O-Line Rankings and Matchups to Exploit: Week 2

Sep 10, 2025

Amanda Perobelli/Reuters via Imagn Images

Evaluating offensive line play regarding its effect on fantasy football output has been a stone unturned throughout our game within a game. Here at 4for4, we’re dedicated to looking at fantasy pieces from all angles, including an offensive line's positive and negative impact on that team’s fantasy assets.

Below, I’m going to be digging into specific weekly matchups between offensive lines and the opposing defense's aFPA —one of the many useful tools available to us here at 4for4. Many sites publish raw fantasy points allowed by position, but 4for4 goes a step further and adjusts those numbers for a defense’s relative year-to-date schedule strength. These numbers will continue to strengthen through more data points as the season progresses and, when compared to a team’s advantages within the trenches, will expose fantasy pieces we may not have otherwise considered.

Editor's Note: Check out the complete set of Week 2 rankings here.

Let’s begin by diving into the passing game to see what offensive line/defense matchups we can exploit.

Favorable Quarterback Matchups

Quarterback Matchups
O-Line Ranking	Team	Opponent	aFPA	Difference
2	DEN	IND	25	23
6	MIN	ATL	27	21
3	BUF	NYJ	21	18
7	LAC	LVR	22	15
16	ARI	CAR	30	14
8	IND	DEN	19	11
9	TB	HOU	20	11
18	CHI	DET	26	8
5	BAL	CLE	12	7
1	PHI	KC	8	7
23	JAX	CIN	28	5
12	ATL	MIN	15	3
4	GB	WAS	7	3
30	CIN	JAX	32	2
24	MIA	NE	24	0
17	LAR	TEN	17	0
10	DAL	NYG	9	-1
32	HOU	TB	31	-1
31	NYG	DAL	29	-2
14	CAR	ARI	11	-3
19	SF	NO	16	-3
28	CLE	BAL	23	-5
20	NYJ	BUF	14	-6
13	WAS	GB	5	-8
26	TEN	LAR	18	-8
11	DET	CHI	1	-10
21	LVR	LAC	10	-11
15	KC	PHI	4	-11
25	PIT	SEA	13	-12
22	NO	SF	6	-16
27	SEA	PIT	3	-24
29	NE	MIA	2	-27

Vikings vs. Falcons

The Minnesota Vikings’ revamped interior did quite well against the Bears in Week 1. In fact, Donovan Jackson, Ryan Kelly, and Will Fries combined to allow only one pressure on the day, with the rest of the credited pressures (and sacks) coming from left tackle Justin Skule, who is filling in for the still-recovering Christian Darrisaw. Darrisaw seems like he could be returning sooner rather than later from his ACL/MCL injury last season, but if Skule continues to be the only weak link of the line, the team has that much more reason to remain cautious with their franchise LT.

This week, the team will be hosting the Atlanta Falcons, who allowed Baker Mayfield to operate out of a mostly clean pocket even though the Buccaneers were also missing an elite-level left tackle in Tristan Wirfs. The lack of pressure has been a constant for the Falcons’ defense over the last few seasons —they ranked dead last in pressure rate in 2024— and after one week, it doesn’t seem like that problem has been fixed.

After J.J. McCarthy’s late-game heroics on Monday Night Football, a comfy matchup only adds fuel to the fire in considering him a QB1 here, but keep in mind that he was only tasked with dropping back 25 times to kick the season off. There are volume concerns for him, but we should see a bounce-back out of Justin Jefferson as a WR1, and T.J. Hockenson is still very much a top-10 option.

Cardinals vs. Panthers

The Carolina Panthers have had a notoriously awful run defense, which bled into Week 1, but let’s not underscore the fact that their pass defense has been just as bad; there’s just not a lot of reason for opposing offenses to throw the ball deep into games against them. That was certainly true in their opener, where Trevor Lawrence attempted only six of his 31 passes in the entirety of the fourth quarter. When Lawrence did drop back, he wasn’t exactly crisp, but that was no fault of the Panthers' pass rush, which pressured him at the league’s lowest rate (9.4%) and was one of only three teams not to register a sack.

A clean pocket will keep the Cardinals’ Big Three (Kyler Murray, Marvin Harrison Jr., Trey McBride) of their passing attack in must-start territory once again, and will be a nice breather before their schedule tightens up a little bit over the next month.

Chargers @ Raiders

The Chargers’ first game without stud Rashawn Slater went better than expected, as Joe Alt seamlessly flipped to the left side of the line, while Trey Pipkins did a reasonable enough job keeping the RT situation from collapsing.

let joe cook pic.twitter.com/JR8C1MKStj

— Los Angeles Chargers (@chargers) September 10, 2025

Alt’s level of play may not have been much of a surprise after his fantastic rookie season, but an equally impactful boon to the o-line came from Mekhi Becton, who is coming off a great year in Philadelphia. Becton was downright bad for most of his four years with the Jets, but any worry that his 2024 performance boiled down to his involvement in a great Eagles system is washing away after his Week 1 performance. Heading into the game questionable due to an illness —eventually missing about 25% of the snaps— Becton finished Friday’s affair with a clean sheet; zero sacks allowed, zero hits, and zero pressures from the RG slot. If he truly has turned a corner in his career, he can help ease some of the potential issues that arise from Pipkins being forced into a starting role.

That right side will be tested early and often by Maxx Crosby, who figures to take most of his snaps across from them, but the Raiders’ Week 1 success against the Patriots' passing offense will be much more challenging to duplicate against Justin Herbert and a much better offensive line.

Favorable Defensive Matchups

Steelers vs. Seahawks

The Seahawks’ tackles got to deal with a revitalized Nick Bosa in Week 1, and now they’re being gifted the combination of Alex Highsmith and T.J. Watt here in Week 2. Tough way to open the season. Right tackle Abe Lucas actually had a pretty decent game for about 59 minutes, but got absolutely run through at the worst possible time, ending up on the ground as Bosa notched his only sack of the game with 0:40 left on the clock to seal the 49ers' victory.

Lucas will see the vast majority of Watt —who has 4.1 pressures per game and 32 sacks over the last two seasons— while Highsmith will have the much tougher job of getting around Charles Cross. The Steelers are one of the highest-floor plays of the week.

49ers @ Saints

There are potentially some moving pieces for the Saints' offensive line ahead of this Week 2 matchup. To begin with, Trevor Penning’s status is still up in the air as the team looks to move him to his third spot in as many years —after left and right tackle didn’t work out— so we could end up seeing him replace (or rotate with) Dillon Radunz at left guard. However, it’s still a mystery how well he’ll actually fare there.

There’s also the status of sophomore right tackle Taliese Fuaga, who left last week’s matchup due to a knee issue and was replaced by Asim Richards, a former fifth-round selection who could never quite find his footing in the Dallas Cowboys’ starting five. The Saints, who finished with the second-highest blown block rate of last week’s slate (3.63%), will have their hands full against a 49ers defense that allowed -0.52 EPA per dropback, tied for the Broncos for the best mark of Week 1.

Favorable Running Back Matchups

Running Back Matchups
O-Line Ranking	Team	Opponent	aFPA	Difference
2	DEN	IND	23	21
10	DAL	NYG	28	18
16	ARI	CAR	32	16
4	GB	WAS	19	15
11	DET	CHI	25	14
7	LAC	LVR	18	11
19	SF	NO	30	11
8	IND	DEN	17	9
3	BUF	NYJ	12	9
17	LAR	TEN	26	9
14	CAR	ARI	22	8
20	NYJ	BUF	27	7
24	MIA	NE	29	5
6	MIN	ATL	9	3
5	BAL	CLE	7	2
22	NO	SF	24	2
13	WAS	GB	14	1
30	CIN	JAX	31	1
1	PHI	KC	1	0
23	JAX	CIN	21	-2
9	TB	HOU	6	-3
12	ATL	MIN	3	-9
25	PIT	SEA	15	-10
31	NYG	DAL	20	-11
18	CHI	DET	5	-13
21	LVR	LAC	8	-13
29	NE	MIA	16	-13
15	KC	PHI	2	-13
27	SEA	PIT	13	-14
26	TEN	LAR	11	-15
28	CLE	BAL	10	-18
32	HOU	TB	4	-28

Broncos @ Colts

The Denver o-line picked up right where they left off in 2024, finishing their first game with the fifth-lowest adjusted sack rate (2.6%) and the eighth-highest adjusted line yards (4.55). Beyond that continued dominance upfront, we also saw some (gasp!) explosiveness out of their ball-carries, something that was completely missing in this RB room. It took RJ Harvey all of one game to rip off a 50-yard gain, longer than anyone on this team mustered last season. While 50 yards is admittedly a pretty high bar to clear, this would be a good time to mention that Jaleel McLaughlin (38th), Javonte Williams (46th), and Audric Estime (55th) all finished near the bottom of the league in breakaway run rate (57 qualifiers). The one-two punch of Harvey and J.K. Dobbins is already on pace to blow that out of the water, something that might be sorely needed of Bo Nix doesn’t look better than his 2025 debut with quickness.

Dobbins and Harvey should be in RB3 consideration this week, and both have the upside for a strong RB2 finish.

Cowboys vs. Giants

As someone who had been loading up on Jaydon Blue through most of the Summer months, it was humbling (to say the least) to see him as a healthy scratch ahead of Week 1. But we learn and pivot, and now Javonte Williams has proven that he still has something left in the tank. Miles Sanders also showed that on a 49-yard run, but the play ended without the ball in his hands, so that certainly didn’t help his cause to earn more work.

The Giants’ run defense will need to step up its game if we’re going to see Williams revert to his Broncos days of fantasy irrelevance. Commanders running backs averaged 2.75 yards before contact in Week 1, while New York mustered only a 12.5% stuff rate, the fifth-lowest mark. Williams is (begrudgingly) an RB2 in this great matchup.

Running Backs with Bad Matchups

As opposed to breaking down every bad matchup through the rest of the slate, here are some running backs I’m looking to avoid because of their poor offensive line and/or the strong defensive fronts they will be facing: