that bodes well for his Week 2 Monday night home game against the Philadelphia Eagles.

While Philadelphia was successful in Week 1 against the Cleveland Browns, the prospects for head coach Doug Pederson's team are not great this season. Look for the Bears, who played well in the first half of their loss at the Houston Texans, to come through with a big effort against the Eagles. 

Much of that will come from Langford, who should be able to assert himself against the Philadelphia defense.

This should be another huge week for the superstar wide receivers in the league such as Beckham, Antonio Brown and Julio Jones, but it's hard not to like Eric Decker of the New York Jets.

The Jets go to Buffalo Thursday night to take on the Bills, and while Brandon Marshall and Forte will command most of the attention, look for Decker to make most of the clutch plays the Jets need when the game is on the line. Decker caught a touchdown pass in the opener against the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 1, and he should get on the board at least once against the Bills.

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Waiver-Wire Targets

Pos.	Player	Team	Pct. Owned
QB	Alex Smith	KC	26.1
QB	Dak Prescott	DAL	52.4
RB	Christine Michael	SEA	68.4
RB	Charcandrick West	KC	23.3
WR	Pierre Garcon	WSH	39.9
WR	Victor Cruz	NYG	19.7
WR	Kenny Stills	MIA	22.1
TE	Dwayne Allen	IND	38.4
TE	Martellus Bennett	NE	77.9
D/ST	Philadelphia Eagles	PHI	31.1

For our purposes, we continue to use players who are on ESPN.com's most-added list as our waiver-wire targets.

Most fantasy football players are still fairly content with the rosters they drafted before the start of the season, but that figure will drift downward every week, and the need to head to the waiver wire will be stronger.

There are a number of players to target going into Week 2, but we feel best about quarterback Alex Smith of the Kansas City Chiefs, running back Christine Michael of the Seattle Seahawks, wide receiver Victor Cruz of the New York Giants and tight end Dwayne Allen of the Indianapolis Colts.