Matthew Berry's Week 2 Love/Hate and league-winning tips

On last Tuesday's episode of the Fantasy Focus 06010 podcast, Field Yates was running through his free-agent finds for the week and we started, of course, with Elijah Mitchell.

Me: Well, sure, if he's available.

Field: He's available.

Me: I'm in 15 leagues, and he's literally not available in any of them. I have him in some of those leagues, but he is rostered in every single league.

Field: I hear you, but he's available in 99.3% of ESPN leagues. He's available.

It was then I realized that in every single one of my leagues -- those not so deep that he'd not been drafted -- there were a lot of people doing one little trick that clearly, people in 99.3% of ESPN leagues were not doing.

Well.

So I thought about it more and figured there were probably a lot of little tricks -- or fantasy hacks if you will -- that people might not be aware of.

Small things, none of them earth-shattering, none of them that single-handedly will make you win your league, but a bunch of moves that can each give a small edge and that combined together over the course of a season can put more odds in your favor of winning it all.

Many of these are habitual tactics I use in my leagues, and then I got a few from my followers on The Fantasy Life App. Not all of them will work in every league; obviously it depends on your league rules and settings. But fantasy football is a game of inches, of decimal points, of razor-thin margins, where making the playoffs often comes down to one game, one player, one point. So anything that provides an edge, not matter how small, is time well spent.

With that in mind, here are my favorite fantasy life hacks, tips and tricks, helpful hints and the like, in no particular order.

Aggressive use of the IR spot. This is how I was able to get Elijah Mitchell in a few leagues. When Trey Sermon was ruled out last Sunday, he immediately became eligible for the IR slot. So, as soon as that happened (usually around 11:30 a.m. ET on Sundays), I moved Sermon into the IR spot, creating a roster space, and grabbed Mitchell. I would be lying if I said I thought Mitchell would rocket up in value the way he did over the course of Sunday, but fantasy is often about grabbing lottery tickets and hoping your number comes up.

Assuming you have at least one IR spot, every single time one of your players goes on IR, you need to use that spot and grab someone else, even if you don't need him. It's just about having another lottery ticket. Do this before kickoff, when lineups lock. If nothing happens during the weekend, then so be it, you can waive your lottery ticket and try again. But IR spots are extra roster spots and you need to maximize your use of every roster spot you have access to.

Even if you don't have a player who is IR-eligible (or even an IR slot to use), I still love to pick up players just before kickoff. This helps you grab a useful option before you get to waivers the next week and you have to wait in line for whatever you need, but it also gives you a better shot of getting what you need. A great use of this is for streaming defenses. Or quarterbacks. Or getting ahead of your bye-week needs.

I'll always look ahead to the next week. If I have, say, a TE on bye the next week, I'll look at which teams the available tight ends on waivers are playing that next week and grab my streamer then. Or I know I'll need a QB in two weeks. Oh, look, this one plays Jacksonville then. Let me grab him now and then I have a viable streamer when my QB is on a bye. Same with grabbing a streaming defense a week early, and that way you're not wasting a waiver pick or FAAB money on the "one decent defense" out there.

One variation of this: I am in full favor of rostering players you have no intention of starting as a defensive measure. Let's say you look at the schedule and notice who your next opponent is. You click on their roster and see that their starting QB has a bye then. Well, I would look to see who the best available quarterback is going to be. And then I would pick that guy up Sunday morning before rosters lock. So when your opponent goes to look for a quarterback the next week, they are out the best option. And you didn't have to use a waiver claim to block them.

So how else do you create roster space to do all this? You need to Marie Kondo your bench. Look at your roster and decide in what scenario each player would start for you, and get rid of anyone who doesn't fit. A friend recently asked me to look at his one-QB 12-team league where he had Kyler Murray and Matt Ryan. And I was, like ... why do you have Ryan? There is no scenario where you aren't starting Murray. The only two reasons are his bye week -- and Ryan is not better than whoever he'd grab during the bye week -- or if Murray got hurt. And if Murray gets hurt, Ryan's not the solution. So he needs to drop Ryan and get another lottery ticket. Or use it as a "swing" roster spot to execute the tips above.

Kickers are kickers are kickers. Look, if you have Justin Tucker, I get it. You don't want to waive him. But in general, kickers are fairly interchangeable. (If it were up to me, we'd never play with kickers, but that's a rant for another day). Literally earlier today in a deep 16-team league I noticed JaMycal Hasty was available. I like my team in that league and didn't have anyone I wanted to drop. So I dropped my kicker and grabbed Hasty. Now, I have until Sunday to figure it out -- I'll need a kicker to start -- but I'd rather have Hasty and see what I can learn about the 49ers' running backs in the next few days than have a kicker on my roster from Wednesday to Sunday morning.

By the way, if I can't find a trade partner or create an additional roster space by Sunday in some way, I'll wait to waive players until Sunday morning. By doing so, no other team can claim him until after the waiver period. If whoever I release goes off on Sunday, at least I have a chance at getting him back during the next waivers run as opposed to someone else grabbing him before kickoff because I waived him too early.

As long as you have flexibility to add or drop (bye week, late starts) play through all the games, even if your own score is final. That applies to Sunday night and Monday night. In one Week 1 matchup, I was done going into MNF and clinging to an 8-point lead (Ryan Fitzpatrick did not help that team). My opponent had Josh Jacobs, who was downgraded to questionable. A quick glance at my opponent's team told me that if Jacobs missed this game, they wouldn't be able to replace him until after he was ruled out and eligible for the IR slot. All of their players had played. Meanwhile I still had a player I could waive. So my plan was that, if we got news that Jacobs was trending toward being inactive, I would grab Peyton Barber before Jacobs was officially declared out, denying him to my opponent. Of course, Jacobs played and got no real rushing yards but did get two scores, and I lost. Sigh. But the thought was right.

Don't be afraid to roster players who are more important to others than to you. If there's a person in my league I want to trade with, I'll look at their roster and then the waiver wire a few days before I even approach them. Let's say I want a receiver from the person who has Zeke, and for some reason Tony Pollard is available (as he is in 60% of leagues right now). I'll grab Pollard, and then when we are talking trade and I'm trying to flip my tight end for their wide receiver I'll have created the opportunity to say, "Well, you have Zeke. What if I threw in Tony Pollard to you. Does that get this deal done?" Pollard means nothing to me, I just grabbed him. But now that he is no longer available, he should have some value to my trade partner, especially as a "throw-in."

Speaking of trades, don't overlook bye weeks when deciding on a trade partner. Let's say you need to do a blockbuster trade and your best asset is Dalvin Cook. OK. Well, the Vikings' bye week this year is Week 7. Now look at your league's schedule. What team do you play in Week 7? Well, that's the first team you want to try to trade Cook to. It won't always work -- most important is to get a good trade that improves your team -- but in an ideal world, you are trading players to a team that won't be able to use them against you when you play each other.

More trade advice. Make sure you set your default roster to highlight the players you want to trade. Say you want to sell high on Corey Davis. Your "starting" lineup should have Davis in it at the WR position. Even if you start only two receivers and you have DeAndre Hopkins and Terry McLaurin; put one of them in the flex. It's a small thing, but when they look at your roster to propose a trade or counter, you want the perception that you are trading away a starter, not a bench player.

Come Sunday, your flex spot should be the last player playing that week. If you have a flex-eligible player in the Monday night or Sunday night game, or even the 4 p.m. window on Sunday, that's who should be in your flex. I can't tell you how many times I have seen someone start their flex on a Thursday night or even 1 p.m. game on Saturday and then there's a late scratch and now the team is stuck because they don't have another running back, but they could have thrown a wide receiver or tight end into the flex. Always give yourself as many options and outs as possible when constructing your lineup.

Some quick hitters before we get to this week's Loves/Hates:

• I hate this and ESPN does not do this, but other fantasy platforms allow you to waive a player on your bench even when the game is still going on. That drives me crazy, but whatever, it's a rule, so take advantage of it during games, waiving players you'll never start and looking for free agents who are available and would make good pickups.

• When bidding on players via FAAB, I never like to use multiples of 5 or 10. Don't bid 30, bid 33. Don't bid 15, bid 17. Etc., etc. You'll be pleasantly surprised how often that will make a difference.

• Scour the IR list in your league. If you have an open IR spot, why not grab Rashod Bateman or Jeff Wilson Jr. and throw him in there? They'll be back at some point and potentially useful.

• If I am high in the standings or on the waiver list (meaning I'll be one of the last people to get a waiver claim in a given week), I'll often sit waivers out. Maybe I'll wake up early to try to grab free agents as soon as waivers run, but I'd prefer to move up in waivers and see who was waived by others. Sometimes, it will be players I really want, and I'd rather have an early pick in the "second wave" than a late pick in the first run.

• If I am high in the waiver order and there's a player I want or, more importantly, a player I don't want my opponent to get, I'll initiate trade talks with someone ahead of them in waivers. "What do you want for your waiver pick this week? I really want Elijah Mitchell." I'll ask something like that, which will accomplish two things. It will either result in a trade where I get Mitchell or, worst case, it will put Mitchell on the radar of the player ahead of my rival and hopefully they'll grab Mitchell for themselves. Now, Mitchell was obvious to everyone this week, but you get the idea.

Armed with those tips and tricks, along with this week's Love/Hate, our rankings, The Fantasy Show with Matthew Berry on ESPN+ and, of course, Fantasy Football Now on Sunday morning at 10 ET on ESPN2, you should be all set to go out and crush. A special thanks as always to The OG Stat-a-Pillar, Damian Dabrowski, for his help with this column. Let's get to it.

Quarterbacks I love in Week 2

Aaron Rodgers, Green Bay Packers (vs. Lions)
In Week 1, Rodgers finished as QB35 in fantasy. There are only 32 NFL teams. Taylor Heinicke, Justin Fields, Trey Lance and Marcus Mariota -- four quarterbacks who didn't even start for their own NFL teams on Sunday -- would have been better fantasy starters for you in Week 1. Heck, Rodgers barely outscored his own backup, Jordan Love, edging him out, 1.32 to 0.72. But don't worry. We don't have a quarterback controversy in Green Bay. In fact, you don't have a quarterback controversy on your fantasy team if you have Rodgers. Hear me now, believe me later: Rodgers is coming back in a big way in Week 2. Are you kidding me? At home, against Detroit, on Monday Night Football? Did I mention he's playing Detroit, which just gave up 314 passing yards to Jimmy Garoppolo? That just allowed the second-most yards per pass attempt in Week 1? That just lost starting corner Jeff Okudah to injury? That has the youngest secondary in the NFL? There is no better "stick it to you" QB in the NFL than Rodgers, and at home on a national stage against an overmatched opponent is the best place for A-Rod to prove his doubters wrong.

Justin Herbert, Los Angeles Chargers (vs. Cowboys)
Hey Dak, stop me if you've heard this one before. We know your defense won't stop Herbert. They can't stop anybody. The phrase "Wait 'til next year" was invented by Cowboys fans regarding their defense. In the season opener, Jerry's Boys allowed 379 yards and four touchdowns through the air. I'm not saying Herbert will match the numbers Brady put up, but he will put it up early and often; his 47 pass attempts in Week 1 were more than all but seven other quarterbacks and that was against a WFT defense that is, well, a defense. This game currently has the second-highest over/under on the Week 2 slate, and it has all the makings of a shootout. Yee-haw, giddy up, and other Cowboy puns.

Jalen Hurts, Philadelphia Eagles (vs. 49ers)
Am I going to remind you every opportunity I get this year that I was banging the Jalen Hurts drum all offseason? That he was on the preseason Love list in a big way, and there were a bunch of positive stats about Hurts in 100 Facts? That my bold prediction on the podcast was that Hurts would finish the season as the No. 1 QB? That he was on the Love list last week? Yeah. Of course I am. Are you new here? Running things into the ground is my thing. As are bad segues. So speaking of running, Hurts now has at least 60 yards rushing in each of his four full games as an NFL starter. After last week's 28.7-point performance, Hurts is now averaging 26.1 PPG in his four full games as a starter. That would have been second to only Dak Prescott last season among quarterbacks. So I'm just here to not only take a premature victory lap, but also to say I don't think Hurts just had a big game last week because he got to face the brutal Falcons defense. I don't want you to shy away because he is facing San Francisco. The 49ers generated pressure at the lowest rate in Week 1, a big reason Jared Goff put up 314 yards and three TDs on them. Oh, and the 49ers are now without cornerback Jason Verrett. Oh, and one other thing I almost forgot: Told you, told you, told you, told you, told you, told you. Told you.

Others receiving votes: So it appears that Matthew Stafford going from the organizational mess in Detroit to Sean McVay and the Rams really did improve his fantasy outlook. Huh. Super weird how that happened. This week, on the turf indoors, I like Stafford's chances at a strong top-12 week against a Colts defense that not only gave up four passing touchdowns to Russell Wilson, but allowed three of them and a 71% completion rate on deep passes in the game. Not for nothing, but Stafford was 5-for-6 for 197 yards and two touchdowns on deep passes last week. And, oh yeah, the Colts also gave up three touchdowns and 336 yards to Stafford last season. ... Teddy Bridgewater deserves some deeper-league consideration this week, and it's not just because he's playing the Jaguars. I mean, that's definitely a part of it. The Jags brought Tyrod Taylor back from the fantasy dead in Week 1. They can do anything. But that's not the only reason. In Week 1, Bridgewater averaged 8.7 air yards per target, his fourth-highest mark since the start of last season, and he did it on 36 pass attempts. Losing Jerry Jeudy hurts, but gaining the Jaguars' "secondary" helps more. ... Losing to the Bengals looks bad on paper. And, well, off of paper, too. But even in a disappointing defeat, Kirk Cousins had a solid fantasy day, putting up 22 points on 49 attempts. Quietly, he now has multiple touchdown passes in nine of 10 games dating back to last season and he should get there once again in a game where he will have to try to keep up with Kyler Murray. In a game with an over/under north of 50, I like Cousins' chances at a top-15 day.

Quarterbacks I hate in Week 2

Trevor Lawrence, Jacksonville Jaguars (vs. Broncos)
Last week marked the first time in Lawrence's career -- including high school and college -- that he lost a regular-season game. Now it's time for another piece of unfortunate history for him. Trevor -- you may want to sit down for this -- you are on the Hate list for the first time. I know. You can take a minute to compose yourself if you'd like. Why are you on the Hate list, you ask? Is it because I am extremely jealous of your long, beautiful locks? That when you cut your hair, the strands on the floor are still more than I have? Yes. But in addition to that, it's because, well, dude ... in your NFL debut you were off target on 30.6% of your throws, the second-worst rate in Week 1. And that was against the Houston Texans. This week's opponent, that Denver Broncos' defense, provides a much more formidable test, especially in the secondary. Anyway, I'm putting you on the bench in my leagues, but here's hoping you experience another first that many NFL players go through: proving me wrong on Sunday. (Cut to David Montgomery looking at me and pointing)

Baker Mayfield, Cleveland Browns (vs. Texans)
OK, quickly -- look, before Cleveland fans fly into a rage and congregate outside of my house with torches, demanding I show respect to their quarte- ... dammit, too late, they're already out there. CAN YOU PLEASE KEEP IT DOWN? I'M TRYING TO WRITE A COLUMN. (sigh) HONEY, CAN YOU GRAB MY TOOTHBRUSH? WE'RE GONNA HAVE TO SNEAK OUT THE BACK AGAIN. Anyway, where was I ... ah, yes ... Mayfield's inclusion on the Hate list isn't about me thinking he isn't good or that he'll have a bad game. This is about expected game flow. I just think everyone is going to see "Texans" on the schedule and assume he'll go off. And sure, that's always a possibility. But the Browns have a good defense. This is unlikely to be a shootout, and Cleveland is almost a two-touchdown favorite. Last season, in games in which the Browns were at least a touchdown favorite, Mayfield averaged just 25 passes per game and never ranked above QB20 in a week. All that is to say they will be able to run very effectively here, which means unless you are in a league where you get points for handing off, I have Baker just outside my top 15 this week. I expect another huge week from Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt. Mayfield can let it rip another day. HONEY?!? THEY'RE AT THE DOOR.

Running backs I love in Week 2

Najee Harris, Pittsburgh Steelers (vs. Raiders)
Did I predict that Harris would get a lot of work last Sunday? Yes, yes I did. Did I predict he would have fewer yards than fellow rookie Elijah Mitchell? No, no I did not. Was I disappointed in Harris' Week 1 fantasy performance? Yes, yes I was. Did I love the fact that Harris played 100% -- you read that right, 100% -- of the Steelers' offensive snaps last week? Yes, yes I did. Will I stop this annoying asking myself questions and then answering them bit? Maybe, maybe not. Here's the only thing I can say for sure: The Raiders are now traveling across the country for a 1 p.m. ET game on a short week. Considering how Ty'Son Williams and the Ravens just carved up the Raiders on the ground, do I believe all that playing time will result in Harris' first big fantasy performance as an NFL back on Sunday? Why yes, yes I do.

Antonio Gibson, Washington Football Team (vs. Giants)
Yes, he had a brutal fumble (I mean bru-tal) late in the game in Week 1, but still. He saw 88.5% of the team's RB touches and had a team-high 23.8% target share. So it's not just my rampant homerism that puts Gibson on the Love list this week. It's his workload and the player who will be handing him the ball on Thursday night, Taylor Heinicke. I actually really like Heinicke and think he's an interesting stash for deeper QB-needy teams. But with a short week to prepare, I expect Washington to lean on Gibson and the run game against a Giants squad that just gave up 146 rushing yards and 5.8 YPC to Denver in Week 1. Yes, fine, 70 of those yards came on one run by Melvin Gordon III, but seriously, how good a run defense can you be if you give up a 70-yard touchdown to Melvin Gordon? HTTWFT!

Kareem Hunt, Cleveland Browns (vs. Texans)
HONEY, ARE THEY STILL OUT THERE? Sigh. OK. Maybe this will help. The perception from most is that Hunt is the complementary back in Cleveland to Nick Chubb, the third-down and passing-down back, while Chubb gets the bulk of the carries and the goal-line work. But the data says it's almost an equal time-share. Hunt played just three fewer snaps than Chubb in Week 1. Dating back to last season, Hunt has at least one goal-to-go carry in six of his past eight games. Considering the tragi-comedy that is Houston's run defense, Chubb and Hunt are top-20 running backs for me this week -- and most weeks. So when you ask yourself "Chubb or Hunt?" take the advice of the famous meme girl/fantasy analyst: "Why not both?"

Others receiving votes: Damien Harris had a career-high 25 touches in Week 1 and 100% of New England's red zone carries. Was that Bill Belichick setting up the fantasy community to expect big things from Harris, only to bench him for in Week 2 because of that late fumble and then cut him from the team by Week 3? Umm, I hope not. If he gets on the field, I really like his chances against the Jets. ... After Raheem Mostert went down to injury in San Francisco's opener, Elijah Mitchell saw 90% of the running back touches. Yes, that means a team's likely RB1 was just sitting out there on the waiver wire this week. If you were lucky enough to land him, put him into your lineup immediately. And then watch Kyle Shanahan give 40 carries to Kyle Juszczyk. Always nerve-wracking, but I'm firing up Mitchell until Kyle gives us a reason not to. Philadelphia allowed 116 rushing yards and 4.8 YPC to Atlanta backs in Week 1. ... Detroit is a 10.5-point underdog this week. And probably next week, and the week after, and the week after that. And the week after that. But Detroit's misery can be your fantasy gain -- we talked about this all preseason -- by getting in on the Jamaal Williams pass-catching extravaganza. Williams had 17 touches and eight targets in Week 1, with Detroit backs getting 38.6% of the target share from Jared Goff. ... You're obviously starting Aaron Jones if you have him, but A.J. Dillon is worth consideration against the Lions, too. Since the start of last season, Detroit is tied for the most rushing touchdowns allowed to running backs and just gave up 127 yards and two touchdowns to San Francisco running backs on Sunday.

Running backs I hate in Week 2