3 Daily Fantasy Football Players to Avoid in Week 2

We have a lot of pieces on numberFire geared toward helping you figure out which players you should roster in your DFS contests on FanDuel, but an important aspect of the DFS process is figuring out who you shouldn't play.

Narrowing down your list of potential plays by avoiding those who are destined to underwhelm can go a long way toward helping you create winning lineups.

Zigging when the masses zag is part of giving yourself an edge in DFS, so you'll sometimes be able to make a case for using a player in this piece in an effort to be contrarian -- especially if said player is really good.

Inevitably, some of the players I feature in this article will blow up and pop for a big game, but that comes with the territory of doing a piece like this one -- unless I'm going to tell you to avoid playing dudes like Jared Goff. I'm not going to do that. I want this piece to be useful.

Here are some players I'm avoiding this week.

Jeff Wilson Jr., RB, 49ers

FanDuel Salary: $6,300

Jeff Wilson is expected to be the San Francisco 49ers' lead back with Elijah Mitchell out. Any lead back who is $6,300 is always going to be at least somewhat enticing, especially when his team is a big favorite, which is the case with Wilson as the Niners are 8.5-point home favorites over the Seattle Seahawks.

But we've seen Wilson in this gig before, and it usually hasn't gone super well. In the four games in which he was active last year and Mitchell was not, Wilson surpassed 60 total yards only once and mustered just two total touchdowns. He played fewer than 60% of the snaps in two of the games and averaged only 1.7 targets per game in the split.

The meh results were partially due to Deebo Samuel being utilized as a running back, especially in the red zone. Samuel carried the rock at least five times in all four of said games and ended up scoring three total rushing touchdowns -- one apiece in three of the four games.

Wilson's floor should be decent given his modest salary, but the ceiling is capped as long as Deebo is stealing touches. We project Wilson for only 10.2 FanDuel points and rate him as the 23rd-best point-per-dollar back. If you're looking for a value back, Darrell Henderson ($6,200) projects as a better option.

Leonard Fournette, RB, Buccaneers

FanDuel Salary: $7,800

Leonard Fournette saw fantastic usage in Week 1. He played 75.8% of the snaps and wound up with 21 carries and 2 targets. The snap rate and rushing attempts were both top-five marks at the position.

But he has a miserable matchup this week against the New Orleans Saints, a defense against which he generated only 60 rushing yards on 17 carries last year over two games.

He wasn't the only running back to struggle in this matchup. In 2021, the Saints gave up 16.1 FanDuel points per game to running backs, which tied for the fewest. They permitted 15.9 FanDuel points per game to the position in 2020, the fewest that season. The Saints surrendered the fourth-fewest FanDuel points per game to backs in 2019 (17.1).

You get the picture -- this New Orleans defense is about as tough of a matchup as there is for running backs, and it's been that way for a while.

Volume can override matchup for running backs in a lot of cases, but with this game holding a blah 44.5-point total, Fournette is going to have a hard time delivering a big score unless he runs into some flukey touchdown luck.

Our model projects him for 13.1 FanDuel points and rates him as the worst point-per-dollar back among those with a salary of at least $7,100.

Amon-Ra St. Brown, WR, Lions

FanDuel Salary: $6,900

This one could backfire, but it's a chore for me to get excited to roster Amon-Ra St. Brown.

St. Brown will likely be fairly popular as a modest-salaried wideout in what looks like one of the best game environments on the slate. The Detroit Lions are hosting the Washington Commanders in a game with a 48.5-point total -- second-highest on the slate -- and 1.5-point spread. On top of that, St. Brown had a nice outing in Week 1, totaling 16.4 FanDuel points.

But St. Brown is the kind of low-ceiling receiver I struggle with. He had an average depth of target of just 5.4 yards in Week 1, and despite seeing a whopping 12 targets and making eight grabs, St. Brown needed a touchdown to get to 16.4 FanDuel points. And his route types last game aren't a one-week thing, as he had a 6.8-yard average depth of target in 2021, the 85th-highest among receivers.

We project St. Brown for a solid 11.6 FanDuel points, but without downfield looks, it's hard to see him popping for a truly big game unless he finds the end zone multiple times.