The SportsLine Projection Model was developed and powered by the Inside the Lines team. You can find all of our team’s picks and content at our blog, which has all our personal best bets for free. Over two decades, we have reverse engineered oddsmakers’ models, which has resulted in 85-90% of our projections being virtually identical to the oddsmaker’s lines.
When you can pick the spread and totals well you can predict completions, yards, touchdowns well. When you do those well you predict Fantasy Points well. Last week we point out a number of great values and I think we nailed it
Repeats from Last Week
Week 2 only confirmed what we reported before Week 2 which was Daniel Jones (still just 44%), Wan’dale Robinson (still just 42%), and Romeo Doubs (just 37%) need to be weekly starters right away. “Indiana Jones” is fantasy QB 3 or 4 right now. Wan’dale may be WR2 but he’s a PPR and yardage machine, and Doubs is highly productive per catch, Jayden Reed is out for a while and Matthew Golden hasn’t had a breakout yet.
New Players To Target
While several players below are not weekly starters they are player I’d grab for the bench over a number of players rostered at their same position at considerably higher percentages.
QB28 Spencer Rattler (8%)
He may only be QB28 in our projection the rest of the season but he’s currently QB12 because of volume (80 pass attempts) and solid accuracy (65% comp), and shockingly, no interceptions. He’s ahead of Kyler Murray because Kyler only had 54 pass attempts, Dak Prescott (86 attempts, just 2 TDs) and Bo Nix (3 INTs). Rattler was able to do a 180 in college when he went from turnover prone, cocky Oklahoma bust to solid game manager at South Carolina.
The new coaching staff showed real faith in him starting him over the rookie 2nd round pick (Tyler Shough). New Orleans is never going to be playing from ahead so they will be passing at a very high rate. If he averages close to 40 attempts and doesn’t throw picks he could be good for 235 passing yards a game going forward even if his accuracy dips.
RB39 Kareem Hunt (42%)
Isaiah Pacheco was one of the most physical runners in the league even though he was just 5’10” 216 lbs. But the injuries to his lower legs have seemingly taken away his ability and he is a shell of himself. Kareem Hunt was never about his physicality and while he hasn’t done much running either he’s at least a real threat receiving and at this point a better short yardage and goal line option than Pacheco.
RB46 Tyler Allgeier (48%)
Atlanta dominated the Vikings defensively with a dominant pass rush and the best way to keep your pass rushers fresh is to dominate on the ground. Michael Penix can make every throw but the team realizes they can be a playoff team even if he couldn’t given the weakness of their division and the dominance of their run game. Allgeier may end up with 35% of the RB carries but they could be a 35 rush attempt per game team and he should still average double digits. He may end up with 50% of goal line carries further boosting his value.
RB2 on this Atlanta team and offensive scheme could be much better than being RB1 in Miami, Pittsburgh, or Dallas.
WR50 Rashid Shaheed (51%)
I loved Shaheed at the start of the year when he was connecting with Derek Carr for 50 yard TDs and the Saints were putting up 40+ before the wheels came off. I like now that he appears to be a WR who can produce stats even when he isn’t running for 50 yards. While he only had 85 total receiving yards in 2 games I love that he has 10 receptions, 1 TD and 14 targets.
Spencer Rattler will look his way for 20%+ his 40 attempts. His yards per reception may be way down this season (17.4 in ’22, 15.6 in ’23, 17.5 in ’24, 8.5 in ’25) but if he goes from a player who catches 60% of targets to over 70% he becomes a very solid WR3 or Flex in PPR leagues. In the past he had more value on non-PPR. And he still has the upside of a big play WR.
WR62 DeAndre Hopkins (16%)
Take it from me, Ravens fans are FLIPPING OUT over how great his catches have been in the first 2 weeks. Hopkins is shrugging off the attention but fans like me appreciate just how amazing it is to a) see someone not named A.J. Green make these catches in M&T Bank and b) show the world that Lamar Jackson is the #1 deep ball thrower in the league now that he has someone who doesn’t need any separation to catch a ball 40+ yards downfield.
He ranks better in non-PPR the rest of the season (WR54) than in PPR, and he’s not a must start… unless there’s an injury to Zay Flowers or Rashod Bateman. But come bye week ‘season’ he’s going to be starting and winning fantasy leagues.
WR77 Hunter Renfrow (2%)
Everyone from the top of the Panthers organization to the bottom need to show significant improvement this season or they are likely fired and/or replaced (Bryce Young). Indianapolis was in a similar situation so they benched Anthony Richardson and are thriving with Daniel Jones. They ARE NOT in the WR development phase of life. Developing Xavier Legette or the injured Jalen Coker are not the concern. Getting some wins and averaging 23+ points per game are.
Even when he’s not producing, like in Week 1 (2 rec, 11 yards) he was targeted plenty (6 times). After a monster Week 2 with 9 targets, 7 rec, 48 yards, 2 REC TDs he looks like the “3rd and Renfrow” of the past.
TE13 Harold Fannin (44%)
He led the FBS in receptions and receiving yards as a TE at Bowling Green. His RAS (Relative Athletic Score) was not good except for what is actually athletically relevant to a receiving TE (agility). You throw in the fact that he kind of runs funny and he was a relative afterthought in the draft. His profile is very much like Isaiah Likely where his game speed is just fine but since he’s not Kyle Pitts he was vastly underrated as a prospect.
Right now he’s 3rd on the team in targets, 2nd in yards and ahead of David Njoku in both cases. Cleveland has no choice but to run 12 personnel with both TEs on the field together because of zero depth at WR. Even with no TDs he is TE7 in fantasy right now. His heavy target share and great hands make him one the highest floor TEs in the league.
TE15 Juwan Johnson (51%)
With George Kittle, Dallas Goedert already hurt, Travis Kelce tipping TD passes to defenders, and Mark Andrews just not right Juwan Johnson is TE2 in fantasy at the moment. The same reasons why Spencer Rattler and Rashid Shaheed are on the list apply to Johnson. Jack Stoll is listed as TE2 and he has 2 catches since the start of ’24 and no targets this season. Taysom Hill may never see the field again and if he does you know he’ll have one monster game before getting hurt again.
I would not be surprised if Johnson is a Top 6 fantasy TE this season with so many older players looking over the hill.
TE22 Isaiah Likely (34%)
I was higher on Mark Andrews than almost anyone expecting him to bounce back from his awful playoff performance. But he has done nothing in two weeks other than drop a sure TD in Week 2 vs Cleveland. Everyone heavily criticized the defense for their collapse against Buffalo and the message was clear: unlike last season it doesn’t matter who you are, if you underperform you will be benched.
Jaire Alexander was a healthy scratch after bad play vs Buffalo. Derrick Henry fumbled early vs Cleveland and didn’t get a carry on the 1/2 yard line. LB Trenton Simpson botched a special teams play and the Raven are basically starting a 4th round LB in his place.
When Andrews got the TD pass punched out the entire stadium, sidelines, etc. gave each other a “knowing glance” and they all thought “he’s cooked”. Unlike last season where there was patience to get him out of his slow start, this season is different. With DeAndre Hopkins (2 TDs) and Tez Walker (2 TDs) in the fold the Ravens are just fine if Andrews’ 10 TDs go to these two instead.
Likely could be back in Week 3 and he may not only be TE1 by Week 4, he might be the only TE on the field as the Baltimore Ravens end up in a lot of 3 WR sets.
Inside the Lines team
Visit Our Free Picks Blog
Remember, for all of our best bets, you can get them for free on our new blog. We will not only have fantasy analysis but will also show you how to use Inside the Lines (powering SportsLine, CBS Fantasy) fantasy projections to make good NFL prop bets. When the lines post by mid-week, we’ll be able to automatically identify the 15 to 20 best values out of 100+ possible player props, and I guarantee a high number of overs will come from the players listed above. Undervalued fantasy assets are also likely to have underpriced player prop lines.