Week 2 Power Rankings
If there’s a recurring theme to the second week of the regular season, it’s often injuries. As I scroll back through Week 2s of seasons past, it’s a topic that recurs with unfortunate frequency. And this year is no different. Yes, we lost Aaron Rodgers last week. But this week, we lost Austin Ekeler, Saquon Barkley and—most devastatingly—Nick Chubb. All were top-14 picks in this year’s Worst League draft. While Ekeler and Barkley’s absences are hopefully short-lived, Chubb is officially out for the season. Brutal.
Where does this rank among the worst injuries in Worst League history? Back in 2020, I did a deep dive and came up with this list:
David Johnson, 2017, 1 game played (Alex)
Le’Veon Bell, 2018, 0 games (Geoff)
Adrian Peterson, 2016, 3 games (Brandon)
Adrian Peterson, 2014, 1 game (Terryn)
Maurice Jones-Drew, 2012, 6 games (Greco)
Jamaal Charles, 2011 and 2015, 2 and 5 games (Erik)
Leonard Fournette, 2018, 8 games (Gray)
Odell Beckham Jr., 2017, 4 games (Trevor)
A.J. Green, 2016, 10 games (Geoff)
Aaron Rodgers, 2013, 9 games (Nick)
Since then, we’ve had eight more first-round picks miss substantial time (playing fewer than 10 games) in the last three years.
Saquon Barkley, 2020, 2 games (Whitney)
Christian McCaffrey, 2020, 3 games (Nick)
Joe Mixon, 2020, 6 games (Samantha)
Michael Thomas, 2020, 7 games (Alex)
Julio Jones, 2020, 9 games (Greco)
Christian McCaffrey, 2021, 7 games (Nick, traded to Gray)
Derrick Henry, 2021, 8 games (Brandon)
Cooper Kupp, 2022, 9 games (Gray)
Of those, I would definitely say Barkley and McCaffrey’s 2020 injuries were especially memorable considering they were taken with the first two picks in the draft and suffered season-ending injuries almost immediately. They both have an argument to be among the top-five worst injuries in league history along with David Johnson, Le’Veon Bell (technically a contract holdout, not an injury) and Adrian Peterson.
Now we add to that group Nick Chubb. Technically, he was a second-round pick, not a first-rounder like the guys above. But, it’s no less tough a loss, which probably now ranks somewhere just outside that top five. And notably, it’s the second time Alex is the victim.
But the good news? Sure that list of injury-afflicted teams includes some of the Worst’s worst all time (Nick in 2020 went 1-12 after losing McCaffrey; Geoff in 2018 went 3-10 without Bell). But several of the team owners above still managed to make the playoffs. And both Geoff (2016) and Greco (2012) won it all despite losing their first-round picks. So don’t lose faith yet. Anything is possible.
Alright, let’s check out the Power Rankings…
Last year’s regular season Power Rankings leader, Brandon, moves into first place.
In Week 2, teams piled on the points, averaging 120.7 ppg this week, up 14.8 ppg from the last. Nick and Greco lead the standings at 2-0. But there are a whopping eight 1-1 teams. It’s the most early-season parity since 2018 when 10 out of 12 teams started 1-1. Meanwhile, Jess and Samantha have the unenviable task of starting 0-2. But at least one of them has been there before. More on that, plus more observations below:
After finishing first in the final Power Rankings of 2022, Brandon is back at #1.
He and Chelsie are the only two team owners to finish in the top half of the league in scoring in each of the first two weeks.
With CeeDee Lamb, Keenan Allen and Calvin Ridley, Chelsie leads all team owners with 31.0 receptions per game and a league-high 55.8 ppg from WRs.
Despite waiting the longest to draft a WR (Mike Evans, 59th pick), Alex ranks third in WR scoring with 50.7 ppg. If not for the injury to Chubb, this team was looking like a juggernaut. And it still might be...
With her loss to Brandon, Beth Ann had a five-game winning streak snapped, which dated back to Week 11 of last year.
Now the longest active win streak belongs to Greco with three wins in a row, which includes her final regular season game of 2022 plus her 2-0 start this year.
This is Greco’s first 2-0 start since 2020—the last year she made the playoffs.
Speaking of 2-0 teams, despite a disappointing start for Ja’Marr Chase (8.6 ppg) and J.K. Dobbins (out for the year), Nick is finding ways to win. He’s the early leader in points from free agents thanks in part to a big game from Kyren Williams, scooped off waivers prior to Week 1.
Erik and Josh finished 1-2 in scoring in Week 1 but 11-12 in scoring in Week 2.
Geoff was the eighth team owner to draft a QB but after two weeks ranks first in QB scoring with 25.7 ppg thanks to Deshaun Watson and Daniel Jones.
Moral victory for Jess this week who had the only “unlucky loss” of the week. She moves into a tie for eighth despite her 0-2 start. No Austin Ekeler (ankle), Cooper Kupp and Jonathan Taylor, but Tee Higgins and T.J. Hockenson looked much better.
We noted it last week. But after losing in Week 2, Samantha is now 0-2 for the sixth straight year. She has NEVER won a game in the first two weeks.
Samantha’s career record Weeks 1-2: 0-12
Samantha’s career record Weeks 3+: 41-25 (W% = .621)
Gray’s league-best career record: 106-66-2 (W% = .615)
In other words, Samantha > Gray >>> everyone else after Week 2.
Reminder that despite her slow starts, Samantha has the highest playoff rate (80%).
Currently tied for 11th, the last time Gray was this low in the Power Rankings was Week 1 of 2019 when he started 12th. Of course that year, he finished 9-4 and won his second championship.
That’s it for Week 2. Here’s to fewer injuries in Week 3 and beyond.
