Week 2 NFL DFS Preseason Thursday Breakdown

Aug 16, 2018

The second week of preseason games usually indicates a slight uptick for the starters. The players who will be featured are usually guys near the bottom of depth charts fighting for a roster spot. With this Week 2 Thursday slate, there are clear targets and some gray area. Basically, certain coaches have been forthcoming with their playing time plans and some have not. Below are notes gathered from local beat writer reports and coaches' post-practice press briefings.

Make sure you check back periodically for any updates to this article. You can also use John Paulsen's Twitter list of beat writers to keep up with the latest breaking news.

Eagles at Patriots

The Quarterback situation in Philadelphia was clear as day last week, now it’s a bit muddied. Doug Pederson said Nick Foles will play and the Eagles also signed Christian Hackenberg. Therefore, the reps will probably be divided up more than we’d like. Nate Sudfeld would be my guess to get the most reps.
The Eagles are all banged up at the running back position. Josh Adams came up lame in practice on Monday. Corey Clement and Donnel Pumphrey missed time this week as well. Much of the load will be carried by Wendell Smallwood and Matt Jones. They are both in play.
Eagles pass-catchers are banged up as well. Nelson Agholor and Alshon Jeffery won’t suit up, thrusting Mike Wallace and Mack Hollins into first-team roles. Shelton Gibson, Rashard Davis, Bryce Treggs and Kamar Aiken should get good run with the reserves. Dallas Goedert killed it for us last week and if he suits up, would be in play again.
Tom Brady is playing, no one knows for how long. But just the fact that he’s playing knocks Brian Hoyer and Danny Etling down a peg.
Update: Patriots beat writer Jeff Howe reports Tom Brady will play two quarters. This makes him the top option tonight unless something changes.
Update: After building lineups, I will have some first string pass-catchers with Brady i.e. Julian Edelman
Sony Michel, Rex Burkhead and Jeremy Hill have all been absent from practice this week. Leaving last week’s breakout star Ralph Webb to get a big workload again this week. He’ll probably face some first- and second-team defenses, which may not be as penetrable as the bottom of the Redskins’ depth chart he steamrolled last week, but nonetheless, opportunity is king.
Tight end Jacob Hollister has been developing a nice report with Brady and I think he’ll play into the second-team reps which means he could see a bunch of work. Riley McCarron was heavily owned in Week 1 and didn’t catch one pass. I like going back to him this week with depressed ownership. Beat reporters are saying he’s had another solid week of camp.

Continue reading for the rest of Pat's breakdown of Thursday Night's NFL DFS preseason Week 2 slate and to see which players he is targeting for his lineups...