Week 1 Recap
Was that a crazy week or what? Like many others, I sat on my couch to enjoy our first week of football in quite a while. It was a rough week for many teams including a handful of my own fantasy squads. Many studs didn't produce, while some sleepers came into the picture and exploded. There is one important thing to remember after this week. It's only week 1, don't overreact with your players. It looked like multiple teams still need to shake off the offseason rust. We still have a long season to go. Below are my quick hits for a ton of players in every game in week 1. I have put the players in bold in order to sift through this article to your liking. Enjoy!
GB 10 @ CHI 3: This one was rough for both offenses. I think it was a mixture of it being the first game of the year and great defensive play. On the Bears side, I am a little worried about David Montgomery. I am very high on him but he just didn't see the field like I wanted. Although he looked like the better back by far. Be patient good things will happen with him. It does also look like Tarik Cohen will take a good chunk of reps from Anthony Miller, who was targeted one time. On the Packers side, Aaron Jones struggled as well. I am a little more worried about him than Montgomery. He has another tough game coming this week. The rest of the team should be fine but I was encouraged to see how much work Marquez Valdez-Scantling had. Lead the team in receiving yards and should continue operating as the WR2 on this team.
KC 40 @ JAX 26: Mahomes picked up where he left off. This team will again be one of the top offenses in the NFL. Tyreek Hill was injured in this game and could miss significant time. Sammy Watkins on the other hand, blew up with 3 touchdowns and 198 yards. I am holding onto him until we know more about Hill's injury. The biggest takeaway from the team was the RB situation. LeSean McCoy broke some pretty nice runs while Damien Williams struggled to get anything going. This looks to be a full out committee with Williams having more value in PPR leagues. With Hill injured, look for MeCole Hardman to get more playing time. He played in 78% of snaps in week 1. On the Jaguars side I thought Leonard Fournette looked good finishing with 13 carries for 66 yards. The biggest thing I saw was his 6 targets. He should be a high end RB 2 most weeks. Nick Foles looks to have broke his collarbone but rookie Gardner Minshew looked great in his absence. I won't be downgrading any Jaguars pass catchers just yet. My biggest dynasty stash, DJ Chark exploded in this game having 146 yards. Now it did come off of only 4 catches, but it was nice to see him producing. I think he has earned himself a starting role. I was expecting a better game from Dede Westbrook in this game but the touchdown saved him.
SF 31 @ TB 17: The talk about Dante Pettis in the offseason looks real. Only played 2 snaps but I am holding on for now. Jimmy Garoppolo still has some work to do after coming back from his ACL Tear last year. This offense hasn't looked in sync yet. George Kittle is still a top 3 TE option. I am hesitant to start anyone other than him at this point. Tevin Coleman was injured in this game, leaving Matt Breida to take over the backfield. I anticipated a timeshare here but Breida can begin to make his own case while Coleman is out. DeeBoo Samuel led the WR group in snaps and looks to be the WR1 on this team as of now, with Marquise Goodwin right behind him. Both could have value if the trend continues. Samuel may be a nice waiver pickup this week. Jameis Winston and the offense as a whole looked awful. Bruce Arians will have a lot of work to do. Winston was sacked 3 times and had 3 interceptions. He did have 2 touchdowns called back but it was a big miss by me this week. Ronald Jones actually looked pretty decent in this game while leading the team in rushing. I think he has a great opportunity to take over Peyton Barber's job. Be on the watch for Jones in the coming weeks. Both won't have much work in the passing game. Don't panic on Mike Evans at all. Better days are ahead. Chris Godwin looks the part of the Arians offense. He was targeted a team high 6 times and scored the only offensive touchdown. This offense needs some improvement in the coming weeks.
PHI 32 @ WAS 27: It was a rough start for Carson Wentz and company as they got down early. Things eventually turned around and Wentz finished 3 touchdowns. He is still at top 10 fantasy QB going forward. Looking at the RB it went about how I expected, but Mile Sanders actually got more work. Sanders led the timeshare in rushes and snaps. Darren Sproles was also used quite a bit in this game. I am off on Jordan Howard after seeing the distribution in snaps. Give it time with Sanders. DeSean Jackson showed he still can have those boom plays and with Wentz having a accurate deep ball, Jackson could be in for a huge year. I wouldn't be opposed to fielding some trade offers for him. Both him and Alshon Jeffery should be the only WR your looking at at this point. Zach Ertz had a slightly disappointing game but he had the 2nd most targets on the team. Buy low if you can. On the other side of the ball Case Keenum looked pretty good. He finished as a top 5 fantasy QB. Don't expect these numbers very often though. They didn't run the ball much and when they did it wasn't effective. Derrius Guice took over the role but seemed to have injure himself during the game. I'm hoping he can rebound at some point this season. Chris Thompson should see more work in his absence. He also had 10 targets. He should lead most waiver wire pickups. Rookie Terry McLaurin showed out in this one taking 7 targets for 125 yards and a score. I think he should be a viable WR3 but may be matchup dependent. Overall proceed with caution when pluging these players into your starting lineup.
ATL 12 @ MIN 28: The Vikings defense gave Matt Ryan trouble all day, sacking him 4 times and creating two interceptions. He still finished as the QB12 given the rough day. I'm not panicking. I am worried about Devonta Freeman. I saw him as a great value in drafts but didn't look the part on Sunday. He had 2 more carries than backup Ito Smith. Even with being worried, I will be trying to buy low on him if possible. Julio Jones got his normal double digit targets so there is no worry there. Like I've said this offseason, Mohamed Sanu is the WR2 on this team. He led the receiver core in snaps. Over Juilo Jones. He doesn't quite have the touchdown upside that Calvin Ridley does. I think both WR should have their up and down weeks throughout the season. Sanu is the much cheaper option. My favorite TE sleeper Austin Hooper showed up for me this week catching all 9 of his targets. He should be a every week starter. With the Vikings, the day went completely opposite. They stuck with their run first mentality, with Kirk Cousins not even throwing for 100 yards. He may be staying on my bench next week until I can see this team throw more. Dalvin Cook showed he can be a top 5 RB this season scoring two touchdowns. He looked great plain and simple. I am excited for a full year with him. For both Stefon Diggs and Adam Thielen, it was a rough game. This team only threw 10 times. Neither had more than 4 targets in this game. Diggs will probably be the easiest to buy low on, since Thielen scored a touchdown. If I had them, I am holding and hoping for the best.
BAL 59 @ MIA 10: This game got ugly quick. Lamar Jackson put on a clinic against this defense. I was definitely hesitant in starting him until I got a better idea of this offense. I had him as a top 10 QB this year and I think this is looking good. He was more accurate and weirdly barely ran the ball. I do see this as an outlier game as the dolphins are in full tank mode. Don't expect this every week. Mark Ingram went for 107 and 2 touchdowns but I see a down side here. Gus Edwards actually led the team in rushes with 17, 3 more than Ingram saw. It looks like it will be a full out committee. Even rookie Justice Hill had 7 rushes. I would personally be looking to trade away Ingram if you could get a great deal back. This WR core is going to be up and down with scoring it will be fairly hard to find out who Jackson will throw to. Marquise Brown led the group with only 5 targets. He will be a highly added player after getting 147 yards and two touchdowns but here is why I'm not going to be spending a lot to go get him, he only played in 18% of snaps. He did look great, but without more playing time, this won't happen often. The one guy who showed he could be very consistent is Mark Andrews. He took caught all 8 of his targets for over 100 yards. He will continue to be a safety blanket for Jackson. I am really impressed with his week one performance. If you need a TE and he is still out there, go get him. On the Miami side there honestly isn't much here. Everyone was bad. Kenyan Drake and Kalen Ballage combined for 11 rushing yards. Devante Parker looks to be the number one WR on this team but I really wouldn't feel confident starting anyone on this team going forward.
BUF 17 @ NYJ 16: Josh Allen wasn't great in this game, had some bad throws and turned the ball over 4 times. Usually he would help you in the ground game but he only had 38 yards. He is going to have to get his accuracy down before I'd be comfortable playing him. As expected Frank Gore lead the backfield with 11 rushes but the real story was rookie Devin Singletary. He was only given 4 carries but took them for 70 yards. He also was targeted 6 times. I see his role expending as the weeks go on. Out of the pass catchers there are really only 2 relevant ones right now. John Brown looked great in this one taking his 7 catches for 123 yards and a touchdown. Brown should be a popular waiver wire pickup. I think he could have a career year. Cole Beasley also should be looked at here as he had 9 targets. He will be more of a PPR threat but should continue to get work. Sam Darnold didn't turn the ball over as much as Allen but he still wasn't great. He did have a tough test against one of the best pass defenses in the league. He shouldn't be on your radar unless you are in two QB leagues. Le'Veon Bell had a decent showing taking his 23 touches for 93 yards. He will still be used a ton in the passing game, as he had 9 targets. He seemed to struggle to find room running the ball at times behind that line. Robby Anderson had a tough game as I expected catching only 3 of his 7 targets. He could continue to struggle as he has a tough slate of matchups in the coming weeks. Jamison Crowder is going to be a PPR machine plain and simple. He took 17 targets and caught 14 of them for 99 yards. He commanded a 41% target share which is absurd. It seemed like every throw was directed towards Crowder. He is going to continue to be Darnold's go to guy.
TEN 43 @ CLE 13: This is not how I expected this game to go. I give this win to the Titans defense. Marcus Mariota had a 58% completion percentage while throwing for 3 touchdowns. He looked better than most games last year. He was able to take advantage of great field position multiple times. Derek Henry also had a good showing scoring a 2 touchdowns, one on a 75 yard receiving play. I haven't been much of a fan of Henry but he had a great game here. In PPR leagues I would still look to trade him. Surprisingly Corey Davis failed to catch any of his 3 targets and was completely invisible in this game. It isn't looking promising for people expecting a breakout year. Rookie A.J. Brown seemed to be open for huge gains, catching 3 balls for 100 yards. I was actually pretty impressed with his debut game and look forward to seeing him lead this team. The best pass catcher on Sunday was Delaine Walker. He ended his day with two touchdowns. He could very well end up as a TE1 this season if he stays healthy. From 2014-2017 he had at least 800 yards each year. For Cleveland it was rough. Baker Mayfield was picked off in 3 straight series and was sacked 5 times. He couldn't get anything going. The hype may have been too much for this team. Nick Chubb was actually ok taking 17 carries for 75 yards. He is my main trade target this week for anyone panicking on this offense. It was good to see him get so much work in a game where they were constantly playing catch up. As for Odell Beckham, be patient. He will get rolling with Baker its only a matter of time. It was nice to see Jarvis Landry and David Njoku get 7 and 6 targets respectively. I am still a little weary of Landry long term. As for Njoku, it was good to see him find the endzone. He is still a top 10 TE. Be patient with this team.
LAR 30 @ CAR 27: Jared Goff was another one of the top QB options that dissapointed this week. He had plenty of scoring opportunities but the team constantly settled for either a FG or a rushing touchdown. The biggest worry on this team is Todd Gurley. He did play in 70% of the snaps but only had 14 carries to Malcolm Brown's 11. It looks like they will want to keep him healthy which is going to limit his work. Brown avoided tackles and actually looked really good. My fear is that this turns into a committee. The trio of Robert Woods, Brandin Cooks, and Cooper Kupp will be just fine. Woods led the team with 13 targets and looks to be the go to guy once again for Goff. The Panthers also struggled in this game, but was bailed out by an amazing performance by Christian McCaffrey. He had 29 touches for 209 all purpose yards. He will continue to be a top 3 back. Cam Newton looked ok but I didn't see many deep throws. I am hoping this was just an off week for him. D.J. Moore is the clear cut WR1 on this team. He came just behind McCaffrey in targets with 10. I've been team Moore over Curtis Samuel all offseason and it looks like I was on the right track. With McCaffrey, Moore, and Greg Olsen taking almost 79% of Cam's targets, there may not be as much work for Samuel as many had thought. If Olsen begins to catch more of his targets, he could be an every week starter.
CIN 20 @ SEA 21: The Bengals definitely gave it their all in this game. The 9 point underdogs almost pulled off the win. Andy Dalton was slinging it around ending his day with 418 yards and 2 touchdowns. He will continue to be a sleeper that will be on of the better streamers throughout the year. The offensive line struggled all day, which hurt Joe Mixon's production. He did get injured in this game and could miss some time. Goivani Bernard didn't have much success replacing Mixon. Bernard is a priority pickup this week. Tyler Boyd picked up where he was last year and should continue to be WR2 play going forward. The big surprise here was John Ross. It looks like I may have been a year too early on the guy. He just seemed to be open all the time. He has the speed and ability to be a difference maker on this team and he showed us that on Sunday. He also led the team with 12 catches. The Seahawks haven't changed so far. They will be a running team with Russell Wilson being very efficient. I don't think much changes with Wilson outlook wise. Chris Carson on the other hand really does look like the value of most fantasy drafts. Last year he wasn't involved in the passing game, but that has changed as he led the team in targets. One of the bigger surprises was how little Tyler Lockett was targeted. He only had 2 targets and caught one of them for 44 yards. Rookie D.K. Metcalf made a few mistakes but ended the game with the second most targets. If someone out there is worried about Lockett go make an offer. He will have better days.
IND 24 @ LAC 30: I am really impressed on how well Jacoby Brissett played this week. He only had 6 incompletions and threw 2 touchdowns. It looks like being in this system for a few years is paying off. With his solid outing, Marlon Mack was able to run everywhere. My problem with Mack this week was I believed this game would not be close. Game script was in his favor as he ran for 174 yards. He had zero targets, that is why gamescript will be so important for his success. T.Y. Hilton looks just fine in this offense. I am glad I stuck with him in drafts. I think this game is one side of the equation for this team. The pass catchers like Devin Funchess, Eric Ebron, and Jack Doyle suffered due the the low amount of pass attempts. It will be important to predict gamescript each week in determining plays from this team. On the other side of the ball Philip Rivers does what he always does. Over 300 yards and multiple touchdowns. Nothing new here. Austin Ekeler gained an advantage over Justin Jackson with a huge performance. Ekeler played 75% of snaps while Jackson only played 25%. I was expecting more of a closer time share but as of now I am holding Jackson and giving it another week or 2. Keenan Allen continued to be the WR1 on this team and looked great. Your happy if you drafted him. Mike Williams on the other hand was invisible. I have been anti-Williams for a while now and it looks like the right call. Hunter Henry is going to take targets as well as Allen and the RB. He is a boom or bust player with the majority of his games being busts.
NYG 17 @ DAL 35: It was tough sledding for the Gaints this week, but we expected that right? Eli Manning had to throw all game long to keep up the surprising high powered Cowboys offense. This is going to be a common theme here. No one should be starting Eli going forward. Saquon Barkley had a good game here, taking his 11 carries and going for 120 yards. He was also targeted 6 times. He is still a top 3 back. Sterling Shepard has been placed in concussion protocol and could miss next weeks game. Keep an eye out. If Shepard does miss this game, it is worth noting that Cody Latimer had the second highest target share on the team. Although, I don't really want anything to do with the rest of this receiving core other than Even Engram. He had a team high 14 targets and should continue to be the focal point of the passing game. On the Cowboys side, they looked great. Dak Prescott was slinging the ball everywhere. He ended with over 400 yards and 4 touchdowns. He should continue his success next week against the Redskins. Kellen Moore, the new offensive coordinator has really made a difference for this offense. Ezekiel Elliot split carries with Tony Pollard in this game but I wouldn't be worried here. They are just easing him in. He outsnapped Pollard by a nice margin. Amari Cooper could be a complete stud if this offense keeps up. It would be a big miss by me as I avoided him in all drafts. With a team high 9 targets, he should also benefit from this new offense. One of my favorite sleepers, Michael Gallup exploded this week for 158 yards. I do think this offense will be able to support at least 2 fantasy WR. He looked great and I am excited for what seems to be a breakout year. Another guy to keep an eye on is Randall Cobb. He scored in this game but his snap % is what interests me. He played just 4 snaps less than Amari Cooper.
DET 27 @ARI 27: This game looked over early on as the Lions defense took control. Matthew Stafford had himself a nice day, throwing for 385 yards and 3 touchdowns. He was a solid streamer this week with how bad the Cardinals secondary is. It was a disappointing game for my guy Kerryon Johnson. He had 18 touches, which was a good sign but he couldn't get anything going. I am not worried about this team not making him the workhorse back and the snap % proves that. Kenny Golladay was on the receiving end of one of Stafford's 3 touchdowns but that's about all he did. I was expecting a much better game. The real production came from Danny Amendola and rookie T.J. Hockenson. Amendola was targeted a team high 13 times. He looks to be a solid PPR flex play if he continues to get this amount of work. The headline of this team is Hockenson. His 131 yards was the most by a rookie TE in league history. He is surely going to be a priority for many teams waiver pickups. Kyler Murray and the Cardinals offense looked bad during this game. They finally started to pick it up in the second half which is promising for the weeks to come. His NFL debut ended with over 300 yards and 2 touchdowns. I think they get on track within the next few weeks. David Johnson is finally being used like he should be. No more runs up the middle for every single play. Out of his 18 rushes, not one went for a loss. He was also used heavily in the passing game. Top 5 RB is not out of the question. A lot of peoples favorite breakout player Christian Kirk got plenty of looks in this game, getting 12 targets. He only was able to bring down 4 of them, but that is a great sign for the future. Larry Fitzgerald led the team in receiving and looked like the future hall-of-fame star he is. He still got it. Fitz is shaping up to be a great late round value in fantasy drafts. Surprisingly rookie Keesean Johnson had 10 targets to himself. I don't see this as an every week thing, but it is definitely something to watch. This is going to be one of the fastest moving offenses in the league.
PIT 3 @ NE 33: As a Pats fan, man was this game fun to watch. Tom Brady demolished this Steelers secondary, throwing for 341 yards and 3 touchdowns. It is always hard to predict if the Patriots will go run or pass heavy. In this case it was the passing game. That hurt Sony Michel's numbers as he ran 15 times for only 14 yards. It was a tough game for him but hold if you have him. He is one of my favorite trade targets this week. James White and Rex Burkhead had at least 7 targets each, but I don't believe that will be an every week thing. I do think 2 of these 3 RB will have weekly value, it is just finding out who. Philip Dorsett was the leader out of the receiving core with 95 yards and two scores. He shouldn't be on a major waiver wire option as Antonio Brown will join the team this week. Julian Edelman is still the same old guy. He again led the team in targets. Josh Gordon acted as a down field threat and also scored in this game. With Antonio Brown returning, I think it will hurt the production of Rex Burkhead and Josh Gordon. Not much to say on the Steelers side of the ball. Ben Roethlisberger struggled once again on the road in Foxboro. He was one of my sits for the week. James Connor didn't get much work on the ground but that was because of game script. Really the only player that was fine on this team was Juju Smith-Schuster with 78 yards. James Washington looked to be the better WR compared to Donte Moncrief. Even Vance McDonald struggled in this game. He was a popular breakout candidate but it has not panned out yet. Give this team some time. It was week one don't panic on these guys just yet.
HOU 28 @ NO 30: This was one of the best games on this slate. If you haven't seen it go check out the highlights. DeShaun Watson was accurate and had some huge plays in this game. I feel great about having him as my overall QB1 on the season. There was definitely a RB timeshare on this team. Both Carlos Hyde and Duke Johnson looked pretty good. I was very surprised on how well Hyde actually ran the ball. Duke did play in 16 more snaps than Hyde did and was used more in the passing game. I still have Duke leading this backfield. DeAndre Hopkins was DeAndre Hopkins. 8 catches for 111 yards and 2 scores. My WR1 on the year. Other than him, Kenny Stills and Will Fuller didn't get heavily targeted but both had huge plays in this game. I will continue to have Fuller over Stills even though Stills had a score in this game. The Saints played like we are used to seeing. Drew Brees was great throwing for almost 400 yards and had 3 touchdowns. Alvin Kamara lead the backfield, while getting the second most targets on the team. It doesn't look like Latavius Murray somewhat took over the Mark Ingram role, but only had 6 carries. He did look pretty good in this offense, even scoring a touchdown. He is going to have stand alone value all year. Looking at the receiving core, Michael Thomas had his usual team leading game with 10 catches for 123 yards. I was interested to see if there was going to be a battle for the WR2 spot but it looks like Ted Ginn has a firm grasp over Tre'Quan Smith. Ginn caught all 7 of his targets for 101 yards while Smith had only 2 targets. They both played a similar snap percentage so time will tell if this is to change.
DEN 16 @ OAK 24: I think there are only a few players in these two teams that can be started in a week to week basis. Joe Flacco should remain on the waiver wire after throwing 268 yards and one touchdown. So far it looks like I was correct on the RB split as Royce Freeman had 10 carries, while Philip Lindsay at 11 carries for 43 yards. He did add 4 catches through the year. They had a 4 snap difference. Lindsay is still looking like a bust at his ADP. Emmanuel Sanders is proving everyone including me wrong. I thought he was done after his Achilles injury. He was on the other end of Flacco's only passing touchdown. I was also surprised by Courtland Sutton, who led the team with 8 targets for 7 catches and 120 yards. He really looked good. I have been down on him all offseason, but looks to have kept his job over DaeSean Hamilton. The Raiders got up first and kept the lead. This allowed Josh Jacobs to get a substantial workload. He had 23 carries for 85 yards and 2 touchdowns. This gamescript won't always happen, but it was good to see they gave him the full workload. Only two pass catchers look to be relevant in this offense. Tyrell Williams looks to be a top 30 WR on the year. He caught 6 balls for 105 yards and looked great. He should continue to get a high number of targets each game. He also is a downfield threat that could stretch the field on any play. The other guy is TE Darren Waller. I liked him alot during the offseason and he seems to have taken over the Jared Cook role in this offense. He led the team in targets and don't be surprised if he finishes as at least a top 15 TE this year.