By: Greg Landry | LineStar Chat: @glandry | Twitter: @GP_Landry

Welcome to NFL Takeaways! An important, and often overlooked, foundation of any DFS process is taking a look back at the previous slate and honestly assessing how we did. What did we get right? What did we get wrong? How can I learn from this and improve next week? This will be a weekly newsletter series with that focus in mind.

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The scariest part of the Chiefs receivers? Not only did Demarcus Robinson have a career day but Mecole Hardman also had a strong day and that doesn't include a 72 yard touchdown that was called back on a penalty! Patrick Mahomes was shut out in the first quarter for the first time in his young career and then responded with four touchdown passes in the second quarter and went into halftime for the second week in a row with 313 yards passing. At halftime. Every single week you want exposure to every piece of this offense if you're multi-entering. It's going to be difficult to pin down exactly which member is going to pop off (Sammy Watkins chalk day flopped despite leading the team in targets) but outside of Travis Kelce at least one, possibly two other weapons on this team has a good chance to break the slate just like Watkins did last week, Robinson did this week, and Hardman nearly did this week as well. Here are the top fantasy performances of the week at the skill positions:

Once again, wide receiver is in complete disarray. Outside of maybe the Rams players, we really didn't expect anyone else to be on this list. Golladay has the talent but had a tougher match up and John Ross really felt like you were chasing points (you almost were until he saved his day in garbage time down by three touchdowns). What's really standing out to me is how many teammates are among the top ten wide receiver scorers yesterday. The 49ers had Goodwin and Samuel, the Bengals had Boyd and Ross lll, the Rams had Cooks and Kupp. The Chiefs would have had Robinson and Hardman had that touchdown not been called back. You don't need to force the top receiver on a team into your lineups. There is so much opportunity to go around, especially with offenses being so pass heavy these days.

What Did We Learn?

Here we'll focus on a few players at each position who stood out (both good and bad) and identify if there's any actionable information we can use when building our rosters going forward.

Quarterbacks

Dak Prescott, DAL: 26/30, 269 yards, 3 TDs, 1 INT

He won't catch Mahomes who threw for 289 yards and four touchdowns in ONE QUARTER, but Prescott has top three QB upside written all over him this season after another strong performance yesterday. Through two starts, he's 51/62 for 674 yards and seven touchdowns with just one interception. That's an absurd 82.3% completion rate. He also showed off the wheels yesterday with five carries for 62 yards which only adds to his already incredibly high floor. Dallas has now put up 35 and 31 points in their first two games and the Kellen Moore OC era is off to one hell of a start. If the Cowboys can lock up Dak to a long term extension (talks apparently stalled this week) then the future will be very bright in Jerry World for the foreseeable future.

What Did We Learn? The only red flag here is while Prescott has the incredible 82.3% completion rate, he also has a 69.1% expected completion rate, which is the largest gap between actual and expected completion rate of any QB so far this season. Even a near 70% expected completion rate is still excellent but don't be surprised if he experiences at least some regression.  Regardless, barring an absolute meltdown, Dak will be in play in all formats most weeks going forward provided the price makes sense. Up next, the Dolphins who have been outscored 102-10 through the first two weeks of the season.

Kurt Cousins, MIN: 14/32, 230 yards, 1 TD, 2 INT

From a fantasy perspective, this was a better performance than week one where Cousins only threw 10 pass attempts. From a real life perspective, this was ugly. After this game, it seems pretty obvious now, despite having both Stefon Diggs and Adam Thielen as receivers, why the Vikings want to go run heavy this season. Dalvin Cook looks unstoppable through the first two weeks with another dominant performance (20/154/1) yesterday. Cousins, meanwhile, finished with an abysmal 43.8% completion rate, fumbled the ball twice, and was lucky to get away with a few poor decisions. What I can't figure out is if the Vikings knew they were going to need to hide Cousins, why did they give him a fully guaranteed contract?

What Did We Learn? Cousins will be unreliable and extremely game flow dependent as the Vikings will try to do whatever they can to play good defense, run the ball, and limit pass attempts as we saw in week one. As a result, it will also be difficult to rely on Diggs and Thielen from week to week. Their floor is significantly lower than it has been in past years. Diggs had just one reception on seven targets in yesterday's game. Keep an eye on their price, as they are both talented enough to pop off on any slate, but they will be GPP options only until proven otherwise.

Kyler Murray, ARZ: 25/40, 349 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT

It will likely depend on who you ask to determine if this should be viewed as a negative performance or a positive performance. On the one hand, Murray and the Cardinals offense moved the ball very well between the 20s in a difficult road match up against a talented defense. On the other hand, they struggled in the red zone (1/4 - 25%) and on 3rd down (2/11 - 18%). It didn't help that they got nothing done on the ground, though it remains to be seen how much David Johnson's wrist injury impacted him (he briefly left the game). Personally, despite the lack of touchdowns, I was encouraged by this performance. A rookie quarterback putting up 349 yards through the air in his first game on the road against the Ravens defense is impressive. If it hadn't been for another slow start to the game (similar to last week) he likely would have put up even more yards. Either way, Arizona definitely looks like they are taking steps forward on film, even if it's not quite translating to the box score just yet.

What Did We Learn? Murray appears to be the real deal and while this Cardinals offense still has a long way to go, they are doing a lot of good things in the early going. Surprisingly, he hasn't done much with his legs yet (week one: 3 rush 13 yards; week two: 3 rush, 4 yards) but we know he's capable of adding to his rushing totals when needed. The Cardinals schedule starts to get easier in the coming weeks. This is an offense that will be worth keeping an eye on.

Running Backs

Ezekiel Elliot, DAL: 23 carries, 111 yards, 1 TD | 2 receptions, 9 yards, 0 TD

Zeke is back. Nothing to see here. Apparently one game was sufficient enough to ease him back in. He saw a full workload yesterday with 23 carries and two receptions (on two targets) for a total of 25 touches. Tony Pollard had four carries and just one reception and only came in to give Zeke a quick breather as opposed to being part of a timeshare.

What Did We Learn? Treat Zeke as you normally would going forward. As we discussed already, this is the best the Dallas offense has looked in several seasons, which only adds to Elliot's upside. 25 touches per game for a running back of his talent in an offense that has put up 66 points in the first two weeks is going to spell trouble for the Cowboys' opponents. He's on the table in all formats regardless of match up - it will really just depend on pricing for me.

Devin Singletary, BUF: 6 carries, 57 yards, 1 TD

Once again, he was super efficient with his touches, averaging 9.5 yards per carry but he was lucky to salvage his fantasy day with a touchdown for anyone who used him yesterday. The six carries were his only touches. He wasn't targeted in the passing game at all. Normally, I would say this is likely because the Bills played from ahead basically the whole game but even Frank Gore was targeted twice in the passing game. Gore also saw 19 carries for a total of 21 touches, putting him well ahead of Singletary on the depth chart. The question is, do the Bills just not view Singletary as being ready for a full workload yet or was this simply a situation where they felt better about the more experienced Gore protecting their lead since the game was well in hand for most of the day?

What Did We Learn? Singletary has shown his explosiveness on limited touches through the first two weeks. He has the upside and the talent to surprise on any slate. But until his touches increase, he's not worth paying attention to for now. In season long, he's a solid bench stash, but in DFS he's not worth an investment. The touchdowns he has had are fluky given the amount of touches so far. He's nothing more than a large field dart throw at this point and even then it's a stretch considering he had just six touches in yesterday's game.

Josh Jacobs, OAK: 12 carries, 99 yards, 0 TD

Coming off an impressive performance on Monday night against a tough Broncos defense, Jacobs was a popular cash game lock this week benefiting from the ever popular "Monday night pricing discrepancy" where salaries on the next week's main slate are released prior to the Monday night game being played. He looked explosive yet again in week two with 8.3 yards per carry including a very impressive 51 yard run. The problem? He wasn't targeted in the pass game and only received 12 carries before becoming a ghost once this game got out of hand. Meanwhile, fellow running backs Dwayne Washington and Jalen Richard saw three and two targets, respectively.

What Did We Learn? We have to be concerned about game flow moving forward, which is likely to be a problem playing on the Oakland Raiders who are destined to play from behind more often than not. A week after an impressive performance against Denver, Derek Carr came back down to earth in what theoretically should have been an easier match up going just 23/38 with 198 yards, 1 TD, and 2 INT. Unless we are confident the Raiders can stay competitive in a game, it will be difficult to trust Jacobs. We were hoping, with limited options on offense, Coach Gruden would feed his new star player as often as possible as a three down back, independent of game flow. That was clearly not the case.

Wide Receivers

DeMarcus Robinson, KC: 6 receptions, 172 yards, 2 TD

Another week. Another Chiefs receiver goes ham and blows the slate up. Despite having less than half the targets of Sammy Watkins (6/49 on 13 targets) Robinson was the receiver to own on Sunday. He had 24.4 average targeted air yards on the day and just ran wild behind the Raiders secondary. His average yards of separation (1.1) paled in comparison to his teammates (Hardman - 5.7, Watkins 4.1) but Mahomes was so good at hitting him in stride that it just didn't matter. If you owned him, well done. People will say it was pure luck but in hindsight it was sharp. Everything Mahomes touches turns to gold so it made sense to give yourself exposure to every possible pass catcher on this team in MME formats hoping one of them would step in for Tyreek Hill.

What Did We Learn? The Kansas City offense is absurd but we already knew that. Travis Kelce will be involved every single week but chances are good at least one, possibly even two, of the receivers will have an opportunity to pop-off as well. With an average intended air yards of 12 and a longest completed air distance of 50.6 (NextGen Stats) it only takes one big play for one of these guys to return value and then some. The biggest takeaway for me here is that in cash your best bet is to just play Mahomes rather than try and guess which of his receivers will be the one who gets involved. Mahomes gives you the proper exposure to everyone and you could pair him with Kelce if you can make the salary work. But given that it will be challenging week to week to figure out which receiver is going to go off, you're likely better off saving the receivers for MME tournaments only.

Antonio Brown, NE: 4 receptions, 58 yards, 1 TD

Brown made his controversial Patriots debut yesterday (which is filled with even more controversy today) and honestly looked more comfortable than I expected. Considering he had only joined the team this week and Coach Belichick had said he had a "long way to go" learning the offense, I really wasn't sure what to expect. So, it was either coach speak or the Patriots decided to hammer Brown anyway to help him get ready knowing that they would be able to win this game. Brown had three receptions on three targets on the very first drive and looked like he'd been playing with Brady his whole life. He ended the day with a team-high eight targets and caught a nice back shoulder touchdown pass in the corner of the end zone.

What Did We Learn? Brown looked like his old self on the field after only one week of practice with New England. Assuming he escapes all his off the field issues (which is definitely not guaranteed and is now getting worse with each passing day) he'll have top five WR upside every given week. Edelman (four targets) and Gordon (five targets) took noticeable hits in their production and will be tough to trust moving forward. We'll want to watch how the Patriots spread the ball around for a couple of weeks before making any definitive conclusions but it looks like, for now, Brown will be the guy to trust and then it will be spread out behind him and difficult to pin down exactly which receiver could break out. Also, Brady looked sharp finishing with a 124.7 passer rating, throwing for two touchdowns and running one in as well. He's near the top of the QB1 list going forward with this group of pass catchers around him.

Emmanuel Sanders, DEN: 11 receptions, 98 yards, 1 TD

He also caught a two point conversion on a gutsy call by head coach Vic Fangio that paid off (unlike Doug Marrone). This one was a heart breaker if you missed it and the Broncos got screwed. But we aren't here to talk about the outcomes of games, we are here to figure out what we can take away for fantasy purposes. The takeaway here? Sanders is healthy. I needed to see this miraculous recovery from his achilles injury for myself, as I wasn't buying that someone could come back that strong and that quickly from such a tough injury. But Sanders looks every bit like how he was pre-injury after the first two weeks. Even in a very difficult match up against an outstanding Bears defense he managed to put together yesterday's stat line following up a solid week one performance where he had five receptions (seven targets) for 86 yards and a touchdown.

What Did We Learn? I've been very hesitant to trust any receivers catching passes from Joe Flacco but through two games Sanders looks like a guy we can consider most weeks. He has 20 targets and two touchdowns through two weeks of the season. Volume and red zone opportunity equal big pay days in DFS. He's also been dirt cheap through the first two weeks so we'll see how his price adjusts after another solid performance. Bottom line, he's healthy and he's heavily involved in this offense. Flacco will likely have some train wrecks which will impact him from time to time, but overall, the talent and opportunity are here. So if the price and match up make sense, you can pull the trigger with confidence.

Tight Ends

OJ Howard, TB: 0 targets, 0 receptions, 0 TD

Perhaps the industry should have put more stock into the whole "Arians has never got production from his tight ends in the past" theory than we did. I was of the belief the only reason for this was because Arians had never really had any talented tight ends to work with previously and he would find a way to get Howard involved. But, here we are, through two weeks and one of the industry's favorite breakout candidates this season is being primarily used as a blocker and saw zero targets on Thursday night football. In his post game press conference Arians mentioned Howard specifically saying "He can play a heck of a lot better than he's playing." Perhaps calling him out will light the fire here.

What Did We Learn? My finger is on the giant red panic button but I have not pushed it yet. It's still only two weeks and I also rarely put a lot of stock into Thursday night football performances because it's awful. The teams have so little time to prepare, they are still recovering from the week before, and it ruins the quality of the game. Christian McCaffrey was awful on Thursday night as well so that helps put things into perspective. Howard gets a match up this week against the Giants who are typically among the worst teams in football at defending the tight end. If he does nothing in that match up I will officially push the button. He's a total fade for me until further notice.

T.J Hockenson, DET: 1 reception, 7 yards

I'm pretty comfortable at this point saying Hockenson's massive game last week was likely more the result of the match up than anything else. The Cardinals are weak against the tight end (more on this in a moment) and they pushed the pace, forcing Detroit to throw the ball 45 times, something they don't want to do weekly. This game fit more of the profile for the style of football the Lions would like to play. Slow the pace down, play good defense, control the clock, and run the ball. Stafford threw only 30 passes and with so many mouths to feed in Detroit it's going to be tough for Hockenson to get his opportunities on a week to week basis. Fellow week one surprise Danny Amendola only saw one target in this game after seeing 13 last week.

What Did We Learn? Hockenson is immensely talented (I mean he'd have to be to get drafted eighth overall right?) but he'll be tough to trust moving forward. His ceiling is sky high as displayed by his week one performance but his floor is essentially non-existent as displayed by his week two performance. He's nothing more than a hope and pray GPP dart throw if you're looking to punt the tight end position.

Mark Andrews, BAL: 8 receptions, 112 yards, 1 TD

That's two weeks in a row Andrews has seen eight or more targets and found the end zone. He's quickly starting to look like a favorite target of Lamar Jackson and potentially playing that "safety blanket" role that we love to see for tight ends as it can lead to additional targets. Now, I agree this is encouraging usage and the results are fantastic (16 receptions, 220 yards, and 2 TDs through two games) but let's pump the breaks just a little. I think we need to be aware that the Ravens passing attack has had cake walk match ups so far between the Dolphins and the Cardinals who have both been shredded by opposing passing offenses through the first two weeks.

What Did We Learn? I like Andrews and he gets another plus match up this week against Kansas City, so I'll definitely be looking to get him on my rosters. But he may be someone I look to jump off of when the Ravens finally run into a formidable pass defense. Again, that won't be this week against Kansas City, but it's something to keep an eye on. It's also worth noting the Cardinals have now allowed 15 receptions for 244 yards and 3 touchdowns to opposing tight ends (Hayden Hurst also caught a touchdown yesterday on his lone target). Up next is Greg Olsen who had an excellent Thursday night (6/110) but just keep an eye on his health which is always a question mark at this stage of his career.

Millionaire Maker In Review

In this section we'll take a look at the winning "milly maker" lineup with a focus on players selected, ownership, and roster construction. I'll switch back and forth between DraftKings and FanDuel.

Congratulations to DraftKings user Mushtaqlatifi for taking down the big one yesterday. It only took 231.12 points this week to win a million bucks as opposed to over 280 points the week prior. That's not a knock on this roster (clearly, it won a freaking million dollars) but just speaks to how much more difficult it was to come across fantasy production in week two versus week one. Here's the winning lineup:

A three man Kansas City Chiefs stack. Sounds simple right? Let's stack the team with the best quarterback in the league who we all expect to put up the most points and win all the money. Done. Easy game. Right? Did you know Demarcus Robinson was going to put up six receptions for 172 yards and two touchdowns? Cause I didn't. Nor did anyone else apparently because he was 0.6% owned. Like I said earlier, in hindsight, it was a sharp play. We were all assuming Hardman was going to take Hill's snaps but there was never any clear indication of this. There were rumors D'Anthony Thomas could get involved as well. There wasn't much talk about Robinson but we should never count out any weapon in an Andy Reid offense that has Mahomes as its QB. Robinson may never have a game like this ever again but all it took was one to bring home all the money.

Outside of the stack, I loved the Zeke play. With question marks about his workload it made sense in tournaments to take some shots on him and hope he either got his full workload or broke loose for a big play. It turns out he got his full workload and found the end zone. We'll never get Zeke at under 10% ownership again.

A chalk defense in the milly maker? Typically, not a smart play. But then again, we haven't seen a team as bad as Miami in a long time. Eventually, the defenses against Miami will get too expensive to make it work but until then we may have to keep eating the chalk here. Dallas has Miami this week and while they are the most expensive defense on DraftKings (the Patriots were not the most expensive in week two) there is only a $500 difference, which we can likely find the money for.

As far as the rest. We already talked about Emmanuel Sanders. He was way too cheap for the role he has in this offense. The rest of the industry was scared off of him because of the match up against the Bears but talented receivers have at least a chance to succeed in any match up if they get enough opportunities. Preston Williams is the one who really had me scratching my head. But this lineup used up the entire $50K salary. If I had to guess, Williams was the last person on this roster and he was cheap enough to make all the core pieces still fit (Chiefs stack, Zeke, Pats D). He found the end zone last week, the Dolphins are clearly trying to get him involved since they are already playing for next season, and the game script was clearly going to favor the pass game with the Dolphins being massive underdogs. Again, crazy to think that Preston Williams was on this week's milly maker lineup but when you break it down after the fact, it's not totally crazy. He didn't do much but he did enough at such a cheap salary that he didn't kill this lineup.

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