2022 Dynasty/Fantasy Preseason Week 2 Game Report: Chiefs 24, Commanders 14
The Chiefs ran their 1st-team, in a preseason game, full Mahomes, for two series (and two TDs)…for reasons I’ll never understand, Mahomes was out there.
The Commanders ran their 1st-team for two series as well…for no points.
KC’s and Washington’s 2022 were foreshadowed here.
A lot of drama at RB outside of the KC 1st-team manhandling. Let’s get into it.
Dynasty/Fantasy Player Notes…
-- Let’s begin with the Washington backfield situation…
Brian Robinson (8-31-0) started…sending a clear signal from the past week, past months that Washington is going with Robinson as their lead, whether he ‘ceremonially’ starts the game or not Week 1. Antonio Gibson (2-3-0, 3-27-0/4) has repeatedly shot himself in the foot the past calendar year and Washington is moving on…and not even trying to hide it anymore.
Robinson, for his part, is working really well in the preseason. He fights for interior yards and is very reliable in the pass game. He’s a grinder…like the NFL head coaches like. There’s so much focus on what Gibson is doing wrong…part of that hides that BRob is doing things well to cash in on the opportunity…AG just didn’t fumble it over, BRob is also taking it away.
Gibson will be used to some degree in a duo with Robinson, and it could become an annoying (for FF) RBBC…a hot hand one…with J.D. McKissic (DNP) in there too. Gibson is becoming like a 3rd-down back almost now…more in the pass game (the former college WR…the former failed college WR) and more in the return game, but AG will get touches and if he gets hot they’ll keep him in…fumble and he’s out.
Gibson’s career is slow dying right before our very eyes.
-- Then there’s the rookie buzz on the other side of the field…the one with more buzz who is NOT going to start Week 1, much less play much Week 1, but has double the heat -- Isaih Pacheco (4-8-0, 2-16-0/2).
Clyde Edwards-Helaire (2-4-0) started, as usual, but then was in a 50/50 type mix with Jerick McKinnon (1-14-0/1) for most of the 1st-team’s run. You remember McKinnon? The guy who the Chiefs went with over CEH in the playoffs last year? He was splitting with CEH on 1st-team work, and I don’t think it was to keep CEH ‘fresh’/protected.
Washington and Kansas City have been screaming from the rooftops, with their actions/RB flow in the preseason, that they are not confident in their current starter…it’s not just Washington drafting Brian Robinson. KC tried their version of replacement by signing Ronald Jones (1-3-0/1) and Jerick McKinnon. They fell ass backwards into Pacheco.
Two years ago, you woulda killed for CEH and you were bitching and moaning that you didn’t take a chance on Gibson. You pined for those two RBs. If only you had them, your interminable backfield woes would be over. Now, look…you laugh at those two RBs. Just remember that while you’re planning to take 17 rookie RBs in your drafts this week or next.
Week 1, for KC, looks like a CEH-JMK split with Pacheco lightly sprinkled into the game on the down low. It will probably take weeks for Pacheco to get into this rotation at all, unless one of the leads gets hurt.
We still aren’t getting much Pacheco preseason work to sink our teeth into…which is helping keep his heat at ‘nuclear’ instead of ‘surface of the sun’ for Fantasy Football. I thought he looked fine here…quicker, more sure of himself…he’s very sleek for the brick wall of muscle that he is.
I have more I want to get into, deeper concerning Pacheco and this KC backfield – and his blistering hot ADP/attention he’s getting as the heavy redraft season is about to begin…as well as a discussion of the Dynasty Rookie Draft RB market as a whole. It’s some FF strategy and valuation talk for subscribers in the ‘Subscriber Extra Notes’ from this game.
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900+ words of extra notes.
-- The KC WR report…
Marquez Valdes-Scantling (2-14-0/5) was the main look for Mahomes once again…but JuJu was not playing, for those into JuJu over MVS. If you have the FFM draft guide, you know how I feel about the JuJu v. MVS v. Skyy v. Mecole debate…there’s a clear choice to gamble on.
Jody Fortson (4-19-2/5) is back from injury and racking TDs! Mahomes was working Fortson with vigor, especially in the red zone. If that idea carries over into the regular season…it doesn’t bode FF-well for JuJu TD upside, among others. Fortson caught a TD in two of his last 4 games played in 2021 season…on very limited snaps and targets per game (5 targets last season, 2 TDs). In his last four game appearances with at least one target Mahomes (4 reg. season + this one preseason game), Fortson has 4 TDs in 4 games/9 targets.
Justin Watson (2-53-0/3) got some work with the 1st-team…he’s gonna make this team and be a rotating #4-5 WR ready when/if any starters flop.
-- Watching Carson Wentz (6-9 for 69 yards, 0 TD/0 INT) play so passive this preseason is repulsive. He’s had his confidence gutted...and soon his career as an NFL starter will be over, maybe by Weeks 3-4 of the season.
I’ve never been a Wentz guy, but he’s gotten a raw deal lately -- when they turn on you, they turn on you and when a QB’s confidence is rattled it’s over. Which makes me think Deshaun Watson may be headed down this path very soon.
Ron Rivera would LOVE for Taylor Heinicke to take over for Wentz, and I think that will happen in-season. Sam Howell (10-18 for 122 yards, 0 TDs/1 INT) will not.
-- The Wentz, and then Heinicke, issue bleeds over into another wobbly seasonal output projection for Terry McLaurin (2-27-0/2). I can’t pay his price working in this offense.
-- Rookie Jahan Dotson (2-23-0/2) looks the part of the bubble screen/short game WR. He’ll be fine…a good, easy pass for Wentz-Heinicke. Not sure he can be more than a WR3-4 here with Curtis Samuel working as well.
-- UDFA rookie TE Armani Rodgers (1-15-0/1) is really working hard and ‘getting it’ (all phases of the TE game) on tape in his remarkable QB-to-TE conversion this year. He’s earning all this Washington playing time while Logan Thomas is out. Cole Turner picked a bad time to miss time.
-- Two IDP notes…
Nick Bolton (3 tackles, 1 PD) has been named the play caller on defense. Looks like no more rotations out on passing downs? If so, he could easily lead the NFL in tackles this season.
Rookie DE George Karlaftis (2 tackles, 1 sack) has a sack each preseason game this preseason. He had 4.5 sacks last season for Purdue. He’s showing that my/other’s concerns about his Combine workout/body are overblown.
