5 Daily Fantasy Football Matchups to Exploit in Week 2

Arizona Cardinals' Passing Offense

It should be noted here that the New England Patriots would have received a nod were it not for projected 14 mile-per-hour winds and rain on Sunday. Jimmy Garoppolo was efficient in Week 1, and the Miami Dolphins' pass defense was wretched last year. If things clear up, you should be using assets in their passing offense. If not, the Arizona Cardinals are a fine alternative, even if they'll be bordering on chalky.

The reasoning here all boils down to the matchup with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Matt Ryan torched them for 334 yards and 2 touchdowns last week, and now they trek across the country to face a passing offense that was even more efficient last year. This is still going to be a defense we can exploit.

The Buccaneers were 28th in Adjusted Defensive Passing NEP per play in 2015, and they allowed guys like Case Keenum, Mark Sanchez, and Matt Hasselbeck to have fantasy-relevant weeks against them. It's probably not going out on a limb to say that Carson Palmer is better than that group.

Because of how he played in the playoffs last year, there may be a perception that Palmer is slipping. Week 1 seemed to dispel that notion a bit. Despite facing negative game flow against a quality defense, Palmer finished 12th for the week in Passing NEP per drop back. He gets a better matchup this week against a defense that has excelled against the run the past few years, funneling work to the passing game, and it sets up for Palmer in a week where he's not getting a ton of pub.

Larry Fitzgerald showed this week that he's still the top dog in the passing offense. He had 10 of the 37 targets -- three of which came in the red zone, with two inside the 10-yard line -- and played 96.7% of the snaps. He's a tremendous cash-game option in this matchup, and his red-zone involvement makes him solid for tournaments, too.

With John Brown's role still ambiguous, the only other true option to pair with Palmer is Michael Floyd. Floyd was a step below Fitzgerald with 7 targets and a 95.1% snap rate, but that could allow him to come in at lower ownership than Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald is likely still the better play overall, but Floyd certainly has his merits.