Fantasy Football Recap – Week 1

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Week 1 of the NFL football season is finally here! No more mock drafts, no more watching training camp for news of your players, all 32 teams have played their first game.

So which players lived up to the hype? Which players under performed? We will look at all of that in our week 1 fantasy football recap!

Stock Up

Quarterbacks

Aaron Rodgers – Green Bay Packers

The big news out of Green Bay this offseason was the team drafting quarterback Jordan Love with their first round pick instead of drafting a wide receiver to help out current quarterback Aaron Rodgers.

Looks like that didn’t matter to Rodgers, as he threw for 364 yards on 32-44 passing, plus 4 touchdowns with the receivers he already had, namely Davante Adams. If the Packers were looking to move on at the quarterback position, they may be rethinking that idea now.

Russell Wilson – Seattle Seahawks

The question in Seattle is whether the Seahawks can win a Super Bowl with Wilson running the show. The two Super Bowl appearances that the team has made in recent memory were based on the Legion of Boom defense and a strong running game led by Marshawn Lynch.

Wilson has done his part in dispelling the idea that he cannot lead his team to Super Bowl glory, throwing for 322 yards on 32-35 passing, 4 touchdowns of his own, and added 29 rushing yards on 3 carries. Will this lead to success in the postseason? Possibly, but it did help the Seahawks start the new season 1-0

Josh Allen – Buffalo Bills

Josh Allen continues his growth as he led his team to an opening day win. Granted it was against the New York Jets, who have not been competitive in many years. He finished the game with 312 yards passing with 2 touchdowns and an additional 57 yards rushing with a rushing touchdown as well.

He did have a few mistakes, including 2 lost fumbles, but if he continues his growth the Bills will be contending sooner than later.

Honorable Mention

Matt Ryan had a solid game in a loss against the Seahawks, throwing for 450 yards and 2 touchdowns; Lamar Jackson continued his excellence from his MVP season a year ago, leading his team to a dominating performance against the Cleveland Browns, throwing for 275 yards and 3 scores, plus 45 yards rushing; Cam Newton had a solid performance in his first game in New England, only throwing for 155 yards on 19 pass attempts but had 15 rushes for 75 yards and 2 rushing touchdowns which was plenty to put away the Miami Dolphins; Mitchell Trubiski overcame a poor showing in the first three quarters, throwing 3 touchdowns in the 4th quarter in a comeback win against division rival Detroit.

Wide Receivers

Davante Adams – Green Bay Packers

Seems like Adams is all Aaron Rodgers needs, or at least he did on Sunday against the Vikings. Targeted 17 times, catching 14 of them, for 156 yards and 2 touchdowns is a nice way to start off the new season!

Adam Thielen – Minnesota Vikings

On the other sideline Sunday was Vikings receiver Adam Thielen, who is coming off of a disappointing season in which he missed 6 games due to injury and finished with only 418 receiving yards after 3 consecutive seasons of at least 950 yards receiving.

Thielen took advantage of Stefon DIggs leaving for Buffalo, catching 6 of his 8 targets for 110 yards, plus 2 touchdowns and a 2-point conversion to finish his scoring.

Calvin Ridley – Atlanta Falcons

While Julio Jones did his thing, Ridley managed to get plenty of targets as well, with 12 and catching 9 of them for 130 yards. Ridley scored two touchdowns as well, and with the Falcons probably going to be playing from behind often this year, there should be plenty of passes to go around.

Honorable Mention

Robbie Anderson was targeted 8 times, catching 6 of them for 115 yards and a touchdown, although 75 of those yards did come on one incredible catch and run for his touchdown. Jamison Crowder may play for the New York Jets, but he is the undisputed top receiver on the team, allowing him to have 13 targets and 7 catches for 115 yards and a touchdown. Deandre Hopkins didn’t get into the end zone in his debut with the Arizona Cardinals, but he did catch 14 passed on 16 targets and finished with 151 yards. Most importantly, his team won against the defending NFC champions, the San Francisco 49ers. Robert Woods had a nice game for the Los Angeles Rams, finishing with 105 yards on 6 catches, adding a 14 yard rush as well. Most of the action came in the first half, but he does look like Jared Goff’s favorite target.

Running Backs

Josh Jacobs – Las Vegas Raiders

Jacobs missed 3 of the last 4 games last year after starting his rookie season off with a bang, rushing for 1,150 yards in just 13 games. He picked up right where he left off, scoring 3 times and getting 93 yards on 25 attempts while adding 4 catches for another 46 yards. He will be one of the top running back of the year.

Clyde Edwards-Helaire – Kansas City Chiefs

There was a lot of hype concerning Edwards-Helaire coming into his rookie season out of LSU, especially after fellow running back Damien Williams opted out of the season due to Covid-19.

He lived up to the hype, rushing for 138 yards on 25 carries, including 1 touchdown. That could have been more, as he was stuffed behind the line multiple times when the Chiefs were near the goal line, but the future is bright for Clyde Edwards-Helaire.

Raheem Mostert – San Francisco 49ers

Many wondered if his playoff run a year ago was a fluke, but if the first game of the season is any indication it was not. He only had 15 carries for 56 yards, but complemented that with 4 catches for 95 yards, including a 76- yard touchdown on the games second possession.

Mostert had 19 touches out of 30 for the running backs on the team, which is a good sign, and also had 2 more opportunities to score later in the game. Mostert is looking like a RB1, play him with confidence.

Honorable Mention

Ezekiel Elliot did what he does, rushing for 96 yards and a touchdown to go with 3 catches for 31 yards and another touchdown through the air. Malcolm Brown showed that he would still be a factor in the Rams backfield, even with the addition of Cam Akers, the rookie out of Florida State. Brown played 20 more snaps than Akers, rushing 18 times for 79 yards and 2 short touchdown runs. He also had 3 catches for 31 yards, as he was the main third down back. This may be a sell high situation for Malcolm Brown owners, because it does seem like the Rams want to get Cam Akers going, but for now Brown will be a big part of the offense.

Tight Ends

Dallas Goedert – Philadelphia Eagles

When you play on the same team as perennial top-3 tight end Zach Ertz, you normally do not get many targets. Goedert did on opening day, however, catching 8 of his 9 targets for 101 yards and a touchdown. Although his team did not have the best day, losing to the Washington Football Team 27-17 after being up 17-0, Goedert had a promising start to the season.

T.J. Hockenson – Detroit Lions

Hockenson caught all 5 of his targets for 56 yards for the Lions, as they controlled most of the game before a big comeback from the Chicago Bears. He was double teamed often, with teammate Kenny Golladay out, but did get a touchdown, and looks to be a TE1 moving forward.

Logan Thomas – Washington Football Team

Thomas has been getting lots of praise from his coaches in Washington, but not much from the rest of the league. That could change soon, as he was targeted 8 times, only Terry McLaurin had more. He caught 4 of them for 37 yards, and turned one of them into a touchdown. Look for Thomas to move up the tight end ranks as the season continues.

Honorable Mention

Jimmy Graham was instrumental in the Bears comeback win against the Lions, scoring one of the three 4th quarter touchdown passes from Trubiski, and taking another catch to the 1-yard line. He only caught 3 of the 7 passes thrown his way, but if he and Trubiski get on the same page he could have his best season since New Orleans. Jared Cook will have many games this season where he sees a lot of targets due to the defenses paying attention to Micheal Thomas and Alvin Kamara, as he did Sunday. Catching 5 of his 7 targets for 80 yards, Cook will be involved heavily in the offense all year. Hunter Henry connected with new quarterback Tyrod Taylor 5 times for 73 yards, which was only behind Mikle Williams in targets and led the team in receiving yards. Henry is in a contract season so look for him to be involved early and often from week to week.

Stock Down

Quarterbacks

Carson Wentz – Philadelphia Eagles

Early in the game, everything was going just great for Wentz and the Eagles. But eventually the Football Team from Washington soon realized they were without offensive lineman Lane Johnson, and simply overpowered the Eagles, sacking Wentz 8 times, making him lose 1 fumble, and causing 2 interceptions.

If the Eagles can not figure out how to give Wentz more time to throw the ball, this could be a long season for a team that won the Super Bowl only 3 years ago.

Philip Rivers – Indianapolis Colts

In his first game with the Colts, Rivers did throw for a hefty 363 yards and a touchdown. Unfortunately he also threw 2 interceptions that kept the Jaguars on the game, which they would eventually win, upsetting the Colts.

Fortunately for Rivers, they have the Minnesota Vikings next on the schedule, who just got lit up by Aaron Rodgers and the Packers.

Baker Mayfield – Cleveland Browns

I do not think anybody expected the Browns to be able to win against the Ravens, but this game was rough to watch. Mayfield completed 20 of 38 passes for 18 yards and 1 touchdown, and 1 interception. His only connected with his top receiver, Odell Beckham Jr. 3 times for 22 yards as the Browns lost 38-6 against their division rivals.

Also Avoid

Tyrod Taylor had an efficient game against the Cincinnati Bengals Sunday, completing 16 of 30 passes for 208 yards and no touchdowns, but also no interceptions. He may have better numbers next week against the Chiefs, since it is very probably that they will be far behind, but based on what we saw from Deshaun Watson last Thursday night against the Chiefs I would stay away from Taylor for now. Ryan Fitzpatrick wasn’t expected to do much against New England, though with many Patriots defenders opting out for the season he should have been able to do a little more. Instead, he completed 20 of his 30 passes, only 191 yards and no touchdowns, while throwing 3 interceptions. Jared Goff had a good game from a yardage perspective, throwing for 275 yards, but did not have any touchdown passes and 1 interception, ending up with barely over 10 fantasy points. In what looks like a running offense, Goff may end up leading his team to many wins this season, but it does not look like he will be in the upper echelon of fantasy quarterbacks.

Wide Receivers

Odell Beckham Jr. – Cleveland Browns

When your quarterback struggles as much as Baker Mayfield did, it is hard to have a good game as a wide receiver. Even though he was targeted 10 times, he only caught 3 of them, for 22 yards. Until the offense starts flowing a little better I would stay away from Beckham.

Randall Cobb – Houston Texans

I know that I expected a lot more out of Cobb in his first game with the Texans. Unfortunately, he did not even see his first target until the 4th quarter, and only finished with 3, catching two of them for 23 yards. Keep away from Cobb until Watson realizes he is on the team.

Tyler Boyd – Cincinnati Bengals

A lot of the reports coming out of the Bengals training camp said that he and Joe Burrow had developed a great rapport, so even though AJ Green was coming back from injury that kept him out the entire 2019 season Boyd was expected to have nice numbers.

That did not turn out to be the case Sunday, with Green almost doubling Boyd in targets, 9 to 5, and Boyd only finishing with 33 yards on 4 catches. Keep Boyd on the bench until you see some life in the Cincinnati offense.

Also Avoid

Michael Thomas was not having a great game Sunday already, then he rolled his ankle blocking for Latavius Murray, and suffered a high-ankle sprain. He says he is going to play through it, but he only had 3 catches for 17 yards before hurting his ankle, so hopefully you didn’t take Thomas with your first round pick. N’Keal Harry was expected by some to break out in his second season in New England, but only finished with 39 yards on 5 catches, and lost a fumble. If the Patriots throw the ball more as the season progresses Harry could have some fantasy value, but as of now he is a touchdown dependent WR4/5. Desean Jackson is being eased into the Eagles game plan, and only finished with 2 catches on 7 targets, but did get 46 yards out of those 2 catches. Hopefully his usage will increase in future weeks, putting Jackson back in the WR2 discussion.

Running Backs

Austin Ekeler – Los Angeles Chargers

Ekeler lost 12 carries to Josh Kelley, and only had one target out of the backfield. He still finished with 84 yards on 19 carries, but with no touchdowns it was surely a disappointing showing for what was thought to be a RB1 coming into the season, with former backfield mate Melvin Gordan going to Denver in the offseason.

Jordan Howard – Miami Dolphins

The entire Dolphins offense looked bad, and Howard was no exception. With only 7 yards on 8 carries, he did salvage his day a little with the only touchdown of the day for the Miami Dolphins. It was reported that he suffered a hamstring injury, but ended up playing in both halves, so that is something to keep his eye on.

Joe Mixon – Cincinnati Bengals

It is obvious that it may be a tough year for Mixon, with a rookie quarterback behind center. The entire offense struggled Sunday, with Mixon getting 69 rushing yards on 19 carries, 1 catch for 2 yards, and a lost fumble. Hopefully Mixon and the Bengals offense can rebound next week against the Browns.

Also Avoid

Marlon Mack tore his ACL and is out for the year. Devin Singletary is in a committee with rookie running back Zach Moss, and it showed. Singletary ended the game with 9 rushed for 30 yards, with an additional 5 catches for 23 more yards. While they are both involved, neither has much value in redraft leagues. Le’Veon Bell was almost non-existent, carrying the ball 6 times for 14 yards, and 2 catches for 32 yards. Then he hurt his hamstring, and is expected to miss a few weeks. Do not expect Bell to return to the form from his days in Pittsburgh. James Conner left Monday night’s game with an injury and did not return. Pay attention to see if he misses time or not. Saquon Barkley had a rough night against the Pittsburgh Steelers defense, only getting 6 yards on 15 carries, though did have some success out of the backfield, catching 6 passes for 60 yards. I would not expect that to continue, although he may have another rough go this week against Chicago.

Tight Ends

Tyler Higbee – Los Angeles Rams

Many expected Higbee to have a break out season, but as of the first game that is not the case. Only targeted 4 times, and catching 3 passes, Higbee finished with 40 yards. If Gerald Everett misses time due to his back, he may see an uptick in targets, but for now keep him on the waiver wire.

Hayden Hurst – Atlanta Falcons

In a game that saw Atlanta quarterback throw for 450 yards, tight end Hayden Hurst got left out, only catching 3 catches for 38 yards. Granted, the Seahawks just added Jamal Adams, who is great at shutting down tight ends from his safety position, but until Hurst shows that he is capable of filling the shoes of Austin Hooper, who before leaving to join the Browns caught 75 passes a year ago for 787 yards in only 13 games played you may want to steer clear of him.

Mike Gesicki – Miami Dolphins

Another tight end that many thought could have a break out season, Gesicki struggled with the rest of the Dolphins on Sunday against the New England Patriots. He finished with 3 catches on 5 targets, and only 30 yards. Keep an eye on his progression, but for now definitely avoid him.

Also Avoid

Even though Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen attempted 46 passes on Sunday, only 3 of those passes went to Dawson Knox. In a run-first offense, it may be tough for Knox to emerge as a solid fantasy contributor, even though he is a great athlete. Keep an eye on Zach Ertz, he was out targeted bu Dallas Goedert 9-7, and only caught 3 of his 7 targets for a measly 18 yards. Fortunately he added a touchdown to save his fantasy day, but he may not be the immediate TE1 he has been for awhile.

How did you first fantasy football week go? Get that win to start the season off right? Or did your star players fail to live up to expectations? Let me know in the comments below! Luckily, there’s always next week, start searching the waiver wires now!

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4 Comments

  1. Good one here! The season is back to full swing and so is the fantasy. Definitely shaping to be a much better season. Last season was woeful for me considering I couldn’t really grasp the whole concept of the FPL quickly and I didnt have the luxury of such a site like yours giving much informative posts and tips.

    i guess I would be able to do better going forward. Thanks

  2. This is a good recap of fantasy football from the first week and really this shows that there is a good thing going ahead into the season. I am strongly hoping that when everything gets set really good, I would be able to enjoy my players too. I’m hoping to also see you make a video where you give information about what players to pick for the next season.

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