Leading up to the first week of the NFL season, fantasy football owners are overwhelmed with excitement. Not only is football back, but also they now have the opportunity to flaunt their knowledge of both players and the game. Weeks, possibly months, of draft preparation have brought them the hope of winning a championship and being the smartest person in the room on gameday Sunday.
Unfortunately, reality often sets in, and when things don’t go right, the tendency to overreact is at an all-time high. It is your job, as a savvy player, to avoid the pitfalls that cause the weak-minded to hit the panic button.
Entering Week 2, you are confronted with a number of lineup decisions that involve your Week 1 busts. Going back to players like Davante Adams and Odell Beckham Jr. is an easy decision. Regardless of how well John Ross or Marquise “Hollywood” Brown performed last week, your studs are your studs, and they should be staples in your starting lineup week in and week out.
But what about those mid-tier players who failed to live up to expectations? Should you go back to the well in Week 2, or do you start one of those unexpected Week 1 heroes? Owners of Bears running back David Montgomery are standing at the crossroads this very minute, and you are about to learn who understands about trusting the process versus chasing yesterday’s points.
You learned a lot by watching the Bears’ opener and listening to the postgame press conference. Boxscore surfers will cite Montgomery’s lack of usage and production as their reasons for sitting him in Week 2, but they would be wrong. Dead wrong.
Yes, he had just six carries and one target, as veterans Mike Davis and Tarik Cohen out-touched and out-snapped him, but Montgomery looked like the stronger runner on the field, and coach Matt Nagy even pointed out the rookie should have seen more touches — had Mitchell Trubisky not decided to hold the ball himself on a few RPO calls in the second half. As for Cohen, he was actually a non-factor in the ground game and was lined up predominately as a wide receiver.
As the Bears prepare for Denver in Week 2, Nagy is well aware of what he needs to do with his prized running back. He just watched Raiders rookie Josh Jacobs rush for 85 yards and two touchdowns against the Broncos, and Nagy knows that a strong ground game is the path to take rather than letting Mitch Trubisky throw 45 times against a Vic Fangio secondary. Now it is up to you to do the same.
There is a reason Montgomery climbed up draft boards as he did this summer. His talent is immense, and he has the perfect style for this offensive scheme. Nagy admitted his mistake after a Week 1 loss and vowed to rectify it in Week 2. Now it’s up to you to do the same. Whether it is as a running back or a flex, Montgomery should be in your starting lineup this week.
Howard Bender is VP of operations and head of content at FantasyAlarm.com. Follow him on Twitters @rotobuzzguy and catch him on the award-winning “Fantasy Alarm Radio Show” on the SiriusXM fantasy sports channel weekdays at 4 p.m. Go to FantasyAlarm.com for all your fantasy football advice and NFL player rankings.
