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It's Week 2 and there have been some surprises already this season, not the least of which is James Conner (RB) of the Steelers who started 2018 off with a bang after Le'Veon Bell's holdout kept him from starting the season on the stat sheet. Other breakout performances from week 1 will require a little more consistency to climb up in the rankings, but it's generally worth a roster spot or two to hold on to a guy who may be the next Alvin Kamara or Victor Cruz (Phillip Lindsay is a good example early this season). Some players that I have ranked above other experts this week include Alex Smith, Jalen Richard, and Chris Godwin.  Good luck and feel free to reach out on Twitter at @drinkfive with your lineup questions. Cheers!

Week 1 is finally here! We've had enough time off, right? I, for one, have been looking forward to the opening game of the 2018 season (Falcons at Eagles) for months now, and in the meantime have tweaked my rankings algorithms to continue to provide you with some of the most accurate fantasy football advice available on the web on a weekly basis. This particular week, remove Le'Veon Bell from your lineups and do anything you can to pick up James Conner and play him. He has a lot to prove and may be auditioning on Sunday for a starring role in the Steelers' high-flying offense. Other notable suggested starts include James White, Kenny Stills, Tyler Eifert, and the Tennessee Titans. Good luck and feel free to reach out on Twitter at @drinkfive with your lineup questions. Cheers!

Welcome back! We're headed full speed into the 2018 draft season, and before the NFL kicks off in just a couple of weeks, you need to reacquaint yourself with the world of fantasy football. Tune in to the drinkive podcast throughout the season and make sure to follow the rankings of your favorite fantasy experts (which hopefully also includes us here at drinkfive.com!) to stay on top of your league(s). Best of luck!

It's hard to break out as a star in the NFL at any time, much harder as a rookie, and there's a whole extra degree of difficulty added when you're on a team in chaos like the Washington Redskins in 2017. Management upheaval, refusal to commit long-term to your quarterback (Kirk Cousins), and a lack of proven depth at important skilled positions (wide receiver, running back) made sure that the Redskins would have a losing record last season. Samaje Perine was drafted by the Skins in 2017, and enjoyed much success in College at Oklahoma - going down in history as the school's all-time leading rusher with 4,122 yards and in the process beating out the inimitable Adrian Peterson's former record (4,045). It makes sense, then, that Perine would be able to quickly take over the job in Washington and run with it. 

Read comments from Rich Tandler, Redskins Blogger and NBC Sports Washington correspondent: Need to Know: Five Redskins who must step up in 2018

He did, in fact, get handed the reins early on in the season when Rob Kelley went out in Week 2 with a rib injury, but poor average YPC (yards per carry) in subsequent games along with the return of incumbent starter Kelley, forced the coaches to rethink their depth chart. Perine's big break in 2017 occurred after Kelley suffered a high-ankle sprain and sprained MCL in Week 10 and then Chris Thompson broke his leg in Week 11. With both of the usual suspects sidelined, Perine was able to carve out a few successful games even behind an injured offensive line and was also a small presence in the passing game throughout. 

The Redskins have since traded for QB Alex Smith and signed him to a four-year, $94M extension, they will have $36 Million in salary cap space to sign some help at wide receiver, and the offensive line should start off the new season healthy. No one expects that the Skins will be a competitor to win their division (the Eagles & Cowboys won't be backing down anytime soon), but they can be much improved from their 7-9 record in 2017 and Perine could be a solid RB2 going forward (think a stronger, but slower Michael Turner for comparison).

Chris Thompson is an exciting RB on the Redskins and should continue to be, but he is not the goal-line back there and can not physically hold up to a large workload. Although Perine's YPC over the season was not an impressive number, much of that was due to a weak, injury-ridden offensive line that should be improved in the upcoming season and his average YPC was still better than Rob Kelley's. Finally, there was a serious lack of consistent downfield threats on the offense until Crowder and Doctson started to come on more in the second half of the season. Getting rid of Terrelle Pryor and trying to sign a talented wide receiver in free agency (Paul Richardson, Sammy Watkins, Donte Moncrief, to name a few) should open up some holes for Perine to capitalize on and increase the number of goal-line opportunities that this offense has each week.