Week 2 Recap: Everybody Changes Places

By Mel AIper, CTDB Analyst

The league ran a mirror trick this week. Nearly every Week 1 winner walked into Week 2 and lost, and nearly every Week 1 loser found a win — Monkeys and Angels the only holdouts on either side. Ten teams swapped places. The league averaged 115, which is a polite way of saying half the board got punched in the mouth and half got even.

Sunday’s injury list read like a keeper-league horror short: Dart, Daniels, Goedert and Moore left and never came back. Barkley and Nabers played hurt and finished anyway. An opening-drive exit isn’t a bad start/sit — it’s just a wreck, and Week 2 had a few of those.

The preview board went 2-3, and the misses stung more than the record. Phreaks-over-Monkeys had the widest projection gap of the week and lost by 17. Gang Green over Blitz banked on Greg beating the projections a second straight week — he beat them by 4 and still lost by 18. Roger started Mahomes over Stafford as tipped and still dropped when Custom J got the call against him.

League administrative note

Week 1’s Pot was closest loss — smallest margin of defeat — not biggest blowout. That pays Battle Angel (Will), who lost to the Bunch by 11.5. The published Week 1 recap wrongly credited the Monkeys for the 83-point win. The Week 1 payout to Will goes out this week.

The games

City of Angels Masterminds 167, Battle Angel 93

Dak Prescott threw for 41, Davante Adams caught 36, and the Masterminds put up 167, more than any team has scored in this league this season. Strange, for a franchise that hasn’t finished better than seventh in five years and had lost every Week 2 game since 2021.

The Angels lost this at quarterback and tight end. Will started Jayden Daniels, who was listed doubtful, and Daniels didn’t finish, leaving him 18. At tight end he started Colston Loveland, a round 2 pick, for under a point. Two weeks running, and Dalton Kincaid has scored 19 on the Angels bench both times.

Jail Yard Boyz 117, Crunch Bunch 93

Eddie made the right quarterback call and lost the quarterback. I told him in the preview that with Joe Burrow questionable, Jaxson Dart was the start, and the projections agreed, 23 to 22. Dart left on the opening drive and never came back. He scored 1.

Give Dart his full projection, healthy, all afternoon, and the Bunch still lose this game by about 2. The two calls I gave him and he passed on, MarShawn Lloyd and the Broncos defense, were worth 7 between them. Eddie had 129 points on his roster Sunday morning and started 93 of them — that’s the part that still hurts.

Victor deserves more credit than the margin suggests. His quarterback and his best receiver came in 26 points under their projections between them, because Justin Herbert threw for 12 and Nabers hurt his shoulder in the first quarter and finished with 1. Victor won by 24 anyway. The Patriots defense, started over the Ravens on a projection under 6, went for 19, and Ja’Marr Chase led the team with 23.

LA Buffy 115, custom J 93

Custom J led this LA series 7-4, had won the last five meetings, and had won every Week 2 game it played over the last five years. Buffy took all of it on Sunday.

Mahomes threw for 39. Stafford threw for 38 on the bench, so my advice was worth less than a point. Roger won this at receiver and tight end instead, on DeVonta Smith’s 23 and Sam LaPorta’s 14.

I drafted this Custom J roster, so I’ll take the first loss personally. Lamar Jackson threw for 19 against a 28-point projection. TreVeyon Henderson, Jonah Coleman and Josh Downs combined for 38 points on the bench. Nobody on this team got hurt — which makes the 93 sting more, not less.

A Squad Called Blitz 150, Gang Green 132

Josh Allen threw for 49, the best score by any player in the league this week, and Gang Green lost. Jared Goff threw for 41 on the bench. That is 90 points of quarterback for one slot.

The rest of Greg’s lineup is why the 49 wasn’t enough. He started two players already on the injury report. Jadarian Price gave him 5, and DJ Moore left Thursday night’s game early and finished below zero. The Chiefs defense Greg claimed for 2 gave him minus 2. Moore’s shoulder is not what beat Gang Green. Thien needed 150 to get past him, with 35 from Brock Purdy and 31 from CeeDee Lamb.

Gang Green has the best average finish in this league over the last five years, 3.8, and the most points per season, 1,791. Blitz has finished fifth in three of the last four seasons. I’d stop treating them as a team with something to prove.

Chunky Monkeys 104, Philadelphia Phreaks 87

Ping started four players carrying an injury designation and they returned 7 points between them. Barkley took a stinger and Goedert sprained a knee ligament in the second quarter, and between them they came in 22 points under their numbers. Put those 22 back and the Phreaks win this game. J.K. Dobbins gave him 4 and has no such excuse.

The fourth one I’d argue with. Puka Nacua was listed out before kickoff and Ping started him anyway for zero, with Devaughn Vele healthy on the bench. Ping had 106 points on his roster. Starting a man who had been ruled out is the call I’d take back.

The swap he did make worked. Stefon Diggs came into the lineup and caught 19 while Makai Lemon caught 1 from the bench. Justin Jefferson, who said last week that the games he remembers from this series are “the good ones,” caught 7. Both these teams came in unbeaten. The Phreaks leave at 2-2.

Heroes and Zeros

Heroes are the players who blew past what anyone expected and made a manager look like a genius for a day. Zeros are the healthy, expensive starters who handed their manager a blank receipt.

Heroes. Six quarterbacks cleared 35 points, two of them on benches. Smith-Njigba and Davante Adams were the two biggest beats against projection in the league, each more than doubling his number. Amon-Ra St. Brown caught 31 in a loss.

The waiver wire was a poor investment this week. Evan’s 15 on Michael Mayer bought 4 points. Denzel Boston, claimed by Blitz for 6, scored 18 from the bench. Every claim from last Wednesday’s run that made a lineup scored 7 or less.

Zeros. Marvin Harrison Jr., a Buffy keeper, played the whole game and scored nothing. Tucker Kraft managed 2 at tight end for the Bunch. Bijan Robinson ran for 10 against a 20-point projection. Blitz could afford it. Ladd McConkey, back from the rib injury and healthy all afternoon, gave Custom J 5 on a 12-point projection. Jameson Williams, the Angels’ round 1 pick, caught 4.

Manager of the Week

This goes to the manager whose start and sit calls did the most for his team. No manager’s calls were worth more than the margin in his own game this week — which is its own kind of so-what.

Manager of the Week: Victor, Jail Yard Boyz. His calls gained 16 points over what the projections wanted, more than anyone, almost all of it the Patriots defense over the Ravens.

Also good. Evan gained 9, mostly Bhayshul Tuten into the flex over Luther Burden III. He also started Rhamondre Stevenson for 3 with Rachaad White’s 11 on the bench. Greg gained 4.

Nothing to decide. Marcus and Thien each set the lineup the projections wanted, to the point, and then posted the two highest totals of the week.

Calls that cost. Ping’s cost 9 and Eddie’s cost 7, the two worst in the league. Neither figure has an injury in it. The projections wanted Dart, Barkley and Goedert started too. What is left is Nacua over Vele for Ping, and Monangai and the Jaguars defense for Eddie.

The Trainer’s Room

An injury in a keeper league hurts most when it lands on one of the five players a manager built his roster around before the draft. Two of this week’s did. The rest landed on drafted players.

Jaxson Dart, Bunch. The round 10 pick and Eddie’s Week 2 starter. Left knee on the Giants’ opening drive, ruled out at the half, and Jameis Winston finished the game. Joe Burrow, the round 3 pick, is healthy.

Malik Nabers, Boyz. A keeper since 2024 and back from last year’s knee. Right shoulder late in the first quarter, and he returned in the second. By then his quarterback was out and the Giants were behind. Jaylen Waddle scored 18 on the Boyz bench.

Saquon Barkley, Phreaks. A Phreaks keeper and, before that, a Monkeys keeper for three straight years. A stinger cost him most of the first half and most of his workload after it, and he finished with 5 touches. Tank Bigsby took the rest of his carries.

Dallas Goedert, Phreaks. The round 3 pick, and a Phreak since 2023. MCL sprain early in the second quarter, one catch, out a few weeks. Kenyon Sadiq, the round 8 rookie, is the only other tight end Ping has.

Jayden Daniels, Angels. The round 4 pick, and a Monkeys keeper the last two seasons. He dislocated the same left elbow that cost him most of 2025 and did not return. Bryce Young, claimed that same Sunday, scored 33 from the bench.

Caleb Williams, Masterminds. The round 4 pick, carted off in the fourth quarter with a hamstring. He was on the bench, so it cost Marcus nothing on Sunday. It does leave the Masterminds one Dak Prescott injury away from a problem.

DJ Moore, Gang Green. The round 2 pick. Sprained AC joint in his shoulder on Thursday night, did not return. Greg is now without Moore, Zay Flowers and Michael Pittman Jr. at receiver. He paid the largest bid of the week, 19, for Kalif Raymond. My read is that he was refilling an empty room rather than buying a starter.

Brock Bowers, Monkeys. Out a second straight week. A Monkeys keeper since 2025, and Evan drafted no other tight end, so Michael Mayer starts again.

Still out. A.J. Brown is on injured reserve a second week for the Bunch, with Carnell Tate starting in his place. Nico Collins sat out with a hamstring, and Roger replaced him with Marvin Harrison Jr.

Tidbits

A few things I noticed on Sunday that didn’t fit anywhere else.

1. DJ Moore has been on six different teams in this league in six years: the Bunch, Buffy, the Boyz, the Masterminds, Blitz and now Gang Green. Someone keep this guy!
2. For Monkeys' stalwarts, Jayden Daniels and Saquon Barkley both got hurt on Sunday - GM Evan is reportedly sending flowers. 
3. Four of the five games were decided by 24 or fewer. The fifth was decided by 74.

This Week’s Pot 

Week 2’s bonus is Best FLEX — the highest-scoring player in a flex slot — and Blitz takes it on Jonathan Taylor’s 27.2. Nobody else cleared 15 out of that slot; Kyren Williams’ 14.7 for Battle Angel was the closest.

The standings count two results a week: the game itself, and a second win or loss for finishing in the top or bottom half of the league in scoring. Gang Green and the Monkeys lead at 3-1, both by going 1-1 on Sunday. Greg lost his game and finished third in scoring. Evan won his and finished sixth. Seven teams are 2-2: the Masterminds, Blitz, Custom J, the Phreaks, the Bunch, Buffy and the Boyz, in that order by points. The Angels are 0-4.

Next week

Gang Green hosts the Monkeys, the only two teams above even. That series is 3-3 over the last five years.

The Bunch travel to Blitz in the Bay Area division, a series that runs 6-5 over five years. The Masterminds host the Boyz, which puts the week’s biggest score against a team that has scored 71 and 117 in consecutive weeks. The Phreaks are at Custom J, two 2-2 teams that scored 93 and 87 on Sunday. Buffy visits the Angels, the two franchises with the worst five-year records in this league. My picks come in the preview.