Mike Davis (RB, CHI) - Week 2 Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in 14-Team PPR Leagues

OWNED IN: 15% of Leagues

ANALYSIS: While all the Bears talk of the offseason was about rookie David Montgomery, it was former Seahawks running back Mike Davis who saw the most usage in Chicago's season-opening loss to the Green Bay Packers.

Davis carried the ball five times for 19 yards, while Montgomery had six carries for 18, but the big difference was in the passing game, where Davis was targeted seven times, bringing in six of those for 17 yards. Davis was on the field for 56 percent of Chicago's offensive snaps, while Montgomery played just 38 percent of them.

The amount of targets Davis received are what intrigue me the most. Virtually everyone expected Tarik Cohen to be the team's pass-catching back, but Cohen spent Thursday night playing almost exclusively out of the slot. Per NextGenStats, Cohen lined up in the backfield just twice in this game. There was talk last year of head coach Matt Nagy wanting to use Cohen more like Tyreek Hill, who he coached in Kansas City, and lining Cohen up as a wide receiver is one way of altering his usage.

If this trend continues, room opens up for Davis to serve as a safety valve near the line of scrimmage for quarterback Mitch Trubisky. Trubisky struggled with his downfield accuracy on Thursday and if he continues to struggle when it comes to completing long passes, he'll need to supplement that with more and more short-yardage throws. That's where Davis comes in.

Last year for Seattle, Davis was targeted 42 times, catching 81 percent of those targets for 214 yards and a touchdown. Davis has the ninth-best catch rate among running backs, and the Bears can take advantage of that by getting him the ball. Thursday showed that there might not be a ton of open space for Davis to work with once that ball gets to him, but in PPR and half-PPR leagues, the catches themselves give Davis value in this offense.

He's not a league winner, but teams that are in early trouble because of injuries and/or suspensions can get some solid usage out of Davis early in the year. David Montgomery will likely assert himself in a larger way as the season goes along, but for now Davis being on your fantasy roster makes plenty of sense. Thursday likely represented a low point for the Bears offensively, and if you believe in that saying that a "rising tide lifts all boats," then you should assume that Davis will have better per play efficiency numbers moving forward this year as well.