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Week 1 of the 2023 NFL season is officially in the books, which means that the first week of the fantasy football season is over as well. There were some great performances from quarterbacks in the opening week of the season, and that will surely continue in Week 2. We also had one of the biggest disappointments in recent memory in fantasy football when Aaron Rodgers, who many had a ton of high hopes for, suffered an Achilles tendon tear before he could even complete one pass with the New York Jets. We reflect as we turn the page to the second week of matchups, it's time to reveal our Week 2 fantasy football quarterback rankings.
Top Quarterbacks Week 2
The top quarterbacks heading into Week 2 are pretty much the same guys we featured in Week 1. This time we have Jalen Hurts at the top of the list who didn't impress much in his season debut but gets against a beatable Minnesota Vikings secondary ahead of his Thursday Night Football matchup. Hurts had a pedestrian outing in Week 1 (170 YDS, 37 RYDS, 1 TD) as he went up against a stout New England Patriots secondary and now gets the Vikings defense that he has had success against in the past where he passed for 333 yards and 1 touchdown in last year's performance, so this could be the bounce-back performance those Hurts' owners are looking for.
Josh Allen comes in second in the rankings even after arguably the worst performance of his career on Monday Night Football against the New York Jets who lost their star quarterback, Aaron Rodgers, moments into the first quarter. This was a game that Allen and the Bills should have ran away with but the New York Jets but Allen made some questionable decisions all night long that resulted in an abysmal stat line (236 YDS, 19 RYDS, 1 TDS, 3 INT). Luckily for Allen, he gets a nice bounce-back matchup against a Las Vegas Raiders secondary who let Russell Wilson complete 79.4% of his passes along with 2 TDs.
Patrick Mahomes (226 YDS, 2 TD, 1 INT) also had a subpar debut to the 2023 season as the Kansas City Chiefs celebrated their 2022 Superbowl win. Mahomes was without his top target Travis Kelce who he certainly missed throughout the entirety of this matchup. Mahomes had his wide receivers dropping easy catches and were just not on the same page with him Now, Kelce is due back from his brief injury which should put Mahomes in a prime position to get back on track when they head on the road to take on the Jacksonville Jaguars who had a rough time against rookie Quarterback Anthony Richardson in week 1.
Top Sleeper Quarterbacks Week 2
A lot of the top-performing quarterbacks in Week 1 came courtesy of sleepers such as Mac Jones (316 YDS, 3 TD, 1 INT), Jordan Love (245 YDS, 3 TD), and the rookie standout Anthony Richardson (223 YDS, 40 RYDS, 1 PTD, 1 RTD, 1 INT). You can't count on sleepers to deliver every week, but these guys could all put together big outings again in Week 2 if you feel like taking a risk and starting them.
Elsewhere, Brock Purdy on the San Francisco 49ers may end up being one of the better sleeper plays in Week 2. Purdy is the first player ever to go 6-0 while throwing multiple touchdowns in his first six starts of his career. He sets out on the road to take on the Los Angeles Rams defense, who played well last week and is still a young core of players. Purdy may not be the most exciting quarterback on the list but he gets the job done and is very efficient doing it. His efficiency along with the great supporting cast of players surrounding him like Christian McCaffrey, George Kittle, Debo Samuel, and Brandon Aiyuk puts him in a prime position to even outdo his week 1 performance when he takes on the Rams in Week 2.
Another potential sleeper is Sam Howell (202 YDS, 1 PTD, 1 RTD, 1 INT), who put on a solid performance in week 1 to get the win against the Arizona Cardinals. While he wasn't the most efficient passer, just completing 61.3% of his passes, he still was able to end up being 11th in fantasy points for quarterbacks in Week 1. He now gets to take on a Denver Broncos secondary that isn't bad but did give up 200 yards and 2 touchdowns to Jimmy Garapolo and the Raiders. With Howell being able to get it done through the air and on the ground makes him a solid sleeper for Week 2.
Top Bust Quarterbacks Week 2
As we already noted, big name guys like two of our top three quarterbacks for Week 2, Allen and Hurts were huge busts in Week 1, and there could be some other top guys who follow their lead in Week 2. The biggest name of the bunch is Dak Prescott, who failed to top 150 passing yards to go along with a whopping 0 touchdowns for an all-time terrible performance. To his credit, he didn't need to do much to win the game as the defense and the running game were able to get the job done with relative ease for the Cowboys. If you were thinking he would be able to bounce back in Week 2 think again as he gets to take on the daunting New York Jets defense who stifled one of the most high powering offenses in all of football, Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills. The Jets will be looking to keep their winning ways going by beating up on the Cowboys offensive line and getting after Prescott making it yet another rough outing at the office coming up.
We all thought this was going to be Geno Smith's year to take the Seattle Seahawks to the promise land after a very good first year as the full time starter but he regressed mightily in week 1 against the Los Angeles Rams. He passed for only 112 yards with 1 passing touchdown on the evening and while on paper this may seem like a more forgiving matchup but the Detroit Lions were quite stingy in Week 1 against a Patick Mahomes led offense. Don't expect the big breakout performance you've been hoping for out of Smith and keep him on your bench until he can prove himself worthy of being in your starting lineup.
Fantasy Football Quarterback Rankings: Week 2
24. Ryan Tannehill, TEN (vs. MIN)
23. Sam Howell, WAS (@ DEN)
22. Matthew Stafford, LAR (vs. SF)
21. Mac Jones, NE (vs. MIA)
20. Derek Carr, NO (@ CAR)
19. Kirk Cousins, MIN (@ PHI)
18. Russell Wilson, DEN (vs. WAS)
17. Geno Smith, SEA (@ DET)
16. Dak Prescott, DAL (vs. NYJ)
15. Brock Purdy, SF (@ LAR)
14. Jordan Love, GB (@ ATL)
13. Deshaun Watson, CLE (@ PIT)
12. Daniel Jones, NYG (@ ARI)
11. Jared Goff, DET (vs. SEA)
10. Tua Tagovailoa, MIA (@ NE)
9. Anthony Richardson, IND (@ HOU)
8. Joe Burrow, CIN (vs. BAL)
7. Justin Fields (@ TB)
6. Lamar Jackson, BAL (@ CIN)
5. Trevor Lawrence (vs. KC)
4. Justin Herbert, LAC (@ TEN)
3. Patrick Mahomes, KC (@ JAX)
2. Josh Allen, BUF (vs. LV)
1. Jalen Hurts, PHI (vs. MIN)
