Fantasy Football Week 2 waiver wire candidate: Lions wide receiver DJ Chark

 DJ Chark recovered from a rough start and scored a touchdown in Week 1, but does that make him a top fantasy waiver wire add for Week 2?

His Lions’ debut did not start well, with a couple drops. But DJ Chark recovered to finish with four reception (on eight targets, second on the team) for 52 yards and a touchdown. The touchdown was a fine play, on the throw and the catch.

During his best season with the Jacksonville Jaguars, which still feels like longer ago than 2019 (73 catches for 1,008 yards and nine touchdowns), Chark was a top-20 fantasy wide receiver (WR16 in standard scoring). After that, injuries and dismal quarterback play turned his career downward in Jacksonville.

Upon signing with the Lions, Chark talked about the culture fit. How he’d fit with Jared Goff, who isn’t exactly a downfield gunslinger, was a different question. Eventually in the season opener, the rapport between the two got better.

Fantasy Football Waiver Wire Week 2: Add DJ Chark?

That Chark bested T.J. Hockenson in targets against the Eagles may have been driven by late comeback mode, and the need for bigger chunks of yardage. But it’s broadly a good sign for Chark’s role in the Lions’ passing game, even a little bit more down the pecking order for targets some weeks.

Detroit’s Week 2 opponent, the Washington Commanders, allowed the fourth-most yards to wide receivers in Week 1 (226). So if Chark can get free deep a couple times and Goff connects with him, he could deliver some yardage on relatively low opportunity volume. His ESPN projection–3.5 catches, 6.1 targets and 50.6 yards–certainly reflects that.

Chark is more-widely rostered in fantasy leagues than likely expected (41 percent of Yahoo! leagues, 49.6 percent of ESPN leagues as of Tuesday night).

Chark can be considered a high-upside, low-floor flex play for Week 2 against the Commanders, just as likely to post five catches for 110 yards and two touchdowns as he is two catches for 18 yards. In fact, that’ll be most weeks for him until shown otherwise–high upside, low floor; boom or bust.

All of that said, even just to tuck away on the bench, Chark is a viable waiver wire add this week as a WR4/WR5 in leagues with 12 or more teams.