Week 2 is bound to start with a bang when the Chiefs host the Chargers on "Thursday Night Football" (8:15 p.m. ET, Amazon Prime Video). There's a good chance the game will be the highest-scoring contest of the week, setting up great all-around offensive production for fantasy football owners. Of course, with a bunch of intriguing sleepers, fantasy owners will still have some tough start 'em, sit 'em decisions to kick off the week.
Quarterbacks Patrick Mahomes and Justin Herbert are the obvious passing headliners, along with their varied receiving weapons. Kansas City will be with its key skill players around Mahomes, who will play through his wrist injury, but kicker Harrison Butker (ankle) is out. Los Angeles, meanwhile, will needs to deal with not having wide receiver Keenan Allen (hamstring).
LIVE: Follow Chargers vs. Chiefs on 'Thursday Night Football'
With all that in mind, here's breaking down the entire start 'em sit 'em picture for Thursday night, including a couple DFS lineup suggestions for FanDuel and DraftKings:
WEEK 2 FANTASY PICKS: Sleepers | Busts | Start 'em, sit 'em
Chiefs: Who to start or sit in fantasy football on Thursday night
Start: QB Patrick Mahomes
Mahomes absolutely shredded an overmatched Cardinals pass defense in Week 1. From their pass rush to their secondary, with or without J.C. Jackson (ankle), the Chargers provide a much greater challenge after thwarting Derek Carr and the Raiders.
Still, Mahomes is back locked in minus Tyreek Hill and is quickly getting used to his new targets. Coach Andy Reid and offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy have added new wrinkles to make Mahomes more dangerous in different ways. Expect a little cool off from the desert, but Mahomes will remain sharp for the Arrowhead opener.
WEEK 2 STANDARD RANKINGS:
QBs | RBs | WRs | TEs | D/ST | Kicker
Start: RB Clyde Edwards-Helaire | Sit: RB Isaiah Pacheco
CEH was finally used in the right way as a runner and receiver to open up his third season. Reid is giving him some of the Brian Westbrook treatment to help compensate for no Hill. Edwards-Helaire will dominate the critical touches again with a fine shot at finding the end zone. Pacheco had a box score to match his preseason buzz in Week 1, but that came in mop-up time in a blowout, which this game will not be.
Start: WR JuJu Smith-Schuster | Sit: WRs Marquez Valdes-Scantling, Skyy Moore and Mecole Hardman
The Chiefs weren't kidding about going wide receiver by committee to replace Hill. Moore and Hardman were Hill's respective proxies on a shot play and short TD in Arizona. MVS caught all four of his targets, but he had half as many as Smith-Schuster, who went 6-of-79. JuJu is the only real option here as a WR3, as there's no doubt he's the most reliable second option after Travis Kelce. Look for him to work more outside should Jackson not play to avoid Bryce Callahan in the slot.
WEEK 2 DFS LINEUPS: FanDuel | DraftKings | Yahoo
Start: TE Travis Kelce
Kelce keeps pleasing fantasy football owners who realized he's worth every bit of the early draft investment to provide a massive edge at his position. He's showing no signs of slowing down before turning 33, and the Chargers just struggled with the athleticism of Darren Waller.
WEEK 2 PPR RANKINGS:
QBs | RBs | WRs | TEs | D/ST | Kicker
Sit: Chiefs D/ST
The Chiefs are back in bend-but-don't-break mode under Steve Spagnuolo with a lot of personnel changes and dependence on several young players. You can't trust them at all against a higher-flying offense than the Cardinals'.
Start: K Matt Ammendola
Ammendola, not to be confused with the one-M Danny, is a good streaming amendment to your lineup, especially if you had Harrison Butker (ankle).
WEEK 2 DFS: Best values | Best stacks
Chargers: Who to start or sit in fantasy football on Thursday night
Start: QB Justin Herbert
Herbert can have his biggest statement game yet in his young career with a big road game to outduel Mahomes. He made 279 yards and three touchdowns look easy against the Raiders, and there's nothing too daunting about the Chiefs' defense. Herbert, like Mahomes, is locked in as a top-three QB every week.
Start: RB Austin Ekeler | Sit: RBs Joshua Kelley and Sony Michel
Ekeler had a shockingly underwhelming scoreless opener vs. the Raiders with 14 carries for 36 yards and four catches, also for 36 yards. There needs to be a lot more from a high first-round fantasy pick. The Chiefs held him in check in two meetings last season with just 189 total scrimmage yards and a TD. Ekeler should be much better, especially in the passing game, but don't expect him to explode in a rebound.
MORE TNF: DraftKings lineup | FanDuel lineup
Start: WR Mike Williams
Williams destroyed the Chiefs in Kansas City last season, catching seven-of-nine targets for 122 yards and two TDs. In his typical boom-or-bust style, he caught only three-of-nine targets for 49 scoreless yards in the rematch. After a 2-10 clunker vs. the Raiders in Week 1, he has nowhere to go but way up with Allen out of the lineup. Hopefully, he can have a 6-80-TD floor in a prime matchup.
Start: WR Josh Palmer
The Chargers pivoted first to DeAndre Carter when Allen got hurt against the Raiders, but Palmer was the key fill-in in Week 14 last season. Herbert also has talked up his No. 3 receiver as a potential breakout, and here's the massive shot with Allen back on the shelf. Palmer is a valuable deep-league WR3 for his bigger role.
Start: TE Gerald Everett
Everett saw just four targets against the Raiders but showed off his burst with three catches, 54 yards and a TD. In another shaky tight end landscape after the superstars, everyone else is in play, including an athlete who was underused with the Rams and Seahawks. Herbert was definitely locked in with his tight ends in Week 1.
Sit: Chargers D/ST
Khalil Mack made his big early impact with three sacks of Derek Carr, and soon J.C. Jackson (ankle) will make his presence felt with his ball-hawking ways. It's just impossible to play any defense with Mahomes operating on the other side.
Start: K Dustin Hopkins
The "other" D-Hop missed one of his two field-goal attempts vs. the Raiders, but he was the No. 10 scorer at his position last season and should be out there every week attached to Herbert and an electric offense.
Chiefs vs. Chargers: FanDuel single-game lineup
- MVP (1.5X): QB Justin Herbert $15,500
- AnyFLEX: QB Patrick Mahomes $17,000
- AnyFLEX: WR JuJu Smith-Schuster $11,000
- AnyFLEX: TE Gerald Everett $9,500
- AnyFLEX: WR Josh Palmer $7,000
Herbert and Mahomes? Sure, they are set to be the highest scores in what should be a classic passing duel, with Herbert likely to throw more based on game script. That also means stacking with their affordable receivers and not investing in the running backs.
Chiefs vs. Chargers: DraftKings Showdown lineup
- Captain (1.5X): QB Justin Herbert $16,800
- FLEX: QB Patrick Mahomes $11,800
- FLEX: TE Travis Kelce $11,000
- FLEX: WR Josh Palmer $5,000
- FLEX: TE Gerald Everett $4,800
- FLEX: TE Jody Fortson $600
This also was about getting both quarterbacks into the lineup along with some of their key targets. The last spot was a punt play, but there's a chance Fortson can score again to pay off while everyone else here goes off.
