Week 2 NFC North Starts and Sits: Allen Robinson is a potential target hog this week

Week 1 was filled with a few ups and downs throughout the division, but the Packers receiving corp was a bright spot against the Vikings.

Last week, I suggested starting Aaron Rodgers against the Vikings because of the lack of talent playing on the defensive side of the ball for Minnesota. This might be my best call in a while, but we should have seen it coming. The Packers did what their personnel moves were telling us and being big and multiple with heavy personnel that they could either pass out of or run. More of the same should come against a porous Lions defense.

Let’s check some more starts and sits for Week 2 throughout the division.

Starts

Allen Robinson

This is a case of the squeaky wheel getting the grease in Chicago. The early week drama surrounding the Bears wideout should lead at least to an increase in targets and therefore opportunity going into the week against the Giants. Weirdly, Robinson still finished with five catches for 74 yards, so the floor could be even higher than that. New York played tough against the Steelers last week, but they eventually gave in to allow plenty of points to be scored by JuJu Smith-Schuster and Diontae Johnson. Anthony Miller and Robinson could be good options this week.

Kirk Cousins

After Gardner Minshew min-chewed up the Colts secondary to the tune of three touchdowns and 19/20 completions, Kirk Cousins should be licking his chops this week. Despite the lopsidedness of the game against the Packers, Cousins still finished as a top-10 QB last week. The only issue is if Adam Thielen can’t get going. Bisi Johnson out-snapped the rookie Justin Jefferson in Week 1 and breakout candidate Irv Smith Jr. was a non-factor. Cousins will need more out of his pass catching weapons.

The Packers WRs

I may be overreacting, but maybe not. Davante Adams shouldn’t leave your lineup if he’s healthy, Allen Lazard is a great flex option, and Marquez Valdes-Scantling can be a good dart throw in deeper leagues. By Defense-adjusted Yards Above Replacement (DYAR) – which is a players’ total value—Adams, Lazard, and MVS finished ninth, eighth, and eleventh, respectively, according to Football Outsiders. If we’re looking at value per play (DVOA), Lazard and MVS finished fourth and seventh (!). Again, this was Week 1 so there’s not a whole lot of data to go off of, but against the Lions defense (which lost Justin Coleman this week, but gained Desmond Trufant) I don’t see them slipping too much. Especially when this same Lions defense let Mitchell Trubisky torch them for three TDs in one quarter.

Sits

David Montgomery

Montgomery had a decent day against the Lions (4.9 YPC), but it was a bit of struggle for him to churn out those yards. His long carry was a 10-yard pick up and he was a non-factor in the passing game, which dings his PPR value. Going up against the Giants, who did well to contain a Steelers grinder RB in James Conner before the game got out of hand and Conner got injured, it may be more of the same this week for Montgomery. I’d recommend trying to find a different flex option this week.

Packers Tight Ends

Despite the return of Jace Sternberger and Robert Tonyan’s apparent emergence as TE1 for the green-and-gold, the tight end group ended the game with a combined one catch on three targets. And only one target went to the aforementioned TE pair. As a noted Josiah Deguara truther, it was great to see Deguara on the field, receiving both of those targets, and knocking out two players with a single block all while receiving the third most snaps among Packers TEs. Tonyan led the group in snaps, but that didn’t equal production. As hard as it is to find legitimate week-to-week starters at the TE position, I’d wait until one of these guys really shows up on the fantasy stat sheet before plugging them in.