The first two weeks of the 2025 NFL season are in the rearview mirror, providing us with enough NFL stats to better evaluate matchups and players from a fantasy football perspective. With Sunday’s NFL Week 2 action wrapped up, we can highlight some winners and losers in fantasy.
Let’s dive into our fantasy football winners and losers from Week 2. We’ll be focusing on their rest-of-season outlook and what their performance means for the next few weeks.
Winner: Jaguars RB Bhayshul Tuten’s Long-Term Value
Fantasy Football Week 2
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It was only a matter of time for Jacksonville Jaguars rookie running back Bhayshul Tuten. A fourth-round pick (104th overall), Tuten stood out in Jaguars’ training camp and people around the team knew his opportunity would come quickly. The Tank Bigsby trade opened the door to that shot and Tuten thrived in Week 2, receiving his first significant workload.
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Facing the Cincinnati Bengals, Tuten averaged 5.3 yards per carry (42 rushing yards) on eight carries and tacked on two receptions for 32 receiving yards, scoring his first NFL touchdown. What’s particularly notable is that Tuten’s longest run on Sunday went for 9 yards. So, he was consistently generating positive yards on each touch rather than just getting one big run.
Tuten isn’t quite on the RB2 radar yet, since he received just 18 offensive snaps (25.4 percent) and Travis Etienne played well (5.1 ypc, 89 scrimmage yards and 1 TD) on 47 snaps. However, Tuten has already made this a committee backfield and should eventually overtake Etienne in what’s proven to be a very effective ground game from Liam Coen.
Loser: Stockholders in Cincinnati Bengals’ Offense
Fantasy Football Week 2
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Unfortunately, per ESPN‘s Adam Schefter, Joe Burrow will undergo toe surgery that will sideline him for at least three months. It’s a devastating blow for the Cincinnati Bengals and while quarterback Jake Browning has put up quality numbers when filling in, anyone with stock in this Bengals’ offense is also taking quite the hit.
We realize that Ja’Marr Chase still put up 165 receiving yards with 14 receptions on 16 targets in Week 2. However, let’s also note that Chase averaged only 4.8 receptions and 63.8 receiving yards per game with 1 touchdown when Browning started from Weeks 12-18 in 2023. In that same stretch, Tee Higgins averaged just 3 receptions and 65.6 receiving yards per game. The impact also includes running back Chase Brown, who is averaging just 2.4 yards per carry this season, as it’ll be even easier to stop the Bengals’ ground game.
Winner: Tucker Kraft Emerges as Elite Fantasy Tight End
Fantasy Football Week 2
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Fortunately for fantasy football managers, the landscape at tight end is so much richer than it was a few seasons ago. Rookie tight end Tyler Warren is another breakout player through two weeks, but he’s not the only one who has proven to be a top-shelf tight end in fantasy moving forward.
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Tucker Kraft is the best pass-catcher on the Green Bay Packers‘ offense. He leads the team in targets (11) and touchdowns (two) this season while also leading tight ends in yards after the catch. Kraft, at 6-foot-5, is one of the most athletic tight ends in the NFL and he demonstrated that in 2024 with the fifth-most YAC (456) and the second-highest yards per route run (2.64). He’s a top-five option every week.
Loser: TreVeyon Henderson’s Short-Term Fantasy Outlook
Fantasy Football Week 2
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Coming into the season, we believed there was a viable path for New England Patriots rookie running back TreVeyon Henderson to quickly emerge as a low-end RB1 for fantasy football managers. After Week 2, it’s evident that it’s going to be a long wait before the Patriots’ coaching staff lets this second-round pick loose.
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On Sunday, Henderson finished with just three carries for 10 yards. That put him behind Rhamondre Stevenson (11 carries), quarterback Drake Maye (10 carries), and Antonio Gibson (6 carries). Henderson also had a yards-per-carry average of 3.3, which was lower than both Stevenson (4.9 YPC) and Gibson (5.0 YPC). While he did pull in two receptions, turning them into 30 receiving yards, quarterback Drake Maye’s passing volume was significantly reduced from his Week 1 outing. We still love Henderson long-term and believe he can be a high-end fantasy starter come playoff time, but managers need to bench him for a bit.
Winner: Shareholders Who Kept Their Detroit Lions Stock
Fantasy Football Week 2
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One of the biggest overreactions in Week 1 was the freakout over the Detroit Lions offense scoring just one garbage-time touchdown and averaging only 3.8 yards per play in the regular-season opener. As Michael Jordan would say, Detroit took that personally. The Lions’ offense roared back in Week 2, with Jahmyr Gibbs (104 scrimmage yards) and David Montgomery (61 scrimmage yards) both finding the end zone. Jared Goff threw 5 touchdowns while Amon-Ra St. Brown and Jameson Williams had 100-yard games and a score apiece.
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We’re not suggesting this caliber of offensive onslaught is going to be a weekly occurrence. However, the top Lions’ skill players should continue to deliver great fantasy production and Goff remains an underrated fantasy starter. The icing on the cake, Isaac TeSlaa looks like a long-term stash in case an injury strikes.
Loser: Zach Charbonnet Truthers
Fantasy Football Week 2
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It’s easy to see why many hoped early this season that Seattle Seahawks running back Zach Charbonnet would become a fantasy football darling. Play-caller Klint Kubiak wants this to be a run-heavy team, taking some of this offense on Sam Darnold’s shoulders. Coming out of Week 2, Seattle has the eighth-highest rate of run plays (48.25 percent) in the NFL. Unfortunately, Charbonnet isn’t doing much with his chances.
He’s received 27 carries this season, with the longest going for 7 yards. While Kenneth Walker was ineffective in Week 1 (20 yards on 10 carries), he averaged 8.1 yards a pop with 105 rushing yards on Sunday versus Pittsburgh. Unsurprisingly, Charbonnet doesn’t have a target this season on 56 pass attempts from Darnold. Charbonnet is a great option if Walker goes down, but he’s given this coaching staff no reason to let him be the featured ball-carrier in this offense.
Winner: Daniel Jones, Tyler Warren and Jonathan Taylor
Fantasy Football Week 2
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The impressive performance by this Indianapolis Colts offense in Week 1 was rightfully met with skepticism. Surely against a top-five defense, Daniel Jones would look like the below-average quarterback he’s been throughout his career. On Sunday, however, he threw for 316 yards and added both a passing and rushing touchdown. Meanwhile, Jonathan Taylor put up a monstrous 215 scrimmage yards and a score. The team’s tight end, Tyler Warren, also had another strong outing with 79 receiving yards on four catches.
This isn’t to say that the Colts will suddenly have one of the best NFL offenses in 2025 and you can ride this trio to a fantasy football championship. However, Jones’ legitimate dual-threat ability and this offensive line give Taylor a path to being a top-five fantasy running back. Similarly, having an accurate passer who can also pose a running threat makes it much tougher for linebackers and safeties to cover Warren. Taylor and Jones are top-10 options at their position, and Jones is a quality streamer.
Loser: Hopes for RJ Harvey Having Fantasy Value
Fantasy Football Week 2
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The RJ Harvey hype train gathered so much steam this quickly that a derailment felt inevitable. It only took two games. Heading into Week 1, Denver Broncos reporters made it pretty clear that J.K. Dobbins would be the leader in this backfield. He outcarried (16 to 6) Harvey by a significant margin, but the rookie’s 50-yard run in the fourth quarter of the regular-season opener left some hoping that would change in Week 2.
On Sunday, Harvey played 19 offensive snaps (32.8 percent) and turned five carries into 8 rushing yards with one reception for 16 yards. Dobbins played 44.8 percent of the offensive snaps, recording 76 rushing yards and a touchdown (5.4 ypc) on 14 carries. Even if Tyler Badie (3 touches) is taken out of the equation, Harvey still isn’t fantasy relevant unless Dobbins goes down.
Winner: Jacory Croskey-Merritt
Fantasy Football Week 2
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The Washington Commanders‘ ground game will be led by Jacory Croskey-Merritt moving forward. While he did very little on Thursday Night Football (17 rushing yards), that had everything to do with the game script. Unfortunately for Washington, it lost Austin Ekeler to an Achilles injury. It clears a path for Corksey-Merritt to be the clear leader in the clubhouse of running backs now. There’s little reason to view Jeremy McNichols as a viable threat for touches and Chris Rodriguez remains out. Consider “Bill” a low-end RB2 moving forward.
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Matt Johnson is Senior Editor of NFL and College Football for Sportsnaut. His work, including weekly NFL and college ... More about Matt Johnson