Fantasy Football players should give Jamaal Williams a second chance in Week 2

Thanks to the Tennessee Titans' staunch defensive front, the New Orleans Saints took to the air a ton in Week 1. Michael Thomas, Chris Olave, and Rashid Shaheed all turned in strong fantasy football performances while running back Jamaal Williams quickly became the victim of circumstance.

The Saints were simply unable to move the ball on the ground in Week 1. Williams had 18 carries for 45 yards (2.5 YPC), and 11 of those yards came on the former Packer's last carry of the game. The efficiency was brutal for a player expected to have a strong game with very little competition for touches, but that's also the encouraging thing. Williams would be hard pressed to have a worse game on the ground, and still owned a route participation of 63 percent in the Saints' air attack.

Even if rookie Kendre Miller (hamstring) returns for Week 2, it's hard to imagine him significantly eating into Williams' snaps coming off of an injury. Tony Jones played just 11 percent of the Saints' snaps in Week 1, and their Week 2 showdown with the Carolina Panthers presents an extremely friendly matchup for Williams.

The Panthers are coming off of a road loss to the Atlanta Falcons where they allowed a duo of Tyler Allgeier and Bijan Robinson to gash them for 129 rushing yards and two scores on 25 attempts. Both backs owned a YPC north of 5.0 in a game where Kyle Pitts and Drake London combined for two receptions.

Olave and Thomas are substantially better than Pitts and London, for fantasy purposes and otherwise, and that in and of itself could leave more work for Williams. The ex-Detroit Lion could once again assume a bellcow role, and either run rampant against Carolina all day or check in for cleanup duty if Carr and co. can put the game out of reach early.

In other words, fantasy owners need to give Williams a second chance. There is only this week and next week remaining before the suspended Alvin Kamara returns, and from there we don't know when Williams will be a viable weekly starter in fantasy again this season, if at all. The matchup could not be better, and the 28-year-old is now in a prime position to make it up to his fantasy owners in Week 2.