Week 2 Fantasy Football Rankings: Position-by-Position Breakdown

After an exciting opening week to the NFL season, we're just two days away from the Thursday night game to kick off the second week. 

Here's a look at the Week 2 schedule and the top fantasy players at every position.

Home	Away
Kansas City	Denver
Carolina	Houston
Pittsburgh	San Francisco
New Orleans	Tampa Bay
Minnesota	Detroit
Chicago	Arizona
Buffalo	New England
Cincinnati	San Diego
Cleveland	Tennessee
New York	Atlanta
Washington	St. Louis
Jacksonville	Miami
Oakland	Baltimore
Philadelphia	Dallas
Green Bay	Seattle

Quarterback

Rank	Player	Team
1.	Drew Brees	New Orleans Saints
2	Tom Brady	New England Patriots
3	Ben Roethlisberger	Pittsburgh Steelers
4	Marcus Mariota	Tennessee Titans
5	Matt Ryan	Atlanta Falcons
6	Philip Rivers	San Diego Chargers
7	Tony Romo	Dallas Cowboys
8	Andrew Luck	Indianapolis Colts
9	Carson Palmer	Arizona Cardinals
10	Nick Foles	St. Louis Rams
11	Andy Dalton	Cincinnati Bengals
12	Russell Wilson	Seattle Seahawks
13	Matthew Stafford	Detroit Lions
14	Alex Smith	Kansas City Chiefs
15	Sam Bradford	Philadelphia Eagles

This is meant as no disrespect to the Tennessee Titans' awesome rookie Marcus Mariota, but if a player in his first NFL regular-season game throws for four touchdowns against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 1, what do you think will happen in Week 2 against Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints?

In Week 1, Brees was getting the ball into the hands of his playmakers and letting them pick up yardage, per Scott Kacsmar of Football Outsiders:

Brees finished the day with 355 yards and a touchdown.

Against Lovie Smith's Cover-2 defense and the Bucs' lack of talent in the secondary, you have to like Brees to have a big game.

Running Back

Rank	Player	Team
1.	Marshawn Lynch	Seattle Seahawks
2.	Adrian Peterson	Minnesota Vikings
3.	Carlos Hyde	San Francisco 49ers
4.	Alfred Morris	Washington
5.	Jamaal Charles	Kansas City Chiefs
6.	Matt Forte	Chicago Bears
7.	DeAngelo Williams	Pittsburgh Steelers
8.	Chris Ivory	New York Jets
9.	Eddie Lacy	Green Bay Packers
10.	Tevin Coleman	Atlanta Falcons
11.	Bishop Sankey	Tennessee Titans
12.	Dion Lewis	New England Patriots
13.	Joseph Randle	Dallas Cowboys
14.	Giovani Bernard	Cincinnati Bengals
15.	Jeremy Hill	Cincinnati Bengals
16.	Justin Forsett	Baltimore Ravens
17.	Bilal Powell	New York Jets
18.	Jonathan Stewart	Carolina Panthers
19.	Jacquizz Rodgers	Chicago Bears
20.	Ameer Abdullah	Detroit Lions
21.	Melvin Gordon	San Diego Chargers
22.	Karlos Williams	Buffalo Bills
23.	Lamar Miller	Miami Dolphins
24.	Darren McFadden	Dallas Cowboys
25.	T.J. Yeldon	Jacksonville Jaguars

The Green Bay Packers knocked off the Chicago Bears in Week 1, but it wasn't because of their run defense. Matt Forte and the Bears ran for 189 yards on the ground as the Packers had no answer for the ground game.

L.G. Patterson/Associated Press

There's bad news on the horizon for the Pack in Week 2. Marshawn Lynch and a highly motivated Seattle Seahawks team are marching into Lambeau Field on Monday night. We could see Lynch go into beast mode again.

Lynch had a respectable 73 yards on 18 carries on Sunday. Unless the Packers find a way to stop the run, Lynch seems like a lock to go over 100 yards in Week 2.

Wide Receivers

Rank	Player	Team
1	Julio Jones	Atlanta Falcons
2	AJ Green	Cincinnati Bengals
3	Calvin Johnson	Detroit Lions
4	Alshon Jeffery	Chicago Bears
5	Keenan Allen	San Diego Chargers
6	Antonio Brown	Pittsburgh Steelers
7	Terrence Williams	Dallas Cowboys
8	Odell Beckham Jr.	New York Giants
9	Brandon Marshall	New York Jets
10	Sammy Watkins	Buffalo Bills
11	Nate Washington	Houston Texans
12	Jordan Matthews	Philadelphia Eagles
13	Kendall Wright	Tennessee Titans
14	DeAndre Hopkins	Houston Texans
15	Julian Edelman	New England Patriots
16	Travis Benjamin	Cleveland Browns
17	T.Y. Hilton	Indianapolis Colts
18.	Larry Fitzgerald	Arizona Cardinals
19	Roddy White	Atlanta Falcons
20	Steve Johnson	San Diego Chargers
21	Percy Harvin	Buffalo Bills
22	Jermaine Kearse	Seattle Seahawks
23	Pierre Garcon	Washington
24	Emmanuel Sanders	Denver Broncos
25	Demaryius Thomas	Denver Broncos
26	Mike Wallace	Minnesota Vikings
27	Willie Snead	New Orleans Saints
28	Allen Hurns	Jacksonville Jaguars
29	Darrius Heyward-Bey	Pittsburgh Steelers
30	Marquess Wilson	Chicago Bears
31	Cecil Shorts III	Houston Texans
32	Jarvis Landry	Miami Dolphins
33	Mohammed Sanu	Cincinnati Bengals
34	Tavon Austin	St. Louis Rams
35	Michael Crabtree	Oakland Raiders

In case you weren't a believer in the Atlanta Falcons' Julio Jones as perhaps the No. 1 fantasy wide receiver in the NFL before Week 1, what he did against the Philadelphia Eagles on Monday night might have changed your mind.

Jones had nine receptions for 141 yards and two touchdowns to begin the season. With a spotty New York Giants defense hosting Jones and the Falcons in Week 2, he's poised to go off again. The Giants gave up 356 yards through the air to the Dallas Cowboys in Week 1, despite the fact that Dez Bryant had only 48 yards receiving as he left with a foot injury. Jones should have his way against the G-Men.

If we were ranking biggest fantasy stud of the week—regardless of position—Jones would be No. 1. As it stands, he is clearly the best option at receiver for Week 2.

Tight Ends

Rank	Player	Team
1.	Kyle Rudolph	Minnesota Vikings
2.	Travis Kelce	Kansas City Chiefs
3.	Tyler Eifert	Cincinnati Bengals
4.	Rob Gronkowski	New England Patriots
5.	Delanie Walker	Tennessee Titans
6.	Martellus Bennett	Chicago Bears
7.	Austin Seferian-Jenkins	Tampa Bay Buccaneers
8.	Greg Olsen	Minnesota Vikings
9.	Jared Cook	St. Louis Rams
10.	Heath Miller	Pittsburgh Steelers
11.	Darren Fells	Arizona Cardinals
12.	Ladarius Green	San Diego Chargers

Minnesota Vikings tight end Kyle Rudolph is one of the best receivers at his position, but he hasn't really had a breakout season as of yet. This could be the year he finally takes advantage of his talent.

He was excited about the season leading into Week 1. Per Mark Craig of the Star Tribune, Rudolph said:

“My expectations are very high. We have so many big-time threats.’’ He could be the biggest threat the Vikes have on Sunday. No team gave up more passing yards than the Detroit Lions in Week 1. It looks like they missed having Ndamukong Suh on the defensive line. 

Teddy Bridgewater might just target his tight end early and often against the Lions.

Defense/Special Teams

Rank	Team
1.	St. Louis Rams
2.	Denver Broncos
3.	Miami Dolphins
4.	Baltimore Ravens
5.	Buffalo Bills
6.	Cincinnati Bengals
7.	San Francisco 49ers
8.	Washington
9.	Jacksonville Jaguars
10.	Carolina Panthers
11.	Tennessee Titans
12.	Dallas Cowboys

The St. Louis Rams pulled an upset in Week 1 over the Seahawks, and they have a great chance to move to 2-0 as they visit Washington in Week 2. The latter didn't look good offensively, and we learned the Rams defensive line is excellent at getting pressure on the QB and opportunistic when it comes to forcing turnovers.

Tom Gannam/Associated Press

Even though the defense gave up 31 points, the Rams sacked Russell Wilson six times and picked him off once, and Tavon Austin returned a punt for a touchdown.

If you can, take the Rams defense this week against a weak Washington offense that scored just 10 points against Miami in Week 1.

Kickers

Rank	Player	Team
1.	Robbie Gould	Chicago Bears
2.	Mason Crosby	Green Bay Packers
3.	Graham Gano	Carolina Panthers
4.	Dan Carpenter	Buffalo Bills
5.	Andrew Franks	Miami Dolphins
6.	Matt Bryant	Atlanta Falcons
7.	Josh Brown	New York Giants
8.	Brandon McManus	Denver Broncos
9.	Zach Hocker	New Orleans Saints
10.	Steven Hauschka	Seattle Seahawks
11.	Phil Dawson	San Francisco 49ers
12.	Josh Scobee	Pittsburgh Steelers

The Chicago Bears had issues in the red zone in Week 1. That's nothing new. It's also old hat to watch Robbie Gould drill field goal after field goal when the team's drives stall. Gould is the closest thing to automatic in the NFL, and he's the top-ranked kicker this week.

Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images

The Bears host another good defense this week in the Arizona Cardinals.

Chicago ran the ball well, and Jay Cutler played fine before throwing a key interception in the fourth quarter in Week 1. The Bears offense isn't horrible, but they still don't know how to punch the ball in the end zone with regularity. Gould had three field goals in Week 1. Don't be surprised to see him kick that many again vs. the Cardinals.