Week 1 of the 2025 NFL season was strange.
Week 2 said, “Hold my beer.”
Because…
- Before the season kicked off, Giants fans were calling for their shiny new rookie to replace their theoretically washed veteran behind center. After Sunday, not so much.
- We might be seeing a premature-ish end to an NFL dynasty.
- Over the weekend, 9.3% all NFL franchises temporarily lost their starting quarterback.
Ladies and gentlemen, let’s see which players and teams stared down the strange, and which came out of Week 2 just fine.
(All fantasy point totals courtesy of FantasyPros.)
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Week 2 Fantasy Football Winners & Losers
Winner: Giants QB Russell Wilson
In Week 1, Wilson was far from Danger Russ, limping to an 11.1 fantasy point total (QB24, right behind that Saints Spencer freakin’ Rattler). This past Sunday, in a heartbreaking OT loss to the Cowboys, Wilson went next-next-next level, tossing for 450 yards and 3 TDs (31.3 fantasy points, QB2).
Does this make Wilson a viable fantasy option moving forward? Welp, the G-Men host the Chiefs in Week 3, who, despite a blah overall performance in their 20-17 Week 2 loss to the Eagles, held Philly QB Jalen Hurts to 101 yards in the air, with nary a TD pass to be seen.
New York and Kansas City will meet on Sunday night, and you can rest assured that the Chiefs D, looking to get off the team off the schneid, should be extra-cranky, and they might just take it out on poor Russ, so proceed with caution before jumping onto the waiver wire.
And speaking of the Chiefs…
Loser: Kansas City’s Pass Catchers
Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes was eminently mortal through the air on Sunday, racking up a meh 187 yards, and had it not been for his 66 rushing yards and 1 rushing TD, he’d have been a Cam Ward-esque statistical bust.
As for K.C.'s receivers and tight ends, well, It would stand to reason that if your quarterback throws for just 187 yards, your wide receivers and tight ends will be non-factors. Because, logic.
That said, K.C.’s Week 3 opponent, those aforementioned Giants, allowed 361 yards and 23.1 fantasy points to Dallas QB Dak Prescott in Week 2, so don’t be afraid to ride the Mahomes Train.
As for Patrick’s pass catchers, not so much.
Winner: Lions QB Jared Goff
After stinking up Lambeau Field in Week 1, Goff and his Lions looked eminently Lion-y in their home opener, embarrassing the Bears 52-21. With his 5 TD tosses and perfect 156.0 QB rating, Goff landed as the week’s QB1, posting a whopping 34.0 fantasy points.
It took Detroit’s offense a grand total of one week to find their footing in the post-Ben Johnson Era — you can be sure that the fact that his team shoved it up their former offensive coordinators’ backside thrilled Lions HC Dan Campbell to no end — and for Goff, a repeat performance against a Ravens defense that allowed a ridiculous 38.8 fantasy points to BIlls QB Josh Allen in Week 1 gives Lions truthers hope, and lots of it.
Loser: Vikings QB J.J. McCarthy
In his first eight NFL quarters, the Michigan product delivered about 12 quality minutes. Granted, those 12 minutes led them to a Week 1 win over those messy Bears, but you get the point.
So that noise you hear is the sound of fantasy players all over the world throwing McCarthy off of their roster.
Winner: Every Team on the Chicago Bears’ Schedule
Because I’m a Chicago sports masochist, I watched each and every minute of the Monsters of the Midway’s Sunday nightmare in the Motor City, and that defense of theirs was indefensible, a unit that did exactly nothing to give a depressed Bears Nation hope for turnaround.
But you know who has a ton of hope? The Dallas Cowboys, Chicago’s Week 3 opponent, that’s who. And the Las Vegas Raiders, Chicago’s Week 4 opponent. And the bye week, Chicago’s Week 5 opponent.
So if Goff, or Raiders QB Geno Smith, or the bye week are on your waiver wire, pounce.
Loser: The Chicago Bears’ Offense
Okay, don’t blow off the entire Bears offense — WR Rome Odunze’s 24.8 fantasy points made him Week 2’s WR3 — but QB Caleb Williams has been dreadful when chucking the rock downfield, and Chicago’s pass catchers haven’t been able to make any noise in the short passing game (RB D’Andre Swift, anyone?), so look away.
Winner: Bengals WR Ja’Marr Chase
Logic would dictate that without QB Joe Burrow in the mix (toe), Chase would devolve into, I dunno, Washington WR Noah Brown or something. But apparently he and Burrow’s replacement, Jake Browning, developed a mind-meld during training camp, because Chase followed up his Week 1 stinkeroo (2.6 fantasy points, WR75) with a vintage 14-catch, 164-yard, 1-touchdown masterpiece that had him wrapping up the week as WR4 (22.5 fantasy points).
Browning notwithstanding, Chase-heads shouldn’t worry about their first-round pick too much, even next week against a Vikings defense that’s allowed an average of 7.6 fantasy points to WR1s.
Losers: Seemingly Every Starting Quarterback
- Burrow, out for up to several months.
- McCarthy, out for up to several weeks.
- Jets QB Justin Fields, concussion protocol.
- Washington QB Jayden Daniels, out for up to a few weeks.
- San Francisco QB Brock Purdy, out for up to a few weeks.
- Tennessee QB Cam Ward, really, really bad at quarterbacking.
This, kids, is why we wait until the eighth-round of our fantasy drafts to snatch a signal caller.
Winners: Rookie Tight Ends
The Indianapolis Colts are among the NFL’s happier surprises, and Tyler Warren deserves a chunk of credit.
The first-year TE from Penn State has been QB Daniel Jones’ security blanket, hauling in 11 of his 16 early-season targets, and averaging just over 14 yards per reception. He hasn’t yet found paydirt, but as long as he keeps seeing the ball, fantasy players will probably be patient.
Meanwhile over in Cleveland, Bowling Green’s own Harold Fannin Jr. has team-leading 12 catches of his own — a doubly-impressive number considering he’s hauling in balls from 84-year-old QB Joe Flacco.
As for Chicago rookie TE Colston Loveland, I don’t wanna talk about it.
Losers: Rookie Running Backs
Show of hands, how many of you selected Raiders first-year RB Ashton Jeanty in one of the first two rounds of your fantasy draft? Yeah, me too.
Show of hands, how many of you are super-annoyed that the Boise State speedster finished Week 2 as fantasy’s RB32, landing him behind the likes of Jacksonville’s Bhayshul Tuten, Atlanta’s Tyler Allgeier, and Cleveland’s Dylan Sampson? Yeah, me too.
Show of hands, how many of you selected Chargers first-year RB Omarion Hampton in one of the first four rounds of your fantasy draft? Yeah, me too.
Show of hands, how many of you are super-annoyed that the North Carolina alum finished Week 2 as fantasy’s RB45, landing him behind the likes of Cleveland’s Raheim Sanders, New England’s Antonio Gibson, and Dallas’ Miles Sanders?
Yeah. Me too.
J.J. McCarthy was one of last week's losers, but you can be every week's fantasy winner if hit up PrizePicks, you pick your players, predict More or Less on their season-long stats, and lock in your PrizePicks Lineup. And be sure to stick with PrizePicks Playbook all year for the latest news, tips, winners, and losers.
