1.) The top three Week 1 scores last year were 130.7, 129.2 and 111.8. The top three Week 1 scores this year were 119.8, 112.1 and 110.
2.) The only two running backs in the league who got 100% of the snaps for their respective teams in Week 1: Christian McCaffrey and Le’Veon Bell.
Running backs with 90%+ snaps: None
Running backs with 80%+ snaps: Saquon Barkley, Leonard Fournette, David Johnson
Running backs with 70%+ snaps: Todd Gurley, Tarik Cohen, Nic Chubb, Devin Singletary, Josh Jacobs, Austin Ekeler, Marlon Mack, Alvin Kamara and Chris Carson.
Those are your workhorse backs people. If week 1 was a good indicator of the whole season, you want to have at least one running back on that list.
3.) The ten most targeted wide receivers in Week 1 were: Jamison Crowder (17), Allen Robinson (13), Robert Woods (13), Larry Fitzgerald (13), Danny Amendola (13), DeAndre Hopkins (13), Michael Thomas (13), John Ross (12), Christian Kirk (12) and five receivers tied with eleven targets including Sammy Watkins, Julio Jones, Odell Beckham, Tyler Boyd and Julian Edelman.
4.) Kirk Cousins only attempted ten passes in Week 1. Adam Thielen and Stefon Diggs were both second round picks in fantasy this year.
5.) Derrick Henry, typically spelled by Dion Lewis on passing downs, caught his only pass attempt and scored a 75-yard touchdown with it.
6.) Lamar Jackson scored 43 fantasy points on 17 pass completions and 3 rushing attempts for 6 yards.
7.) The top five scoring fantasy quarterbacks of Week 1 in order were Lamar Jackson, Dak Prescott, Deshaun Watson, Patrick Mahomes and Case Keenum. The 1st Year Kitties have two of those quarterbacks (Prescott & Watson) and Mahomies Deezflated Nuts have two of those quarterbacks (Mahomes & Keenum) as well.
8.) Speed kills: The top four scoring wide receivers in Week 1 were Sammy Watkins, John Ross, DeSean Jackson and Marquise “Hollywood” Brown. Three of those receivers(Watkins, Brown and Ross) were not in starting lineups and benched in Week 1.
9.) Austin Ekeler’s 33.4 fantasy points were higher than any single game total posted by Melvin Gordon in 2018. Austin Ekeler finishes Week 1 as the #1 running back in fantasy.
10.) The top five scoring fantasy defenses in Week 1 were San Francisco (27), Tennessee (23), New York Jets (18), Minnesota (16), Green Bay (14). The top five drafted fantasy defenses were Chicago (9), Jacksonville (-7), Los Angeles Rams (8), Houston (-1) and Cleveland (-3). Four of the five top scoring fantasy defenses were rostered with Green Bay being the only undrafted defense. Expect that to change come Wednesday morning.
11.) Todd Gurley outsnapped Malcolm Brown 54 to 21. Todd Gurley got 14 rushes for 97 yards. Malcolm Brown got 11 rushes for 53 yards and 2 touchdowns. Now let’s go to the best offense in the league: Kansas City. Damien Williams outsnapped Lesean McCoy 45 to 20. Williams rushed 13 times for 26 yards and caught 6 passes for 39 yards and got the only touchdown by a running back. Lesean McCoy carried the ball 10 times for 81 yards and caught one pass for 12 yards. These offenses are so dynamic they can support two startable running backs each.
12.) This was the most impressive collection of rookie pass catcher stats in recent memory:
Marquise Brown: 4 catches, 147 yards, 2 touchdowns
T.J Hockensen: 6 catches, 131 yards, 1 touchdown
Terry McLaurin: 5 catches, 125 yards, 1 touchdown
AJ Brown: 3 catches, 100 yards
D.K Metcalf: 4 catches, 89 yards
13.) My three favorite running back duos in the fantasy league in no particular order are:
Pool of the Dead: Saquon Barkley & Derrick Henry
Team Banana Boat: Christian McCaffrey & Mark Ingram
Sacramento Wolfpack: James Conner & Dalvin Cook
14.) There is only one week 2 matchup between two 1-0 teams and that is in the FFC North between the Pool of the Dead and Team Banana Boat who will battle for sole possession of the FFC North. This is going to be an old school fantasy matchup with four elite running backs carrying the loads.
15.) Let’s analyze some of the trades before and after Week 1.
PGD trades Royce Freeman, Kirk Cousins, Donte Moncrief to Spartans for Jameis Winston, Larry Fitzgerald, Vance McDonald. 4 of the 6 traded players were played in Week 1. For the Spartans, using Kirk Cousins instead of Cam Newton or Jameis Winston proved to be the only path to a victory. The concerning thing is he only attempted ten passes. For PGD they saw a nightmare three turnover game from Jameis Winston while Jacoby Brissett sits on the bench with 20 fantasy points. I think the QB aspect of it is going to be a wash: both teams will most likely play two quarterbacks all season long. I like that the Spartans secured the Denver Broncos backfield and can now own the best-case scenario of that run game if managed correctly. For the PGD they probably got the best immediate impact in Larry Fitzgerald who was easily the best receiver in that Arizona offense this past Sunday. If Winston can bounce back and play like he did for the end of 2018, I like this trade slightly more for PGD.
The People’s Goat trades Devin Singletary and Mecole Hardman to Doctor Jenious for Derrius Guice and Hunter Henry. I am not sure how aware everyone was of the injury situation for Guice when this trade occurred but it looks like a one sided win for Dr. J at this point in time. The People’s Goat secures the Washington backfield to put next to Zeke while Dr. J gets a second running back to put next to Duke Johnson. Singletary was one of the few workhorse backs in Week 1 and I think was an incredible prize. While I am a fan of Guice’s potential, I am a little concerned with two significant injuries this early into his career
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